“I’ve run over a hundred NCADC anti-deportation campaign workshops up and down the country since I started doing it in 2005.

It's been hectic and challenging.

What keeps me utterly motivated is having watched so many campaigns working. 

Train-the-Trainer is bringing it to a new level. 

I needed to reflect on all the successes and difficulties we’ve had.  I needed to call in the experts to help me build the most effective training package possible - an Advisory Panel. 

We have put together a programme, developed for campaigners by campaigners”.
Emma Ginn, NCADC .







The Train-the-Trainer Advisory Panel


Jilah Bakhshayesh
Jilah is a musician, storyteller, performer and community artist. She is part of Banner Theatre , one of Britain's longest established community theatre companies working with marginalized and disadvantaged communities.

Jilah is a member of Brides Without Borders .  She represented her asylum seeking husband in an immigration court – he won.  Jilah has gone on to help other asylum seekers establish their own anti-deportation campaigns.

“I’ve been helping asylum seekers set up their own anti-deportation campaigns in an ad-hoc informal kind of way for a while now.  I’m glad that I have been able to bring the knowledge I do have together with the knowledge of others ; together we have built up a proper, structured training programme from our own collective first-hand experience.”




Farhat Khan
Farhat is a refugee from Pakistan.  She ran her own anti-deportation for over six years and finally won refugee status in 2007.  Farhat’s campaign was highly political, for which, she says, she makes no apology.  Farhat was recognized for her contribution to the community by the Queen at Buckingham Palace, having just been interviewed by Pakistan Embassy officials for travel documents with which to deport her and her children.  She was later invited to meet Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street.

With NCADC and others, Farhat established WAST (Women Asylum Seekers Together) in 2005. WAST is a truly self-help group which has flourished and provide a platform for many WAST members in establishing their own anti-deportation campaigns.  Farhat is also a member of Women For Refugee Women .

“I know what they do to asylum seekers !  I know how to run a campaign !  And I am damn well going to help as many people as I can to get their own campaigns going !”.





Emiola Fadeyi
Emiola is Nigerian asylum seeking woman who came to the UK in August 2005 and lives in Manchester.  She was depressed and withdrawn. 

She saw a leaflet about an NCADC workshop and decided to investigate.

“People in my community said it wasn’t going to help me, but I was curious and things couldn’t have been much worse for me. I identified with what everyone was talking about in the NCADC workshop, but I was still shy.  I went to another couple of workshops and through that I found WAST. 

A number of us at WAST have now set up our own campaigns.  Things are still hard for us, but now I feel like I am taking some control of my situation.  I feel more positive and I found friends in the same position as me – we all support each other.”








Mansoor Hassan
Mansoor was persecuted for his journalism in Pakistan.  He has built a strong, broadly based campaign with backing from several unions.  He and his wife, Aqila, are tireless campaigners.  Aqila, a teacher, is on the management committee of ROUTES Project .  Mansoor is a founding member of Trades Union For Refugees (TUFR) and Refugee and Asylum Seekers Participatory Action Research (RAPAR ).

“Anti deportation campaign is not easy and also could be hidden, it is 24/7/365 job and you can not do only your campaign alone, you have to make groups, networking and during campaigning you will get help if you do for others as well.  Train-the-Trainer will mean more anti-deportation campaigns, and that means more people avoiding deportation and eventually getting status in the UK”