Learning Together is focused on empowering young asylum seekers and refugees in Hong Kong through project-based learning, university scholarships and career support.

 

Learning Together set out in 2015 to counter inter-generational learned helpless (a form of depression from perceived absence of control over one’s situation). Our goal was to activate the aspirations and confidence of this community by giving them access to making a tangible difference in their community. Since our founding we have raised over HK$1m for university scholarships, supported over 300+ members of the Hong Kong asylum seeker & refugee community, and had numerous success cases from our students.

 

The first program that we launched was an English teaching class for newly arrived asylum seekers taught by the young members of their community. The young people in our program learned how to manage a project, put a budget together, develop a curriculum, fundraise, speak in public and ultimately teach adults in their community. To date we have nurtured 20+ young Asylum seekers to become teachers in our programmes, they in turn have taught over 200+ other members of their community.

 

In 2017, we lobbied for and drove the first successful enrollment of an Asylum Seeker into a Hong Kong university. We then set-up a dedicated scholarship fund with nine beneficiaries to-date. Our scholarship recipients include a student from The Congo, who outside of school has sought to bring diversity to the fashion industry and has organised a number of inclusive fashion shows in partnership with premiere fashion institutions and brands. Another scholarship recipient from Zimbabwe who upon graduation was hired by one of the largest investment banks globally to help increase investment into Africa. Another one of our scholarship receipients has been awarded the Spirit of Hong Kong award from the South China Morning Post. 

 

Young asylum seekers and refugees who engage in our programs gain an immense amount of confidence and drive deep impact within the broader Hong Kong community in pursuit of their dreams. Each one of our teachers and scholarship recipients (who are all asylum seekers or refugees) have stood out not just in their community but in the broader Hong Kong community.

 

Our project-based learning programs begin by ideating social impact projects young (age 13-25) asyulm seekers and refugees can execute in Hong Kong. Over the course of the development of the social-impact project the young asylum seekers and refugees learn practical skills such as project management, business case writing, public speaking/fundraising, and teamwork. Below is an overview of the social impact projects our young members have developed and the impact each has had:

 

1. English classes for newly arrived asylum seekers - our first project involved teaching "survival english" to newly arrived asylum seekers. The students of the english program are usually elder members of the community that may not have other avenues to learn the language. The young members of the community developed the curriculum, created budgets, did (some) fundraising, and eventually ended up teaching the class. For many of our young members there was a big learning curve to teach older members of their community. Since 2015 we have had 20 young members of the community be part of the teaching & project development, and we have taught over 200 newly arrived asylum seekers and refugees.


2. Cantonese classes - one area that our members saw as a need was local language capability. The young members of the community ran a 10-week program with support from local NGOs to teach 15 asylum seekers basic cantonese.


3. Essay writing workshops - in preparing many of our young asylum seekers and refugees for university we solicited support from some volunteers to teach an academic essay writing workshop. The goal of these workshops was to improve the grades of current university students and prepare the prospective university students for this opportunity. We taught a 12-week program with 10 students.

 

Our university scholarship fund was set up after we successfully enroled the first ever asylum seeker into a Hong Kong university. Since we paved the way for asylum seekers to go to university many other organizations have also begun offering this proposition. We raised over HK$1m to support 6 students to pursue their undergraduate degrees. We have also supported 3 other students with non-bachelors vocational programs (such as personal training certifications, coding bootcamps). 

 

• Our first scholarship recipient graduated from Chinese University of Hong Kong with a bachelor's degree in anthropology and is currently working at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong. See an article about him here.


• Our second scholarship recipient graduated from Adventist College with a bachelor's degree in psychology. She has launched a diversity-focused fashion platform that has garnered her recognition on many mainstream Hong Kong publications. See an article about her here.


• Our third scholarship recipient is currently in his final year at University of Sunderland studying business administration. He won a prestigious award for his work with the broader Hong Kong social worker community. See an article about him here.

 

We have also facilitated internships at large law firms and financial organizations like Stephenson Harwood, PwC, and others for 7 young asylum seekers and refugees.