PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TRAINING SUPPORT

Individual advice seekers who wished to set up their own business or secure employment in the small and medium size enterprises - including restaurants, off licence outlets, and catering services - have been enjoying Mernet's continual support in exploring the available training opportunities in Food Safety (Level 2), National Licence of Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH), SIA-approved door supervision and security, first aid, and health and safety.

Food Safety – Level 2 training April 2008

The training was delivered by two trainers who were registered as approved trainers with the Royal Institute of Public Health (RIPH).

It was confirmed by the trainers that all of the participants successfully passed the test and their certificates were posted by the RIPH the following month.

Comments from some of the participants of the training course:

“Now I feel more confident in job hunting. With this certificate, I believe I will find a good job soon. I will prepare a very delicious meal for Mernet team by then!”

“I am very happy that I learned many important rules and useful advice about handling food. I am thinking of setting up my own catering service. I am deeply thankful to Mernet for letting me to have the chance of taking this course. Thank you also for giving me the links for the business support people who may help me in setting up my business.”

Mernet organised the following events throughout 2008 until September 2009:

Community Health and Wellbeing Project

Summer 2008 to Summer 2009.
Mernet organised a series of public seminars and published a series of information leaflets on community health and wellbeing. The project was funded by the Novas Scarman Group ("Scarman Trust" at the time of application, but they merged with the Novas Group later). The project aimed to conduct a pilot scheme in Turkish language and repeat the same project package in other Mediterranean languages if successful. Mernet wishes to proudly state that the project was delivered successfully.

Halloween Summit
28 October 2008 at the Community Base, Brighton.
A celebration of the Halloween with reports from Mernet research team detailing the history and perception of the Halloween concept in Mediterranean countries. Lynx Wildwood, a local Wicca expert, also gave a talk to the guests about the origins of the Halloween concept in British history and the pagan links to it.
Mediterranean Feast and Party
Regularly organised, on average once every two months, since December 2008; at the Community Base, 113 Queens Road, Brighton.
Mernet has been regularly organising "Mediterranean Feast and Party", a series of social gatherings which brought together the members of the Mediterranean community with many local residents who are not of Mediterranean origin. The series included healthy food, music and dance from many Mediterranean countries.
Legal Advice Seminar
10 December 2008 at the Community Base, Brighton
A talk by solicitor Mr Sait Akgul, a London-based immigration specialist. Mr Akgul addressed the guests on the changes in visa regulations and related new rules that came into effect in the last week of November 2008. This seminar became the first ever of its kind in Sussex, only one week after the said legislation came into force.
‘In and Around Gaza’ and ‘To and From Gaza’
7 April, 2009 at the Community Base, Brighton
In collaboration with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) Brighton and Hove. Members of a delegation who took part in the ‘Viva Palestina Convoy’ to Gaza discussed their journey, and Sameh Habeeb, a Gazan photojournalist and the editor-in-chief of the Palestine Telegraph discussed his thoughts and experiences.

Film Screening: ‘Chomsky and Compagnie’
17 April, 2009 at the Community Base, Brighton
A screening of ‘Chomsky and Compagnie’, a documentary featuring interviews with Mernet’s Patron, Professor Noam Chomsky, and highlighting issues around the concept of globalisation and the many ‘-isms’ that exist today.
‘Conscientious Objection: Resisting Militarized Society’
22 May, 2009 at the Community Base, Brighton
This debate featured stories from Turkey, Israel, and the USA. Guests were Ozgur Heval Cinar, lawyer, PhD candidate and co-editor of ‘Conscientious Objection: Resisting Militarized Society’, our Patron Professor Kevin Boyle from the Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, and Bill Hetherington from Peace Pledge Union (PPU), London.

The Brighton and Hove Peace Messenger Picnic and Festival

19 July, 2009 at the Hove Lawns, Kingsway, Hove
Joining forces with the organising committee of this popular event, Mernet hosted the Peace Café, the InfoMarket Stall, a Hiroshima and Nagasaki photo-exhibition, musical and dance performances from local bands and performers, and invited the award-winning journalist Hala Jaber,from The Sunday Times, photographer Steve Bent, and writer and lawyer Ozgur Heval Cinar to discuss their work.

Community Learning and Skills Department
Mernet had been liaising with the Community Learning and Skills department of the Brighton and Hove Council for a long time. Mernet office hosted a meeting in July with Ms Christina Mendez, senior caseworker at the Community Learning and Skills department.
Mernet team informed Ms Mendez that Mernet would be able to provide content of the following skills and learning areas:
Information seminars on Mediterranean history, art, culture, music and geography; language classes (in several Mediterranean languages e.g. Arabic, French, Italian, Kurdish, Spanish, Turkish), to be taught by native speaker and qualified tutors;
Mediterranean musical instruments classes (e.g. string instruments such as Flamenco Guitar, Saz, Bouzouki, and Oud; wind instruments such as Roman/Yiddish Clarinet and Zourna; percussion instruments such as Daf, Darboucka, and Tabla);
Mediterranean dance classes such as Flamenco Dance, Belly Dance,  and tribal and folk dance styles from across Mediterranean including Balkan, Kurdish and Turkish folk dancing, also Berberi, Sahrawi and Tuareg tribal dances.
Mernet team will have further mmetings with Ms Mendez to explore the possibiltiy of launching the dance classes and day-seminars in late January or early February 2010 and the musical instrument classes shortly after Easter period in 2010.
In September 2009, five learners referred by Mernet had the opportunity to attend a free Food Safety - Level 2 course with the help of the Community Learning and Skills department of the Brighton and Hove Council. All of them have now successfully completed their training and obtained their Food Safety - Level 2 certificates.

Radio broadcasts in Mediterranean languages
Mernet has also been holding meetings with the local community radio station Radio Reverb throughout 2009 on the issue of broadcasting in up to six Mediterranean languages. The project talks continue with the Radio Reverb as well as with another local radio, the Brighton and Hove Community Radio.
Mediterranean Community Needs Survey
Mernet has been conducting some preparatory work since early summer this year for a city-wide project. The project aims to identify the needs and challenges in the livelihoods of the Mediterranean community so that the necessary steps can be promptly taken for addressing such needs and supporting them in overcoming the challenges they may face.
Mernet intends to conduct a project package with two main components: a “Community Profiling” survey and a “Community Needs” survey within the Mediterranean community in Brighton and Hove.Please see the front page news on Mernet's newsletter, Mernet News, for further information on this project.

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