https://www.facebook.com/manchestercongoleseorganisation/?locale=en_GB

My name is Richard, I have been working for the Manchester Congolese Organisation for 15 years. Currently, I am the Community Adviser, helping people maximising their potentials and capabilities to fulfil their aspirations and be productive in the society. 

The Manchester Congolese Organization (MaCO) is a volunteer led organization which has been set up to provide free information, advice and support to our community residents in Manchester, including the refugees that have been placed in Manchester. Our aims are to promote the relief of poverty sickness and alleviate the distress of our community residents in  Manchester by provision of free and confidential advice, assistance, representation, advocacy, translating and interpreting services in matters relating to welfare, health, social education (culture), lifelong sector education, academic development, employment, finance management and orientation to life in the UK. The aims are also to advance the education of local people and training them and their dependants in order to assist their inclusion into wider community, including the promotion of different cultures.

The purpose of the of the grant is to deliver the employability advice, money management advice on how to improve their financial capability, live within means, income maximisation advice and how to avoid unnecessary debts.

The aim of the project is to have a direct and lasting  financial capability impact on our community by helping them to improve their financial life skills.   The project will do this by providing:

1/ Employability advice, namely how to design a CV, and how to do the the online job search. In addition, we will train people how to be successful in an job interview, and also how to fit in an employer's culture, be productive and perform well in a work place in order to maximise their job security, therefore be more financially independent

2/ We will educate people to understand the consequences of contracting unnecessary debts and  how debts could negatively impact their lives. We will demonstrate how debts cost their lives in terms of paying interests, and how bad cretit rate could even prevent them from getting some jobs that require credit checks.

3/ We will educate people on how to regularly check their bank account online in order to enable them to efficiently manage their direct debits and avoid overspending in order to avoid unnecessary fees to be debited to their accounts. We will also educate people on the importance of opening savings account and earn interests.  

4/ We will educate people on how to minimise the costs of their capital expenditures. For example, buying a good second hand item instead of a brand new, in order to engage in a cost effective spending, and save money.