The Hodan Somali Community is a community organisation that came together as an organisation following a period of sustained demand from the local Somali community in West London. Following the closure of the Somali Welfare Association in 2004 many Somalis who were receiving support from this organisation were in difficulties in accessing the services available locally and with the help of the local authority and other local organisations, the community leaders actively worked to form Hodan. Hodan began to set up in mid 2005 and with a small grant from the local Authority launched in February 2006 and started to provide a basic support service with volunteers.
Hodan has, since then, grown and developed to meet the needs of the local communities and have a number of paid staff and a solid volunteer base. The number of people who accessed our services increased considerably since the launch of the organisation. Our services are heavily used and mainly benefit women who have difficulties with engaging with mainstream services due to language and cultural problems.
The organisation targets the most vulnerable groups in the community particularly the elderly, people with disabilities, people with mental health problems, single mothers and their children. Our services are heavily used and attract twenty-five to thirty service users each week and this demand is consistent.
Service users tell us that our services are essential for integration and accessing local services and constantly ask for a continued and expanded service. They see the services of the organisation as an important bridge towards better access, gradual integration, understanding UK system, becoming more independent, feeling better about one self and improving family relationships.
Our Services
A) We provide an AQS-accredited advice and information service to support the BAME community in relation to issues with housing, welfare benefits, employment and employability -related skills, education and training, COVID saftey, etc. Our overarching aim is to support and empower people to access mainstream services, whereever possible, and to break down their problems into more manageable parts so that they feel more able to cope.
B) Social space & wellbeing project: We run an online and in-person Zumba & socialisation classes to support and empower women who are socially isolated as a result of the present pandemic- giving them an opportunity to exercise, socialise and chat to reduce isolation, stress and depression among the participating women and also to enhance their physical and mental health wellbeing.
C) Befriending project (Isolation & Loneliness): We provide proactive support to isolated older people by telephone and home visit ( for advice, information and befriending), calling and visiting them regularly to check in with them and ensure that their physical, emotional and support needs were being met.
D) Digital Literacy Project: We are launching a digital literacy project for older people, involving training, support and for some the distribution of custom-designed smartphones.
E) Employabilty project: It aims to help the women to gain new essential employment skills in English. IT, and communication; improve social inclusion by increasing confidence and self-esteem; and increase the take-up of volunteering, education, training or employment opportunities. This involves guidance on CV preparation, completing applications and interview techniques , and the provision of references.
