The Event Series builds on the company’s established global support to expand the opportunities available to refugee communities. WeWork is also providing office space in London to MADE51–UNHCR’s social enterprise brand for refugee-made products–to help the organisation store its products, as it prepares to launch an online retail shop during Refugee Week.
Mathieu Proust, General Manager, WeWork UKI and Emerging Markets says, “We’re delighted to be hosting our Refugee Events Series in celebration of this year’s Refugee Week here in the UK, as well as to be building upon our valuable partnerships with UNHCR, TERN and Kuchinate. During these uncertain times, it is more important than ever to celebrate our diverse community of members and employees. We are committed to creating opportunities and supporting refugee communities. We want to bring this brilliant line up of talks and initiatives to as big an audience as possible and we encourage anyone who is interested in learning more about the power of refugee initiatives to get involved and be inspired by these stories of resilience!”
![]()
Mark MacDonald, Director of Communications, UK for UNHCR says, “Everyone can play a part in helping refugees recover and rebuild their lives. UNHCR is working globally to protect families who have lost their homes to conflict and WeWork’s advocacy helps to ensure their voices are heard. In Refugee Week, we remember all those forced to flee violence and persecution, but also celebrate the strength, resilience and contribution of refugees around the world and in our own communities. It’s great to partner with WeWork on this event series to share stories of inspiration from these fantastic refugee initiatives.”
The Event Series builds on the company’s established global support to expand the opportunities available to refugee communities. WeWork is also providing office space in London to MADE51–UNHCR’s social enterprise brand for refugee-made products–to help the organisation store its products, as it prepares to launch an online retail shop during Refugee Week.
Mathieu Proust, General Manager, WeWork UKI and Emerging Markets says, “We’re delighted to be hosting our Refugee Events Series in celebration of this year’s Refugee Week here in the UK, as well as to be building upon our valuable partnerships with UNHCR, TERN and Kuchinate. During these uncertain times, it is more important than ever to celebrate our diverse community of members and employees. We are committed to creating opportunities and supporting refugee communities. We want to bring this brilliant line up of talks and initiatives to as big an audience as possible and we encourage anyone who is interested in learning more about the power of refugee initiatives to get involved and be inspired by these stories of resilience!”
Mark MacDonald, Director of Communications, UK for UNHCR says, “Everyone can play a part in helping refugees recover and rebuild their lives. UNHCR is working globally to protect families who have lost their homes to conflict and WeWork’s advocacy helps to ensure their voices are heard. In Refugee Week, we remember all those forced to flee violence and persecution, but also celebrate the strength, resilience and contribution of refugees around the world and in our own communities. It’s great to partner with WeWork on this event series to share stories of inspiration from these fantastic refugee initiatives.”
To learn more about the events, and to RSVP, please visit here.
Event schedule:
Be Together – Virtually (A journey through Meditation & Positive Psychology). Image here.
Date: Monday 15th June
Time: 12pm-12:30pm
Hop on an explorative journey that bridges ancient meditation and cutting edge positive psychology, with a 45 minute meditation session hosted by Amr, a refugee and founder of Sangha Gathers–an initiative where he provides meditation training workshops to Fortune 100 companies and universities. Amr will help you embark on a peaceful and insightful journey of meditation, exploration and poetry.
Panel Talk: Entrepreneurship through adversity: refugee entrepreneurship and what can we learn about resilience in times of struggle. Images here.
Date: Tuesday 16th June
Time: 12pm-12:45pm
In these times of uncertainty, WeWork and UNHCR welcomes three leading voices on refugee and migrant entrepreneurship to share how refugees around the world have created businesses in challenging circumstances, how they have rebuilt their lives and the lessons we can all learn about their resilience. Moderated by WeWork’s Director of Energy, Sustainability and Social Impact, Jaz Rabadia, join panellists Joanna Ibrahim, a Syrian social entrepreneur and co-founder of Bluefields Development and Open Taste Project, Ana Maria Alvarez Monge, the CEO of MigrationHub and Jakob Øster, Partnerships Officer at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency – and get inspired!
Cooking with The Syrian Sunflower. Image here.
Date: Wednesday 17th June
Time: 12pm-12:45pm
“When you share food, you share love”. Majeda, a Syrian chef and founder of The Syrian Sunflower company, will be demonstrating how to make two traditional Syrian recipes–Harraq Esbao and Fattoush salad–whilst raising awareness of the ongoing Syrian humanitarian crisis.
A live session into camp life and football by the Syrian border. Image here.
Date: Thursday 18th June
Time:12pm-12:30pm
Live from the Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan–the world’s largest camp for Syrian refugees–WeWork, Goal Click and UNHCR invite you to hear from 21 year old Fawzi, Za’atari’s football coach who fled Syria when he was younger. Fawzi will share what it was like growing up in Syria, and how the Za’atari Refugee Camp has impacted his life. He will be joined by Lilly Carlisle from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, who will be sharing the latest updates on their refugee relief efforts, and Matthew Barrett CEO of Goal Click, an initiative that empowers refugees across the world to document their lives through football and photography.
Live from Egypt, exploring the work of refugee artisans with MADE51. Image here.
Date: Friday 19th June
Time: 12pm-12:45pm
Live from the atelier of social enterprise Yadawee in Egypt – a member of the UN Refugee Agency led initiative MADE51 that supports refugee artisans. Yadawee creates traditional Egyptian handicrafts and supports a group of refugee artisans from Syria, Sudan, South Sudan and Ethiopia that work with local craftsmen to create the pieces. You’ll be hearing from Yadawee’s CEO on how the current times have affected their production, and from refugee artisans themselves on the impact of working at the atelier.
