About

Siman Foundation began in 2021 as a research hub examining UKs’ immigrant-dense neighbourhoods where the divide in access to education puts societies most vulnerable people at high risk. Today, Siman Foundation offers a wider range of programmes and workshops whose subjects span from University interview prep and application writing to educational and social-professional inclusion for vulnerable individuals all across the UK.

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Our name 'Siman' translate to equal in Somali which is the ethos that threads all our work. Founder and Executive Director Awa Farah, then a migration and mobility researcher at the University of Cambridge and a social justice documentary producer, realised that with the growing educational institutions demand for equal access to education, bridging the skill divide was key in solving this problem. Inspired by community demand, the research hub grew into what is today Siman Foundation, which facilitates the social and educational integration of refugee communities globally and those from disadvantaged backgrounds in the UK.

 

Awa’s passion for advancing opportunity and equal access to education for marginalised groups comes from her own story as daughter of Somali immigrants, where she witnessed first-hand how difficult the education system can be for first and second-generation migrants. Most recently a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge, Awa also holds a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge and the London school of Economics.