Who We Are
The charity was founded in 2008 by a group of people working with refugees and asylum seekers. We saw that there was a lot of discrimination against them, especially in the media, and we knew that people were not hearing the full story. We used our knowledge of pirate radio and our contacts with refugee groups to give people a new chance to speak for themselves.
Refugee Radio is run by a board of Trustees, including refugees and broadcasters. We have a team of staff who run the projects and a group of refugee volunteers who make it all happen.
Heval Akram:
Chair
Heval is a community interpreter with several year’s involvement with Refugee Radio. He is also an accomplished musician and played bazooki in the Refugee Radio Orchestra.
Gianpaolo Boldrini:
Trustee
Gianpaolo is a founder of the Migrant English Project. He has worked with refugees as a project manager in mentoring, health, environmental & language projects.
Osama Mohammed:
Trustee
Osama is a human rights activist and volunteer. His poems and short stories have been broadcast on Refugee Radio as part of our arts programming and he is a key part of our team.
Gharghasht:
Trustee
Gharghasht is a community broadcaster and international development worker from Afghanistan. He runs the amazing radio station Afghan Voice Radio.
Stephen Silverwood:
Chief Exexutive
Stephen manages the Refugee Radio projects. He is also a writer and radio presenter.
Guy Hayes:
Project Manager
Guy manages the Resilience Project for refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants with mental health issues. He is also an accomplished musician.
Alexis Condon:
Adviser
Alexis Condon is the editor of the Today Programme on Radio 4, the station’s most popular programme with over six million listeners every week.