Southern Hope Community Organisation (SHCO) Inc. is a non-government, non-political, non-sectarian and not for profit organisation. It is an African organisation that helps to respond to the needs of newly arrived African humanitarian entrants who are not entitled to support from government-funded services. In addition SHCO assist and response to natural or man made disasters by raise funds, material and non-material donations.
The purpose of SHCO is to prevent poverty and destitution among African humanitarian entrants who may not be entitled to government-funded services due to visa type restrictions through provision of basic services and to respond to natural or man made disasters through raising funds, receiving and sending material and non-material donations to disaster affected areas.
SHCO purpose can be described below as a trio-pronged approach:
- Many African community members arrive in Australia through the Humanitarian program from refugee camps in African. Family members and friends who arrive in Australia as refugees themselves sponsor some of these humanitarian entrants. The humanitarian entrants who come to Australia sponsored by family or friends are not entitled to settlement services offered by MRCs and the like. The purpose of SHCO is to provide urgently needed services by this group of humanitarian entrant. Services provided by SHCO include orientation (taking the newly arrived to centrelink, bank, etc.), help with finding housing, English language classes, connecting them with members of the African community, etc. Lack of support for this group of humanitarian entrants leads to poverty, homelessness, suffering, destitution, and misfortune.
- South Sudanese humanitarian entrants are special vulnerable group due to language difficulties resulting into difficulties accessing vitally needed services. The purpose of SHCO in this regard is to reduce the level of poverty and destitution among South Sudanese humanitarian entrants through provision of basic services including English classes, housing, employment, schooling, information sessions on how to perform basic tasks such as shopping, banking, catching public transport, linking them to groups that can assist them. These services will target the most needy in the South Sudanese community including widows, orphans, single mothers, isolated community members and individuals who can not help themselves due to the lack of knowledge and inability to navigate the Australian system.
- Responding to natural and man made disasters in Australia and overseas particularly South Sudan by raising funds, receiving material and nonmaterial donation. Funds and donations received will be sent to the identified disaster areas.