Alnylam UK and Refugee Action Launch 3-year Corporate ‘Challengers’ Partnership Aimed at Preparing More Refugees for Employment in the UK

Alnylam UK and Refugee Action Launch 3-year Corporate ‘Challengers’ Partnership Aimed at Preparing More Refugees for Employment in the UK

- The Partnership will fund the digital expansion of Refugee Action’s successful ‘Pathways to Work’ programme which aims to overcome key barriers to work and accelerate refugees’ ability to start productive lives in the UK -

- The Partnership is an expansion of Alnylam’s global ‘Challengers’ Community Impact Programme, launched in 2021 -

MAIDENHEAD, UK – June 20, 2022 - Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY), the leading RNAi therapeutics company, is delighted to enter into a 3-year corporate partnership with Refugee Action, a charity dedicated to helping refugees and people seeking asylum who have survived some of the world’s worst regimes.  Alnylam will provide a corporate donation of £100K to Refugee Action each year for a three-year period, through the expansion of the global Alnylam ‘Challengers’ Community Impact Programme, which aims to improve health equity by partnering with diverse, bold social enterprises and non-profit organisations to create new, sustainable solutions that improve the lives of underserved communities.

There are currently more job vacancies than unemployed people in the UK for the first time since records began. The unemployment rate fell to 3.7% between January and March, its lowest for almost 50 years, as job openings rose to a new high of 1.3 million¹.  Many refugees are forced to leave successful careers behind when they flee their country, and so have a wealth of skills to share.  Despite 94% of refugees expressing a desire to contribute and become productive members of society, they often face a number of barriers that impact their ability to work including gaps in employment history, inability to use qualifications from their country of origin, language barriers, inexperience of the UK labour market, lack of digital access, homelessness and poverty, as well as exploitation and structural racism in the employment sector.

The ‘Pathways to Work’ programme is an innovative digital version of an in-person project run by Refugee Action in Bradford, Greater Manchester and the Wirral, which resulted in 100% of project participants reporting increased levels of confidence, competency, and skill in how to engage with UK employment systems, as evidenced by active job searching, interviews and volunteering measured against the charity’s outcomes measuring tool.

Phil Davey, Vice President and Country Manager, Alnylam UK & Ireland, said: "Members of our UK team were directly involved in the selection of our first-ever corporate partner and we are proud to be partnering with Refugee Action to help address a significant social need in the UK. This Partnership is fully aligned with our global Alnylam Challengers initiative which seeks to address systemic health equity issues, advance the work of bold charitable organisations, and empower our employees to contribute to improve the health of under-represented and underserved people throughout the world.”

Tim Naor Hilton, Chief Executive, Refugee Action, said: “Alnylam’s financial support is transformational for Refugee Action, allowing us to hire new case-workers so that we can scale the Pathways to Work programme.  Creating a digital version of our over-subscribed programme will grow the number of participants who can benefit, removing barriers to participation such as travel costs and child-care concerns, which might unfairly restrict women from participating, and help us tackle digital exclusion by providing the necessary equipment and data to refugees, as well as apply for jobs using the internet.  Alnylam’s diverse employee population and bold ‘Challenge Accepted’ attitude is a perfect fit for us and we look forward to many Alnylam UK employees getting directly involved in the work that we do, through mentoring or other activities.”

References:

1. Office of National Statistics, May 2022