Scotland’s national refugee charity, Scottish Refugee Council, has appointed four new members to its Board of Management, including three people with lived experience of the refugee and asylum system.

The council has announced that David Simpson, Inam Akbari, Vitalii Diakov, and Ronnie Tagwireyi will join its board.

Ronnie Tagwireyi works both formally and informally to support refugees in Glasgow and beyond. He is no stranger to Scottish Refugee Council, or the asylum and refugee experience. Born in Zimbabwe, Ronnie came to the UK in 1991.

He worked in telecommunications as a Customer Services Manager until claiming asylum in 2001. Since then Ronnie has endured periods of homelessness, destitution and detention, latterly at Dungavel from where he was bailed to Glasgow in 2015.

Ronnie is co-chair of the Advisory group of Migration Exchange and has been a trustee with both Refugee Sanctuary Scotland (formerly Refugee Survival Trust) and Scottish Detainee Visitors.

He is a successful presenter and fundraiser and was part of the Reaching New Scots Fund participatory grant-making panel, which was co-designed by Scottish Refugee Council and volunteers from refugee backgrounds in partnership with The National Lottery Community Fund.