Context / backgroundThe current refugee situation is under different signs for the countries of the European Community as well as for Turkey a major challenge and an opportunity. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have and want to integrate as quickly as possible in their new living environment and in working life, without knowing whether they will abide forever or can.The community colleges are community learning networks. They realize its program in cooperation with numerous players in the community (religious communities, cultural institutions such as museums and theaters, clubs, schools, universities, businesses, chambers) and civil society organisations. This particular network offers numerous additional and formal and informal contacts to the immigrants.ObjectivesThe municipalities Maltepe, Munich, Ulm and Vienna are affected of the current refugee situation under different political conditions and in different order. In all four municipalities, it will be important to develop, test and establish long-term community integration strategies beyond the current program to supply and accommodate refugees. The learning partnership between these four community colleges is the systematic exchange and the further profiling of municipal integration strategy in adult and further education.Number and profile of participantsRepresentants of VHS Maltepe, Munich and Ulm met each other in October 2015 in Istanbul and began the planning of a Learning partnership. VHS Wien joined the consortium during a working visit in Munich in February 2016. During this visit the partners decided to continue the exchange of experiences concerning the refugee situation by writing this application.Description of activities1. Language and everyday culture initial orientation and target group-specific models of education and vocational training, particularly for women and young people. The aim of this subproject is to describe the existing and proven models and practical examples particularly in the community colleges Munich, Ulm and Vienna in their strengths and improvement potentials and prepare their testing in new locations. The management of this project is the task of the community college Maltepe.2. Early detection of training, work experience and existing skills.The aim of this subproject is the development and testing of existing instruments of the detection of non-formal or informally acquired skills (potential analysis) and the implementation of these instruments in the continuing education counseling for migrants at community colleges and vocational and employment counseling employment services. Volkshochschule Wien will manage this project .3. monitoring and professionalization of civic engagement.The aim of this project is the development of standards in the qualification of civic engagement in refugee work at community colleges. The management of this project is done by Volkshochschule Ulm.4. Immigration as an opportunity for self-reflection: dialogues between native and immigrant population. The classic forms of participatory political and intercultural education at community colleges offer many approaches that should be further developed technically and methodically in this subproject, managed by Volkshochschule München.Methodology to be used in carrying out the projectWe are convinced of our democratic approach to the application process: The distribution of tasks was developed jointly by all partners.During the project meeting we will- learn about the offers for integration of the host of the meeting and identify best practices- conclude agreements about the exchange of experts between the partners- develop new project ideas based on the defined frameworkFurthermore we will- Invite external experts to our meetings- translate documents produced during the meetings- prepare the closing conference- work on the documentation of the project results- disseminate information about our activities on local, national and European levelA short description of the results and impact envisagedThe project partners are focusing on four areas of action:1. Language and everyday culture initial orientation and target group-specific models of education and vocational training, particularly for women and young people2. Early detection of training, work experience and existing skills3. monitoring and professionalization of civic engagement4. Immigration as an opportunity for self-reflection: dialogues between native and immigrant populationLonger term benefitsThe results of the project work will be introduced in the regular working programs of the Volkshochschulen involved given the fact that Munich, Vienna and Ulm are important players in their countries with a long tradition.
Context / backgroundThe current refugee situation is under different signs for the countries of the European Community as well as for Turkey a major challenge and an opportunity. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have and want to integrate as quickly as possible in their new living environment and in working life, without knowing whether they will abide forever or can.The community colleges are community learning networks. They realize its program in cooperation with numerous players in the community (religious communities, cultural institutions such as museums and theaters, clubs, schools, universities, businesses, chambers) and civil society organisations. This particular network offers numerous additional and formal and informal contacts to the immigrants.ObjectivesThe municipalities Maltepe, Munich, Ulm and Vienna are affected of the current refugee situation under different political conditions and in different order. In all four municipalities, it was important to develop, test and establish long-term community integration strategies beyond the current program to supply and accommodate refugees. The learning partnership between these four community colleges was the systematic exchange and the further profiling of municipal integration strategy in adult and further education.Number and profile of participantsRepresentants of VHS Maltepe, Munich and Ulm met each other in October 2015 in Istanbul and began the planning of a Learning partnership. VHS Wien joined the consortium during a working visit in Munich in February 2016. During this visit the partners decided to continue the exchange of experiences concerning the refugee situation by writing this application.Description of activities1. Language and everyday culture initial orientation and target group-specific models of education and vocational training, particularly for women and young people. The aim of this subproject was to describe the existing and proven models and practical examples particularly in the community colleges Munich, Ulm and Vienna in their strengths and improvement potentials and prepare their testing in new locations. The management of this project was the task of the community college Maltepe.2. Early detection of training, work experience and existing skills.The aim of this subproject was the development and testing of existing instruments of the detection of non-formal or informally acquired skills (potential analysis) and the implementation of these instruments in the continuing education counseling for migrants at community colleges and vocational and employment counseling employment services. Volkshochschule Wien managed this project. 3. monitoring and professionalization of civic engagement.The aim of this project was the development of standards in the qualification of civic engagement in refugee work at community colleges. The management of this project was done by Volkshochschule Ulm.4. Immigration as an opportunity for self-reflection: dialogues between native and immigrant population. The classic forms of participatory political and intercultural education at community colleges offer many approaches that should be further developed technically and methodically in this subproject, managed by Volkshochschule München.Methodology to be used in carrying out the project.We were convinced of our democratic approach to the application process: The distribution of tasks was developed jointly by all partners.During the project meeting we - learned about the offers for integration of the host of the meeting and identify best practices- concluded agreements about the exchange of experts between the partners- developed new project ideas based on the defined framework. Furthermore we - Invited external experts to our meetings- translated documents produced during the meetings- prepared the closing conference- worked on the documentation of the project results- disseminated information about our activities on local, national and European level. A short description of the results and impact envisaged. The project partners were focusing on four areas of action:1. Language and everyday culture initial orientation and target group-specific models of education and vocational training, particularly for women and young people 2. Early detection of training, work experience and existing skills 3. monitoring and professionalization of civic engagement 4. Immigration as an opportunity for self-reflection: dialogues between native and immigrant population. Longer term benefits. The results of the project work were introduced in the regular working programs of the Volkshochschulen involved given the fact that Munich, Vienna and Ulm are important players in their countries with a long tradition.