Context/Background of the ProjectThis year and the next, a huge number of refugees are coming to Europe or have already arrived. It is safe to assume that a large proportion of them will stay for the foreseeable future as migrants. Amongst these people, there are many from Afghanistan. A high need for integration measures exists for these people. With our project, we want to contribute to the support and integration of Afghan migrants. Together with our partners in Poland and Turkey, we want to develop educational opportunities for Afghan migrants in the field of starting up a business, and help them to achieve self-employment.Objectives of the ProjectOur project aims to work cooperatively with different partners from other parts of Europe. Thereby, we want to develop a network with our partners, in order for us to advance our ideas. Our cooperation will be about an exchange of methods and practices, in order to widen and strengthen our skills at a European level. We are going to observe the situation for Afghan migrants in each of the partner countries, and work out solutions for issues involving the economic independence of these people. Number and Profile of the ParticipantsIn the project, three partners will be involved. They will come from the countries Germany, Poland and Turkey.Partner from Germanyadvisa Unternehmensberatung GmbH is the German partner. advisa has enormous experience in offering seminars in entrepreneurship. In the past, it has already conducted 1600 entrepreneurship seminars in German, Russian, Dari and Turkish, and has written around 800 business plans.Partner from Poland Stowarzyszenie Współpracy Polsko - Afgańskiej Hamkari is a Polish-Afghan organisation. The purpose of this organisation is the development of cooperation between Poland and Afghanistan, in particular in the areas of science, culture, media, tourism and healthcare. The largest part of this organisation’s membership is entrepreneurs. Partner from TurkeyThe municipality of the city Karakoçan is the partner from Turkey. With the mayor of the city, plenty of other projects have already been carried out. By choosing our partner from the city Karakoçan, we would like to support the EU’s looking after of incoming refugees in Turkey. The majority of Karakoçan’s population is Kurdish, with the language barrier between this group and Afghans being fairly small.Description of the ActivitiesThe leadership and coordination of the project are going to be taken by the German partner, while the task of the dissemination of project results will be the responsibility of all partners. During the whole course of the project, there will be three project meetings. These will be used in order for us to explore our existing capacities and resources, draw up plans for the learning activities and develop a network with both participant and external partner organisations. We are going to also carry out learning activities. In four learning activities, we will cover the topics of the current situation regarding migrants in Europe, the reaching of the target group and the needs and direction of the education programs, as well as opportunities, methods and organisation of the education programs and political direction in various regions of Europe.Methodology to be used in the carrying out of the ProjectThe primary emphasis of our project is going to be the four learning activities, which will take place in Turkey. We will invite expert speakers to these events. Their lectures will take place in the morning, while group work and the exchange of ideas amongst participants will happen in the afternoon. We will make a visit to a migrant organisation or a state/private institution with a focus on Afghan migrants. The progress and outcome of these learning activities will be documented by the participants in reports, to be circulated via the project’s website and social networks.Results and ImpactThe intercultural competence of the participants should be strengthened, as well as a greater degree of openness towards processes at a European level in relation to work on migrants being achieved. The constructed network of internal and external partners is thereby used as a forum for the discussion of methods and opportunities in the education of Afghan migrants, as well as the advancement of the dissemination of project results. Potential Longer Term BenefitsThe current and future needs of the Afghan migrants are taken into account in this project. The constructed network will also, after the conclusion of the project, remain active. Other projects can also profit from the achieved project results and the nature of the project, particularly in the long term.
Context / background of the project In recent years many refugees came to Europe. It is likely that a large proportion of them will remain permanent migrants in Europe. Among these people are also many people from Afghanistan. There is a high need for integration measures for these people. With our project, we have made a contribution to support and integrate the Afghan migrants. Together with our partners from Poland and Turkey, we have developed educational opportunities for the area of start-up business for Afghan migrants and for individuals involved in self-employment. Objectives of the project: Our project aims at cooperation with various partners from other European countries. In doing so, we have developed a network with our partners to drive our idea forward. The cooperation involved an exchange of methods and practices to broaden and strengthen our competences at European level. We looked closely at the situations of Afghan migrants in the individual partner countries and worked out solutions to the problems of self-employment of these people. Number and profile of the participants: The project involved three partners from Germany, Poland and Turkey. Partner from Germany: advisa Unternehmensberatung GmbH is the partner from Germany. advisa has a lot of experience in offering start-up seminars. In the past, many business start-up seminars were conducted in German, Russian, Afghan and Turkish and more than 800 business plans were prepared. Partners from Poland: Stowarzyszenie Współpracy Polsko - Afgańskiej Hamkari is a Polish-Afghan club. The purpose of this association is the development of cooperation between Poland and Afghanistan especially in the field of science, culture, media, tourism and health care. The members of the association are mostly entrepreneurs. Partner from Turkey: The municipality of the city of Karakocan is the partner from Turkey. Several projects have already been realized with the mayor of the city. There was political unrest during the project. The city administration has been replaced several times. Nevertheless, a successful cooperation was possible. In Karakocan, the majority of Kurds live, so the language barrier between this group and the Afghans is low. We learned in the project that Afghans in Turkey, but especially in the Kurdish area, are often warmly received by the population. Description of activities: The project management and coordination was taken over by Germany and the task of disseminating project results was transferred to all project partners. There were three project meetings throughout the project. These will be used to align with existing capacities and resources, to develop learning activity plans and to develop a network of participating partner organizations and external partners. A representative of the Afghan Embassy in Turkey visited us. We were able to establish contact with the University in Warsaw, where Afghan lessons were also given. In Germany, we were able to establish contacts with various other associations, so that a network interested in Afghanistan has emerged. Meanwhile, this network also extends to other EU countries (Sweden, Austria, Slovakia). We have four learning activities as planned in Turkey. Four learning activities focused on issues such as the situation of migrants in Europe, the achievement of the target group, the needs and orientation of educational opportunities, as well as the possibilities, methods and organization of educational opportunities and policies for educational provision in individual regions of Europe. Outcomes and Impact: The intercultural competence of the participants was strengthened and openness for European-level processes related to migrant work. The established network of internal and external partners has been and will be used to exchange views on the possibilities and methods in educational work for Afghan migrants and to promote the dissemination of the achieved project results. Potential long-term benefits: The current and future needs of Afghan migrants have been taken into account in the project. The established network will remain stable and active even after completion of the project. Other projects can also benefit from the project results achieved and the nature of the project in the long term. Thus, we have been supported by various parties (inter alia, embassy, KOSGEB, several universities, etc.) with support for further activities on this topic.