CONTEXT/BACKGROUNDThe last year has seen a huge and unprecedented influx of refugees and migrants into Europe. In the face of this crisis, governments have largely not succeeded in finding pan-European solutions, relying instead on national approaches. This project will take a different approach by aiming to strengthen European cooperation in the field of adult learning to enhance inclusion of refugees at the level of civil society organisations. Successful inclusion of the high number of refugees into the European societies is an ongoing agenda that will demand commitment and solutions in the longer term. It is the premise of this project that sport and physical activity organisations in particular, as the biggest civil society sector in the world, can play an important role in providing learning opportunities and taking a holistic approach to successful inclusion of refugees into the European societies. When engaging in sport and physical activities, participants for instance acquire positive life skills, attitudes and values. Moreover, non-formal educational and training activities carried out by sports organisations further enhance leadership and organisational skills and can make important contributions to the learning, self-esteem and, ultimately, employability of the individual participants involved. OBJECTIVES AND OUTPUTSThe Inclusion of Refugees through Sport project has as its overall aim to strengthen the societal inclusion of refugees via the informal and non-formal learning opportunities sport and physical activities provide. The specific objectives areObjective 1: To build the knowledge base for informal and non-formal learning opportunities for societal inclusion of refugees via physical activities and sport Objective 2: To build capacities in participating organisations and develop tools to deliver informal and non-formal learning opportunities for the target groupObjective 3: To establish and run a broad thematic network of organisations working in the fieldObjective 4: To disseminate results and widen the impact of the projectObjective 5 (management objective): To ensure quality in the coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the projectThe proposed project will deliver five specialised Intellectual Outputs: A Good Practices Collection with examples from the field (including key principles that are characteristics of a successful practice); A Grundtvig Video for refugees to learn lifelong principles of active participation in civic society activities; An online learning resource for staff and volunteers in grassroots sport organisations to learn about ways of integrating refugees through their activities; A supporting Toolkit; and A Networking Platform for these organisations to meet and collaborate. After the project has ended, the partner organisations will be able to use the results to train staff and volunteers in their own organisations and thus enhance their own capacities further.PARTICIPANTS AND TARGET GROUPThe International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA) will lead the coordination of the project, and the cross-sector partnership consortium includes the University of Kent and StreetGames (UK), SISU Idrottsutbildarna (Sweden), UISP (Italy), Ollerup Academy of Physical Education (Denmark) and Deutsche Turnerjugend (Germany). The direct target group of the project is the organisations and entities (and the individuals in them) that provide opportunities for engaging in grassroots sport and physical activity. At least 22 organisations will form a network by the end of the project and test the project’s resources before they are disseminated.The ultimate target group of the project is refugees that have arrived in Europe. Since the handling and status of refugees, including their availability to engage in various civic actions differ a lot between the different European member states, the project will from the outset take an inclusive approach to defining the target group. As the project progresses, learnings are expected to emanate as to how various subsets of the ultimate target group can engage in the learning opportunities provided in the grassroots sport setting. It is expected that approximately 4900 refugees will be directly involved in the project’s activities.IMPACTThe project aims to maximise the impact on the target group by increasing the capacity of the grassroots sport organisations that can reach out and provide informal and non-formal learning opportunities, with a starting point in the project consortium. By creating a platform for continued and expanded organisational collaboration on this emerging issue, the project will also impact further organisations and thus potentially impact the systemic level by showcasing and enabling the grassroots sport sector to deliver relevant, informal and non-formal learning opportunities for the inclusion of refugees to achieve wider societal benefits.
Key topics: Integration, sport, physical activity, refugees, challenges, barriers, solutions, principles, success factors, recommendations, tips and tricks, partnership, impact The last year has seen a huge and unprecedented influx of refugees and migrants into Europe. During 2015 more than a million asylum seekers and immigrants arrived in Europe. In the face of this crisis, governments have to date largely not succeeded in finding pan-European solutions, relying instead on national approaches. Refugees – and the unfortunate situations that made them refugees – are a reality. This is a reality we all need to deal with and act upon. Whether it is by undertaking actions that will help to minimise the number of refugees in the future, or by supporting civilians in areas of conflict, or assisting refugees in the countries they flee to – it is a human reality. A reality which demands a human solution. Depending on whether we represent political institutions or civil society, our roles and interventions will be different. But the task is the same - to give everyone the Human Right to MOVE. Many civil society organisations – not least sport organisations – have shown their human capacity by assisting refugees in finding just a little dignity, a little friendliness and a little happiness in their lives. To do this they acted quickly and have done it the way in which civil society is strongest. Simply by offering the refugees the same grassroots activities as they offer other citizens. This happens in thousands of places across Europe. It comes from the bottom up in local areas and is driven by volunteers. It is a fantastic symbol of the Human Right to MOVE being something we give to each other. The project Inclusion of Refugees through Sport had as its overall aim to strengthen the societal inclusion of refugees via the informal and non-formal learning opportunities sport and physical activities provide. With project we took a different approach by aiming to strengthen European cooperation in the field of adult learning to enhance inclusion of refugees at the level of civil society organisations. With IRTS project and its activities we have proof that interaction and informal learning can lead to an increase in Social, Intellectual, Financial, Physical, Emotional and Individual Capital for participants and learners. We have developed tools • good practice collection https://irts.isca.org/collection/ • a Grundtvig video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h10Fbmwcy4E • a toolkit https://irts.isca.org/implementation-guide/ • an online learning resource https://learn.isca.org/courses/irts/ for grassroots sport and non-sport organisation to use when engaging refugees in sport and physical activities. Organisations invite and help refugees to be physical active, acquire positive life skills, attitudes and values. They improve their language and communication skills, get a better understanding of cultural norms and codes of conduct and form a mutual respect for common rules and underlying values. Moreover sports organisations and their leaders enhanced leadership and organisational skills for important contributions to the learning, self-esteem and, ultimately, employability of the individual refugees involved. Partners and other participating organisations established and joined the web networking platform, and committed to the sustainability of the project with their active engagement and recruitment of new organisations to expand the network. All new organisations receive consulting and advice to exploit the project outputs even further, via MOVE Beyond project and new Network platform. ISCA, as the lead organisation, is committed to maintaining and updating the platform with new materials at least quarterly, as well as inviting further interested organisations as the network expands. ISCA is very experienced in maintaining such networks and resources and is currently doing so for five thematic networks. ISCA is also able to exploit other international projects and meetings, as well as its annual congress, to enable the network organisations to be in touch also physically with regular intervals ISCA will continue to promote and monitor the use of these tools as part of our ongoing dissemination efforts. The migration and inclusion agenda remains an important issue that requires effective cooperation between European countries, so we believe that we set an example that others can take up, follow and develop further in the future. Full report is here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/09neuohedafddmq/IRTS_Final%20Narrative_Report_October%202019.pdf?dl=0