RefugeesIN Project intends to contribute to the challenges identified at Europe 2020 initiatives and the European Agenda for Adult Learning as well, where is stressed the need for more cohesive and inclusive EU societies. This was even more accentuate at ERASMUS+ programme with a clear focus on social cohesion and the integration of refugees/migrants into the EU societies, when we are living a humanitarian calamity of historic proportions with individuals facing complex and painful processes in their adaptive pathways to European societies. Education plays a crucial role in helping migrants/refugees settle in the new countries, being a part of the solution throughout the integration process. Aligned with this, RefugeesIN wants to make a breach into the negative social beliefs on refugees with undisputed film evidence made by and about the achievements of former refugees well included into EU societies where they live today, believing they can have a central modelling role for the newcomers inclusion. The ultimate goal of RefugeesIN is to offer an innovative cinema-based Pack to professional staff working with refugees use in their activity, to encourage intercultural dialogue, to combat discrimination against refugees and promote their social inclusion. Cinema will be used as a tool for breaching stereotypes and portraying actual and inspiring life stories of well-included former refugees and having a modelling role for the newcomers’ social inclusion.Engaging refugees/migrants people is the challenge and initiatives have been developed to try and do so. There social inclusion pathways can be facilitated not only through formal teaching but also through direct participatory activities in the adult learning providers and local communities. Citizenship education and social inclusion can be more effective if are reinforced by a supportive environment where are experienced values and principles of democratic and inclusive process in action.RefugeesIN is composed by interlinked activities resulting in the production of a Pack with resources and methodologies to be used mainly by adult educators and AE providers, staff and civil society organisations, proposing a new multicultural learning process mediated by cinema and filmmaking practice, focusing individual narratives of living experiences of social inclusion that have radically transformed their lives.Stimulating critical thinking, increase level of digital competence and media literacy, particularly in the use of the Internet and social media, greater understanding and responsiveness to social, ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity, are an essential part of the response to the current crisis and to develop resistance to all forms of discrimination and indoctrination.Participants in the RefugeesIN Course will produce their own short documentaries films, once the Course is also meant to build skills and competencies needed to engage in documentary film production. The European cinema that addresses social inclusion topics is also a major contributor to the project, fostering up discussions within multicultural groups, and having a language suitable for establishing links between refugees and local citizens.Partnership covers the main expertise and experience required for the success of the project, mobilising a team of highly skilled professionals, balanced between research and direct experience with the target audience and familiar with adult education, multicultural learning and movie-based learning. Well as active citizenship, social inclusion and refugee issues and technical and methodological research methods.RefugeesIN innovative approach includes an interactive website able to enrich and feed the project beyond its funding period. It will be open to the collaboration of all, where it will be possible to uploading new assets, illustrating refugees/migrants achievements on their efforts to survive and integrate into the European societies.The following results are expected: (1)Branding RefugeesIN through an easily identifiable and attractive image; (2) Brochure: real-life stories – from escape to belonging. Collection of 24 real-life successful inclusion stories of former migrants/refugees; (3) Film Catalogue, with films that portrays andillustrates successful stories (fictional and real) of migrants/refugees’ social inclusion. (4) Course Curriculum and Manual; (5) Guide introducing the RefugeesIN rational and approach for target audience and illustrating how to use flexibly the assets in the Pack; (6) an interactive Website, offering freely the RefugeesIN assets, enriched by other uploaded by external stakeholdersFinally, to point out that it is anticipated Conferences & Films Festivals in each of the partner countries, an important aspect for a wider strategy for the continuous exploitation of the Pack and website via an annual similar event, to be called " RefugeesINConference & Film Festival: Cinema for Social Inclusion
Context: Now that we are living through a humanitarian calamity of historic proportions with individuals facing complex and painful processes in their adaptive pathways to European societies, we believe films can and should more often convey successful stories of refugees’ social inclusion in their newly adopted homeland. But is it really so? Have the negative social beliefs surrounding refugees been replaced by those of social inclusion more in tune with developments in multicultural societies? Are the achievements of former well-included refugees into EU societies, where they live today, sufficiently or prominently displayed enough, highlighting a central modelling role, that newcomers’ can aspire to? Objectives: RefugeesIN stands for adult learning opportunities to social inclusion by critical analysis of European cinema and documentary film making on inspiring refugees' life stories. The purpose was to create an exploitable Pack of innovative and creative cinema-based assets for empowering, extending and developing adult educators (and social work staff) competencies, so that they are able to take an active stand against all forms of discrimination and racism, to meet the needs of adult learners (refugees/asylum seekers) from diverse backgrounds, to impart common fundamental values and to prevent and combat xenophobia, intolerance and promote their social inclusion. Cinema is used as a tool for breaching stereotypes and portraying actual and inspiring life stories of well-included former refugees and having a modelling role for the newcomers’ social inclusion. Partnership: six participating organisations, most with a joint history of cooperative work at European level, covering the expertise required and mobilising a team of highly skilled professionals on psychology, active citizenship, social inclusion and refugee issues, educational/training fields/ technical and methodological research methods. It was strengthened by a Greece partner, without experience in the ERAMUS+ programme, but with the unique expertise of a NGO exclusively dedicated to refugee issues and member of European Council on Refugees and Exiles /ECRE. The partners came from diverse geographical areas, socio-historical and cultural backgrounds, core business and type of organisations: Research-action, HR Consulting & Adult Learning Provider; Adult Education Agencies, Nationwide civil society organisation, a Faculty School of Film, Art & Creative Technologies and an NGO, expert in refugee issues. The Consortium was pooling together the required expertise in the financial, technical and scientific areas as well as in European experience to fulfil the objectives. Main activities: 1) Desk research - qualitative techniques on social inclusion and role modelling literature review and EU cinematography review, selecting paradigmatic feature-length films on refugees’ social inclusion; 2) Collecting, by interviews, social inclusion successful life stories of former refugees; 3) Testing the Course and Producing 12 short documentaries films, within cinema workshops, where multicultural teams (educators and refugees) shoot the films; 4) Creating a methodological Guide for the best use of the assets; 5) Editing and Packing the assets; 6) ensuring quality of the outputs; 6) promoting the outcomes by regular communication and involvement of the target audience and stakeholders in Project activities and dedicated events and 7) ensuring project visibility and sustainability. Results and impact: 1) the RefugeesIN brand image that established an identity and positive image of the project. The logo is an appealing and symbolic graphic mark aiding to promote instant public recognition of the name of the project and its main topic; 2) the RefugeesIN Package - with Brochure, Film Catalogue, Course (Curriculum and Manual) and Guide, in six languages PT; DE; IT; SL: EN; and EL, was widely promoted by all the partners, at different levels and by diversified means and channels. The short-term impact can be measured by the people reached by the valorisation activity undertaken during the life time of the project, being remarkable the total number achieved of 87.291 individuals / organisations, which almost doubled the result in the interim report of 44.000 and that is almost 12 times the foreseen number in the application (7.426). Longer-term benefits: after the project end, the impact will be measured by the number of users of the dedicated website, social media page and channels well as attendance of activities foreseen (RefugeesIN KA1 Course and yearly Conferences & Film Festivals) and the level of compliance and scope of the exploitation strategies established by each of the partners. At the moment there are already 19 organisations / professionals who declare that they are using / intend to use the package and the resources produced in their professional activity, so we can say that RefugeesIN is already being sustainable (see exploitation report).