CRAFT FLOW: Refugee Empowerment through Craft&Entrepreneurship

Project summary

The implementation of CRAFT FLOW: REFUGEE EMPOWERMENT THROUGH CRAFT&ENTREPRENEURSHIP project is a craft&entrepreneurship start up programme, targeting in particular vulnerable social groups of young asylum seekers, immigrants, and refugees. The project will be a product of the cross sectoral cooperation and collaboration of the following three organisations: Terra Vera Association for Sustainable development (Kostanjevica na Krki, Slovenia), Craftspace (Birmingham, UK), and Institute for Conflict Transformation and Social Justice, Queen’s University (Belfast, Northern Ireland). One of the project’s main outputs will be a toolkit ‘From crafter to entrepreneur’, designed for members of vulnerable social groups. In this first phase for young migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, the toolkit will be divided into a series of chapters, each covering a series of important steps in the development of a craft-entrepreneurship initiative and the creation of an ethical marketing brand, from idea to the final product. This will aid the development of the requisite knowledge and competencies needed for the effective marketing of these ethical, sustainable crafts. The toolkit will result from expert reccommendations and the combined experiences of our partner organisations, as well as experiences garnered from working with the case study group in Slovenia. Individual chapters will be regularly tested on a group of 20 participants (refugees) and will therefore provide a non-formal learning programme. This will help participant’s strengthen their entrepreneurship skills and get first-hand experience of the cultural heritage of the local environment, as well as facilitating the development of an ethical marketing brand and cooperation with local artisans/ designers in order to create prototypes of handicraft products, bringing thus added value to the overall goals of the project. The testing programme will be carried out throughout the 10-months project in the form of a two dayworkshop taking place each month. We will also develop mentoring and peer support practices, emphasizing (most importantly) the role of psychological and social help to participating refugees. We will develop team building and group work capacities as well as skill building in the space of craft and entrepreneurship with the ability to link traditional technologies to contemporary design approaches. With the project we aim to introduce new, innovative ways of networking on all levels- both formally and in-formally, at local as well as international level. We will thus create a social network between participants (refugees) and local handcrafters, designers, instructors, potential employers and other stakeholders who can transfer their practical experience and know-how. We believe that the formation of networks and access to these spaces is as important as business training and technical assistance. Our aim is to contribute to the better integration of refugees into the European Union, providing expert knowledge of the necessary frameworks for social inclusion and promoting the benefits of their cultural contributions and creativity. In the project, we will set up an E-platform in both Slovene and English , which will be maintained after project completion as a free open source site. This will systematize and organise the non-formal learning material resulting from the project (Skillshare, Online toolkit, webinars, video material and the basis for the online shop where it will be possible to seel&buy products once the project is over).