Anyone that moves to a country with different cultures, traditions and practices from one’s own can be expected to undergo a significant adjustment period. Refugees accepted for resettlement often come straight out of refugee camps and have little if any knowledge of the societal and economic realities which await them. Like others who have left their homes and resettled in a foreign land, refugees may feel worried and frustrated as they adjust to life in the host country. This is especially evident for young refugees in transition to adulthood who can experience unsafe or problematic living conditions, non-access to schooling, years of insecurity with uncertain status, multiple moves, unemployment, social exclusion, and in the medium- and long-term maladaptation with respect to the cultural norms of the hosting country. BLEND IN aims to prepare and empower young refugees and migrants seeking a better life in a developed and safe community. The ultimate objective of the project is to facilitate the young refugees’ smooth integration in the countries of resettlement, prevent their social exclusion, inform on their rights and promote their autonomy, active citizenship and participation in social life and labour market.In order to assist young refugees settle into a new community, country and society and move towards independence and self-sufficiency, and at the same time enhance the role and efficiency of refugee integration workers, the BLEND IN project will develop a comprehensive orientation toolkit, packaged in a mobile application for Android devices, orienting newly resettled young refugees and migrants into the national social, cultural and economic realities of the receiving countries. The orientation toolkit that will be developed will include basic topics in Arabic, Pashto and English such as basic language use, living and housing conditions, access to mainstream services such as health and education, access to employment, community services, keeping and sharing your cultural identity, national laws, and their rights and responsibilities.The project will be implemented by a transnational multidisciplinary consortium of partners from Italy, Greece, Malta, Cyprus and the United Kingdom.
The main purpose of the BLEND-IN project was the realization of a multilingual orientation tool-kit, usable through a mobile application (APP), intended for young asylum seekers / refugees recently arrived in the country of hospitality. The APP should have contained information related to issues such as job search, access to services, regulations, etc. This, in order to facilitate their integration into the new community, support their empowerment e active citizenship. The project has reached this goal because it has actually implemented a mobile application, free downloadable for Android systems, intended for young asylum seekers and newly arrived refugees in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta - the countries represented by the partnership. The contents of the APP were selected by the partners through a preliminary activity of needs analysis (both through review of the literature that through the direct involvement of end users through interviews and focus groups, i whose results are condensed in the IO1), structured for digital use, translated and tested with the target group first of the final release of the APP. The tool is also accompanied by a manual that illustrates the potential uses from part of the sector operators, also realized through consultations with professionals and volunteers BUSINESS. The secondary objective of the project was to increase awareness among operators and stakeholders of the needs of specific guidance of the target group of young asylum seekers. Also in this case the objective can be considered achieved, as the dissemination activities - as a whole - have made it possible to achieve over 40,000 people and the feedback collected were extremely positive.