BACKGROUND: March 2016 and Greece is living scenes taken from a horror movie. FYROM two weeks ago shut Idomeni border to all refugees, more than 13,000 people are stuck there, forced to live in filthy makeshift settlements. The route may be shut off, but the arrivals, sometimes hundreds every day, have not stopped. Greece, a country already feeling financial strain, is slowly becoming a huge refugee camp, with the refugees suffering. 46,207 refugees and migrants are currently in Greece (Ministry of Immigration Policy). Immigrants are essential partners in our quest to enhance prosperity and living standards and there are mutual benefits to be gained from successfully tackling the challenge of their integration. There must be a shared acknowledgement, however, that integration is not always an easy task, and that effective solutions require more than just good policy – but also good governance. Preparatory measures have been realized for immigrants but no measures have been taken from the public employees’ point of view. OBJECTIVES: Our project focuses on the intercultural training of 100 municipality employees in various sectors in order to acquire the skills and knowledge they need to perform to the highest standards and serve the immigrants equally, according to their needs. The project aims to create two models integrated within an online system allowing the target audience to interact and learn. The Impact Circular Model - training and iterative service provision and the Circular Cycle Mentoring Model creating multiplier eMentors allowing grass-root level interaction, addressed to all TG. Integrated with a pilot testing followed by job shadowing, dissemination events and actions, the project will end with a learning activity to promote uptake of the models and system, thus, reach the needs addressing. PARTICIPANTS: Municipality employees, public officials, NGOs, social enterprises and educational providers etc are targeted by Q-SER and we estimate that during the project’s lifecycle, approximately 11000 persons and organisations will be reached, through a comprehensive strategy using diverse channels to reach all levels involved. ACTIVITIES: Diverse activities are envisaged ranging from the initial needs analysis, the design and development of the two models, of the Q-SER system and the underlining pedagogical approach (inclusive education, interactivity, decision based), with a bottom-up approach while in parallel integrating higher level interaction and input. A key element is the dissemination strategy where the plan developed will dictate partner activities and actions. 4 Multiplier events, seminars, 3 webinars and 1 learning activity will be organized as part of the effort to involve target group members, with specific channels and methods for their selection and promotion. METHODOLOGY: A clear project methodology with tasks, activities, time plan and milestones is designed to allow: a. implementation of tasks according to plan and quality criteria, b. target group involvement and input, c. promotion and raising awareness, d. an underlying inclusive approach traceable to all activities, e. reporting and meetings to discuss, f. sustainability actions and transferability possibilities of results. IMPACT / RESULTS: As long term impact we expect: a. increase of public administration officials for lifelong learning programmes, skills update – continuous training of culture into the working environment of public organizations. b. increase of cooperation models through the educational process, necessary for the management of completed issues and special groups, c. increased interactions with diverse groups within one’s environment thus, promoting equal opportunities, wellbeing, democratic value, proactive approach, active participation, d. practical examples to stakeholders and educational providers on applying EU policies and priorities, and many more. e. promotion of equality and tolerance to differences through the intercultural education. f. improvement of the employees’ work performance. g. provision of motivation for the research of ways for improvement / development of the working methods. The main results -Q-SER system and the two models- can further be transferred to other specialized target audiences, scientists working with special groups i.e. nurses, social workers, psychologists etc. Achieving this, requires leadership and commitment at many levels, from classrooms to political representatives. The goal and challenge is to allow cross-sector cooperation and change that can have a significant and sustainable impact on national and EU priorities. The project will work at multiple levels & cross sector, towards a future in which awareness raising among public employees on the concepts of migration and on the dynamics of integration as well as improve their intercultural competences in order to increase the quality of public services offered to Third Country Nationals (TCNs) in Greece.
Background: The integration of immigrants - refugees is not just a national goal-challenge, but it evaluates the readiness, tolerance and resistance of local communities. Q-SER has been developed in order to contribute to the current policy debate on the integration of immigrants in Greece and Spain. The project focuses on the intercultural training of 200 municipality employees in the fields of social services, citizen service centers, education, employment, medical care and assistance for the family and administration in order to acquire the skills and knowledge they need to perform to the highest standards and serve the immigrants - refugees equally and effectively, according to their needs. Objectives: The general scope of the project is to minimize the risk of failure and enhance both the individual's and the organization's chances of success in a widely international environment. The training elaborated through the Q-SER e-platform involving 2 models, namely, the Circular Cycle of Mentoring Model (CCMM) and the Circular Impact Model (CIM) integrating inclusive education methods, providing work methods & tools to target public servants to receive newcomers. The CCMM/CIM allowed people working in the municipalities to work together and be trained using modern ICT tools, workshops, gamifications and non-formal methodologies. Participants: Public officials, NGOs, social enterprises, educational providers etc are targeted by Q-SER project. Approximately 20.000 persons and organisations reached, through a comprehensive strategy using diverse channels to reach all levels involved. The indirect beneficiaries of Q-SER are the immigrants and refugees and the organisations that operate based on integration procedure. Using CCMM/CIM and e-platform, the above TGs were empowered and received the results of this intercultural education of the employees. Activities: A need analysis has been conducted in each partner country, in order to discover the needs of the target group that should be addressed. The participants from all countries are satisfied with the quality of the services offered to immigrants/refugees. About 1/3 indicated moderate satisfaction, which diminishes the scope for improvement. 19 seminars, 12 workshops and 4 multiplier events organized during the project in order to test the e-platform & CCMM/CIM, specific case studies for integration and support of immigrants, good practices, advantages and statistics, problems and possible solutions about immigration in Europe. After the implementation of e-platform and CCMM/CIM the users evaluated positively the training material and the educational e-platform. The group of employees who participated in CCMM/CIM came from nurseries, social and administrative services both form Greece and Spain and they had the opportunity to acquire further knowledge and skills in migration issues. The learning activity carried out and all assignments completed successfully even though it was online. Informal meetings between the partners and the stake-holders have taken place through the regular partners’ everyday activities, in order to inform about the project, create awareness to the target group and invite them to participate into the pilots, the social media etc. Methodology: The partners managed to develop a successful methodology based on their expertise. The user need analysis was based on the result of interviews. Findings derived from the analysis were considered in order to start creating the e-platform and CCMM/CIM. The evaluation & assessment of the system was designed for collecting and assessing the selected users’ feedback concerning the usability, reliability, acceptability of the project services and the data was recorded in the users' satisfaction analysis. Dissemination and use of project’s results support measures carried out provided a significant input to the exploita-tion of the project. Impact/results: Locally, the project enhanced municipality employees, local authorities through active partic-ipation of all employees, enhanced cooperation and teamwork, created more democratic, open environ-ments and contexts of equality. Through the collaboration of MOE with KEDE, more than 3 municipalities are interested in using the Q-SER results on a national level. University of West Attica is interested in using the Q-SER results as supportive material in lecturers and workshops. Nationally, the project has worked at multiple levels & cross sector, towards a future in which awareness raising among public servants on the concepts of migration and on the dynamics of integration. Non-formal training activities have been introduced to trainers to use, introducing inclusive educational approaches and finally, an ICT tool designed to be used by local authorities’ employees. The project results will increase capacity in integration policies in European and international level.