"There are at least 23,000 unaccompanied child refugees stranded in squalid and unsafe Greek and Italian refugee camps. Camp life in “hotspots” is plagued by a lack of security safeguards, primary and secondary needs" Claude Moraes, chair of the European parliament’s justice and home affairs commitee. "Unaccompanied minors have been held for long periods in inappropriate conditions” (EU’s Court of Auditors, The Guardian, April 2017). CONTEXT The project starts from an analysis carried out by the consortium partners Itaka Training and Kairos Europe on the conditions of young refugees hosted in reception and accommodation centres where many youth workers operate. We define these places as "high pressure environments" according to common aspects: crowded; highly diverse users for age, nationality, gender, social origin and education; insufficient\low trained staff; low economic and material conditions. As confirmed by other researches (ex. Bačinskienė 2016) youth workers complain the lack of adequate time and budget and the need of training focusing both on the individual (how to make psycho-emotional assessment, to promote confidence etc.) and on the group (community building, conflict resolution etc.). They are crucial in promoting socialization, inclusion and inter-subjective skills crucial for refugees' future as European citizens.This project aims to collect best practices from all the partners' countries to provide youth workers with the right tools for their daily work, to acquire new skills fostering their success and future achievements. OBJECTIVES - to share best practices between organizations in Europe dealing refugees/migrants within reception and refugee centres. - to point out possible issues which could arise in high pressured environment and more closely within those individuals that are just arrived or are experiencing more problems integrating in the hosting society. - to develop guidelines for local and educational authorities for the possible measures to prevent conflicts, radicalization and marginalization dynamics thanks to template of activities included in the final toolkit; - training key youth figures working with young asylum seekers in intercultural learning and stimulate them to develop and adopt new techniques concerning inclusion of refugees taking into account psychological and cultural distress. - promoting multidisciplinary approaches in dealing with challenges in high pressured environments and empowering participants to work on competencies and tools for social change. - pointing out good and bad practices in the management of first arrival/first reception centres. - promoting the importance of EU values, democracy and citizenship - building bridges between companies, institutions and authorities disseminating the toolkit developed. - to promote conceptual tools for refugees, to think about identity and inclusion through the use of arts and multidisciplinary approaches. ACTIVITIES - Creation of the web site and social media profile of the project - Creation of a toolkit for youth workers, local authorities, community workers and volunteers - International training activity in a youth refugee centre,"Anemos Ananeosis" in Athens, Greece, to train a group of youth workers and actualise a pilot workshop in the form of a one-day role game for young refugees designed for high pressured environments with low budget. - Local and international dissemination activities of the toolkit to reach more youth workers practitioners and institutions in the field of migration. - Review and publication of the toolkit based on the feedback received METODOLOGY -Helping people to build the intercultural awareness and skills they need to succeed, with a focus on practical results. -Acquiring new skills and establish an informal cooperation network stretching beyond national borders; -Learn how groups can influence decision-making; -Develop a multidisciplinary and contextual attitude\approach towards practical involvement in activities and projects focusing on young asylum seekers and refugees; -Encourage exchange among partners individuating main topics and subjects through the partners’ expertise; -Increase knowledge of and insight into how contexts and group dynamics determines behaviours; -To provide practitioners with an accessible explanatory framework for how cultural identity impacts leadership/teaching/supervision style, teamwork, conflict perception, and problem-solving styles in cross-cultural communication. -To learn how games can become educational tools and wellbeing promoters. RESULTS, IMPACT AND LONG TERM BENEFITS To build up a network where different organisations working with the target group work together for: - sharing good practices with respect of the integration of new migrants - develop new pathways in order to find tools to face the challenges posed by the displacement of millions of people - train the target group on how to plan activities in difficult environments
Starting from sharing best practices and knowledge in youth workers training and support, the project aimed at implement activities and actions to develop and test a practical toolkit for their training and daily work. Also, training a group of youth workers on specific topics, individuated and implemented with the scope of fill fundamental gaps in the way they are induced and how operate. This project was based on direct feedback development method, to shape and build the final support material. Therefore we collected evaluations and contributions, highlighting barriers and dynamics and write our material accordingly. Importantly, we relied on multi-disciplinary method using arts to propose practical and zero budget solutions to assist youth workers in their job. Original Objectives and achieved results: 1) to share best practices between organizations in Europe dealing refugees/migrants within reception and refugee centres: -the toolkit it’s a collection of best practices of educational activities that can be carried out in reception centers and other contexts. -These were selected following the criteria of being cost effective and sustainable, easy to understand and explain regardless of language barriers, inter-age, inter-gender, safe and consistent with the target group and their backgrounds. More than 450 stakeholders were directly contacted by email and more were reached indirectly via socials. -Youth workers, educators and teachers were asked to fill a questionnaire and to give us a feedback and best practice suggestions. -Project managers also participated at best practices sharing events. Just to name a few: we met members of the UNHCR in Athens, sharing our best practices in terms of training activities during the public event on date 16\05\2019, receiving encouraging feedback; we exchanged best practices with the Red Cross, Nantes Roma, Sanità di Frontiera and the Italian Chamber of Commerce, during the local capacity building workshop in Rome organized by CIAPE on the 13 of February 2019. 2) Each partner had the occasion to discuss, within their main stakeholder networks, which are the main barriers in developing activities for refugees integration. The great deal of knowledge of the partners’ organizations themselves, contributed particularly to the exchange of different points of view. This process was at the base of our method to individuate main topics and give answers within the production of our final material. We also advocated for refugees and asylum seekers rights via our social media channels. Our Facebook page was indeed fundamental to pass to the wider public information regarding hosting facilities and refugees camps in Europe. Particularly in occasion of the most relevant facts around the issue and during the global health emergency of Covid19 Pandemic. 3) Thanks to the great number of stakeholders receiving our news and toolkit draft version, we could dialogue with teachers and educators to discuss integration methods and social cohesive activities with educational institutes. We shared our results on the SALTO platform and with those schools and institutes which are already part of the consortium main network. We also organized several local events in each country to test the toolkit and disseminate the project results. Just to name a few: Spanish partner had the chance to open a dialogue with the Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones, Consejo de la Juventud de España, Secretaría Confederal de Juventud de Comisiones Obreras, presenting our methodologies and toolkit material. The UK partner involved outstanding Univertities and Charities such as King’s college London; Oxford Brookes, Cardinal Hume centre, British Red cross. 3) 25 participants could follow training activities and local events for the transnational training in Athens from the 13 to the 17 of May 2019. They followed classes and activities on: Challenges in reception\recreational centres for young refugees and youth workers/volunteers: context assessment, analysis, group dynamics and conflict resolution; Trauma and wellbeing in refugee population, focus on youth; Art to develop a positive sense of the self, community and diversity (visual arts and theatre games); Designing games and educational activities for young asylum seekers; Interlanguage learning and intercultural communication. Several refugees could observe our training activities and participate at the final one day role game. They had the possibility to perform inclusive educational and recreational activities, re-think about their role in the hosting societies, address crucial and difficult topics in a safe environment. SUMMARY OF MAIN ACTIVITIES: - kickoff meeting, UK -Transnational training in Athens -Second TPM Italy -Local workshops all countries -Final TPM to evaluate the project and possible future activities, (initially Spain, then SKYPE) -Publishing of the toolkit on the project's website and platforms. -Dissemination