Over the last year, Europe faces a severe refugee and migration crisis. As a result, an unpresented number of migrants and refugees move towards various EU countries in order to seek asylum and international protection. Arguably, migrants and refugees populations are going to be an integrated part of European societies in the near future. Therefore, needs arise, as far as required skills from people who work with migrant and refugee groups, in order to be able to effectively deal with ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity. Taking all the above issues into consideration, the @MigrationSpotlight project seeks to cultivate refugee and migrant workers’ (i.e. counselors, civil servants, social workers, psychologists, doctors, NGO officials, charity volunteers, etc.) intercultural competence so that they can effectively address ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity. For the purposes of the project, the consortium will carry out state of the art and needs analysis of migrant and refugee workers in effectively managing intercultural communication. According to these reports, the consortium will collaboratively set the objectives for the development of activities for intercultural competence among migrant and refugee workers. The objectives will be divided in four pools, which entail the four dimensions on intercultural competence, namely: (1) (Inter)cultural knowledge; (2) Interpersonal Skills; (3) Team Effectiveness; (4) Cultural Empathy. According to these objectives, the consortium will develop, localise, and tranaslate in the consortium languages pertinent activities that will also be divided in the four aforementioned pools. Each partner of the consortium will develop three activities for each pool. sustain social inclusion. The project implementation is divided into various phases and work packages: Phase (1): Management and Coordination – WP1 Phase (2): Development of the project outputs - 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th WPs Phase (3): Pilot testing of the project outputs and their fine-tuning – WP8 Phases 2&3 include the direct activities leading to the project outputs; Phase (4): Promotion, dissemination and exploitation activities – WP9 Phase (5): Quality control, Monitoring and Evaluation – WP10 Five main intellectual outputs will be developed: O1: Research Report O2: Train-the-trainer Package O3: Teacher’s Training Programme Ο4: Guideline for Intercultural Mentoring and interactive tool Ο5: Online Platform to host collaborative virtual environments @MigrationSpotlight project will involve the development and usage of ICT technologies (Online Platform to host collaborative virtual environments) as well as formal and non-formal methods of delivery. These innovative tools and learning approaches, will be user-friendly, developed and adjusted according to the specific target group needs. Furthermore, they will be appropriate for usage and exploitation, both in terms of content as well as design, including the relevant guides and support methodologies. The online platform will allow the interaction and communication among the target group members, from all partner countries and not only, so as to exchange opinions and experiences, providing in this way the desired added value and cooperation among the EU countries and citizens. The expected impact on the target groups could be analysed in the short-term and long-term perspectives: - Improving the teaching, learning, intercultural competences of the social workers, who will participate in project based on project’s innovative material and support methodology; - Fostering and developing the skills of teachers in relation to social inclusion ; - Supporting the teachers/workers, by providing them clear guidance and information, through the development of project outputs, achieving in this way the desired costs reduction (operational, human and other) as well as efficiency in terms of the time period needed for the realisation of these essential procedures; - Increasing the availability of tools for assessing, refining, and developing teachers’ competences, ensuring in this way the effective sustainability of the products delivered to them; Information about the EU support accompanied by the logo of EU will be visible on all project products and promotion & disse-mination materials used during the project implementation and beyond of its duration too. The partnership for the proposed project consists of 5 organizations, coming from 5 EU countries (EL, CY, AU, BUL and BE) representing schools, education and training providers, companies and institutions. The project results will be available in English, Greek, Bulgarian, German and Flemish languages.
In recent years, tens of thousands of migrants and refugees have sought asylum and international protection in EU countries. They want to become an integrated part of European society, and this poses new challenges for the people who work with them. In order to be able to deal effectively with ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity, professionals need new skills and competencies. In the context of the general rules of the European Community for dealing with migration, the @MigrationSpotlight project has developed and implemented training modules, activities and materials for those working with refugees and migrants - social workers, educators, psychologists, doctors, NGOs and charities. The aim is for them to be sufficiently prepared to work in culturally diverse environments and in a multilingual environment, through targeted knowledge of cultural identities to be able to effectively achieve intercultural interaction. The created training methodologies are based on the creative approach; the project changes the philosophy of training of workers with migrants and refugees, which directly affects the integration of migrants in European society. The project is implemented by five partner organizations: Center for Jewish-Bulgarian Cooperation Alef - Bulgaria, FERDINAND PORSCHE FERN FACHHOCHSCHULE GMBH - Austria, UC LIMBURG - Belgium, EDEX - EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE CORPORATION LIMITED - Cyprus, EPIMELITIRIO CHALKIDIKI - Greece. To achieve the objectives, the partners carried out a number of research activities - surveys, field studies, analyzes of existing training programs, identified needs and prepared reports outlining how intercultural competence activities should be developed. Four basic pools were identified, on which all activities and programs developed in the project are based: (1) Intercultural knowledge, (2) Interpersonal skills; (3) Team efficiency; (4) Cultural empathy. 5 main products have been developed: 1. Research report - published on the project website - http://atmigrationspotlight.openedict.eu/ 2. „Train the Trainer” Program - 4 theoretical models and 60 practical exercises based on culture and different arts. It is published in a booklet in five languages - English, Bulgarian, Greek, Flemish and German. It is available on the project website. 3. Guidelines for intercultural mentoring and an interactive tool - designed to shift learning policy and practice from "advice and guidance" to "learning conversations". 4. Online platform for hosting shared virtual environments - an interactive tool in which 50 mentors and mentees can communicate simultaneously, individually and in groups, exchange views, information and support materials, plan and conduct online meetings, which was especially necessary during the restrictions of COVID-19 - http://104.248.203.74/ The products developed under the project were tested in different types of activities: 1. Multiplayer events - in Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus and Austria in the presence of nearly 120 participants 2. Online mentoring procedure - lasted two months with the participation of mentors and mentees from the five partner countries 3. Two-day online training, based on the "Train the trainer" program, mentoring procedure and guidelines for using the online platform with the participation of specialists from Bulgaria, Greece, Austria, Belgium and Cyprus. Feedback was received from the users of the products, on the basis of which they were improved and adapted according to the educational needs. All project results are available in English, Greek, Bulgarian, German and Flemish on the project website, its Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/MigrationSpotlight-2324742070895688/ or through the printed editions - booklet, leaflets and etc. The project has had an impact on all levels of European space - local, regional, international. The main target groups manage to apply the developed practices and strategies and to upgrade their intercultural competencies, which helps them to successfully deal with the cultural, religious and linguistic diversity of refugee groups. The availability of materials and the completion of the project help to create a learning environment that meets the needs of all migrants and refugees. The project also has an impact on migrants and refugees themselves, promoting their equal treatment and inclusion.