UPGRADE project consists in extending and developing the competences of low skilled migrant populations and educators/ professionals working in organisations, providing support to them, in order to assist them in the long-run in promoting a new dynamic training material for up-skilling low qualified adult refugees/migrants(linguisting support, soft and sector skills etc) resulting to access to job opportunities in the host country and to re-skill educators who work with refugees/migrants through a multicultural capacity building methodology. Migrants are a crucial topic for EU Agenda as various strategies were put in place to look for complementary solutions to manage the issue of rising migration influx. The project is grounded on EU Partnership for integration (2017) with specific measures responds to integration needs of migrants’ groups. This will be done via following outcomes: - Capacity Building Training Course - ReSupportMI e-tool Capacity Building (online guidance space for migrants and communication tool among professionals working with this specific target group) - Multicultural and Skills assessment Tools for professionals working with migrants The project has been designed based on the partners’ experience and understanding of professionals working with migrants needs and refugees/migrants learners. The project will bring together 6 partners from 4 different countries wishing to promote citizenship and the common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination, strengthening social cohesion and helping people become responsible, open-minded and active members of our diverse and inclusive society by enriching adult educators’ intercultural competences. This project will also include four transnational project meetings that will contribute to the preparation, implementation and evaluation phase of the project as well as one joint staff training event for the staff of the participating organisations so as to be able to inform the target group during the multiplier events and the pilot testing. All the information gathered through this project and the promotion of the project itself will then be uploaded on the ReSupportMi e-tool. The total number of people, who will benefit (directy or indirectly) from or will be targeted through the project activities (Capacity Building Training Course, Methodology and ReSupportMI e-tool, Multiplier Events) during its duration, is moderately estimated at approximately 2500. The project's expected results are the following: o Increase the quality of services offered to refugees/migrants in the future; o Fostering the integration process and refugees/ migrants’ economic participation in society; o Improved levels of skills awareness for employability of refugees/ migrants; o Enhancing civic orientation and active citizenship of refugees/migrants o Increasing opportunities for refugees/migrants for professional development; o Creating links between the host society and m refugees/migrants' communities; o Development of competences in dealing with inter-cultural conflicts; o promoting an awareness of the importance of cultural diversity in Europe; o promoting understanding of cultural backgrounds and providing reflection in order to increase tolerance and to reduce prejudices and xenophobia. The UPGRADE project is expected to have an overall significant impact on participants (refugees/ migrants, professionals working with migrants) competences and multicultural mindsets, based on their dealing with migrants / refugees: o Fostering the integration process and migrants’ economic participation in society; o Enhancing social inclusion via cross-cultural acceptance, improved understanding of multicultural environments and diversity concepts; o Improved levels of skills awareness for employability on behalf of refugees/ migrants; o Enhancing civic orientation and active citizenship of refugees/migrants; o Creating links between the host society and refugees/ migrants communities. Impact on local community: o Strengthening the role of host communities in the personal and professional development of refugees/ migrants; o Developing the sense of respect and tolerance, and combating towards different nations and cultures; o Development of competences in dealing with intercultural conflicts; Impact at national and EU level: o Intensified sensitisation of policy makers and relevant stakeholders (centralised and decentralised) to further extend and develop migrants and educators' competences through the support non-formal and informal learning; The project’s innovation and added value lies in the very fact that it does not merely seek to train trainers and refugees/migrants. The project goes beyond the training scheme as it incorporates the promotion of EU cultural diversity, access in OLS (Linguistic Support Tool) and the utility of EU Skills Profile Tool.
UPGRADE project consists in extending and developing the competencies of low skilled migrant populations and educators/ professionals working in organizations, providing support to them, in order to assist them in the long run in promoting a new dynamic training material for up-skilling low qualified adult refugees/migrants(linguistic support, soft and sector skills etc) resulting to access to job opportunities in the host country and to re-skill educators who work with refugees/migrants through a multicultural capacity-building methodology. This was done via the following outcomes: -Capacity Building Training Course -ReSupportMI e-tool Capacity Building (online guidance space for migrants and communication tool among professionals working with this specific target group) -Multicultural and Skills assessment Tools for professionals working with migrants The project has been designed based on the partners’ experience and understanding of professionals working with migrants needs and refugees/migrants learners. The project brought together 6 partners from 4 different countries wishing to promote citizenship and the common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination, strengthening social cohesion and helping people become responsible, open-minded and active members of our diverse and inclusive society by enriching adult educators’ intercultural competences. This project included four transnational project meetings that contributed to the preparation, implementation and evaluation phase of the project as well as one joint staff training event for the staff of the participating organizations so as to be able to inform the target group during the multiplier events and the pilot testing. The project developed several deliverables in addition to the Intellectual Outputs, Multiplier Events and Learning/Training/Teaching Activities. Specifically: 1.Work Plan https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1edsSMgqGcMJbu5e2_9L0MITLtF4OokuT 2.Quality Assurance Strategy drive.google.com/drive/folders/1edsSMgqGcMJbu5e2_9L0MITLtF4OokuT 3.Dissemination Strategy drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YGMW_9GQ9_986du0HmRHgNJjYHCaYtze 4.Final Dissemination Report with annexes drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YGMW_9GQ9_986du0HmRHgNJjYHCaYtze 5.Four Newsletters drive.google.com/drive/folders/1m3VEdOB1Q77Y-E97E6Lzqz9qtRpj0MrB 6.Informative printed material drive.google.com/drive/folders/19QOee0LARgLY8Le2PLWVn-o7cRccktSL 7.Website upgrade-erasmus.eu/ 10.Social Media pages: www.facebook.com/upgrade.eu/?ref=pages_you_manage twitter.com/Interna09380888 www.instagram.com/project_upgrade_erasmus Based on the deliverables the project's results are the following: -Increased the quality of services offered to refugees/migrants -Fostered the integration process and refugees/ migrants’ economic and social participation in society -Improved levels of skills awareness for employability of refugees/ migrants -Enhanced civic orientation and active citizenship of refugees/migrants -Increased opportunities for refugees/migrants for professional development -Created links between the host society and refugees/migrants' communities -Developed competencies in dealing with intercultural conflicts -Promoted awareness of the importance of cultural diversity in Europe -Promoted understanding of cultural backgrounds and providing reflection in order to increase tolerance and to reduce prejudices and xenophobia. The UPGRADE project had an overall significant impact on participants (refugees/ migrants, professionals working with migrants) competencies and multicultural mindsets, based on their dealing with migrants/refugees: -Fostered the integration process and migrants’ economic participation in society; -Enhanced social inclusion via cross-cultural acceptance, improved understanding of multicultural environments and diversity concepts -Improved levels of skills awareness for employability on behalf of refugees/ migrants -Enhanced civic orientation and active citizenship of refugees/migrants -Created links between the host society and refugees/ migrants communities. Impact on the local community: -Strengthened the role of host communities in the personal and professional development of refugees/ migrants -Development of competencies in dealing with intercultural conflicts Impact at national and EU level: Intensified sensitization of policymakers and relevant stakeholders (centralized and decentralized) to further extend and develop migrants and educators' competencies through the support of non-formal and informal learning The project’s innovation and added value lied in the very fact that it does not merely seek to train trainers and refugees/migrants. The project went beyond the training scheme as it incorporated the promotion of EU cultural diversity, access in OLS and the utility of the EU Skills Profile Tool.