SUPPORT ME – Supporting practitioners to train migrants in UE In the current context of the influx of migrants and refugees into the European Union, the desire to achieve the socio-professional inclusion of this precarious public is reaffirmed year after year by the various European countries. A better welcome, better support and the fight against discrimination are the main lines of action recommended. They require lifelong training for professionals and volunteers so that the knowledge of this public, its specificities and problems, the posture to adopt is as fine as possible and to offer quality support. Faced with the resurgence of migrant audiences in training activities, trainers and volunteers are asking for pedagogical tools, methods and good practices to better guide this polymorphous audience. This desire to strengthen skills was identified among trainers and volunteers during the previous DIME strategic partnership (2015-2018): "Develop a reference framework and training modules to promote the inclusion of migrants". Also, some of DIME's original partners in the Mediterranean region: the INSUP coordinator (Fr), AIFRISSS (Fr), K.S.D.E.O Edra (Gr) and the University of Huelva wanted to strengthen their cooperation by integrating new partners. They chose associations, an NGO and the approach of a North European country (Germany), with multidisciplinary skills (psychologists, sociologists, lawyers, trainers, researchers) and involved in the training and support of migrants: Andalucia Acoge (SP), Programma integra (IT), IASIS (GR), BUPNET (DE) to meet this demand. The new SUPPORT ME project proposes to build two major products: - A guide to collecting knowledge and good practices based on two axes: • Support trainers and volunteers in taking into account the specificities of the migrant public in the facilitation of training (adoption of an appropriate professional posture and acquisition of knowledge essential to achieving educational objectives: knowledge of migration phenomena, managing the group's cultural diversity, understanding and taking into account traumas, in particular. • Develop the contents of DIME's 3 modules of intercultural competence: "Revisit your migration path", "Recognize diversity", "Develop a collective project" and the associated pedagogical exercises, the animation of this theme being considered complex and sensitive. -A pedagogical method enabling trainers/volunteers to identify the significant transversal skills acquired by migrants in their country of origin and/or their migration path and to value them to promote their professional inclusion. Migrants need to be guided in this identification and to be aware that these transversal skills can be mobilised from one sector to another. The expected results are multiple: -A better understanding by trainers/volunteers of the migrant public outside the European Union and the need to understand the problems encountered in their entirety -Strengthening the quality of interventions by adopting an appropriate professional posture, disseminating good practices and acquiring specific knowledge to train and support the migrant public and adapt, where necessary, to sensitive situations by making recommendations -A better awareness of pedagogical teams and volunteers to identify and promote migrants' skills, mainly transversal skills -An increase in the skills of trainers / volunteers by the possibility of broadening their field of intervention to interculturality through the provision of educational content and exercises -Harmonisation of the practices of trainers / volunteers towards the migrant public at European level -Sharing of expertise and knowledge between disciplines -The acquisition of operating methods that can be transferred to other actions for disadvantaged groups -The promotion of innovative training and facilitation methods -The availability of DIME tools to a wider audience and facilitated appropriation The vast local, national and European networks of the 8 partners will have a multiplier effect on the dissemination of deliverables.
The main objective of this Support Me project is to support trainers and volunteers in taking into account the specificities of the migrant public in the delivery of training. It aims to: - a reflexive work on the acquisition of specific knowledge, the adoption of an adequate professional posture taking into account the vulnerability and fragility of the beneficiaries and the intercultural issue (by better understanding the way in which culture shapes behaviour and perceptions for example) to avoid bias and misunderstandings. -taking into account peripheral problems encountered by migrants, barriers, to encourage their engagement in training - the implementation of the three DIME modules of the "intercultural skills" block, which trainers and volunteers find complex -better identification of migrants' transversal skills acquired in their country of origin and/or their migratory journey. Experience in the field shows that cross-cutting / transversal skills are often more complex to identify than technical skills, given the difficulty the public has in expressing them, yet their enhancement is essential for successful social and professional integration.
In the current context of the influx of migrants and refugees into the European Union, the Member States have reaffirmed year after year their desire to achieve the socio-professional inclusion of this vulnerable group (Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021-2027). Better reception, better support and the fight against discrimination are the recommended areas of effort. This requires lifelong training for professionals and volunteers to ensure that they have the best possible knowledge of this group, its specific characteristics and problems, and the attitude to adopt, in order to provide quality support. Faced with the increase in the number of migrants in training activities, trainers and volunteers are asking for pedagogical tools, methods and good practices to better guide this group, particularly with regard to the development of transversal skills that are essential to facilitate inclusion in host countries. This desire to strengthen skills was identified by the partners among trainers and volunteers during the DIME strategic partnership (2015-2018), but was also constantly observed on the ground in their organisations and networks.