As a result of the European Relocation and Resettlement Program, most of European countries are now hosting a larger number of refugees and asylum seekers than before, and are therefore developing hosting and integration programs, with the main goal of promoting their full inclusion. The Refu’In is an international partnership that aims to identify and disseminate good practices on the intervention and inclusion of refugees in their host countries. The good practices found in the different participant countries will result in a Training kit, designed in an innovative way, allowing any entity to train their technicians and therefore improve their intervention strategies with asylum seekers and refugees. The project involves many different stakeholders in all of its activities: questionnaires that will gather the perspectives of field workers, asylum seekers and refugees, and other relevant technicians in every participating country; focus groups providing insights into how people think and a deeper understanding of the work towards the inclusion of refugees; national forums with external partners and relevant stakeholders, to share preliminary results and receive inputs through working groups; one international conference including a Training kit kickoff session. The Training kit will be available for any interested entity, allowing, on a longer term, the dissemination of the good practices found and therefore improving the quality of the services provided to the asylum seekers and refugees in Europe, and ultimately reaching a better inclusion.
With the development of this project, we aimed to promote the dissemination and implementation of projects considered good practices in the reception and inclusion of asylum seekers and refugees. Specifically, the general objectives of the project were: - To promote a positive inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers in their European host countries; - To find and share innovative good practices identified between the project’s partners in order to improve the service in the inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers; - To raise awareness and advocate towards an adapted social inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers. The specific objectives of the Project were: - To identify innovative good practices in each country involved, through the carry out of questionnaires, the conduction of focus groups and the organization of national forums; - To disseminate the innovative good practices identified, through media networks, an international conference, and a Toolkit; - To carry out training on innovative good practices, directed to professionals who work for the inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers.
From CRESCER's experience, we found several gaps, at the national and European level, in the provision of more and better responses aimed at the reception and inclusion of asylum seekers and refugees. Therefore, it was necessary to identify what already existed, understand which responses could be considered good practices, and, finally, promote their dissemination, especially among professionals in this area, in order to promote the replication of these good practices. In the Bulgarian context, there was a great need for advocacy and capacity building for refugee inclusion and integration, with a focus on transferring proven good practices, as there is no targeted program for refugee integration in the country. Sweden is one of the European countries that has welcomed more refugees in recent years. Due to the situation, building capacity for people working in the field of refugee inclusion was needed. Italy is one of the main destination countries in the Mediterranean area, so we are called to welcome many asylum seekers and holders of international protection. For this reason, third sector organizations need to improve their knowledge and skills, to promote effective initiatives for the full integration of those target groups.