Migration is a reality in today’s European Union (EU). Today, approximately 37 million persons born outside the EU reside in the EU, making around 7% of its total population , and further flows of migration will likely remain a feature of the 21st century. It is therefore imperative that effective policies for the integration of third-country immigrants are developed in the EU (Integration of immigrants in the European Union , 2017). Additionally this study is showing that Over half (57%) of respondents say that they would feel comfortable having any type of social relations with immigrants (manager, work colleague, neighbour, doctor, family member (including partner), friend), and 38% of Europeans think that immigration from outside the EU is more of a problem than an opportunity. A clear majority (69%) of respondents agree that fostering integration of immigrants is a necessary investment for their country in the long run, which means that new ways, solutions, and practices need to be introduced and implemented. On the other note, Just over half (51%) of respondents agree that the government of their country is doing enough to foster the integration of immigrants. It is evident that even though the migration flows in the European Union are decreased the challenges for the European Governments are to ensure proper and smooth inclusion of the migrants and refugees in the societies, and acceptance by the general population. The necessity to implemented measures and practices for social inclusion is more than needed and wider European cooperation and exchange of good practices can improve this situation. "Everywhere is home" is confident that the key for improving the social inclusion and acceptance of migrants/ refugees in the European societies is by identification and mapping of existing good practices by NGOs and public institutions, and offer new sets of measures, tools, and services that can be applied in the local contexts by NGOs and public institutions, thus improve the acceptance of migrants/refugees and improve the awareness of the general population towards this vulnerable group. The project will realize 1) focus groups to understand better the problems from the point of views of the refugees/migrants and from the point of view of NGOs working with them 2) different Joint Staff Training Events to give competences and skill to the partners' staff working with the target groups 3) creation of local networks of stakeholders that could cooperate together to offer better integration 4) organization of multicultural festivals s in the project countries to spread the "other" cultures 5) a guide containing good practices of integration (searched at international level) 6) many dissemination tools (newsletters, leaflet, web site, social networks, etc) 7) various project meetings to permit the partners to develop each project step and to exchange ideas/opinions during their realization. The project outcomes will be: - Conducted 50 interviews with refugees & migrants - Conducted 50 interviews with NGOs and other stakeholders working with/for refugees and migrants - 4 multicultural festivals for exploration of the culture, tradition, and food from migrants - 1 Guide of good practices for inclusion of migrants and refugees from 4 countries ( France, Germany, Luxembourg, Italy) 4 Transnational project meetings - 3 joint staff training to increase the capacities of staff of the consortium organizations
Through Everywhere Is Home, the European coalition we represented a strive to learn from a plethora of stakeholders working with migrants and refugees to act as a relay of the best practices currently implemented in the field. The many interviews conducted with stakeholders--such as nonprofit organizations or government agencies--and migrants themselves gave us a comprehensive picture of Europe's response to the Mediterranean refugee crisis. As intermediaries, we also strived to have refugees take ownership of their own voice through intercultural dialogs in the project's partner organizations' home countries to not only reach professionals of the field but the organizations' regular circle and, beyond that, individuals. We believe our project had a meaningful impact on all those with whom we interacted and will serve the European Community for months to come as we all continuously learn from each other.
The Everywhere Is Home project was inscribed within a need for more transparency, clarity, and outbound information in the human rights field working with migrants and asylum seekers. The issue is highly political in Europe, receives heightened media coverage, and contributes to sew discord among European peoples. Our project aimed to help stakeholders streamline their work and practices to gain efficiency by sharing their thoughts on the state of the field. Acts of dissemination helped us reach the general public as well as elected officials who may had not heard our partners' points of view. Besides this, we also empowered some migrants and refugees to rectify the narrative as to what their story is and should be considering the gravity of their decision, current treatment, and real hopes for the future.