Context/background: Europe has been facing numerous challenges caused by the "refugee crisis" that started in 2015. Common European values have been put to a test, right-wing parties have gained political points by demonizing the fleeing newcomers, and the media's been often spreading false and dangerous stories. The newest challenge, COVID-19, represents a whole new threat of long-term damage to human rights and refugee rights. "As countries battle to protect their populations and economies, fundamental norms of refugee and human rights law are at risk" (UNHCR). But, the migrations won't be stopped, they will just become even more challenging. In this critical situation, when newcomers will be perceived as a threat to public health/economy, the actions of NGOs have been more important than ever. The general objective of this strategic partnership is to create the conditions for the exchange of innovative good practices of partner organizations that will lead to enhancing the social inclusion process of migrants/refugees in their communities. The exchange of good practices will enable partner organizations to implement new knowledge/methodologies while raising awareness of inclusion-related issues in their communities and while working directly with migrants/refugees. Partner organizations will capacitate one another and as a result, undertake a more active role in the process of inclusion of newcomers locally. Specific objectives are (1) capacity building of partners; (2) exchanging specific theoretical & practical knowledge among participating organizations and (3) raising awareness of the local community about the difficulties/challenges newcomers face and influencing a broader audience to act towards building a more inclusive society (local communities, stakeholders, youth workers, volunteers in partner organizations) Number/profile of pax: 4 LTTs will be organized during the project, in which a total of 44 pax and 8 accompanying persons will participate. 16 of them will be experienced staff members (in 2 short-term joint staff training events) and 28 will be youngsters (in 2 blended mobility events). 12 more participants will take part in transnational meetings. In short-term joint staff training events, pax are experienced youth workers and trainers from partner organizations. In blended mobility, pax will be youngsters involved with sending organizations either as interns/volunteers/young employees, of which some with fewer opportunities. The following activities have been planned in the framework of this strategic partnership: - 2 transnational meetings (kick-off + closing) - 2 LTT, 4 days each - joint staff training events (C1 - training for staff about data-driven advocacy, FPA, evaluation of the effectiveness; C2 - training on deliberation methodology in the context of refugees/migrants) - 2 LTT - blended mobility of young people (C3, 5 days, “Youth leaders of change”, where young people will be empowered to take the role of change agents in their communities through improving their social and emotional skills; C4, 8 days, where young people will be introduced practical tools for raising awareness in their local communities when it comes to the refugees/immigrants). - 12 in-house training events for approx. 60 pax - After each LTT, pax from each partner will organize in-house training for 3-10 people, to transmit the information to their colleagues. - At least 4 spin-off events - After C4, each organization will get to choose one of the learned techniques/tools and implement an event based on it. During the activities, the NFE methods will be used, such as workshops, interactive presentations, learning by doing, etc. Especially during C3 and C4 teamwork/simulation games/role plays will also be used. Debriefing is an important part of every activity, as well as self-evaluation and evaluation in pairs or groups. The main results represent the impact made on partner organizations that will improve the efficiency of their work, enabling them to provide better quality and more diverse services to a higher number of their users. Participants in the activities will gain new valuable knowledge and improve skills/competencies. Youngsters participating will additionally improve their social and emotional competences and learn about different ways of taking action and creating change. The project will also impact migrants/refugees by giving them a voice, and therefore impacting also their local communities whose members will eventually change their attitudes as a result of different actions within the project. Longer-term benefits: The project offers a clear vision and plans about how partners can use newly learned methodologies/tools/techniques and contributes to their internationalization. After the project, partners are empowered in the long run for undertaking a more active role in their local community, while raising the quality of their work in the area of social inclusion and civic engagement.
These were the objectives defined in the time of application, and they remained the same till the end: 1- exchanging specific theoretical & practical knowledge among participating organisations. Each organisation shared their knowledge and methodologies they use in their work with migrants and refugees and in the prevention of social exclusion. Our methods are different, but efficient in translatable to other communities facing discrimination and exclusion of different groups. 2- improving the capacities of partners by improving the skills and competencies of their staff/volunteers. Planned LTTs included participants that are employed or volunteering in participating organisations. Each partner prepared a personalised activity where skills and competencies related to specific methodologies were improved. Participants afterward started using some/all of the learned methodologies in their daily work. 3- raising awareness of the local communities about the difficulties/challenges newcomers face and influencing a broader audience to act towards building a more inclusive society (local communities, stakeholders, youth workers, volunteers in partner organisations)
Ever since the humanitarian crises that started in 2015, the focus of Agora Aveiro shifted in the direction of human rights. At that time, we started implementing local initiatives to call attention to different issues when it comes to inclusion/discrimination and also, we were partners but also coordinators of numerous project KA1 on this topic. After gaining more experience around the topic, we felt we needed to learn more, and in a more structured and profound way, so a small scale partnership felt like right option for our needs at that time. We carefully organised a consortium in which every partner could learn something practical from each other and therefore improve their work. We applied for this project in 2020, in order to strengthen our organisations, widen our expertise and acquire new competences. As for Agora Aveiro, our main need was to get knowledge and practice on how to approach the topics in a more profound way than what we have been doing so far. Other partners needed to learn how to improve the involvement of local community in their projects, which Agora Aveiro has been doing successfully, but also to become more familiar with Erasmus+ and non-formal education methods in general.