Strengthening Employment and Education Skills for Integration – refugee, migrant and asylum seekers Erasmus Project

Project Title

Strengthening Employment and Education Skills for Integration – refugee, migrant and asylum seekers

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Integration of refugees; Recognition (non-formal and informal learning/credits); New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Socio-economic integration is essential for refugees and humanitarian migrants long term employment stability, community participation and ultimately happiness in their new societies. However, socio-economic integration is difficult to achieve for a refugee and humanitarian migrant coming to Europe. In order to achieve socio-economic integration, an individual has to more than access public services, or gain entry into the Labour Market.

The Strengthening Employment, Education and Employment Skills for Integration – refugee, migrant and asylum seekers (SEESI) project will establish the frameworks and curriculum to create a role that enables first language support on key concepts of the local labour market, economic, social and civil integration whilst transitioning the individual refugee to be able to effectively access and benefit from available host country services. Socio-economic integration is a long term and holistic process, incorporating a wide range of different elements, including: refugees and humanitarian migrants application process advice; general Information, Advice and Guidance on benefits, housing and local support services; skills and education development; employment support and community engagement. Without one element in place, not only will have the socio-economic integration process have failed for the individual but it could also result in long-term instability, community isolation and general lack of social participation on a range of levels for the individual. A key reason for this failure is ultimately the language barriers that exist for refugees throughout Europe.

The SEESI project’s main objective is to resolve a fault to the socio-economic integration process through mobilising a unique ‘Life(skills) before Language’ (LBL) approach to the language barrier that refugees and migrants experience upon arrival in Europe. Through developing the skill-sets of ‘in-community’ Support Workers, who are often the first contact point, refugees and migrants meet in their new host country, the SEESI project aims to revolutionize the socio-economic integration process throughout Europe. The SEESI project aims to design a unique training LBL framework and curriculum which will change Support Workers role from helpful members of refugees/migrants own community into a new dynamic job role, responsible for an essential progression route for new refugees/migrants entering Europe and the local community and ultimately the labour market.

The SEESI ‘in-community’ Support Worker, currently provides advice and guidance to refugees and migrants, in their mother tongue language, which often provides key information to these groups. Furthermore, official Refugee Support Workers, Employment Advisers, Counsellors, Integration Advisers, as well as local municipality staff depend greatly on the work Support Workers do especially in interpreting and language support. By developing the skill-set of the SEESI ‘in-community’ Support Worker, from basic advice to targeted socio-economic integration service, the role will become more formalised, increase skill-set and will be able to offer targeted support which will ultimately support refugees and migrants integration.
The SEESI ‘in-community’ Support Worker will develop training, mentoring and teaching skill-sets alongside their wider community support role, which will ensure that refugees and humanitarian migrants also have the opportunity to develop their skills, knowledge, and wider competences from day one of entering their new host countries. This alternative strategy, Life before Language, will result in refugees and humanitarian migrants gaining the Labour Market skills they require, while learning their host countries’ language on a parallel basis. Rather than the current format where a refugee and humanitarian migrant can only develop civic, social and labour market skills once they have gained a basic level of their host countries’ language. This revolutionary strategy offers a fast track approach of Refugee integration and all through the development of the Support Worker role through the SEESI project.

The SEESI project will achieve this through the creation of 6 innovative intellectual outputs designed to increase the Adult Education sector’s knowledge on integration issues, while formalising a unique training methodology aimed at developing the SEESI ‘in-community’ Support Worker creating the future dynamic Refugee Support Workers. Alongside a training curriculum, the SEESI project partners will create Community-based Train the Trainer manual and guidance, offering accessible guidelines on how to deliver the SEESI Support Worker training programmes to volunteers and staff, as well as launching the SEESI outputs on a digital learning platform. Finally a SEESI EU-level guide will be produced on the benefits of mobilisation the SEESI socio-economic integration strategy to revolutionise the future of European-level integration.

Project Website

http://euseesi.wordpress.com

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 418995,04 Eur

Project Coordinator

ASHLEY COMMUNITY & HOUSING LTD & Country: UK

Project Partners

• FRANCAIS POUR L’INSERTION SOCIALE ET PROFESSIONNELLE EN EUROPE
• STIFTELSEN KURSVERKSAMHETEN VID U-AUNIVERSITET
• DIMITRA EDUCATION & CONSULTING SA
• RINOVA LIMITED
• BALLYMUN JOB CENTRE CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY LIMITED