Stripped of choice, but given a voice! Erasmus Project

Project Title

Stripped of choice, but given a voice!

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 youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Integration of refugees; Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy)

Project Summary

Croatia, Greece and Italy have been strongly influenced by the ongoing migrant flows in the course of the last few years. It is no wonder than that organisations working with the refugees in those countries decided for a partnership to work together towards achieving a brighter present (and future) for our communities. The organisations are The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS – Croatia), Poli.Ana (Greece) and Associazione InCo – Molfetta (Italy). The idea for the project came about after our organisation’s youth workers participated in a seminar “Ethnicity and integration in multicultural Europe” and saw the potential for further collaboration. The organisation from Croatia saw how they can benefit from learning about specific youth work methods from more experienced partners in that field, whereas organisations from Greece and Italy saw the potential for expanding their knowledge and skills in working with the refugees. Partners thus got together and came up with what they wanted to achieve. The general objective of our project is to empower youth workers in their work with young refugees and to foster social inclusion of young refugees in the European society. As for the specific objectives they are as follows:
1. Detecting main challenges and needs in the integration process of young refugees considering different country experiences (Croatia, Greece and Italy)
2. Exchanging best practices and enhancing practitioner’s skills through mutual learning of youth workers working with young refugees
3. Raising the awareness of young refugees about the resources from the community that they can use for boosting their well-being
4. Empowering refugees for civic engagement and overcoming cultural and social gaps between countries of origin and receiving EU member states
5. Promotion of intercultural dialogue through mutual work and exchanging experiences among youth with different cultural background.
The participants included in the project were therefore youth workers and young refugees. Five youth workers were selected within each organisation among their staff or volunteers, whereas 30 refugees in total were selected from beneficiaries databases.
In order to assess the needs and perceived obstacles to integration focus groups were conducted with young refugees. After analyzing the data reports were written and youth work methods selected to be presented at a seminar for youth workers on effective methods in working with the refugee youth, held in Greece. Participants (15 youth workers) gather there to share best practices in working with young refugees. After the seminar, 2 youth workers from each organisation gathered again, this time in Croatia, for a training session with young refugees where, in addition to participating in the activities, they implemented the methods shared at the seminar. Parts of the training session were filmed in order to produce a short documentary/ promotion video about project and methods and tools used in gropu work with youth, that will serve in future as an educational tool for youth workers, but also for raising awareness about the challenges the refugee youth face in the process of integration. Participants engaged in different types of workshops, lectures and other forms of activities and finally evaluation was performed to assess the effects of the implemented methods. It was shown that knowledge connected to civic rights and civic engagement greatly increased and motivated refugee youth to became their own tools for better and more sucessful future. All that was done in order to produce a “Manual in working with young newcomers” containing summarized focus group (research) results and newly designed methods in working with the refugee youth. The next activity was open webinar for youth workers from different countries already working with or interested in working with refugee youth. The webinar was an new approach to disseminating project results and it was filmed to serve as an educational tool in future.Although webinar was ment to incloude al least 25 youth workers, situation with coronavirus made it more difficult so fewer participants attended. Lastly, there were conferences held in every organisation’s country in order to disseminate the project results. The results are:
1. manual in working with young newcomers
2. video in the form of a documentary/ promotional video filmed at the training session
3. open webinar for the dissemination of specific methods with youth workers
4. focus group report
5. exchanging the ideas and best practices in working with the refugee youth
6. improved skills and gained experience in self-motivation and self-empowerment (for the fostering of social inclusion and diversity)
7. conference report.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 62609 Eur

Project Coordinator

ISUSOVACKA SLUZBA ZA IZBJEGLICE & Country: HR

Project Partners

• Associazione InCo – Molfetta
• POLITISTIKI ANAZITISI LESVOU AMKE