Building resilience and enhancing the intercultural competencies of refugees and asylum seekers through theatre techniques Erasmus Project

Project Title

Building resilience and enhancing the intercultural competencies of refugees and asylum seekers through theatre techniques

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: Post-conflict/post-disaster rehabilitation; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Integration of refugees

Project Summary

Near 1.5 million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe in the last three years, sparking a crisis as countries struggled to cope with the influx, and creating division in the EU over how best to deal with resettling people. From 2016, EU countries offered asylum to near 500 thousand refugees. In the same year, more than a million migrants applied for asylum. Turkey is currently hosting more than 3 million registered refugees and is providing important assistance, in particular inside the camps, but up to 90% of these people are living outside camps. While the response has been primarily humanitarian, the nature and the scale of the crisis mean that refugees are likely to stay for a longer period. This requires rethinking assistance and increasingly focusing on integration and coexistence between host communities and the refugees.

The European Commission has remarked that Adult learning is crucial for migrants, as they may require different skills from those that they used in their countries of origin for their new careers. It can also help equip people working with migrants with intercultural awareness and competences, easing the integration process for everyone involved.

Nevertheless, the participation of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in adult education is particularly low. The insufficient knowledge of the local language and a lack of intercultural competencies are important factors but mental health problems associated with migration processes are, in many cases, the real cause behind the low participation in adult education of migrants, in general, and refugees and asylum seekers in particular.

One successful methodology that has proved for decades its effectiveness addressing the social and psychological effects associated with social vulnerability is the Theatre of the Oppressed. Based on the methodologies developed by A.Boal and P.Freire, this education method has proved to be a powerful tool to build resilience, that is, the ability of an individual, community or country to cope, adapt and quickly recover from stress and shocks caused by a disaster, violence or conflict.

Go Up project was aimed to boost the participation of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in adult education supporting teachers, educators and counsellors with tailor made innovative methodologies and tools designed to build resilience and enhance intercultural competencies through theatre techniques.

To do so, six partner organizations (Adult and VET providers, NGOs and social and cultural partners) from six countries (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Turkey) have worked together to:
a) Design and implement an exhaustive compilation of innovative practices, projects, policies, methodologies, pedagogical approaches, resources and tools in Intercultural and Inclusive Theatre, for adult learning professionals, final beneficiaries and public in general at European and international level. (IO1 Online Digital Database)
b) Support the professional development of adult teachers, trainers and counsellor through the development of an innovative ECVET curriculum for the assessment, validation and recognition of Intercultural and Inclusive Theatre learning outcomes. (IO2 ECVET Training Curriculum)
c) Elaborate useful resources to disseminate better understanding of different and innovative methodological approaches on the use of theatre techniques to support the intercultural integration of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. (IO3 Go Up Pedagogical Handbook)
d) Design practical and useful activities, based on the Go Up project innovative pedagogical approach, to support adult teachers, trainers and counsellors for the real implementation of innovative theatre methods to help refuges, asylum seekers and migrants to build resilience and enhance intercultural competences through theatre techniques. (IO4 Go Up Professional Toolbox)

The main target users of the project products have been adult teachers, trainers, tutors and counsellors. Final beneficiaries have been refugees, asylums seekers and migrants.
During the life time of Go Up project, the partnership has directly involved 86 adult teachers, trainers, tutors and counsellors (24 partners staff / 30 experts involved / 32 target users in pilots), 136 refugees, asylums seekers and migrants (in pilots) and 351 stakeholders. A wider audience of 18.902 recipients has been reached at local, regional, national and European level through the dissemination activities carried out.

Go UP has improved the inclusive education by offering innovative approaches and contents. The project has had a direct impact in the improvement of the skills that adult teachers, trainers, tutors and counsellors require to effectively support the intercultural integration of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 266307 Eur

Project Coordinator

Solidariedade Imigrante – Associação para a defesa dos direitos dos imigrantes & Country: PT

Project Partners

• INNOQUALITY SYSTEMS LIMITED
• Asociación La Bien Pagá Espacio Escénico
• Pera Akademik Ilimler Sanatsal Gosteri ve Egt. Ogr. Hiz. Ltd. Sti.
• IASIS
• INSTITUTO PARA EL FOMENTO DEL DESARROLLO Y LA FORMACION SL