ISAVE – Inclusive Self-Advocacy Education and Empowerment for Young Refugees and Asylum Seekers living in temporary accommodations Erasmus Project

Project Title

ISAVE – Inclusive Self-Advocacy Education and Empowerment for Young Refugees and Asylum Seekers living in temporary accommodations

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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Migrants’ issues; Integration of refugees; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

To date, more than 79.5 million people across the world have been forced to leave their homes and to find shelter in another part of their country or abroad (UNHCR, 2020). As a result of this movement, it is increasingly clear that a lack of human rights-based migration governance at the global, regional and national levels is leading to the routine violation of migrants’ rights in transit, at international borders, and in the countries they migrate to (OHCHR, 2020). Migrants in an irregular situation tend to be disproportionately vulnerable to discrimination, exploitation and marginalization, often living and working in the shadows, afraid to complain, and denied their human rights and fundamental freedoms. The I-SAVE project for inclusive self-advocacy for young displaced persons (IDP), refugees and asylum seekers (17-25 year old) consists of five interrelated outputs that respond to the EU Commission recommendations and aims to fulfill the objectives of the EU Council to prevent discrimination and marginalization and support social inclusion and integration of young refugees and migrants.The project consists of five interrelated outputs:
1.ISave stories: reflecting on Human Rights (Videos)-digital self-representation tools for young migrants;
2.The Hedge Programme-Training Handbook for youth workers and practitioners working in the youth field to empower self-advocacy in 17-to-25-year-old refugees and migrants;
3.ISave HEDGE Global Effectiveness Masterclasses to encourage global advocacy–training tools for young refugees
4.ISave Platform-youth-led platform to support young leaders and youth workers;
5.ISave Know-How Policy Recommendation for creating ISave networks-for NGO’s working with young refugees
The project aims to develop an innovative, youth-led educational and empowerment programme to enhance young refugees’ knowledge of their human rights and make human rights relevant to daily life, in this way allowing them to safeguard their well-being, and to become self-resilient and independent adults. The resources will improve and extend the supply of high-quality, non-formal learning opportunities tailored to the needs of young refugees on human rights, providing them with the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for personal fulfilment and social inclusion. The objectives are to:
-allow for real youth-led co-creation between young refugees and migrants and professionals working in youth fields from different backgrounds (volunteering, advocacy, creative arts, human rights), and eventually to develop innovative approaches to the challenges of young refugees;
-empower young refugees to protect themselves by knowing about their human rights;
-develop capacities and skills of individual refugees to conduct self-advocacy in relation to the policies and practices that concern them;
-design the resources for use not only by young people but also service providers, NGOs and organisations working in the youth field;
-develop young, migrant-led advocacy, online platform for networking, peer to peer learning, training resources for youth workers and volunteers working with young refugees, strategies and tactics
-enhance a rights-based approach to young safe-guarding
The project uses an innovative methodology for knowledge transfer and will contribute new perspectives to contemporary debates on the potential for participation and self-representation of young refugees in high-level consultations to effect policy change. This cross-sectoral cooperation (in the non-formal training and youth field) and target-group involvement, will allow for greater synergies across different areas of actions that matter for this target group. The innovative approaches of drama, applied drama, performing arts, volunteering values and advocacy will enhance young people’s knowledge of their human rights, allow them to discover their own voices, enhance critical thinking, deepen their civic and social participation at local, regional, national, European and global level, grow in confidence, and become self-resilient and independent adults.
ISave has the potential to bring about fundamental change in a number of ways:
1.Knowledge and skills-Young refugees will acquire new knowledge about human rights, applicable to their daily lives and the mechanisms they can use to vindicate those rights. Knowledge drives change, so the expected impact will be the confidence to claim rights.
2.Behaviour and attitudes-Communities/policymakers will see and hear real experiences of how young refugees’ rights are infringed, with an expected impact of reduction in marginalising attitudes and behaviours.
3.Systems-At a European level, it will increase self-representation of young people with lived experiences as refugees in advocacy and policy especially at international and high levels of visibility.
4.Ways of Thinking-It will contribute to the change in the way young refugees perceive themselves within the European and communities context

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 372872 Eur

Project Coordinator

The Gaiety School of Acting, The National Theatre School of Ireland & Country: IE

Project Partners

• IGAM
• ELLINIKO FOROUM PROSFIGON
• The SCOOP Foundation
• Freiwilligen-Zentrum Augsburg