Networking refugees

Project leader: DIE WIENER VOLKSHOCHSCHULEN GMBH

Nr. of the project: 2016-1-AT01-KA204-016670

Period: 01.10.2016 – 30.09.2018

Partners:

Asociatia Nevo Parudimos Romania
VOLKSHOCHSCHULE HANNOVER (Germania),
HELSINGIN KAUPUNKI (Finlanda),
DIACONAAL PLATFORM ZWOLLE (Olanda),
BUDAPESTI MUVELODESI KOZPONT (Hungary),
INSTYTUT TOLERANCJI (Polonia),
BULGARIAN DEVELOPMENT AGENCY SDRUZHENIE (Bulgaria).

During the period 01.10.2016–30.09.2018, The Nevo Parudimos Association implements the strategic partnership called “Networking refugees”, with the reference code 2016-1-AT01-KA204-016670, the project coordinator of which is DIE WIENER VOLKSHOCHSCHULEN GMBH, from Austria, together with other partners: VOLKSHOCHSCHULE HANNOVER (Germany), HELSINGIN KAUPUNKI (Finland), DIACONAAL PLATFORM ZWOLLE (Holland), BUDAPESTI MUVELODESI KOZPONT (Hungary), INSTYTUT TOLERANCJI (Poland), BULGARIAN DEVELOPMENT AGENCY SDRUZHENIE (Bulgaria).

The problem of large numbers of refugees is an overwhelming one and represents a present situation in Europe and puts to trial all power holders in contributing with solutions. Many institutions must find new working methods, but also partners and networks working with refugees. The project has as target to explore the role of non-formal education based on adults in the refugees’ present situation. Partners share different methods to work with refugees in order to help them integrate in the society, since their arrival until they receive a decision referring their statute. Thus, we desire to explore the already existent cooperation between local authorities, NGOs, educational institutions from partner countries in order to discover new and innovative solution to support refugees. The project desires to explore new areas of non-formal education as promotion method for the refugees’ participation in the society. The target group of the project are: refugees, educators, planners, workers in the health domain, representatives of NGOs and of local authorities.

Objectives:

A better understanding of the refugees’ and immigrants’ desires and needs in Europe;
Contributions in the successful integration/inclusion of immigrants in European societies;
An import of good practice examples in associations;
Support for pro-European forces in countries where the idea of Europe is questioned more and more.

Activities:

The exchange of information and the best practices will hopefully lead to better results in the normal working field with an individual. Participant organisations will learn from each other, we as organisations will encourage each other in the effort to support refugees. The attitude towards refugees is different in partner countries: we want to strengthen forces that support welcoming politics towards immigrants, even if it can be a contrary attitude towards some national governments. We want refugees to be invited to already established meetings for this project, so that they could act as distributors of the message “Welcome to Europe!”

For a better development of the project, more meetings were established in order to be able to cooperate to obtain the expected results for this project.

During the first meeting, all partners succeeded in knowing each other and in discussing the purpose and objectives of this project. Moreover, after the first meeting held in Wien, in October 2016, each partner had as clear task to write a questionnaire for a maximum of 15 refugees families for the origin country and to realize a quality research referring to the refugees situation in that country.

The second meeting took place in May 2017 (10-13 May), In Hanover, Germany. It contained the presentation of refugees’ interviews. The states that presented the interviews finalized and their conclusions were: Austria, Finland, Germany, Poland and Bulgaria. The latter state, together with Hungary, would finalize all interviews by the meeting scheduled for September in Sofia. The greatest curiosity of the people interviewed was that referring to their statute, if they were allowed to stay in Europe.

Germany and Austria were the first two states to present their rapports, offering an ensemble image on the immigrants and refugees’ situation connected to procedures on asylum offering, on the labour market, lodging, origin countries etc.

The third meeting took place in September 2017 (6-8 September), in Sofia. Two major subjects were on the meeting agenda: the rapport of the host country, Bulgaria and the Romanian rapport, a compilation of the best practices to be used in these cases.

Keeping in mind that the presentation of all practices would have taken a lot of time, each partner received a compilation a week before the meeting. In addition, each country prepared a stand that could be visited by the other partners, who desired to learn details about conditions etc. and in order to be able to import these good practices in their country. Things went well and in the end Sofia received suggestions from each partner.

A plus in this case was the visit of Madam Azhar Alomar from the Orient Organisation in Bulgaria, involved in projects for refugees and which aims at medical treatment and the supply of medicine for refugees.

During the month of March 2018 (19-22 March) the fourth meeting was held in this project, in Budapest. The work schedule was a complex one. Each country from the project presented a rapport. Romania, represented by Laura-Mihaela Turcu (The Nevo Parudimos Association, Resita) presented a rapport of good practices regarding our country, an aspect promoted in the good practices flyer. At the same time, Romania engaged in developing “lunch club” activities, in which refugee women were involved in culinary activities meant to lead to an easy learning of the Romanian language.

The fifth meeting, the last of this project, was held in June 2018 (6-8 June), in Helsinki. After the presentation of the host country rapport, Poland took its turn, a state which presented its best practices regarding import.

As a result of changes produced in partner countries, each state underlined the modifications regarding the present situation of refugees. A visit was scheduled at the Helsinki international House and dissemination plans for the summer were exposed.

This project is financed by the Erasmus+ Program of the European Union, KA2, Strategic Partnership.

Disclaimer
This communication reflects the author’s opinions and the European Commission can’t be made responsible for the use of the information contained.