Work Packages

WP 1

Development of a protocol of validation of academic competences and credentials of third country nationals

Partners involved:

USC, NKUA & UMINHO. All partners will be equally involved in the development of this activity.

Timeframe:

From month 1 to month 24

Objectives:

• Providing universities with a standard assessment framework for the recognition of the competences and credentials of people in need of international protection in order to facilitate their access to Higher Education or the continuation of their tertiary studies in Europe. Our goal is to try to create a protocol of validation of competences replicable at European level.

Activities:

1.1 Analysis of the state of play: review of regulations, initiatives and measures proposed in the framework of European and national projects dealing with this issue. European Passport of Qualifications (developed in the framework of a project fostered by UK Naric and its Norwegian counterpart NOKUT, with the participation of the Greek Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs) will be taken into account.

1.2 Production of the protocol of validation of academic competences and credentials: three experts (one from each partner university) will work on it. Preparation of a draft of measures, procedures and criteria for the assessment of the competences and qualifications to be validated in the second working meeting.

1.3 Dissemination plan. Once the final document is produced, a dissemination plan will be agreed in the 3^rd transnational meeting tackling the main educational institutions and authorities concerned.

WP 2

Raising awareness of the academic and local community and facilitating integration of third country nationals through their interaction and feedback in the hosting society

Partners involved:

USC, NKUA, UMINHO and Local Council of Santiago de Compostela

Activity 2.1: Transnational cooperation between USC, NKUA and UMINHO

Activity 2.2: USC and Local Council of Santiago de Compostela

Timeframe:

From month 3 to month 24

Objectives:

• Fostering mutual identification and successful and active integration among third-country nationals and the receiving local communities / Boosting the active and welcoming role of the receiving society (citizens, institutions, policymakers, etc.) for guaranteeing a high degree of integration of refugees/asylum seekers.
• Enhancing mutual knowledge providing both, foreign and local communities, with a suitable forum for getting culturally closer, contributing to remove prejudices, to dispel false myths and combat stereotypes.
• Strengthening research in aspects of integration that require from a more in-depth look incorporating the point of view of the foreign communities, especially women and children, as a fundamental pillar in the process of integration that should also be the focus of attention in all the integration policies.

Activities:

1. Research project for integration

Having the transnational cooperation among the 3 universities of this consortium as backdrop of this activity, this project will support the implementation of a joint research project under the following procedure:  a call for applications will be launched in month 3 among the academic community of the 3 participant universities, for engaging 3 researchers in the development of this initiative. Priority will be given to the third-country women researchers registered in the concerned universities and, in absence of candidatures in this category, third-country nationals in general, with the aim of fostering knowledge and capacity building of the concerned target groups.  Specific selection criteria will be agreed by the involved institutions in the kick-off meeting of the project with the advice of the participant experts. Candidatures received will be assessed by the management team of the three universities that will count on the advice of experts in the field. The selected proposal will have to justify a research plan dealing with issues such as:

• Definition of the profile and role of the refugee women in their family structure in order to contribute to a basic understanding of the main constraints they will face at the host societies.

• Identification of refugee children needs and barriers for integration aiming at providing educational institutions, as main actors in this field, with proper guidance for addressing them. Recommendations for improvement of educational policies and protocols will be issued as a result of the research carried out.

• Identification of good practices and policies in favour of integration of women and children applied within the EU in order to foster an improved policy framework at local, national and European level.

• Identification of stereotypical ideas of gender at ethnicity that can hamper the implementation of future integration policies in order to set the foundations for removing them.

• Definition of a focus-oriented administrative, social and civic action in order for public authorities to be able to properly address the integration issue of refugee women and children.

• Tackling women integration by dealing not only with social and caring actions but also with key elements for successful access to the labour market.

.In order to enlarge the impact of the action, the project will also support the dissemination of the research results in recognized scientific publications under the open-access system and three guides will be produced in order to spread achievements and provide guidance to key actors and stakeholders responsible for coherent application of the integration policies:

• Guide for integrating refugees in the European educational system (it will be distributed among educational institutions in the involved countries and electronically disseminated at European level).

• Guide for integrating refugees in the European hosting communities (it will be distributed among public authorities in the involved countries and electronically disseminated at European level).

• Guide for integrating refugees in the European labour market (it will be distributed among main actors of the business and labour market sector in the involved countries and electronically disseminated at European level).

 

2.2 Integration week (Month 19). To be held in Santiago and lead by the USC and the Local Council of Santiago de Compostela. Objectives:

• Presenting and giving visibility to results derived from development of WP1 – Protocol of validation of competences – and WP2, Activity 2.1 – Research project – in a session open to the participation of local and regional authorities.

Developing a series of integrating activities (workshops/exhibitions/interactive sessions....) with the participation of foreign families (special emphasis will be put on the projection of women and children as key actors of the integration of migrants) that will contribute to favour the participation of the third-country nationals in the academic and social life of the hosting community. The Local Council as well the USC will joint efforts and resources (services and facilities) in order to promote integration as part of the usual academic, cultural and social function of the public bodies. Results and experience will be shared with the other partners.

WP 3

Pre-departure support for refugees in Greece for emotional and psychological recovery, socio-educational activities for minors, young mothers and women and self-empowerment

Partners involved:

Fundació ACSAR & NKUA

Timeframe:

From month 1 to month 18

Objectives:

• Providing emotional recovery, socio-educational support and self-empowerment of registered refugees in Greece, with special focus on minors, young mothers and women. The programme is inspired on successful previous activities developed in the 90’s in the Balkan area (Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina).

Activities: The activities of WP3 will be implemented in Greece by the ACSAR Foundation in partnership with NKUA and the collaboration of local and international NGOs working for refugees in Greece.The WP3 plans to focus its development on two different targets:

• Support for professionals working with refugees: To provide to professionals working with refugees with new tools and resources to carry out their work, facilitating new ways of intervention and focusing especially on those needs detected in refugees. This will be an interactive process among professionals involved with refugees and other professionals who are specialists in issues that directly affect them.
• Empowerment, integration and inclusion of refugees in order to facilitate their preparation at the departure: To provide refugees with resources that allow them to activate themselves in a labour level and in the whole society in which they live, in order to return them to a normalized and autonomous life. Attention will be paid to diversity and to the most vulnerable groups.
• To achieve the objectives defined in the UNINTEGRA Program, WP3 envisages the development of activities in the action field, Greece, through International Conferences, Workshops and Stages.

Module 1. Organization of professional and volunteer teams to support refugees in Greece. Promotion, selection, training and organization of teams composed by professionals and volunteers to support refugees living in Greece. This activity will be organized from Barcelona and developed later in Greece.

Module 2. Management training for people working with refugees in Greece. Organisation of training courses and training activities for people working for refugees in centres, sites, NGO’s activities or other places in Greece. Design and implementation of training programs, production of materials and organization of sessions, monitoring, professional support and certification.

Module 3. Development of structured regular activities for refugees in Greece. Organization of regular and permanent activities inside and outside refugee centres, aimed at emotional recovery, empowerment and social participation. Activities can take place in any of the refugee sites, relocation centres or other spaces in coordination with UNHCR Greece

Module 4. Communication, awareness raising, dissemination. Creation of tools that will be published in Greece and Spain to communicate the activities and results of the action carried out.  The tools will be produced with the active participation of the refugees

WP 4

App4Refs

Partners involved:

Fundació ACSAR & USC

Timeframe:

From month 1 to month 19

Objectives:

• Providing refugees with a free and useful tool that will help them integrate into their local community and adapt to the reality of the city they are in. This tool will take the shape of a cell phone application for their free use.

Activities: The main focus of the application will be:

• Legal information
• Assessment
• Community
• Activities
• Local resources
• Useful links

The functionalities will be tested with refugees with the help of the Greek Forum of Migrants. The GFM will also provide with invaluable information to be added to the application

https://app4refs.org/

WP 5

Training to train staff/volunteers to enable them to assist third country nationals in need of international protection in the local receiving communities

Partners involved:

USC

Timeframe:

From month 1 to month 6

Objectives:

• Creating a task-force of social mediators for local integration of refugees and asylum seekers: providing expertise and enhancing knowledge and skills of trainers, counselors, social workers, members of NGO’s and civil society organizations as well as volunteers in order for them to be able to deliver proper orientation directly.

Activities:

Training course:

• 40 hours during one month (2 hours a day) in Santiago de Compostela.

Open to the participation of 30 people: social and youth workers depending on the regional and local authorities, members of NGO’s and civil society organisations as well as volunteers in position of providing support to third-country nationals in need of international protection.

• Modules covering topics such as:
• Foundations of the international refugee protection system; tools and actors involved.
• Rights and responsibilities of refugees/asylum seekers.
• Social and financial resources devoted to third-country nationals protection.
• Cultural and social approach to inclusive integration, including psycho-social approach, dealing with cultural differences and potential biases

WP 6

Integration training programme

Partners involved:

USC, NKUA & UMINHO

Partners involved will individually develop this activity

Timeframe:

From month 1 to month 12

Objectives:

• Providing refugees with capacity-building to support their integration in the host reality and society
• Help refugees and asylum seekers to adapt to socio-cultural changes, to new regulatory frameworks and to very different structural systems by enhancing their linguistic skills as well as by providing them with clear and focused information about the host country. Making them aware of the responsibilities they have to assume but also of the benefits they are entitled to.
• Enabling them to overcome social and psychological integration barriers and to make use of the available resources at their disposal.
• ***It must be underlined that women will be a prior target in this activity taking into account that they are often the part of the refugee community most affected by isolation due to family responsibilities and/or cultural understandings that place them in a most unprivileged situation.

Activities:

Training activity developed and replicated by the three partner universities

• 10 beneficiaries in each training activity (a total of 30 beneficiaries)
• It is one month training programme, 4 hours a day (a total of 80 hours)

Target group to be tackled: Asylum seekers that could be in the position of giving continuity to the education path they were obliged to quit when leaving their home countries or that could have access to the labour market (students either aiming at starting higher education studies, having already started university studies currently interrupted or having a university diploma that would enable them to reach the labour market). Among these categories, women will be given priority.