COMPLEX INTEGRATION SUPPORT FOR BENEFICIARIES OF INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION

Menedék provides complex social work with the instrument of individual- and group work which includes among others administrative support, health care support, intercultural mediation and interpretation, housing support, legal counselling and advice in integration-related matters, integration courses and job-seeking counselling. The three pillars of the project: integration, child protection and community mobilization. We pay special attention to children and support their and their families’ integration. This includes support in enrolment and integration into kindergarten, primary and secondary schools, mentoring in basic subjects such as math and Hungarian grammar with special focus on skills development and problem solving. It also includes psychological support for children and their parents in order to reduce the stress and traumas developed as a result of their reception and living conditions and their extraordinary life situation. An additional target group of this project is people whose circumstances are similar to beneficiaries of international protection, for instance migrants who arrive regularly with the purpose of study or work but actually have a refugee background. A number of students from third countries arriving in Hungary with different scholarship programs, holding residence permit for the purpose of study. Yet they come from conflict areas, war zones, authoritarian regimes or oppressive social systems. Upon finishing their studies in Hungary, they are not always able or willing to return to their home countries due to fear of persecution. In the event that they are able to remain in Hungary and find other ways of regularizing their stay, they may need assistance in integration issues. 
We also consider community mobilization as an important task and therefore strive to organize regular community and group activities e.g. Women’s Club, Youth Club, Children’ Club as well as activities for unaccompanied and separated children. The objective of the various community activities is to mobilize clients, to empower them to organize community activities within their networks on their own. Community activities can also connect to the already existing (migrant) communities and build their own networks. These community activities are important elements of the complex social work because through these activities beneficiaries can learn about Menedék’s services and about the services offered by the national social welfare system.
The effective integration of our beneficiaries most importantly requires an inclusive society. Menedék’s goal is that the majority society shall become more open and receptive to foreigners coming to Hungary. Reaching this goal in the project, Menedék focuses on engaging with the education system in Hungary and doing so it supports teachers and classroom communities by organizing awareness raising sessions and workshops focusing on the concept of asylum and migration, the refugee experience and intercultural encounters. The aim of the workshops is to facilitate the inclusion of refugee children into schools, as well as mitigating and preventing conflicts between refugee and non-refugee children and their parents.
Additionally, we concentrate on empowering those public institutions who can get into contact with beneficiaries of international protection (such as child protection institutions, family care centers, schools and kindergartens, health care institutions, police, local municipalities) to build their own capacities and providing basic services to refugees and migrants independently. Similarly, through labor market integration activities Menedék transfers knowledge to those companies who are willing to employ people with refugee or migrant background, supporting them in their already existing efforts to build their own labor market integration strategies and capacities.