SIMILAR aims at fostering integration of migrants through a multi-dimensional approach which includes communication and persons working with them (e.g. educators, students with focus on education and social care, municipal police and volunteers) and with stakeholders in the areas of integration and social welfare. It is important to note that the term migrant in this application also refers to refugees and asylum-seekers.
SIMILAR aims at fostering integration of migrants through a multi-dimensional approach which includes communication and persons working with them (e.g. educators, students with focus on education and social care, municipal police and volunteers) and with stakeholders in the areas of integration and social welfare. It is important to note that the term migrant in this application also refers to refugees and asylum-seekers.
The project begins by collecting information on the target group’s experiences from experts who work with them regularly. This includes professionals working for the municipalities and federal offices, as well as volunteers and educators at the local, regional, and national level. It also includes persons responsible for language learning, and those providing assistance in finding appropriate housing or solutions to other social care needs. To support these responses, the partners will conduct interviews with migrants who have spent a long time in the receiving country as well as those those who have not been there for a long time in order to learn about what kinds of experiences they have had.
The feedback from these activities will serve as the basis for the knowledge sharing and capacity building on integration measures targeting migrants which will then be further developed into a handbook “Awareness raising and empathy training measure for promoting work with migrants”. An additional outcome from the interviews will be the toolkit which includes concrete information on initiatives and empowerment measures with information for implementation. The toolkit will be a collection and adaptation of existing good practices; this will support the mainstreaming and implementation of already existing measures. The output is designed to increase the degree of autonomy and self-determination of migrants while minimalizing their social isolation by providing high quality, relevant resources in the hands of those who work closely with the target group. In this development the German partner, VHS Cham, will take a supporting role and transfer ideas from their experiences with migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers to the other partners in the project.
Project outputs:
Handbook: “Awareness raising and empathy training measures for promoting work with migrants”
Toolkit (collection / adaptation of best practices): “Empowerment of migrants”