Nowadays, immigration occupies a big part of the European and national political agenda and affects the national and European politics from different perspectives. The acute economic crisis affecting Europe over the past few years, especially the Mediterranean shores which represent the area which is more involved in the phenomenon of mass immigration, has visibly affected the socioeconomic integration of immigrants as well due to significant budget cuts in welfare provisions, health and education. In this context, the arrival of the immigrants is often seen more as worsening the already existed problem, rather than a possible enrichment of the country. To this, we can add the evident issues in the management of what has been defined as a real migrant crisis, that brought to uncertainty, discontent, and even violent reactions by the population, resulting in an escalation of discrimination and xenophobia, and supporting the rising of extremist movements all over Europe.
None the less, we believe that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”, as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that we take as the basic ideal in the building of our project, keeping in mind as well that the reduction of the number of persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU is one of the key targets of the Europe 2020.
In order to achieve that, we believe that is fundamental to change negative attitudes, as social exclusion is often a cause of poverty, conflict and insecurity, bringing more issues or amplifying the existing ones. To transform them into positive behaviours, such as tolerance and dialogue towards the building of a sustainable inclusion and social cohesion we have to start our work with the young people. For this reason NGOs and youth organisations are called to play a very important role more than ever before.
The “Can I come in? Sharing tools for effective inclusion of young migrants” project has the aim of raising European awareness of the realities and possibilities for more inclusive society towards migrants and youth with immigrant background, and providing youth workers with tools to work on it and giving them space to share best practices in the field.
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The seminar
“Can I come in? Sharing tools for effective inclusion of young migrants” was a seminar involving 30 youth workers from 10 different countries, aiming at the capacity building of youth organizations dealing with issues connected with migration and youth, through the sharing of their best practices and tools they developed in the field.
The seminar was held in Budapest, Hungary, and lasted for 7 working days, during which the participants deepened the knowledge on the challenges connected with the current migrant crisis in Europe from multiple perspectives, understanding and recognising the reasons of this phenomenon, explore the skills and tools needed today to work with young migrants and the local communities, sharing experiences, ideas, best practices and methods developed in different countries to raise awareness and build positive change in the attitudes and approaches of European youth towards the issue.
Effective inclusion, as we intend it, has multiple meanings: integration in the labour market (local and European one), the development of language skills, civic and educational integration and rights acquisition, intercultural and interfaith dialogue, working on housing and health challenges, an active interaction between the local communities and migrants, as well as the fight against stereotypes, prejudice and myths created in the latest years connected to these topics.
The main aim of the seminar was to share best practices, increase competences and find new and common paths for youth workers and NGOs in EU to work effectively on sustainable inclusion and anti-discrimination strategies for migrant youth and the new hosting societies in Europe.
The seminar explored reasons and factors that cause exclusion, diffidence and xenophobia, active and passive civil positions, the concepts connected with migration (both regular and irregular) and asylum in EU including legal aspects, types of migration, push and pull factors, labour migration schemes, circular migration, the impact of migration on the immigrants and the host societies, the current anti-immigrant stance in Europe, the concepts of asylum seeker and refugees in modern society, national and international instruments and mechanisms for protection of the rights of the migrants, and, finally, the possibilities of action for youth workers and NGOs in the field, opening ways of cooperation among them and with different kind of other institutions.
Non-Formal Education were the main methodology used during the seminar, together with theoretical aspects, to ensure a complete learning dimension, using methods such as group discussions, round tables, simulations, and dynamic, creative and participative activities.
The seminar led to the creation of a platform of work on migration issues for youth NGOs as well as to different creative dissemination tools to be used in all the countries involved.
More info and programme of the seminar: http://culturalrelations.org/portfolio/can-i-come-in
Models of effective inclusion
The project included a round-table discussion with local organisations to initiate cooperation at local level on the issues related with migration. The discussion topics focused on projects about effective inclusion (integration in the local labour market, development of language skills, civic and educational integration and rights acquisition, intercultural and interfaith dialogue, working on housing and health challenges, an active interaction between the local communities and migrants, as well as the fight against stereotypes, prejudice and myths created in the latest years connected to these topics).
The main aim of the roundtable discussion was to share best practices and discuss policies on sustainable inclusion and anti-discrimination strategies for migrant youth and the new hosting societies in Europe.
Participating organisations were:
Asociacion Projuven (Spain) • Association for Cultural Relations (Finland) • Dare to take your chance (Romania) • Dialogue Platform Association (Hungary) • European Union Politics Society (Turkey) • Horizont e.V. (Germany) • Institute for Cultural Relations Policy (Hungary) • International Center for Development of Education and Training • South Europe Youth Forum (Malta) • Subjective Values Foundation (Hungary) • TDM 2000 (Italy) • Youth Horizons (Greece)
Date and venue: 23 November 2017 (10:00 – 12:15) | 1061 Budapest, Andrássy út 16. (2nd floor)
More info and programme: http://culturalrelations.org/portfolio/models-of-effective-inclusion
Budapest Migration Forum
Starting from October 2017 the Municipality of Budapest and Subjective Values Foundation (SVF) organise the Budapest Migration Forum, a series of discussions aiming to facilitate and support the political participation of third-country nationals and migrant communities in Hungary. A total of ten roundtable discussions held as part of the project that is funded by the European Union’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, focusing on topics such as education, culture, healthcare, and employment among others.
The third event in the series was held at the Municipality of Budapest on November 23rd 2017 which was also visited by four of the youth worker participants of the seminar, thus letting them to be engaged more with the local context in Budapest and to establish new partnerships by networking. The guiding theme of the discussion was the coexistence of cultures in Hungary.
The trainers of the seminar were Gianluca Massimiliano Frongia and Almeno Henrique Silva Antunes.
The organisers of the project were Andras Lorincz, Ana Tsitsagi and Lilla Sari.