Refu‘In – An Innovative Tool for the Inclusion of Refugees is a research project coordinated by CRESCER, from Portugal, and developed in partnership with other four organizations - Arci Catania and Programma Integra from Italy, the Bulgarian Council on Refugees from Bulgaria, and Östersund Kommun from Sweden.
The project was implemented in 2019 and its main goal is to identify and disseminate good practices in the integration of refugees and asylum seekers that are being welcomed around Europe.
To this end, quantitative and qualitative research tools were developed by the consortium and moments of consultation with the target public, professionals who work with these groups and other different stakeholders were promoted.
The results of this project will be used to develop a toolkit that will be available to any professional or entity working with asylum seekers and refugees and aims to be a guide for the dissemination and implementation of good practices in the reception and inclusion of these target groups. This project will promote an improvement of the reception and inclusion responses, through the minimization or mitigation of the obstacles commonly experienced in these processes.
Programma Integra
Östersunds Kommun
ARCI Catania
BCRM – Boulgarian Council
on Refugees and Migrants
Why?
As a result of the European Relocation and Resettlement Program, most European countries are hosting a larger number of refugees and asylum seekers than before, and are therefore developing hosting and integration programs, with the main goal of promoting their full inclusion.
In this context, and due to the reality of each of the countries involved in Refu’In, we considered it important to create tools that can support professionals working with asylum seekers and refugees to improve the quality of integration responses.
Project Coordinator
CRESCER is a Portuguese NGO that intervenes with vulnerable groups since 2001, namely people who experience homelessness, people who use drugs, and asylum seekers, refugees and migrants, through the creation, implementation and development of harm reduction responses, community-based projects, and social businesses aimed at improving the living conditions of these groups and their inclusion.
Since 2016, CRESCER has been developing several projects specifically targeting asylum seekers, refugees and migrants, promoting their inclusion in our society, and integrates the Lisbon Municipal Refugee Hosting Program, through the project É UMA VIDA.
CRESCER’s vision is to be an organization of excellence by promoting the inclusion of people in vulnerable situations, into the community.
Project Partners
Arci Catania has relevant long-term experience in youth work at the local and international levels with a special focus on cultural diversity and empowerment of young people with an immigrant/refugee background.
We also promote campaigns, projects, and initiatives to prevent racism and fight xenophobia involving both mainstreaming and minority groups.
Since 2004 we also run several international training activities addressed to youth workers and youth leaders in the field of intercultural learning education, promotion of the use of non-formal learning, empowerment of young people addressed to youth workers and leaders coming from different countries.
The organization has also very extensive experience in projects promoting experiences of learning mobilities for young people, especially within international youth exchanges and European Voluntary Service and training activities for youth workers.
Arci Catania is active also in the field of social entrepreneurial learning with a specific focus on empowerment of young refugee and asylum seekers, migrants, and refugees and training, coaching and support in the development of new social enterprises run by this target group.
In general, its main goal is to promote processes of active citizenship and democratic participation for all marginal communities in order to promote their social inclusion and their integration into society.
The Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants (BCRM) was founded in 2005 by the Bulgarian Red Cross, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, and Caritas-Bulgaria as a platform of their activities related to the refugee and migration policy, protection and integration of refugees and migrants.
The BCRM is a platform for advocacy, lobbying, and fundraising for the protection, reception, and integration of refugees and migrants. The Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants (BCRM) is committed to the establishment of a fair and efficient asylum and migration system, with the active role of civil society. The policy and practice for protection, reception, and integration of refugees and migrants in Bulgaria include and apply the internationally recognized principles and standards based on respect for human rights and human dignity.
Integrations service is a unit in the Municipality of Östersund with a mission to introduce newly arrived refugees in the city and give them all support they need in order to integrate into the Swedish society.
Östersunds Kommun integration service aims to establish integration activities, initiatives, and actions that are promoting living together in diversity.
We also drive different integration projects in order to ease the integration process of our target group. Östersunds Kommun also offers counseling and social orientation courses in order to guide the target group towards their new life in Sweden. The aim is to increase awareness of the migration benefits in society.
Programma Integra is a social cooperative founded in 2005 and based in Rome.
Programma Integra is a social cooperative, whose aim is to implement and support plans for the social integration of migrants and refugees, in order to promote the start-up of sustainable and durable processes of autonomy and to contribute to the welfare and the development of the community.
Programma Integra carries out this mission through: Planning of social inclusion pathways (socio-legal assistance, job orientation, individual and group sessions counselling, Italian language courses and vocational training, intercultural mediation services, social mediation in the field of housing); Promoting of cooperation, knowledge and innovation among the social professionals (professionals training and refresher courses, seminars and workshops);
The involvement of the community in the integration challenge (raise-awareness activities); Support to the institutions in the high-impact project planning (technical support to the local administration in the planning, management, monitoring and accountability of innovative projects).