How can professionals working with migrants promote inclusion programmes at best?Are they trained enough in diversity, interculturality, inclusion, European citizenship and empowerment?
What competences could they improve for that purpose?
Since a wave of new migrants arrived in recent years, hundreds of reception centers, orientation and training centers are born in emergency. Wherein professionals are often from different backgrounds and sometimes without any previous experiences with newcomers and thus may lack the skills and tools to work effectively with these people.
Some representatives of newcomers involved in previous projects confessed that they are often infantilized, and suffer from a lack of continuity in the learning paths and socio-cultural orientation in the new territory as well as a difficulty to be understood by the professionals working with them.
DICE aims at bringing an adapted answer to this challenge by equipping professionals who work with newcomers with practices and methods to better understand and value the cultural diversity of their public and to acquire the necessary skills to better promote their integration. Its particularity lies in the participation of newcomers in the different steps of the conception of the training material for professionals starting from the assumption that they are the ones who have to provide partners with indications on what their needs are and which are the most appropriate ways to respond to these needs and which are the most effective ways to support them on their path towards autonomy and independence.
On 12th November 2018, project partners met for the first time at the kick-off meeting in Utrecht where they discussed the practical details of the project and of the awareness campaign which will consist of short videos shot with migrant boys to give them an opportunity to convey a message to the general public. The various activities envisaged in each country, the contents to be developed and the next steps have also been discussed, setting general deadlines for the development of the training content.
From 13th to 16th November, the partners organised a learning activity seminar on the themes of Diversity, Inclusion, Active Citizenship and Empowerment in order to create a training curriculum adapted to the specific needs of newcomers. To do so, CESIE offered the opportunity to Alhagie and Ebrima from Gambia and Gulzar from Bangladesh to take part in the seminar. They have been chosen because they are active on the territory of Palermo and they represent role models for their peers as they have reached high levels of autonomy and pursued their objectives.
During these days, the participants took part in several activities to gain knowledge on the listed themes and brainstormed about the topics that should be included in the different modules of the training material. The young migrants actively participated in the seminar by sharing their stories, experiences and reflections, and they actively contributed to the definition of the structure of the training modules.
From the week emerged a draft of training plan and a list of the most relevant sectors for the migrants’ inclusion on which the training will focus. The videos that will constitute the awareness campaign have also been realized with a team of professionals.
In the next months, the partners will write the content of the training material for professionals working with newcomers according to the draft.
About the project
DICE – Diversity Inclusion Citizenship Empowerment is a two-year project funded by the Erasmus+ programme, KA2: Cooperation for Innovation and the Exchange of Good Practices – Strategic Partnership for vocational education and training.
Partners
The partnership holds together 5 organisations:
- Coordinator: EUROCIRCLE ASSOCIATION (France)
- IDEA NL (The Nederlands)
- CESIE (Italy)
- Danmar Computers LLC (Poland)
- M.M.C MANAGEMENT CENTER LIMITED (Cyprus)
For further information
Read more about DICE.
Contact paula.goltzsche@cesie.org
