Participation of local community in order to share digitally narrated stories of mutual understanding, knowledge and social cohesion and to facilitate the social inclusion of migrants through their own eyes.
Context
It has been attested (Bansel et al, 2016) that newly arrived migrants and refugees can better participate into the host country through personal narratives of their experiences. First, the discussion of past experiences, their interests and hopes can help the third country nationals to build on their coping mechanisms and handling of trauma, support their skills regarding starting a new life, and help them compare and contrast their stories with those of previously arrived, long established migrants and local populations in the affected partner communities. Second, the newly arrived people will have the opportunity to contribute to the development of local community through their stories, a fact that can lead to increased awareness of their needs among the local population. Intercultural storytelling is a very useful tool towards social cohesion and newly arrived migrants and refugees can experience a smooth transition into the host communities.
Objectives
- To enhance the participation of third-country nationals through involvement of local communities and volunteering activities using digital storytelling;
- To foster an active role of third country nationals in the community at local, regional and national level;
- To promote meaningful interactions between the local community.
Activities
- Development of transnational state of the art and gap analysis report collating national successful practices in the use of digital storytelling to support migrants’ integration in host societies;
- Development of online peer learning platform collating the portfolio of digital stories from migrants and refugees to support other migrants, as well as professionals and the general public;
- Development of training package for practitioners on how to integrate the digital stories in their training and awareness activities in local communities, and for citizens delivered by migrants and refugees.
Resources
Impact
- Peer learning training delivered to 140 integration professionals and 300 migrants.
Partners
- Storytelling Centre (Netherlands, coordinator)
- CSI Center For Social Innovation Ltd (Cyprus)
- Eurotraining Educational Organization (Greece)
- Cofac Cooperativa De Formacao E Animacao Cultural Crl (Portugal)
- Symplexis (Greece)
- Compass GmbH (Austria),
- Fundacion Cibervoluntarios (Spain),
- VSI Diversity Development Group (Lithuania)
- BildungsLAB – Hands&Minds Learning Center (Austria)
- CESIE (Italy)
