TRANSNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP “PASSI”
Minutes of the Transnational Meeting in Athens
25th to 29th of October 2006
· Minutes of meetings
· Annex 1: EVC Model
· Annex 2: Final Report (Draft)
· Annex 3: Programme of TN meeting in Athens
· Annex 4: List of participants
· Annex 5: Photos of the TN_Meeting
Minutes:
Brief update of the National Projects
Portugal
The DP of the Project VIAAS continues to implement the activities planned on the application. In general, we can say that there has been some delays in the implementation of some activities.
In what concerns “the develop of a methodology for the evaluation, validation and certification of asylum seekers competences (act. 1)”, the DP identified the participants, organised meetings with them (selection tests, etc.), organized Portuguese language courses. At the moment, 2 asylum seekers are in the EVC process and other 2 are having Portuguese language classes in order to be able to start the process. We are still trying to identify more participants.
Activity 2, “Cultural expression ateliers and support to the community”, is being successfully implemented. There is a theatre group of non professional actors (all asylum seekers), we are organising some gastronomic ateliers (contest where asylum seekers will be able to present the most popular recipes of the home country. The one’s that win the contest, will have the opportunity to train the cooking specialists (trainers) of the Vocational training centre. Under this activity the DP is also providing language courses and socio-cultural activities for the asylum seekers.
Regarding activities 3, 4 and 5 “Meat chopping”, “restaurant waiters” Vocational training courses and Vocational training in other areas, the asylum seekers register in the courses are less than we expected. We hoped to have 20 asylum seekers finishing the courses at the end. However, the fact that we don’t provide scholarships to the student’s, and because some of them have dropped out, as reduce the numbers planned. The situation at the moment is this:
· 2 asylum seekers in the course of meat chopping (initially they were 5);
· 2 asylum seekers in the course of restaurant waiters (initially they were 5);
· Recently, 3 enter in the second course of meat chopping;
· 1 asylum seekers is in a course of laboratory analyzes and quality control
· 2 asylum seekers are waiting to enter in the course of backery/cooking
“E-learning courses on asylum law, refugees and human rights” (act.6) – this activity was delayed due to problems regarding our accreditation for e-learning. It was necessary to make a new accreditation (obtain a new licence) in order to allow the Portuguese Refugee Council to develop e-learning courses. The licence was given in August; we have started to develop the e-learning platform; the courses will take place in 2007 (January; March; April). Each course will have 30 hours.
With VIAAS, we have been able to:
· provide social support to asylum seekers and their families (example: payment of the kind garden and school to the children of a female student in the Vocational Training Centre);
· develop the competences of asylum seekers (social, professional and informal competences);
· we have experimented new methodologies and techniques for the selection and recruitment of students to the course (oral tests, translation of tests, etc.);
· provide individual Portuguese training courses to asylum seekers;
· Counselling and individual support to the students;
· Sensitize the employees of the vocational training centre to refugee issues.
Italy
Action 2
- 40 AS attended Italian language courses – 13 are still having their lessons;
- 15 apprenticeships activated, paid by “Orizzonti”. Each work experience lasts 5 months and is paid 600,00€ per month.
2 AS has been rejected from the companies chosen for them and they’ve been replaced with better exits.
By now only 3 apprenticeships are ended and all the 3 AS involved has been regularly employed by the enterprises.
1 more apprenticeships has been activated but it’s on charge of a company that has just experimented and employed 2 AS sent by Orizzonti. (To avoid the risk of exploitation, we established a maximum of 2 apprenticeships for each company, on charge of the Equal project).
- The network among the partner of the national DP is getting stronger and we overcame a lot of difficulties in communication. Now there’s a large debate the way to promote the social integration of AS, without considering the insertion into the labour market.
- Orizzonti has produced a bilingual “guide for AS” that keeps together all the local services toward AS and gives information about their roles and location.
Action 3
On September 11st we started Action 3 with a project called “Meta” (= goal) that involves all the 6 Italian DPs approved in Action 2, pillar 5.1
Meta’s main aim is to sensitize social workers, public authorities and citizens about AS and to collect all the goog practices and experiences realized all around Italy concerning:
- education on interculturality;
- welfare facilities;
- integration into the labour market.
Germany
1. Qualification of asylum seekers
a. Young asylum seekers and Jewish migrants:
(6 month language course, 8 month prevocational orientation and qualification)
· 10 persons will finish the course by the end of October (plan: 20)
· 15 persons started the prevocational training part yet (plan: 20)
· First results: It is very difficult to work with this target group (a lot of personal problems, motivation changes, low experience with this target group).
b. Adults:
(3 month language course, 3 month prevocational training, 3 month vocational training)
· 40 persons are in the 3rd module or have already finished (plan: 40)
· 40 persons are in the 2nd module (plan: 40)
· First results: It is a little bit too early to draw conclusions for the first labour market and the recognition of diplomas. Nearly every body in the courses is highly motivated, even if there are also people who get used to the situation of receiving social welfare.
2. Offers for the host society
a. Public relations work:
· Articles in newspapers
· Discussion round with local politicians were organised in September.
b. Intercultural work and fighting discrimination:
· Seminar: Argumentation training against racial slogans and prejudices (July and September)
· Qualification for the personal of the handy-craft chamber
· Study days with the trainees of the handy-craft chamber concerning anti-discrimination issues and human rights education
· First results: Racial prejudices are deeply rooted in society. There is a great insecurity among German people because of the changes in the social welfare system. These facts make it even more important to work with the host society to open up working possibilities for asylum seekers and to improve their living conditions.
Malta
Project’s name EQUAL7 Integration of Asylum Seekers into Maltese Society
Target groups – asylum seekers
Project Leader APPOGG Agency – Foundation for Social Welfare Services
The objectives of the project are to:
· Provide training to asylum seekers on various topics, to help them integrate into Maltese society
· Provide vocational training to asylum seekers to prepare them for employment, not only in Malta
· Offer the necessary support and guidance to asylum seekers
Objective of the Measure / How it will be addressed by the Project· To improve the personal situation and labour market prospects of asylum seekers – in the context of domestic legislation;
· Develop training to enable asylum seekers to access mainstream support for training and employment;
· Support asylum seekers to play a role in society and manage their own lives;
· Prepare asylum seekers for social and vocational integration;
· Develop support for asylum seekers to improve labour market integration in Malta and reintegration in their country of origin;
· Improve access to education and employment within the scope of domestic policy;
· Develop an employment strategy which is appropriate to the needs of asylum seekers and those allowed to live and work in Malta. / · By offering asylum seekers the necessary support, training, guidance and possibly work placements or apprenticeships, within the limitations of the current legislation;
· The training courses offered to participants will cover topics for both social and at a later stage, vocational integration;
· The courses offered will be in English, so that participants will not be limited for integration only in Malta but also in other European countries, if there is no possibility of reintegration in their country of origin;
· If possible, access to further education and vocational training will be provided to participants;
· With the implementation of this project, and the mainstreaming activities it is envisaged that the needs of asylum seekers will be addressed and an appropriate policy be developed.
· One of these deliverables of this Project will be the development of a database that can record the skills, qualifications and training undergone by asylum seekers in order to facilitate their work placement.
The innovative element in this project is primarily that activities are all targeted towards asylum seekers and are tailored for this target group. This is also the first time that the local partners are collaborating on this type of project and for this target group. Another innovative element will be the transnational collaboration of the local partner with the foreign partners (Italy, Germany, Greece and Portugal) participating in EQUAL. From this exchange, it is hoped that the local partners share experiences and ‘best practices’ used in other countries.
The empowerment principle will be fulfilled at two levels, the first is that of the target group in this case, asylum seekers and the second level is of Development Partners and other participants in the Thematic Network.
At the first level, the participants will be empowered in various ways. The most frequent will be the evaluation and feedback on each course, and which should also be taken into consideration in the design and implementation of the subsequent courses. The participants can also be self-empowered by identifying their strengths but also their training needs. The participants should be encouraged to work towards forming a career (whether locally or abroad) and their inclusion in society.
At the second level, that of Development Partners, each partner will be jointly responsible in the implementation and running of the Project. Responsibilities, such as monitoring and evaluation, or transnational collaboration, could also be totally delegated to one or more Development Partners, thus ensuring their empowerment.
The activities within this first phase of the Project consist of training courses for asylum seekers:
1. English language course so that participants can obtain working knowledge of the English language, and thus participate in the other courses. The reason for teaching English rather than Maltese is that the former is an official language of the country, with which the asylum seekers would have much greater opportunities in Europe than with the Maltese language;
2. Life skills Course covering various subjects such as communication, health and hygiene, nutrition, culture, decision making and preparation for employment
3. Course for a ‘curriculum vitae’ and preparing for an interview.
4. Workshops and Information Sessions
A second phase of the project will provide further vocational training for participants to seek employment.
The choice of courses offered will be dependant on the skills available. It would be important to state both to the employee and the employer that a traineeship is not necessarily guarantee of a job. (If the trainee is not granted asylum, he/she is not eligible to remain in the country).
Skills Audit and Counselling Services
Through the lifetime of the project, and especially before the provision of vocational training, it is envisaged that a skills audit will be applied, to record the skills, both those recognised through qualifications and the intrinsic skills. This tool has already been used in previous EQUAL Transnational Partnerships participating in Round 1, and the European Thematic Group has formed a working Group on Skills Audits in October 2003 to communicate the good practices learnt from using this tool. The skills audit aims to record the skills, both those extrinsic and the intrinsic skills. This exercise is particularly advantageous to women, who might not have their skills recognised through qualifications, especially those related to family care and work (sewing, cooking and childcare).
The audit will consist of in-depth interviews carried out by professional social workers, who have the considerable sensitivity needed for such an activity. The benefits of such interviews are that an open and trusting relationship is developed, which can provide further and deeper information on the skills of the interviewee. Ideally, the asylum seeker tries to build on the career which they had in their country of origin. If this is not possible, the interviewer should provide the necessary career guidance to match the skills of the interviewee with the appropriate job.
This project offers guidance and counselling services to asylum seekers. Apart from the involvement of the social worker/s in the skills audit (mentioned earlier), the social worker/s will be available for any other support required. The clients of the social worker/s extend beyond the participants of this project, to other asylum seekers.
It is envisaged that a database (or management information system) will be developed, to record the information obtained from the skills audit, as well as the training and certification provided to participants. This should prove beneficial in the participants’ work placements, by matching the skills of the participant with the job requirements. If the participants are provided specialised vocational training in the second phase, this would also be recorded in the database.
Development partnership
Lead Development Partner
APPOGG Agency is one of the three welfare agencies falling within the Foundation for Social Welfare Services. Its main objective is to support childcare and families in crisis and to offer assistance that would lead to a quality life as fast as possible.
APPOGG has within its areas of operations, a service specifically designed to provide social work to refugees. Support is primarily given to children and their mothers, although not exclusively. The Agency also manages shelter services at Hal Far for asylum seekers. The Agency is heavily engaged in networking with other Agencies in an effort to provide an integrated service.