Supporting Professional Development of Migrant-Related Educators (SUMIGRE) (2017 - 2019)

Geographic coverage: Turkey, Hungary, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Netherlands and the United Kingdom

Duration: 24 months (September 2017 - August 2019)

Donor: ERASMUS+

Status: Completed

Summary: 

2015 witnessed an unprecedented refugee flow, predominantly from war-torn Syria and Iraq. Over one million people escaped from their countries to reach Europe for shelter and better and safer living conditions. One of the most affected countries is Turkey, which hots more than 3.5 million refugees and this number is expected to increase in the future as a result of continuous skirmishes  in the region; however many European countries are also impacted by the arrival of thousands of refugees to their borders. There is an urgent need to involve more actors in this issue in Turkey and Europe, as the flow is feared to increase due to the continuing conflicts in the area. Therefore, civil society organizations should also contribute to the solution of this problem, which may become too overwhelming for the public organizations only. 

The project will support adult educators to extend and develop skills and competences in order to achieve their socio-educational and professional development. Thus, they will be better equipped to deal with immigrants and refugees who are a vulnerable and often marginalized group with many social, economic, educational and psychological needs. They have to learn many things in their new countries, and often in unfavorable situations. Educators who will train them should be empowered by acquiring or improving necessary skills and competences to handle these persons. The project will create a network of European organizations that will collect information, identify, design and develop a training pathway for adult educators, compare contents and good practices and analyze results.

SUMIGRE aims to: a.) contribute to a socially inclusive society by raising the public awareness of  immigrants/refugees and the importance of better social integration; b.) enable related staff to improve and/or acquire new skills and competences needed in their work with  immigrants; c.) get more actors, especially civil society organizations, involved in the issue of migration; d.) enhance the importance of NGOs’ collaboration with public institutions in tackling the refugee crisis; e.) expand the partner organizations’ network of organizations; and to f.) increase synergy between the partner organizations and public/ private sector.

Towards these ends, a Migrant Report will be developed with country-specific research around migration, (qualitative and quantitative data), existing national policies adopted by the government and private sector to deal with the issue of migration, provision of educational and training opportunities for professionals working with immigrants, as well as best practice examples. The Report will be translated to the native languages of all participating countries and will be widely distributed among stakeholders and members of the various target groups. The report will be a valuable source of information about the various ways, methodologies and approached adopted by Hungary and the partner countries in order to cope with refugee/migration issues, the training opportunities provided for migrant-related educators and existing curricula. Similarly, an easy-to-implement Training Curriculum will be developed and tested within the framework of 30-hour pilot training courses for adult educators, who are working with immigrants/refugees, or likely to do so in future. The curriculum will be shared with the beneficiaries and stakeholders, and it will also be accessible to all interested parties. The curriculum will also be translated to the native languages of all participating countries. These materials will be promoted both online and offline with the involvement of public and local authorities, representatives of local municipalities, NGOs, experts, representatives of the local immigrant community, local community and youth leaders. Publications will be available to the public free of charge.