COOPERATION FOR IMPROVED REFUGEE INTEGRATION, VOLUME 1

Training course "CIRI - Cooperation on Improvement of Refugee Integration" was implemented from 4th until 12th of May 2019 in Ioannina, Greece. 38 social workers, youth workers, teachers, educators, and volunteers participated in the training course in order to exchange professional experiences, improve their competences and explore possibilities for more qualitative integration of refugees, migrants, asylum seekers and internally displaced people in their local communities.

Objectives of this project were:

*To increase the quality and ethical approaches of integration and social work for refugees and especially for young refugees (children and youth);

*To improve the cooperation and regular experience exchange between different organizations of various countries that work with refugees' children and youth;

*To promote the use of Erasmus+ program as a tool to raise the quality in social work and integration of refugees, especially children and young refugees;

*To increase the inclusion of a highly marginalized social group - refugees in the EU society (with accent on integration of children and youth, therefore often their older families' members would have easier integration as well)

During the training course, participants learned about the situation of migrants in the EU in general and about local realities in the represented countries, later on they had a chance to present to each other their good practices of working with refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and internally displaced people in their local communities and their organisations. Participants had interactive discussion with a representative from Europe Direct Information Center of Epirus and with representatives of international humanitarian organisation Intersos. After experience exchange, participation in various discussions and non-formal educational games, participants visited an asylum seeker accommodation center in Ioannina which is managed by Intersos organisation. In the last days of the training course, participants created new partnerships and worked on generation of specific international projects that aim to improve the quality of refugee integration in the EU society. 

involved organisations: Youth Center of Epirus from Greece, Drustavo za Razvijanje Prostovoljnega Dela Novo Mesto from Slovenia, The Starry Start of Talents Foundation from Bulgaria, Associazione Eurobox from Italy, Stowarzyszenie Sztukater from Poland, Asociatia Support for Youth Devlopment from Romania, Youth for Equality from Slovakia, TACC from Spain, Institutul de Instruire in Dezvoltare Millenium from Moldova, InMotion Armenia from Armenia and Non-Government Organization Unit from Ukraine.

To read more about CIRI Vol1, please visit: https://www.yce.gr/en/activities/ciri/.