00386 30 610 606 epeka@epeka.si

May 13th to 17th 2019
Madrid, Spain

 

The fourth mobility activity in the project Education for Deeper Social Integration (EDSI) was organised in Madrid. It was implemented in the framework of the Erasmus+ program, under the umbrella National Agency Cmepius.

The fourth international activity in the project Education for Deeper Social Integration (EDSI) took place in Madrid. Activities were attended by the educational staff from Slovenia, Greece, Spain, UK, Bulgaria, Czehcia and Italy. First part of the activities was focused on the legal context of the refugee crisis and the fundamental European legislative, which relates to international protection. Partners have also presented aspects of the national legislative and implementation in practice. Employees of the SSF also include several lawyers and besides their educational activities they also offer legal advice. They are also competent in the field of monitoring implementation of politics which they have drafted in the module and thus drawn a basic model of policy control in the practice and possible proponent actions on the local and national level which are directed towards change of policies with the intention to better address the needs in the field. In this context we have also organized an open round table, which was also attended by the famous photojournalist Cesar Dezfuli, who works in Madrid and has received numerous awards for his series that deals with refugees on their way to Europe. It was this meeting that started a collaboration between him and the Association EPEKA, but unfortunately, the exhibition wasn’t carried out during the project (http://epeka.si/en/cesar-dezfuli-passengers/). The second set was focused on the models of the state social intervention and ways in which NGOs can cooperate in the operations, which in cooperation with public services address social challenges. The second part of the activities encompassed field work and visits to the local initiatives. The first part of the activities was dedicated to the field work and visits and presentations of the good practices that the partner organization has recognized in the local context. The main focus was on the organizations that deal with the questions of integration and education of adult migrants and refugees in the Madrid area. The second part of activities was dedicated to the questions relating to the social intervention and presentation of the legal counseling they offer to the asylum seekers. Our focus was mainly on the poorer areas of southern suburbs of Madrid, where we visited the local Center for Social Care where we were given a presentation of their programs and cooperation with NGOs. After that, we visited CiudadEscuela Muchachos – CEMU, educational institutions that focus on inclusion of youth from vulnerable groups from various ethnic backgrounds in the educational programs. CEMU started with their work in the 1970’s and present an interesting model of running educational institution, because students have a lot of possibilities to influence common life through transparent democratic processes inside school, where key decisions are being brought about. In the context of visit, we have attended and helped put up an exhibition by the students. The last visit was a presentation of the Guarani association which prepares entire programs for integration of migrants, people with international protection and other vulnerable groups. They mostly focus on education with the intention of easier entrance to the labor market. At the presentation we were also focused on the specifically Spanish context of people with international protection which is cleft between Africa, Middle East and Latin America, because it requires a wide spectrum of adjusted integrational strategies.

 

 

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.