Akcja integracja! - partnerstwo na rzecz współpracy w procesie włączenia społecznego dzieci i młodzieży z rodzin imigranckich.

The Knowledge and Competence Institute Foundation, acting as the coordinating organisation (applicant), undertook the project because it had noticed the real needs of young people from immigrant f...

As stated in the grant application, the main objective of the project was to improve the quality of non-formal education activities contributing to more effective social inclusion of children and young people excluded because of their origin from immigrant families. The main objective was achieved through the adaptation of successful mechanisms developed by actors in the partner countries - Spain and Germany.The project aimed to contribute to the promotion of pThe project aimed to contribute to the promotion of prThe project aimed to contribute to the promotion of pra The project was intended to contribute to supporting mechanisms for psycological-pedagogical work with both young people with migration experience and peers from the host country, who also require support to shape a new multicultural reality. The aim of the project strongly evolved during the course of the project - due to the current socio-political situation related to the outbreak of war in Ukraine, a large part of the focus was on adolescents with refugee experience, who also fitted into the broad notion of migrants. The project also aimed to: - increase the knowledge of youth trainers, - the acquisition of knowledge and competences by youth volunteers.

The project has planned activities under the following categories: 1. Transnational Project Meetings 2. production of Project Results 3. Multiplier Events 4. Learning, Teaching, Training Activities. Re 1. Under the category "Transnational Project Meetings", 3 meetings were held (according to the grant application): - I International Project Team Meeting - "Initiating the project" (January 2022); - II International Project Team Meeting - "Monitoring the progress of the project" (October 2022); - III International Project Team Meeting - 'Project evaluation' (June 2023). The purpose of the activities in this category was the ongoing monitoring of the progress of the project, communication between partners, confirmation of previous arrangements, validation of learning outcomes, ongoing evaluation. The meetings were held respectively at the premises of the coordinator (Gdynia), the German partner (Bad Freienwalde) and the Spanish partner (Granada). Re 2. Under the category "Production of Project Results", 2 results of the intellectual work of the project were realised (according to the grant application): - "IMMIGRANT-FRIEND - Handbook of good practices for shaping cultural, social and professional competences to support the social inclusion process of children and young people from immigrant families." (in Polish, Spanish, German and English); - "IMMIGRANT-FRIEND CLUB - a comprehensive solution for integration across divides - guidelines for inclusive work in the non-formal education sector non-formal education sector (methodology)." (in Polish and English). It is important to note that the project involved the scaling up of the developed good practices - all the workshops were conducted at the Refrigeration and Electromechanical School Complex in Gdynia, where the Klub Imigrant Przyjaciel was established, and thus the effect of this activity was also to raise the social competences of students with migration/refugee experience and Polish teenagers acting on their behalf. Re 3. Under the category "Multiplier Events", a two-day conference entitled "IMMIGRANT-FRIEND - good practice in the development of cultural, social and professional competences to support the social inclusion process of children and young people from immigrant families" was realised. The conference took place at the Refrigeration and Electronic School Complex in Gdynia from 23.06.2023 to 24.06.2023. The conference was attended by 160 participants - 60 attended the event in person, while 100 took part in the webcast. Participants predominantly included psychologists, educators and professional counsellors working with children and adolescents with migration or refugee experience. The agenda of the conference was in line with the grant application - it included theoretical lectures and workshop parts using content from the developed collections of good practices. Re 4. Under the category "Learning, Teaching, Training Activities." 5 activities were implemented (as per the grant application): - 2 activities aimed at young people, - 3 activities aimed at youth workers. Within the youth-oriented activities, the following activities were implemented: - I International youth meeting "MultiCOOLtural meeting" (Granada, March 2022), 24 teenagers from Poland and 20 teenagers from Spain participated in the meeting. Among the participants was one teenager (from Poland) with special needs due to having a disability certificate, who received individualised support. - 2nd International Youth Meeting "Let's FOLK abut culture!" (Bad Freienwalde, May 2023), was attended by 24 teenagers from Poland and 16 teenagers from Germany. As with the first meeting, the second also involved a participant with a disability certificate. The following activities were carried out as part of the activities for youth workers: - I Intensive youth worker training 'Multicultural classrooms: Teaching strategies based on arts and other forms of non-verbal communication" combined with job shadowing in Spain (Malaga/Granda, January 2022) - 15 participants; - II Intensive training of youth workers "Increasing the intercultural competences of youth trainers with a special focus on career guidance in an immigrant environment" combined with job shadowing in Germany (Bad Freinewalde, August 2022) - 15 participants; - III Intensive training of youth workers "Action-Integration! Good practices in work for the social inclusion of young immigrants on the example of CLUB IMIGRANT - FRIEND" (Gdynia, January 2023) - 10 participants.

The results of the project can be divided into several categories: 1. results from the point of view of the participants of direct activities - knowledge and competencies acquired by the project participants (young people and youth trainers). 2. intellectual results of the project 3. indirect results Re 1. The project supported the following groups of participants: - 25 youth trainers from 4 organizations (Institute of Knowledge and Competence, VFBQ Bad Freienwalde, Universal Mobility SL and the Refrigeration and Electronics School Complex); - 24 volunteers of the youth self-help club "Immigrant Friend Club" established at the Refrigeration and Electronics School Complex, - 36 teenagers from Spain and Germany - 20 and 16, respectively, who are actively working on behalf of peers with refugee experience (high school students from Granada and Bad Freienwalde), - 14 teenagers from immigrant or refugee families attending the Refrigeration and Electronics School Complex in Gdynia, who were supported by the activities of the Immigrant Friend Club (took part in the scaling of the educational offer). The results for the 25 youth trainers included: - acquiring knowledge in educating youth in openness to other religions, cultures; - learning about specific tools for peer integration across language divides using art; - acquiring knowledge about career counseling for teenagers with migration or refugee experience. In addition, participants in the activities improved their language competence (English level B2/C1), acquired social competence, established contacts with youth workers in Germany, Spain and Poland, and improved their cultural competence by working in an international environment. In addition, job shadowing enabled them to learn the basics of legal assistance to immigrants and refugees, and allowed them to observe good practices. In turn, the teenagers participating in the project (60 people - 24 from Poland, 20 from Spain and 16 from Germany) through participation in two international youth meetings gained the opportunity to exchange experiences and engage in a debate on a topic relevant to them, thus achieving the following results from the level of youth participants: - increase in empathy, - increase in sense of agency, - development of cultural competence, - development of artistic skills, in particular using art to support peers with refugee experience, - development of artistic competencies, in particular learning new artistic techniques, - development of key competencies in the digital area (e.g., photo restoration). A detailed list of acquired skills and competencies was presented in the prepared certificates - both internal and Youthpass (number of internal certificates issued - 124, number of Youthpass certificates issued - 39). Ad 2. intellectual results of the project Two intellectual results were developed as part of the project: - "IMMIGRANT-FRIEND - Handbook of good practices for shaping cultural, social and professional competences to support the social inclusion process of children and young people from immigrant families." (in Polish, Spanish, German and English); - "IMMIGRANT-FRIEND CLUB - a comprehensive solution for integration across divides - guidelines for inclusive work in the non-formal education sector non-formal education sector (methodology)." Re 3. Indirect results of the project The conduct of the 18-month initiative has primarily contributed to a change in attitudes and perceptions of immigrants, which should be counted as the most important outcome of the project. Young people from Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Armenia were treated in the local environment as "second-class" - Conducting a series of informational and promotional activities, such as a conference, workshops as part of the process of scaling up the offer resulted in a different perception of these people - as having specific needs. The appreciation of youth volunteers (participation in a "large" European project, the opportunity for training trips, exchange of experience, speaking at a conference) showed other teenagers that it is worth having open hearts and minds to the needs of others. The project created other results that were not mentioned in the application, but were implemented on the initiative of the youth, such as the creation of a wall mural with the inscription in Ukrainian "We with You" and with a silhouette of a Ukrainian woman in the national colors - as part of the activities of the Immigrant Friend Club as a sign of solidarity in times of war.