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European answers to the challenges of youth homelessness.
Start date: Jun 1, 2016, End date: May 31, 2018 PROJECT  FINISHED 

BMSZKI provides various services for homeless people at 22 locations, has been an officially recognised (accredited) professional training institute since 2003, a place of internship for undergraduate social workers and the employer of almost a hundred volunteers annually.As a member of FEANTSA, we have been working in partnership with several European homeless care organisations and have been involved in numerous local and international projects. Our organisation’s mobility projects are unique on a national level: BMSZKI is the only Hungarian homeless care organisation that – aware of the importance of lifelong learning - successfully set up and implemented international projects providing opportunities of foreign practice and conference attendance.The main objective of our project is to learn about the programs of European organisations targeting young homeless people and to integrate good practises into our case work. Antecendents: In the past few years the number of people under the age of 25 have increased significantly within the homeless population. In 2015, 167 young people sought admission into one of BMSZKI’s accommodational services and over 100 of them were involved in case-management in one of our temporary hostels.Working with young homeless people is not easy by any means: drug use (including designer drugs, marijuana and misuse of prescription drugs) is more widespread among them, they often have very little order in their lives and most of them struggle with conformity issues. Addressing and involving them in case-management proves challenging in many cases. They commonly struggle with learning difficulties and often fully or partially lack key competences and social relationships.Utilizing the tools of social work with individuals and groups, our colleagues long-term goal is to help these young people develop a self-aware and –acceptive, integrated personality, able of articulating their own personal goals and tackling their problems. However, their knowledge of this particular target group is very limited. In order to improve and deepen social work with young people, we would like to learn about international practices that would help us to deliver targeted activities, occupational and training programs and proper accommodational opportunities to this particularly vulnerable group. In the course of the 24 month project, 12 people participates in a 2-3 day training in the form of an international conference, another 8 people is involved in 4 week practical trainings at 7-8 different partner organisations. The participants are professionals of higher education working at BMSZKI and other homeless care organisations in the region, involved in training and personal development of homeless people or providing vocational training for other workers. In the case of conference attendances, we intend to involve peer experts as well. The most prominent organiser of the international conferences is FEANTSA, the Federation of European Homeless Care Organisations, that regularly gathers new trends, solutions and good practices in the sector and promotes the development of evidence-based policies. Conferences offer great opportunities not just for learning, but for networking, seeking out new partnerships and developing cooperation.During the course of the practical trainings, participants can get an insight to the host organisation’s and country’s system of social care, professional practice and working methods. By the means of job-shadowing they get involved in any kind of activity at the host organisation, in accordance with the local work schedule and with the support of an assigned mentor. Participants receive linguistic and professional preparative training prior to leaving. We are planning to announce the project in July 2016, followed by the preparatory activities in the autumn. Individual mobility routes would take place from the spring of 2017, in dates liaised with both the participants and the host organisations.Returning colleagues successively share their experiences at our accredited workshop. Their reports are parallelly uploaded to the website of BMSZKI, the best studies are further published at the organisation’s collection of essays, „Without home…”. Good practices are collected in a methodological brochure.The aim of BMSZKI - through continuously expending it’s international network - is to learn about the international trends and practices that can directly contribute to tackle the accommodational and other problems homeless people – especially young ones - face with, and promote the long-term social reintegration of our clients.As a long-term effect of the project, these good practices and methods learned abroad can promote the development of the local homeless care system and the implementation of new projects, which way Hungary could get closer the European Union’s 2020 goal: the elimination of homelessness.
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