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'Let’s make it home' – a seminar on inclusion of IDPs and refugees in the hosting communities
Start date: Feb 1, 2016, End date: Jul 31, 2016 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Let’s make it home' – 7-day seminar on inclusion of IDPs and refugees in the hosting communities. Europe is currently facing consequences of the armed conflicts that take place all over the world. The conflicts force people to leave their homes. Indeed, one of the consequences and severity of a conflict (in addition to casualties and suffering) is the extent to which people were displaced from their communities. Most of people displaced due to the conflicts remain within their national borders. They are called internally displaced persons (IDPs). Those who manage to cross an international border are defined by international law as refugees.The aim of the project 'Let’s make it home' – a seminar on inclusion of IDPs and refugees in the hosting communities is to empower youth and NGO workers with tools and practices in their work on inclusion and humanitarian support of IDPs and refugees. The main objectives were: - to share best practices between the NGOs and youth workers for the work with IDPs and refugees in hosting communities; - to point out possible issues which could arise in the local communities experiencing the growing amount of IDPs and refugees and elaborate possible measures to deal with them; - to compare the legal instruments existing in the countries of the participants concerning the status and support of the IDPs and refugees; - to develop suggestions for local authorities for the possible measures to prevent possible conflicts in local communities; - to develop follow-up initiatives for the support of IDPs and refugees in the communities of participants. The seminar involved 36 youth and NGO representatives working with IDPs and refugees in their communities from 12 countries (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, UK, Ukraine, Turkey). The main activity of the project was “Let’s make it home – seminar on inclusion of IDPs and refugees in the hosting communities” that took place on 14-22 April 2016 in Sumy, Ukraine. The methodology of the seminar were built on non-formal education methods, intercultural learning, experiential and participatory approaches. The participants worked together for elaborating individual and common ideas in order to apply the received knowledge and skills in their practices and establishing a cooperation for future as well as developing recommendations for integration of refugees and IDPs in their hosting communities.The program of the seminar consisted of the following phases: getting-to-know each other and integration (ice-breakers, name games, getting-to-know each other games, team-building and integration activities), setting common ground (presentation of the program, aims and objectives of the seminar, expectations of participants from the seminar, presentation of Erasmus +, introduction to YouthPass, presentations of organizations of participants), theoretical phase (definition of IDPs and refugees, international and European instruments concerning status of IDPs and refugees, sharing the practices of national and local legislations on IDPs and refugees), practical phase (case studies on the needs and challenges of IDPs and refugees and local communities, panel discussion with local activists working with IDPs and IDPs on the status and support of IDPs, mapping of stakeholders involved into the support of IDPs and refugees), developing of recommendations for educational institutions, local authorities and NGOs for the integration of refugees and IDPs in the communities, planning of follow-up initiatives and evaluation. The participants acquired the following skills and knowledge: - to analyse and understand the needs and challenges of IDPs and refugees in their local communities; mapping the conflict causes and consequences; conflict resolution; making the stakeholders analysis; - to learn different international and European legislative tools towards the status and support of IDPs and refugees; - to understand the concept of IDPs via refugees; - learn different experience and practices from other participants; - to analyse their learning experience; - to improve their knowledge about other cultures; - to learn/improve how to organize supportive activities for IDPs and refugees; - to develop their skills in expressing themselves and bringing their ideas into action while developing initiatives, working in the groups with other participants, during discussions on the plenary; - to learn how to plan their time working in the intercultural groups; - to improve their skills of speaking English and the working language of the seminar will be English. The long-term benefits of the project: the youth and NGO workers will support the integration process in the society; the cooperation between organizations will also reinforce their competences in the area of inclusion and support for IDPs and refugees.
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