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RAISD Research Testimonials: Success Stories of Tailored Attention and Inclusion Strategies (TAIS)
The Action-Research Units (ARU) Units were born as one of the innovative elements of the H2020 RAISD project. Over the past 3 years, they became the milestones upon which the Tailored Attention and Inclusion Practices (TAIS) were imagined, piloted and enriched to cope with unexpected challenges. ARU have shown their great potential, their capacity to influence the context, to drive the change, and generate a positive impact on the lives of the beneficiaries, the vulnerable groups. They have adapted, they have suffered, they have committed to the set goals. Time will say if these achievements stay over time, keep producing life-changing outcomes and involve relevant stakeholders. As far as we heard in the ARU stories, all ARUs seem to be on the right track to successfully move forward and concrete plans are made for the future sustainability for the ARUs.
The multidisciplinary groups’ Research Stories and Testimonials aim at tracing the working methodology, the innovative elements, the criticalities and the achievements of the ARUs. The TAIS represent a very wide and diversified range of contexts and actors, from a Nordic country such as Finland to Middle East countries - such as Lebanon and Jordan, going through Hungary, Turkey, Spain and Italy, and experiencing profoundly different impacts of the migration phenomenon. In particular, it is noteworthy that in Lebanon and Jordan the percentage of refugees in the broadest sense is considered to be equal to 35% of the total population, thus generating a high pressure on the local society and on the availability of resources and services. Also, in Turkey the pressure is very high, whereas none of the involved EU countries experiences similar levels of presence, but the issue of accepting and integrating different types of migrants is still very relevant in the political agendas of these countries.
The RAISD consortium would hereby like to congratulate the success stories of all partners and stakeholders involved in the TAIS piloting implementation and thank all ARU members for their highly appreciated engagement and efforts.
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ARU in Spain – the work of Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Testimonials
“It gives me the opportunity to activate and create, from a network that considers different voices: migrants and refugees themselves, social organizations, and the university”
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The stakeholder narrating the experience in the framework of the Spanish ARU is Maribel Rodríguez from the organization La Merced Migraciones, a civil society organization which has been working for more than 30 years to guarantee protection and promotion of the inclusion of migrants and refugees in vulnerable situations. The interview is a tangible proof of the willingness of stakeholders to participate in the ARU, despite being oversaturated in their jobs, taking the project as the opportunity to grow, share and be heard. From conversations, dialogue and exchange very valuable people met, with great contributions. The great human capital of the ARU members is rewarded through the ARU work itself. Maribel highlighted how the ARU contributed to her routine both professionally and personally. It gave her the opportunity to stop and think, analyse and exchange impressions; to activate and create, from a network that considers different voices: migrants and refugees themselves, social organizations, and the university; to serve participating women, assess actions and improve. It also helped her to acquire a methodology of work, facilitate and systematize initiatives, planning carefully. Personally, it provided her the opportunity to listen to others' experiences, other ways of doing things, challenging and building her way of being in the world. All in all, it was a valuable learning experience, learning new approaches and visions on vulnerability and vulnerable contexts.
The testimony is available here: https://youtu.be/YxerDVLPIsg
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ARU in Italy – the work of CESIE
Testimonials
“Your training was able to answer to their questions, about independence,
about work, about the future, and to inspire their curiosity”
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The second testimonial of the Italian ARU is Ms. Luigia Sunseri, one of the educators of the “Cooperativa Nuova Generazione, Freedom centre”. During her interview, she immediately highlighted the importance of having the training delivered directly by CESIE at the centre. That was a key element for the girls hosted in the centre, increasing their feelings of confidence, security, protection and wellbeing. Noteworthy was the great capacity on behalf of the CESIE to involve the young women in the training, raising their curiosity and providing them with support in their path to the future. The hands-on part of the training was essential to match wishes and expectations with actual possibilities and competences. The initiative jointly delivered by CESIE and the Freedom centre was indeed a success for the inclusion and integration of the women, also looking at the long-term perspective it may open for them, towards a new independent space for their own lives. At the very end of her intervention, Luigia stressed the constructive and fruitful collaboration put in place with CESIE, that the centre welcomed very positively, and will be ready to welcome in the future as well.
The testimony is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnpSma553as&ab_channel=UNIMED-MediterraneanUniversitiesUnion
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The experience of the Finnish ARU is told from different perspectives. A young asylum seeker coming from Ghana and living in Finland for two years now, the director of the Rovaniemi Reception Centre, a small city in Northern Finland and the assistant manager and a physiotherapist of the Kristiinankaupunki Reception Centre, in Western Finland. Both these two centres are part of the Finnish Red Cross.
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“This is what I want to do, to calm people down whenever they join this forum, give them the necessary information and ask them the things that I know the camp is not going to ask them”
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Stephen Oppong, a young man from Ghana, has participated in the Finnish ARU, at first as final beneficiary and then as a moderator to help further young men, asylum seekers, who have arrived in Finland.
Stephen is the direct testimonial that the Multilingual Online groups for young men have had a positive end. He arrived in Finland two years ago. He heard of the RAISD project while he was living in a refugee camp. He was at first a final beneficiary, using the forum to get information. Information such as being enrolled in schools, the kind of information, he said, it was not easy to reach out by staying in a camp.
Since last August he is not living in a refugee camp anymore, he works and he is married now. Stephen is currently participating in the Multilingual Online groups for young men, as a moderator and trying to help out other young men that are experiencing the same path he went through.
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About the RAISD project, it’s very important and actually I saw the essence of it because personally I experienced difficulties when foreigners or immigrants come here and try to integrate, try to get acquainted or adapt to the lifestyle and there are so many problems at your arrival that you go through. As a moderator, I was always motivated because when we were living in the camp it was very difficult. Taking you away from the family or the society and being isolated is very difficult psychologically, so the reason why I decided to be a moderator is basically to help people who are also passing through the same situation and be available for anyone who joined [the forum] and ask questions of what they need. It was a good platform for me to actually use my experience and use what I have learned to give people the advice that they needed especially when they come in, because it is very difficult. It is not an easy thing being at the camp for more than 6 or 7 months. Some people have been there for like 4-5 years, and this affects you psychologically. This is what I want to do, to calm people down whenever they join this forum, give them the necessary information and ask them the things that I know the camp is not going to ask them and support them. So yes, this is me and I am happy to be here.
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ARU in Hungary – the work of Menedék
Testimonials
One particular field of support is related to the trauma and the coping mechanisms that were built around it. One ARU member, Lilla Hárdi has the medical and psychiatric expertise working with patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She has been involved in the mental care and healing of those experiencing war trauma. Working as a council and executive committee member of the Copenhagen-based International Rehabilitation and Research Council for Torture Victims, she dealt with abuses in collaboration with UNHCR - her patients were mainly refugees or asylum seekers. In 1996, she was one of the founders of the Cordelia Foundation, which was established to rehabilitate tortured and abused asylum seekers and refugees and provide mental-health assistance. She is a member of the IRCT (International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims) and received the Inge Genefke Prize in 2014, awarded to those who help victims. Lilla Hárdi has been interviewed about the situation about the intervention on the refugees topic in Hungary and the work of the TAIS implemented by the Hungarian ARU.
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ARU in Turkey – the work of Anadolu University
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“Diversity training, inclusion training and monitoring training”
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(…) During the series of ARU meetings, it was realized by ARU members and particularly by FDP members, that the "service" area was the crucial one on which to direct attention and efforts. There was a significant dimension in the service providers that ARU members and FDPs underlined the importance of developing capacities that in return would help their lives. Long discussions and questions helped all members to understand and realize that "local authorities" (municipalities in Turkey, particularly in the city of Eskisehir) were lacking in services in terms of their qualities. Then, discussions were directed towards the local government and all members understood that service providers (particularly to FDPs) in local government (municipality of Eskisehir- 'Greater Municipality of Eskisehir') did never take any training on sensitivities and awareness towards FDPs and other related communities.
Discussions between groups came to the final conclusion, in which all members agreed to conduct a series of trainings, which are 'diversity training', 'inclusion training' and 'monitoring training'. Local government members, as defined, had never had those trainings. Particularly, all members underlined the importance of diversity and inclusion trainings. Later, they also indicated that monitoring training would be also essential because it would bring a kind of follow up and would give elements to understand the qualities of services produced. Meanwhile, all members also underlined that 'monitoring' would also serve as an 'advocacy tool' for the service providers in terms of policy development and other related reasons, because they would accumulate a significant amount of experience. Then, the local government realised another need. They shared that it would be great to have a basic and easy to follow 'monitoring tool' for their services so they can be more aware of the principles of their work that can produce meaning and value for FDPs in their services.
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ARU in Jordan – the work of Yarmouk University
Testimonials
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“I am now self-independent and more able to secure my living expenses”
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Muhammad Al-Heissa is the second Syrian refugee interviewed for the ARU Stories. He took part in a training on Economic and Legal empowerment, which was really relevant for him. He learned he was in the condition of starting his own business, while before, as a Syrian refugee, he was not aware of such a possibility. The greatest achievement was relying on himself and securing a living for his family. Moreover, the training was also the occasion to get familiar with online learning and digital tools. All in all, the support offered by the ARU helped both professionally and personally, providing trainees with skills and a valuable life-experience, reducing the feeling of shame which is often connected with the need for psychological support. The testimony is available here: https://youtu.be/i5Dts_4OWvQ
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ARU in Lebanon – the work of the Lebanese International University (LIU)
Testimonials
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“Direct our trained students to move to their camps and to disseminate the information they have acquired, in order to raise the health awareness of the Syrian refugees in the Bekaa region”
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The story of the Lebanese ARU is narrated by different voices. First, we hear the feedback of the Chair of the LIU Health Committee, Dr. Ahmad Faraj, on the intervention and support provided by the Health Committee to vulnerable communities through the RAISD project. The entering of the HC in the project was functional to the reaching of the ARU’s goals and support for refugee students. In fact, the HC was able to identify a number of Syrian refugee students, assess their skills on several matters and provide them with a series of training workshops. The training focused on health literacy, mobile-media use, communication and leadership skills and digital literacy, as it was reported by the second voice in the video, that of the student Nour Darwich. The training was performed online and addressed to the Syrian refugee students located in the Bekaa region, where the refugee camp is. It was rich in information and useful, in the words of Mohammad Al-Abar, another student who benefited from the work done at LIU by the Lebanese ARU. The HC aims for these students to transfer the knowledge acquired through the people staying at the refugee camp, so to raise their awareness on health matters, vaccination and much more.
The testimony is available here: https://youtu.be/EGUcHuND2-Q
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About RAISD
RAISD stands for Reshaping Attention and Inclusion Strategies for Distinctively vulnerable people among the forcibly displaced. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 822688.
Date of project: 01/02/2019 – 31/01/2022
Would you like to know more about RAISD?
Don't miss the progress of our journey
Discover more about the research units along migration routes:
visit raisd-h2020.eu/research
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Partners
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This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 822688.
"The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein."
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