REFUGE-ED will create the Brokering Knowledge Platform of Effective Practices (BKP), which will host and promote innovative high-quality solutions tailored for the dynamic integration of migrant and refugee children in schools and more broadly in society. In so doing, REFUGE-ED will identify, implement, and evaluate existing evidence-based practices in education and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) that have shown to promote the educational success, well-being and sense of belonging of children (0 to 18 years old - ISCED 0-3) from recent migration cohorts, including refugees and asylum seekers, and unaccompanied minors. The ground breaking nature of the BKP is two-folded: on the one hand, it will rely jointly on education and MHPSS; on the other, it will feature dialogic co-creation with children, families, teachers, policy-makers, practitioners working on the ground and other relevant stakeholders. REFUGE-ED will capitalise on the social impacts of prior EU research in the field of MHPSS and education, using the Supportive Process for the Inclusion of Children’s Experience (SPICE) under the communicative methodology of research for the co-creation of knowledge and implementation of results. The REFUGE-ED project will carry out 3 multisite pilot actions across 6 countries (Sweden, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria), in a total of 33 Communities of Learning and Practice, that is, hot spots/reception identification centres, inclusive school environments and non-formal and informal social and learning environments, and institutional care (including unaccompanied minors). Informed by these pilots, the final co-created BKP will provide tools, solutions and recommendations, including guidelines and criteria on capacity building training, solution adaptation and community engagement in easy to use off-line package, in different formats, to support the implementation, reuse and scalability of the piloted actions, and of other practices identified as successful.

In 2015 and 2016, the EU experienced an unparalleled influx refugees and migrants. This situation poses multiple challenges for social- and health services and labour markets in host communities as well as for the lives of the refugees. In response to this situation, the vision of FOCUS is to increase understanding of, and provide effective and evidence-based solutions for, the challenges of forced migration within host communities and thereby contribute to increased tolerance, peaceful coexistence, and reduced radicalization across Europe and in the Middle East. Based on a comprehensive mapping and trans-disciplinary, multi-site field research conducted in Jordan, Croatia, Germany and Sweden, FOCUS explores the socio-psychological dimensions of refugee- and host-community relations and analyses the socio-economic integration of refugees and the consequences of this in host societies. The research sites have been selected to ensure that insights and lessons are derived from medium- and long-term experiences with forced displacement and local integration. This knowledge is used to transform and strengthen existing promising solutions for social- and labour market integration. The integration solutions will be pilot tested in at least five European countries by governmental and non-governmental end-users. The solutions are finally brought together in the Refugee and Host Community Toolbox, which will support policy makers, municipal actors, civil society organisations and other stakeholders in responding to the needs of both refugees and host communities and thereby act as agents of change in this field. In addition, FOCUS undertakes an ambitious programme of engagement with policy makers, end-users, host communities, refugees and other stakeholders. This will ensure that FOCUS research and solutions are acceptable and useful for policy makers, while meeting the needs of end-user organisations and ultimately refugees and host communities.

The project “Social Innovation with New and Active Citizens” has for 24 months, worked towards strengthening and empowering young minorities, migrants, refugees and local youth in becoming active citizens with respect for democratic values, fundamental rights and intercultural understanding. The project has been implemented by Red Cross societies in Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary and Romania.The background for this project was that all partners had witnessed an influx of refugees and migrants to their countries, while at the same time negative attitudes towards migrants and minorities were widespread in all countries and on the rise with populism spreading all over Europe. As a result, e.g. Roma communities are subject to considerable social and economic vulnerability partly due to discimination and exclusion. A needs assessment showed that the challenges for the target groups are common across the countries. Although Romania has received fewer migrants than the other countries and Denmark has a small Roma population, the stereotypes of minorities and migrants persist in all partner countries. Against this backdrop, the immediate objective of the project was that: Young minorities, migrants and local youth in Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary and Romania have increased opportunity and strengthened capacity to support socially inclusive communities through participation in innovative volunteer driven activities. The main target groups have been minority populations such as Roma communities, migrants, refugees, young volunteers in the partner organizations, other civil society organizations as well as public authorities (ministries, municipalities). The general public has also been a target group for awareness raising and the project partners have worked closely with media to disseminate the information and activities that the project produced. The projected succeeded in engaging voulnteers to develop innovative volunteer driven activities, whereby the young volunteers empowered themselves through improved life skills, self-confidence and a sense of inclusion. The project activities were focused around two thematic pillars: Life skills and peer-to-peer dialogue.The project partners all succeeded in translating and adapting the Life skills manual developed by the Danish Red Cross Youth, to reflect each countries’ needs in close cooperation with youth volunteers, minorities and migrants. Bulgarian Red cross held a transnational training of trainers, during which experts from the Danish Red Cross Youth trained youth volunteers from Bulgaria, Denmark and Romania to become Life Skills Trainers. The main objective has been to establish a strong theoretical background for Life Skills and integrate this into the regional RC branches and existing training/workshop practices, which overall has been a success. The Life skills program has become completely youth-led and owned; the volunteers chose the groups they would like to work with, and, with the assistance of the project coordinators, changed and added to the existing materials according to the feedback of the participants. The participants in the Life skills activities are not seen as a “target group”, but as equal partners in the development and implementation of activities, and they are encouraged to improve the program based both on the local context and their own experiences as representatives of different minority and/or vulnerable groups. This has also led to widening the anticipated number of participants. There have been participants with disabilities, as well as young people from different other minorities besides Roma and migrants, such as participants with different ethnical background, sexual orientation and foster children, etc. Hence the project has resulted in increased opportunities for more groups. The peer-to-peer based community dialogue activities involved local youth, minorities, and migrants to come up with, develop and facilitate peer-to-peer dialogue on topics on discrimination, social inclusion and critical thinking. Hungarian Red Cross hosted a transnational training of trainers in peer-to-peer dialogue and the partners all developed innovative peer-to-peer activities, the common denominator being, to discuss, adjust and continuously refine the activities with the inclusion of minorities, migrants and local youth. The peer-to-peer activities have had impact at local, national and European level: At European level the project has established a transnational network of young motivated volunteers who are sharing knowledge, experiences, best practices and innovative methods in conducting social youth work. At the national level young volunteers have increased their capacities and gained knowledge on initiating dialogue and cooperating effectively with local authorities, media and other civil society organizations. Furthermore, the partners and other stakeholders have gained increased awareness about the situation of minorities and migrants.

RE-DEFINE aims to implement effective psychological interventions for preventing the onset of mental disorders in refugees and asylum seekers with psychological distress resettled in middle-income and high-income countries. RE-DEFINE is particularly relevant for the refugee crisis in Europe and in bordering countries (i.e., Turkey), as the progressive increase in refugees seeking asylum poses a significant challenge to the health systems’ capacity to adequately respond to the health needs of this population. The project focuses on adaptation, testing, and implementation of Self Help Plus (SH+), a novel trans-diagnostic self-help preventive psychosocial intervention specifically developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to respond to humanitarian crises. The intervention will be delivered by non-specialists to groups of up to 30 participants at a time. The cost-effectiveness of SH+ will be tested in two large, multicentre, pragmatic randomised studies. One study will be conducted in Italy, Germany, Finland, Austria, and the UK (high-income countries), and a second study will be conducted in Turkey (middle-income country). The dissemination plan will include structured activities such as an Individual Participant Data (IPD) meta-analysis of all randomised data available on SH+, in order to identify specific predictors of intervention’s effects that will facilitate its uptake and long-term implementation in European and non-European countries.