SPORT WELCOMES REFUGEES

Social inclusion of newly arrived migrants in and through sport

 

Duration: 24 months: 1^st January 2017 – 31^st December 2018

Location: The project is international, and it develops – in addition to Italy – in Austria, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Hungary.

Applicant / Coordinator:  VIDC/FairPlay (Vienna Institute for Dialogue and Cooperation), Austria

Partners:

• Uisp (Italy)
• Likkukkaa – Sport for all (Finland)
• Camino (Germany
• Faros (Greece)
• Football Association of Ireland (Ireland)
• Sindicato dos Jogadores Profissionais de Futebol (Portugal)
• Mahtma Gandhi for Human Rights Organisation (Hungary)  

 

Funding body: UE Erasmus + Sport Collaborative Partnership 2016

 

SUMMARY:

Following the refugees crossing into the EU in 2015 many sport clubs, associations and informal groups started to provide sport and leisure activities to the newly arrived migrants. Sport organisations are confronted with a new situation where experience and best practices are lacking and grass-root sport initiatives experience dwindling support.

Against this backdrop the Sport Inclusion Network (SPIN) designed the project “Sport Welcomes Refugees – Social inclusion of newly arrived migrants in and through sport”. The project aims to provide knowledge, training and qualification to work with the new target groups. It will enhance the social inclusion and participation of newly arrived migrants on different levels of sport through training, awareness-raising and capacity-building of sport stakeholders.

 

OBJECTIVES:

The overall objective of the project “Sport Welcomes Refugees – Social inclusion of newly arrived migrants  in and through sport” is to enhance the social inclusion and participation of newly arrived migrants on different levels of sport (formal and informal) through training, awareness-raising and capacity-building of sport stakeholders.

 The project is designed to achieve the following specific objectives: 

• Facilitate grass-roots sports participation of refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants through training of sport coaches and capacity building of mainstream sport clubs

• To generate evidence-based knowledge about the needs of sport organisations and sport multipliers (coaches, instructors) how to best integrate newly arrived migrants into sport

• Further develop a European framework for quality criteria regarding intercultural openness and inclusion of refugees and migrants in sport clubs

• To capacity-build and empower migrants and refugee initiatives to challenge exclusion and discrimination and harness the role of migrants as volunteers (coaches, administers, referees) in sport clubs

• Develop educational tools and raise awareness among sport stakeholders about issues of exclusion and discrimination and how practically foster social inclusion in sport organisations

 

 

PROJECT ACTIONS:

The project is divided in several work streams

1 . Building an Evidence base

• Assessment of the needs of sport educators in view of the actual challenges
• Good Practice in Europe and developing of quality criteria for inclusive sport projects

2. Training and Qualification of Sport Educators and Clubs

• Training programme for sport coaches (Rome, June 2017)
• Online-Platform: sports clubs opening doors for refugees and migrants

3. Respect Refugees – Campaigning and Raising Public Awareness

•  Refugees Welcome Events in the European Week of Sport (all countries, September 2017)
• Refugee Welcome Events during FARE Action Weeks (all countries, October. 2018)

4. Capacity building of Sport Initiatives with newly arrived Migrants

• Network Meeting: Grassroots Initiatives meet with the organised Sport sector (all countries)
• Basic Packages – Providing support for sport initiatives working with refugees

5. European Networking and Policy Development

• Public Meeting at the European Parliament (Brussels, September 2018)
• European Networking Conference (Lisbon, November 2018)

 

 

For more info: progettazione@uisp.it

Website: swr.sportinclusion.net

Gallery:

Social: 

 

*A note on terminology: this project uses the terms “newly arrived migrants” and “refugees” to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.