Migration and Inclusion: Chances and Challenges for our Future

The course is a followup of a training that took place in Berlin in May this year. The Amsterdam training is conceptualized as an independent non-formal educational unit in this longterm project. We invite new participants to apply for the Amsterdam part. It’s a cooperation project of us (solar e.V.) and our Dutch partner organisation Diversiteitsland. (For more information about what happened so far, please visit our project blog: http://solarev.org/migrationinclusion/) ABOUT THE PROJECT Migration – and especially the situation of refugees – is one of the main topics in public opinion all over Europe. Images of shipwrecked people dying or being rescued in the Mediterranean, people crossing borders in the Balkan countries or trying to cross the channel-tunnel to Britain are day by day in the news. Millions of people worldwide are on the move as a result of war, discrimination, social inequality and economic deprival in the hope to find a better future elsewhere. But there is still no clear European strategy helping to deal with the problems faced by those people, except for populist debates, rising hostilities against refugees, the over-securitization of borders and military solutions such as hunting escape helpers or criminalising rescue helpers at sea. Yet migration is of all times and people will continue looking for better opportunities. One of the main challenges of our time is the acceptance of the presence of migrants and their inclusion in European societies. This double training course consists of two eight-day training events on the topic of migration and inclusion in Berlin and Amsterdam. They will be connected by a five-month try-out and evaluation period of conducting nonformal educational methods and best practice in all partner countries. The participants will learn, try out, discuss and evaluate a large variety of pedagogical approaches to deal with the topics of migration, anti-racist education, stereotypes, intercultural dialogue and conflict management. The trainings involve activities such as doing excursions and guided tours, talking to contemporary witnesses, work with creative and artistic methods, try out methods of anti-racist and trans-cultural education and sharing knowledge and experiences. The activities in the program will qualify the trainees within the context of intercultural learning and stimulate them to develop and adopt new skills concerning the topics of migration and inclusion of migrants. The training promotes pedagogical approaches in dealing with challenges and opportunities in multicultural and pluralistic societies and empowers the participants to work on reflective competences and tools for social change. Thus the participants will be able to use their newly acquired expertise in their work with youth and young adults and share and multiply what they have learned with fellow youth workers. An online blog will be used as a working and dissemination tool to collect, discuss and reflect the content during and after the whole project. The language of communication during the trainings will be English. APPLICATION & CONTACT In order to participate in the Amsterdam part of this project, please fill in our http://solarev.org/en/online-application-project-migration-and-inclusion/. An early application is recommended. DATES: Phase 1: initial training course in Berlin / Germany 29. April – 08. May 2016 hosted by solar e.V. Phase 2: field work period to try out and evaluate the pedagogical methods in your daily work with youth and young adults 09. May - 01. October 2016 Phase 3: final training course in Amsterdam / Netherlands 14. - 23. October 2016 hosted by Stichting Diversiteitsland