Tag: inspires

INSPIRES: PILOT EVENT for refugee women in Italy

The pilot events promoted within the project Inspires which will be implemented by the Gea Social Cooperative have been inspired by the following good practices mapped by the developers in the previous phase of the project: “Futbol Mas Foundation” and “Bike Bridge”. The aim of these two good practices is promoting the improvement of technical sports skills, the knowledge of the territory and the exchanges with the community.

The first two meetings will involve refugee women volunteers and refugee women in two soccer trainings together with the grassroots football female team Quadrato Meticcio (already composed by players of different nationalities, mainly European). Women empowerment, social inclusion and cultural diversity are the main topics we will share about during the trainings.

The third and fourth meetings will involve cycling and/or walking to discover the playgrounds and parks with free sport facilities. Participants will also be given a map of the city with the mapped sports spaces.

The last event will be held at Sherwood Festival, in the area dedicated to sport, together with a conference where organizers and participants will share feedbacks, thoughts and ideas to enhance the experience led, to raise awareness and promote the practice of sports of women refugees and with migrant background.

More information on the dates of the events will follow soon.

Inspires Project news cover image

Inspires

INSPIRES will create a new network linking female refugees with football actors and CSOs willing/able to act as organisers, contributors and leaders in integration and social inclusion of refugees in EU.

According to UNHCR, for the first time ever, the number of displaced people reached 70.8 million at the end of 2018 due to persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations. Less than 3% of the refugee population returned to their country of origin, which means that more efforts must be made to improve the integration of refugees in the host communities.
Many EU countries have placed an emphasis on solving the Refugee crisis but are facing challenges like poverty, social exclusion and marginalisation, due to stereotypes, racism and xenophobia in host countries. Refugee integration is threatened by the dilemma of personal trauma, deteriorating physical and mental health, a lack of social support for refugees, against the lack of understanding and inability for many reasons – political, social and economic – to intervene effectively. Although the potential of sport as a tool for social inclusion and integration has been widely tested and acknowledged in many countries, access to sports facilities is limited
Local sports organisations struggle to adapt existing activities and facilities and to create suitable engagement programmes due to a lack of knowledge of refugee needs and expectations. That is why we thought of a project called INSPIRES (INtegration through SPort and Inclusion for Refugees in Europe for Sustainability), built on data collected during the 2018 INSPIRE and 2019 INSPIRE4ALL projects. The needs underlined by the coaches and sport organisations in the countries involved (Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Finland and Greece) referred to the need for knowledge on how to adapt existing activities and needs in host countries or how to create suitable engagement programmes that respond to the needs and expectations of refugees.

The general objective of INSPIRES is to equip refugees, key actors in football (coaches, referees, administrators in clubs and other spheres), and CSOs with the skills and knowledge required to support the integration and social inclusion of female refugees in the EU. To achieve the general objective the project develops on 3 specific objectives:

      1. The female refugees will be better equipped with skills and knowledge to achieve personal development, increase their participation in designing sports and volunteering activities

      2. Increase the number of trained Football actors that will support the integration and social inclusion of female refugees in the sector, and increase their knowledge on methods and tools for successful inclusion of refugees in local teams

      3. Develop new capacity building approaches to support CSOs working with refugees: they will build new capacities to better use the societal potential of football to help integration and acceptance of female refugees in the host communities.

INSPIRES will create a new network linking female refugees with football actors and CSOs willing/able to act as organisers, contributors and leaders in integration and social inclusion of refugees in EU. It will develop, pilot and foster practical solutions to support actors in football and CSOs to be able to implement football projects and activities that develop a refined understanding of the challenges, and opportunities, that sport has in the integration of refugees, with a focus on female refugees. The project, through the organisation of local sport activities, national tournaments and by involving volunteer refugee women in the preparation phase, will promote and increase cooperation between refugees and host communities, the practice of sport activities and the benefits that arise among the refugees.

The project will further develop the existing Fare RefugeesandFootball website through an online platform and a web-app for actors and CSO’s working with refugees where they can share best practices, thus increasing the links between organisations promoting sport as a tool to integrate refugees. Good practices identified from the project will be shared through publications, seminar, webinars, and the capacity building and exchange platform, across the partners networks and at the EU level by the Fare network.

INSPIRES will run from Jan 2021 – Dec 2023, it is led by Fare network with five partners from Italy (Unione Italiana Sport Per tutti Aps – UISP and GEA – Societa’ Cooperativa Sociale), Germany (Champions ohne Grenzen e.V.), Finland (Monaliiku) and Greece (Organisation Earth), who have dedicated their efforts towards refugee integration and development of new working methods to respond to refugees needs.

Inspires Project news cover image

Sport and Refugee Women: The INSPIRES European Seminar

Join experts from across the refugee and sport fields on 6th September to discuss the inclusion of refugee women in and through sport.

The online Seminar, part of the EU-funded INSPIRES project, is open to NGOs and coaches working or interested in working with refugees/ refugee women. After opening remarks from Pier Marcello of the European Commission, the event will go into three sessions: (1) funding and networking for organisations and coaches working with refugees, (2) refugee women’s perspectives on using sport for inclusion, and (3) sports activities for refugee women during and post- Covid-19.

The sessions are an opportunity to share experience and learn from one another, and will be led by experts in the field including:

  • Khalida Popal, former captain of the Afghanistan women’s national team, refugee and founder of Girl Power Organisation,
  • Johanna Small, football coach and activist at Discover Football,
  • Ben Jacobs, Sports broadcaster and Journalist

The INSPIRES European Stocktaking Seminar will take place online on 6th September at 4pm CET. Click to register your attendance here.

Funded by the EU Erasmus+ Programme, INSPIRES is a joint project between the Fare network, GEA (Italy), ChoG (Germany),Organisation Earth (Greece), Monaliiku (Finland) and UISP (Italy).

Inspires Project news cover image

Call for Developers on Refugee Best Practice

Fare is looking to appoint six experts in refugee inclusion and sport as part of an EU-funded project INSPIRES.

The role of sport in social inclusion and integration has been recognised time and again, yet in many places access to sports for refugees remains limited. Often local sports organisations struggle with a lack of resources and knowledge on the needs and expectations of refugees. INSPIRES (INtegration through SPort and Inclusion for Refugees in Europe for Sustainability) aims to counter this.

INSPIRES has the goal of equipping refugees, key actors in football (coaches, referees, club administrators etc.), and civil society organisations with the skills and knowledge required to support the integration and social inclusion of refugees, particularly women and girls, across the European Union.

As part of the project, Fare is looking to recruit developers who will collect and edit good practices to be shared across the EU.

Role of the Developer

  • To identify good practice where football has been used by coaches and civil society organisations as a tool for the inclusion of refugee women
  • To author and edit the identified practices to be uploaded on an Online Platform
  • To support with additional information for the inclusion of good practices in the project handbook
  • To advise on the adaptability of the good practices for implementing in the project’s activities, e.g., at local piloting events

Person specification

The project partners are looking for six developers who:

  • are experts and practitioners working in the field of refugees and/ or sport (e.g., coaches, trainers, refugee organisations)
  • are proficient in English
  • have flexible working hours

The selected Developers will be subcontracted by Fare network and will receive 1000EUR as a fee. The estimated time commitment is 10-15 working days over a period of 12 months.

To apply please send a cv and letter of interest at: esther.jonesrussell@farenet.org Deadline for applications: 30 August 2021.

Funded by the EU’s Erasmus+ Programme, INSPIRES is a joint project between Fare network, GEA (Italy), Organisation Earth (Greece), Monaliiku (Finland) and UISP (Italy).

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