Seven of the involved organisations were already partner in the Sport Inclusion Network (SPIN) project. With the Greek partner FAROS the “Sport Welcomes Refugee” Project has another important player on board!
Background
Following 2015 when refugees had been crossing the EU borders 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. Moreover, many grass-root sport initiatives experience dwindling support. There is not only a lack of sporting facilities and resources, but also a lack of knowledge, training and qualification how to deal with the new target groups.
What are the new needs on part of the sport clubs and refugees? 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 aim 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 duration of the project is from 1 January 2017 – 31 December 2018.
Activities
1. Towards an Evidence base: Assessing Needs, Developing Quality Criteria and Good Practice
- Assessment of the needs of sport educators in view of the actual challenges
- Description and analysis of Good Practice examples in Europe
- Developing of quality criteria for projects including refugees in/through sports
2. Training and Qualification of Sport Educators and Clubs
- Training Programme for Sport Coaches and Sport Instructors (June 2017)
- Online-Platform: Sport Clubs open doors for refugees and migrants
3. Respect Refugees - Campaigning and Raising Public Awareness
- Refugees Welcome Events during the European Week of Sport (Sept. 2017)
- Refugee Welcome Events during FARE Action Weeks (Oct. 2018)
4. Capacity building of Sport Initiatives with newly arrived Migrants
- Get structured – Network Meeting: “Grassroots Initiatives meet the organised Sport” (May/June 2017)
- Basic Packages - Providing support for Sport Initiatives working with newly arrived migrants (ongoing)
5. European Networking and Policy Development
- Public Meeting at the European Parliament (Sept. 2018, European Week of Sport)
- European Conference: The Role of Sport in Building a Diverse and Inclusive Europe (Nov. 2018, Lisbon)
Partner organisations
- fairplay initiative / Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation (VIDC), Austria (Leader) www.fairplay.or.at
- Football Association of Ireland (FAI), Ireland www.fai.ie
- Portuguese Players Union (SJPF), Portugal www.sjpf.pt
- Camino, Germany www.camino-werkstatt.de
- UISP, Italy www.uisp.it
- Liikkukaa – Sport for all, Finland www.liikkukaa.org
- Mahatma Gandhi Human Rights Organisation, Hungary www.gandhi.hu
- Faros, Greece www.faros.org.gr
Contact
fairplay-VIDC
Kurt Wachter, Coordinator
Möllwaldplatz 5/3 A-1040 Vienna
Email: wachter[at]vidc.org
Tel. +43 1 7133594 90
www.sportinclusion.net | facebook.com/SpinProject
The "Sport Welcomes Refugees" project is co-funded under the ERASMUS + Sport Programme / Collaborative partnerships in the sport field and Not-for-profit European sport events.