Active Refugees in the Community

Programme 2014 - 2020 INTERREG V-A Finland - Estonia - Latvia - Sweden (Central Baltic)

Date of latest update: 2023-11-11

Description

Description (EN):

The number of refugees and asylum seekers receiving residence permit in Finland and Sweden have doubled in 2016. Refugees usually lack formal certificates of their professional skills and education. They have challenges in seeking and forming connections to any local communities and integrating into the wider society. This prevents them from getting a job which increases the risk of marginalization and social exclusion. The ARC project aims to engage immigrants with refugee background in meaningful activities and interaction with the local community through providing them systematic guidance in practical activities like building and farming, opportunities to cultural interaction and practicing language skills. This helps to prevent the negative effects of polarization and marginalisation. Finnish and Swedish immigrants participating in the project will share their personal challenges and success stories via regular video blog enabling also the local community to better understand the immigrants and their individual journeys. Interaction between Finnish and Swedish immigrants will provide them peer support and strengthen their sense of dignity and belonging. The project organizes study visits as well as develops joint recommendations on cost efficient methods for improving job creation skills of immigrants and integrating them into the society. The recommendations will be disseminated to local public sector and NGOs working with immigrants by local workshops and a joint seminar. The project will involve at least 100 immigrants with refugee background from Finland and Sweden. In addition, approximately 200 local people will participate in the project activities.

Achievements (EN):

ARC improved social inclusion of immigrants with a refugee background. During its implementation, the project found new and cost-effective methods to create meaningful activities for their target group. The project implemented a variety of activities that included mostly gardening but also other type activities such as building small greenhouses, participation in running a radio station and language classes. Some of the activities provided participants with study credits, thus advancing their position in getting a degree and improving their chances on the labour market. Feedback from participants was positive; they found meaningful activities in their local neighbourhood, got to know new people, and learnt Finnish and Swedish at the same time. Two participants were also hired via project activities. In total, the project involved approximately 500 immigrants, thus exceeding its original goal of 100 with flying colours. The exact number may vary as some participants were involved more than one time.

Website: http://centralbaltic.eu/

Expected Results (EN): R4.1. Communities with improvements

Expected Outputs (EN):

As a result of the project the wellbeing, acceptance, societal knowledge, handcraft, language and job creation skills of participating immigrants with refugee background will improve. Altogether 100 immigrants with refugee background will be directly influenced by the project. The piloted methods and practices are disseminated and adopted in Sweden and Finland. The developed concepts and methods are transferable and can be used also in other regions and countries. The improvements that will be gained during the project within the target group will be measured by a questionnaire and interviews with the participating immigrants. Social return on investment methods and web analytics will be utilized in the evaluation.

Thematic information

Demographic change and immigration Community integration and common identity

Specific Objective: More people benefiting from stronger Central Baltic communities

Thematic Objective: (10) investing in education, training and vocational training for skills and lifelong learning by developing education and training infrastructure

Investment Priority: (10 ETC) ETC specific, for cross-border cooperation: investing in education, training and vocational training for skills and lifelong learning by developing and implementing joint education, vocational training and training schemes

Partners (4)

Lead Partner: Pirkanmaan Martat ry

Department: -

Address: Tampellan esplanadi 7, 33100 Tampere, Finland

Legal status: private

Website: http://www.martat.fi/pirkanmaa

Total budget: EUR 84 349.00

ERDF budget: EUR 63 261.75

Institute of Swedish Safety & Security

Name: Institute of Swedish Safety & Security

Department: RIM

Address: Stärte 208, 740 46 Östervåla, Sweden

Legal status: private

Website: http://www.isss.se

Total budget: EUR 230.00

ERDF budget: EUR 172.50

Pirkanmaan muotoilu- ja taideteollisuusyhdistys Modus ry

Name: Pirkanmaan muotoilu- ja taideteollisuusyhdistys Modus ry

Department: -

Address: Näsilinnankatu 22 A 3, 33210 Tampere, Finland

Legal status: private

Website: http://modus.fi/

Total budget: EUR 102 353.93

ERDF budget: EUR 76 765.45

ISSS Resilience Centre

Name: ISSS Resilience Centre

Department: RIM

Address: Stärte 208, 74046 Östervåla, Sweden

Legal status: private

Website: http://www.isss.se

Total budget: EUR 77 827.20

ERDF budget: EUR 58 370.40

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Institute of Swedish Safety & Security

Active Refugees in the Community

Partners and Projects info

Tampere Region Design Association Modus

Active Refugees in the Community

Partners and Projects info

ISSS Resilience Centre

Active Refugees in the Community

Partners and Projects info

Tampere Region Martha Association

Active Refugees in the Community

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Active Refugees in the Community

Project acronym: ARC

Project start date: 2017-12-01

Project end date: 2019-11-30

Project status: closed

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 264 760.13

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 198 570.10

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 198 570.10.

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2014 - 2020 INTERREG V-A Finland - Estonia - Latvia - Sweden (Central Baltic)

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2023-11-11

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

137 / 137 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

663 / 663 (100%)

Notes on the data

Information provided by the Programme. Achievements were retrieved by Interact from the Programme website (http://centralbaltic.eu/), or a website directly linked from it, on 2021-11-08, 2023-01-12 and 2024-03-08.

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Active Refugees in the Community

Description

Thematic information

Partners (4)

Partners map

Summary

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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