THE PROJECT

The Project

The main goal of “EUFAST” project is to reach out migrants and refugees, train them in oral communication skills (listening, body language, friendliness, clarity, empathy, respect) aiming at their fast integration, culture awareness and active participation in the society.

The training material, offered through role – playing, multilingual, social stories scenarios enacted through the use of mobile devices, will cover skills ranging from basic interaction with people in the neighborhood, to using public services and interacting with local people.

The Goals

The objectives of EUFAST project are:

Developing and implementing innovative methods and practices to foster inclusive education.
Enhancing the acquisition of social and civic competence
Supporting the inclusion of newly arrived migrants in good quality education
Involving role models for greater impact among target groups

The Consortium

The consortium is composed from 8 partners from 5 European Countries (Greece, Cyprus, Germany, Italy and Spain) collecting all the required expertise in the design and development of the project outputs. The project consortium is capable to mobilise the necessary resources for achieving the project goals. A healthy mix of researchers, trainers, business people, technicians and developers from all partners worked together to defien the learning materials, the ICT tools, contacting target groups, testing, evaluating and disseminating the project results, as well as ensuring sustainability of results beyond the project’s conclusion

The Activities and Deliverables

Development of Pedagogical framework
Τraining curriculum development
Focus groups and local workshops
Social Stories Scenarios and EUFAST App
EUFAST back end System and Web API
Pilot Implementation
Evaluation and Exploitation

Role Models

The project use role models to inspire, support and engage users in the utilization of the EUFAST training tools.

Real life peer Role models in EUFAST are involved in the following ways:

Participate to workshops that will take place in all 5 countries to share their experiences with the beneficiaries
Communicate with the target users in each country to assist them in problems they face
Inspire the design of the app avatars, so the users to feel familiar when using and interacting with the simulation social stories scenarios.

As mentioned above, role models were used as so as to provide further support to the beneficiaries’ efforts to integrate in their new societies. Migrants and refugees, who have managed to integrate successfully, shared their stories through the scenarios and acted as a “bridge” between the beneficiaries and the new conditions.

Adaptation to the new environment is a very crucial factor for integration. However, and especially in cases where there are important cultural and social differences, it is a complex procedure often creating feelings of isolation, fear and helplessness to the newcomer. Role models can play an important role in their motivation and empowerment, as they can identify with them in regards to their background and experiences. Furthermore role models, as a practical and relatable example of change, can familiarize them with the idea of adaptation and provide them with information and “tools” of how this can be done. On top of that, new comers need to realize that a smooth integration does not depend so much on personal characteristics as it does on acquiring the ability to develop a functional relation with the new society. Through the successful stories of integration, new comers can create a more positive perception of themselves, realizing the potential they can bring into the receiving society as opposed to a self-image of people in need.

In conclusion the added value of the use of role models consists mainly on making clear to the beneficiaries, in a relatable and direct manner, that the main issues they have to address regard the need to change and relate and that this is possible in a mutually beneficial way for both the person and the hosting society. These role models were selected following an interview approach in each country. Several criteria were developed from the consortium for the selection of the most proper ones for the project success.