How was PAPYRUS project designed?
This part presents how PAPYRUS project was developed and makes a base for learning from our own experience and lessons.
Partnership building
First of all, PAPYRUS project is funded by the British National Agency through Erasmus+ programme, Key Action 2, Strategic partnership for youth. We decided to go with this grant scheme, as it was open for all EU member states and contained a window of opportunity to involve non-EU states such as Serbia.
The partnership built around this bid involved institutions from 5 countries including UK, Finland, Italy, Malta and Serbia. This was a good geographical spread in terms of location and experiences of youth refugee work; two Southern European countries on the ‘frontier of Europe’ in the current crisis (Malta and Italy that are primarily transit but also sometimes destination for Refugees), two typically destination countries (UK and Finland) and one EU candidate country – Serbia – who brings added value due to Serbia’s role as a major migrant transit country into the European Union.
When it comes to the type of partner institutions, the partnership included 2 universities (Manchester Metropolitan University as lead partner and Turku University of applied sciences) and 3 NGOs (CESIE from Palermo, Italy, KOPIN from Malta and Western Balkans Institute from Belgrade Serbia). Thus, the partnership composed was a great blend of academic and practitioner approaches and skills ensuring the production of high quality relevant materials.
The partners all have a focus on migration, refugee and asylum seekers support, skills development with migrants and all employ staff who are youth workers.
Project design
Our situation analysis conducted during preparation of the application, indicated that materials and tools as learning resources for youth workers and professionals working with migrants, are very scarce and limited. The analysis also indicated that youth workers mostly have a need for materials for social inclusion, better multicultural working environment, socio-economic empowerment, provision of psychosocial support and safeguarding, and tackling abuse issues.
Given such research findings, the project consortium decided to prepare the development of innovations type of project focusing on the production of so called intellectual outputs. In other words, we decided to focus the project on the creation of various learning and training materials, which will be useful to youth workers but also to all professionals or volunteers working with young migrants.
After several team discussion, the consortium decided to create the following materials in the scope of PAPYRUS project:
1) Multi-language Analysis Report on Mapping of Comparative Youth Work Practices with Refugees:
A report identifying and describing comparative youth work practices, youth worker training models and youth work engagement with Refugee and Asylum seeking youth throughout Europe.
2) Training kit: Multicultural understandings and working in Multicultural Environments with Youth Refugees:
The purpose of this toolkit is to supply youth workers working with young refugees and asylum seekers with necessary knowledge, skills and techniques of working in multicultural and multi-ethnic environments. It consists of a set of training materials, designs and references to best practices from across Europe.
3) Training kit: Social inclusion of Refugee Families and Young People:
The purpose of this toolkit is to supply youth workers, working with youth refugees and asylum seekers, with the necessary knowledge and techniques for facilitating social inclusion of these groups and their families. It consists of a set of training materials, designs and references to best practices and innovations from across Europe in this area.
4) Training kit: Socioeconomic Empowerment of Youth Refugees:
The purpose of this toolkit is to supply youth workers working with refugee and asylum seeking youth, with necessary knowledge, skills and techniques of providing economic and social support in planning, teamwork, starting own business, job seeking, leadership, etc. It consists of a set of training materials, designs and references to best practice across Europe.
5) Training kit: Providing Psychosocial support for Youth Refugees:
The purpose of this toolkit is to supply youth workers working with refugee and asylum seeking youth, with necessary knowledge, skills and techniques of providing psychosocial support, including working with trauma, creative techniques for enhancing wellbeing and recognizing when there is a need for signposting to other professional forms of care. It consists of a set of training materials, designs and references to best practice across Europe.
6) Training kit: Abuse Prevention and Safeguarding of Youth Refugees and Asylum Seekers:
The purpose of this toolkit is to supply youth workers working with refugee and asylum seekers with necessary knowledge, skills and techniques of safeguarding and abuse prevention when working with this group, who can be doubly vulnerable due to their past experiences. In particular the issues of sexual exploitation, human trafficking risks and domestic abuse and gender are covered. It consists of a set of training materials, designs and references to best practices.
7) Open Access Interactive Website and Database of Youth Worker Best Practice with Refugee Youth:
The open access website is as a growing collection of training packages and other valuable resources for youth workers for training and working with youth refugees and asylum seekers.
8) Interactive Youth Worker Context Case Studies:
These case studies have brought to life through podcasts and talking heads, the various contexts where youth workers may work with refugees and asylum seekers across Europe, including refugee camps, outreach sites, welfare support settings, housing, faith youth work, youth work in arts and therapeutic contexts etc.
9) Project Methodology Learning Log:
This was created as PAPYRUS progressed, to consolidate and present the findings on the methodology of the project. The learning log, which has the form of a report and chronology of project development, primarily is targeting others who may wish to devise and run projects in a similar area to PAPYRUS in future and makes a strong contribution to the advancement of the further research.
Each of these 9 intellectual outputs we called the work package in the project. Each work package has had institution coordinator which was responsible for preparing the concept and approach to dealing with work package content. The general methodology envisaged for all 9 work packages/outputs, was to prepare the concept and approach, suggest task division among the partners, discuss this at transnational face-to-face meeting and then continue with creation of an output. In project design, we envisaged that work package leader be responsible for collecting different materials, inputs and pieces of work from the partners, and compile the final work package output ready for quality check.
Quality assurance
In our design, we have envisaged complex and thorough quality control mechanism for project outputs. This mechanism is based on a Quality Assurance and Monitoring Committee which was supposed to be constituted by partner external associates and direct beneficiaries – the youth workers and refugees. This structure was expected to read and comment on the quality of each work package output produced, before it goes to publishing as a final version.
Publishing, promotion and availability of intellectual outputs
Project design envisaged that all intellectual outputs shall be presented and promoted at so called multiplier events – the conferences that will gather relevant audience to learn about project outputs, their potential use and exploitation potential. All the partners were envisaged to host one event and through it to present and promote certain number of outputs.
All the outputs (toolkits, reports, videos, learning log, etc.) were supposed to be published online at Open Access Interactive Website and Database and be available free of charge to specific and wider public.