PRSD Network – Providers of Social Responses to the Development
Target group
The participants involved in this training activity were:
– Social Workers and Mediators working in Disadvantage areas that work with immigrant organizations from partner countries.
– Youth workers and young leaders from disadvantage neighbourhoods looking for better knowledge and experiences on social and mediation work.
– Staffs from partner organizations that want to develop social work skills and mediation competencies as a way to work with young people with few opportunities.
– International cooperation, International relations, development cooperation.
Summary
The “Training for Social Workers and Mediators Working in Disadvantaged Areas” received 40 social workers and mediators was achieved from 24th to 29th of September 2019 in the Euro-African Youth Center in Almada where they had to opportunity to understanding family mediation from a social work perspective, know how to identify advocacy’s place, increase the capacity of social workers and mediators, help the poor communities and use technology to remain proficient in their work in isolated areas. This activity had a residential format and non-formal methods divided into daily sessions where participants in a community spirit, had spaces to lead and share their personals and collectives experiences and knowledge.
With this training, we increased the capacity of social workers and mediators from immigrants organizations working in disadvantage neighbourhoods. For us, it was essential to show that young people feel they have the opportunity to carry out fully the personal and professional point of view and ensure a new dynamic in European society.
This training gave especial focus to the partners on factors that increased the social and economical inclusion, youth employment and entrepreneurship, professionalism and training programmes, social work and mediation, the concepts that are strongly related with young people living in isolated areas and vulnerable situations among in Europe. It was a need from the partners to increase the capacity and competencies of social workers and mediators on Assistance with Concrete Needs, Advocacy, Social Policy Development and Community Education for better social and economical inclusion of young people living in isolated areas and vulnerable situations.
This project allowed us to do a lot of good work for young people living in isolated areas and vulnerable situations and improved directly social-economical impact and multiply different solutions coming from social workers and mediators for youth and families benefit through:
Expanding the responses of social workers and mediators for young people living in isolated areas and vulnerable situations.
Increasing the capacity of social workers and mediators from immigrant organisations working in disadvantage neighbourhoods.
Fostering the cooperation between social workers, mediators and local governments to support youth groups in disadvantage areas.
Objectives
The aims of the project were:
To increase the opportunities on social and economic inclusion that are available to social workers and mediators working in disadvantage areas and discusses ways in which the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed by social workers and mediators at different stages of their community actions can be permeated by principles and practice necessary to work in inclusive settings.
The main objectives were:
To train 40 social workers and mediators on social justice, which lists poverty as a primary social-economical problem to provide better responses to the local communities, especially young people living in isolate areas.
To develop competencies based on political will and leadership from isolated areas and vulnerable neighbourhoods reflected in a comprehensive and multifaceted programme of actions, matched by existing resources, but that has not previously been used.
To reduce the tension expressed most fully in the government’s unwillingness to get to grips with the place of segregated special communities in an inclusive system, consequently reducing poverty and lack of social and economic responses in isolated areas.
To explore ways of working in closer partnership with social workers, mediators, parents and the local community and to renew their efforts to overcome the obstacles to the social, economic and community contexts of inclusion.
Identifying and mapping community vulnerability as a way to define and implement keys proposals and projects from immigrants organizations using nationals and European fund programmes that benefit young people, particularly those experiencing difficulties.
To built a group of responses composed by social workers, mediators, emergency planners, policy‐makers and responding organizations encouraged to identify and locate high‐risk sectors on community vulnerability maps and that can play an important role in helping the poor and working to eradicate poverty among young people living in isolated areas and vulnerable situations.
Outcome and results
The impact and results in this training made the PRSD Network with partners to:
– Develop 10 local initiatives from participants linked with social and economical inclusion field for young people in disadvantage areas. We managed to help all the 10 partner organizations to apply for Erasmus+ in their countries.
– Increase the efforts and motivation of participants to support poor communities and young people on employment, entrepreneurship and community education on 2 sustainable actions that increase the cooperation and work among organizations, and consequently the life conditions of young people living in isolated areas and vulnerable situations. We cooperate with private companies from Greece, Finland and Spain to develop 2 AMIF projects that support women entrepreneurship among immigrant youth groups in Europe.
– Advocate for at least 3 major problems that immigrant communities are facing living in disadvantage areas setting policies for an inclusive society in the social and economical contexts of current policies which can reduce poverty and youth exclusion and the wider global background of the governments drive to promote “Education for All”. The Secretary of State for Integration and Migration of Portuguese Government Mrs Cláudia Pereira invited us to meet and provide key recommendations to the government for the action plan and strategies for integration and migrant policies in Portugal.
– Help the poor by providing advocacy services, using social workers and mediators or directly intervening with social services organizations or governmental agencies or private companies. We guide and helped 2 migrant women to get a job in February 2020.