A 2019 study entitled Migrant-led advocacy across Europe. Challenges and opportunities shows that the problems encountered by people with experience of migration in self-advocacy are: having no opportunity to network and for sharing of know-how between initiatives and self-advocates, limited access to funding, limited resources as regards for instance communication tools and forms, and knowledge of legal issues.
The project addresses the challenges faced by foreigners and refugees: limited opportunities to create their own civic and social and cultural activities, and exclusion from devising of solutions intended for them.
Measures are envisaged in three areas:
UNITING – leadership skills training for twelve refugees (storytelling, communication, management, public appearances), after which they will plan and conduct six awareness-raising and cooking workshops, in teams of two, for 150 people.
SHARING – an online platform on which volunteers can connect, enabling communication to be initiated at refugee level, concerning their priorities and perspective, promotion of their activities, sale of goods and services, self-advocate networking, and greater access to resources (volunteers, people providing funding);
UNITING THROUGH SHARING – sixteen initiatives in this project, on self-advocacy or empowerment, proposed by immigrants. A 50% immigrant panel will choose the initiatives. We will provide the essential mentoring support for the leaders.
The project will improve the competencies of twelve immigrants, strengthen self-advocacy measures, make them more noticeable in local communities, and create a forum for exchanging information and networking for people, including self-advocates from various regions in Poland,
113 people with immigration experience will participate, 53 in self-advocacy measures.