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                CRAFT FLOW: Refugee Empowerment through Craft&Entr.. 
        
 
                 
                
                
                        
                            CRAFT FLOW: Refugee Empowerment through Craft&Entrepreneurship
                            
                            
                            
                                    
                                                                                                                        Start date: Sep 1, 2016,
                                        
                                                                                                                            End date: Jun 30, 2017
                                        
                                    
                                                                            
                                               PROJECT
                                                                                             FINISHED 
                                            
                                        
                                    
                            
                        
                        
                     
                    
                         The implementation of CRAFT FLOW: REFUGEE EMPOWERMENT THROUGH CRAFT&ENTREPRENEURSHIP project  is a  craft&entrepreneurship start up programme, targeting  in particular  vulnerable social groups of young asylum seekers, immigrants, and refugees. The project will be a product of the cross sectoral cooperation and collaboration of the following three organisations: Terra Vera Association for Sustainable development (Kostanjevica na Krki, Slovenia), Craftspace (Birmingham, UK), and Institute for Conflict Transformation and Social Justice, Queen’s University (Belfast, Northern Ireland). One of the project’s main outputs  will be a toolkit ‘From crafter to entrepreneur’, designed  for members of vulnerable social groups. In this first phase for young migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, the toolkit will be divided into a series of chapters, each covering a series of important steps in the development of a craft-entrepreneurship initiative and the creation of an ethical marketing brand, from idea to the final product. This will aid the development of  the requisite  knowledge and competencies needed for the effective marketing of these ethical, sustainable crafts. The toolkit will result from expert reccommendations and the combined experiences of our partner organisations, as well as  experiences garnered from working with the case study group  in Slovenia. Individual chapters will be regularly tested on a group of 20 participants (refugees) and will therefore provide a non-formal learning programme. This will help participant’s strengthen their entrepreneurship skills and get  first-hand experience of  the cultural heritage of the local environment, as well as facilitating the  development of an ethical marketing brand and cooperation with local artisans/ designers in order to create prototypes of handicraft products, bringing thus added value to the overall goals of the project. The testing programme will be carried out throughout the 10-months project in the form of a two dayworkshop taking place each month. We will also develop mentoring and peer support practices, emphasizing (most importantly) the role of psychological and social help to participating refugees. We will develop  team building and group work capacities as well as skill building in the space of craft and entrepreneurship with  the ability to  link traditional technologies to contemporary design approaches. With the project we aim to introduce new, innovative ways of networking on all levels- both formally and in-formally, at local as well as international level. We will thus create a social network between participants (refugees) and local handcrafters, designers, instructors, potential employers and other stakeholders who can transfer their practical experience and know-how. We believe that the formation of networks and access to these spaces is as  important   as business training and technical assistance. Our aim is to contribute to the better integration of  refugees into the European Union, providing expert knowledge of the necessary  frameworks for social inclusion and promoting  the benefits of their cultural contributions and creativity. In the project, we will set up an E-platform in both Slovene and English , which will be maintained after  project completion as a free open source site. This  will systematize and organise the non-formal learning material resulting from  the project (Skillshare, Online toolkit, webinars, video material and the basis for the online shop where it will be possible to seel&buy products once the project is over).