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Student Alliance for Refugees
Start date: Sep 1, 2015, End date: Aug 31, 2017 PROJECT  FINISHED 

War, violence, threats and extreme poverty have literally forced thousands of people to embark towards the coast of the European Union during the last years. The number of asylum applications received in 2014 in EU Member States rose by 25 % compared to the same period in 2013. Especially countries in the Mediterranean region have witnessed a sharp increase in the numbers of refugees crossing the Mediterranean since 2013. Germany is one of the main recipients of asylum applications. The three partner schools are located in three countries (Germany, Spain and Italy) and regions, which are heavily overburdened and experience every day the difficulty to cope with the integration of refugees in their societies. Especially young refugees are lacking interpersonal relations to their German, Italian or Spanish peers; a situation hampering their integration into the local societies and labour market. In addition, refugees are often target of negative stereotyping, race or culture-based discrimination. The project “Student Alliance for Refugees” (STAR) wants to promote an understanding of the situation of refugees in Europe, motivate students to get active in facilitating the integration of refugees in local European communities and to promote a culture of hospitality for people seeking sanctuary in the European Union. During the project our students will slip into another more active and responsible role than during the normal day at school. They will initiate and plan projects, take a teaching und supporting role for their language tandem partner and act as a promoter for the rights of refugees. The students will gain initiative skills, and develop a sense for multilingualism. They will organize discussion rounds with important regional stakeholders and experts of the flight dimension. During the language tandem project students can meet in person young refugees and help them to learn the language, to integrate into the local society and support them with their career orientation. As a results of the language tandem project three dictionaries (German, Italian, Spanish) for everyday language will be developed for the new arrivals. Four student exchanges will take place during the two years and the impressions gained during the exchanges will be collected and published in a blog, created by the students. They will also produce a movie and a final joint position paper as result of the research of the asylum system in each country. Moreover, the different activities will be integrated in different school curricula. The project stimulates the active participation of young students in the European society and taking responsibility for the others. Student activism can play an important role in raising awareness on refugee issues and providing direct support to refugees. It can also generate other initiatives of solidarity as much at local as at regional or national level. Besides a more responsiveness towards the subject, the project can improve the IT and language competences of the students, increase their journalistic skills and their sense of initiative. Benefits are also expected within the refugee communities in terms of more contact with local people, improvement of their language skills and of the atmosphere in the place where they live. A general and greater social cohesion and cooperation among the local community and further stakeholders can also arise thanks to the project. This project can offer a good opportunity for everyone to benefit from the respective expertise and experience with the flight dimension.
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