International migrations & (im)mobilities

First test of the pilot

Find here below all the materials prepared by the NEW ABC partners who first came up with this pilot action. You can find some particularities, the handbook prepared to explain the whole implementation process, and templates and specific materials produced for carrying out some activities.

This handbook is addressed to different social actors and organisations, volunteers, citizen groups, and policy makers−actively engaged in the reception and direct assistance of asylum seekers and refugees in the form of health, psychological, legal protection and educational and learning support. It proposes a step-by-step procedure to collect narratives about the life and migratory trajectories of young adult asylum seekers and refugees, paying particular attention to processes of inclusion and integration through formal (e.g. education, school, work) and informal learning (e.g. social relations and encounters).

Wrap-up of the action

Testing country
Italy

Type of action
Out-of-school activities

Children age
Young adults

Download the handbook to learn how this pilot action was implemented

Parts you will find in this handbook:

  • Part I: general considerations
    • What does the handbook include?
    • Rethinking the dynamics between researcher and researched
    • Researching asylum seekers and refugees
  • Part II: stages of conducting research
    • Formulating research questions
    • Where to start? Challenges in recruitment process
    • And with whom? Generating data: Interview(s)
  • Part III: digital video narratives and storytelling 
    • The co-production of digital video narratives and storytelling
    • Narratives and stories of change

Retest and adaptation of the pilot

Find here below all the materials prepared by the NEW ABC partners who replicated this pilot action. The second pilot of the action was adapted from the first pilot, after taking support and inspiration from the partners previously implementing it. You can find some data about the particularities at which these activities were conducted, you can download the handbook prepared to explain the whole implementation process, and finally, you can get access to the templates and specific materials produced for carrying out some activities.

Wrap-up of the action

Testing country
Finland

Type of action
Out-of-school activities

Children age
Adolescents and young adults

Download the handbook to learn how this repilot action was implemented

Activities you will find in this handbook:

  • Part I: General considerations
  • Part II: Methodological and ethical considerations
  • Part III: Research process reflections
  • Part IV: Co-producing the final video
  • Part V: Communication and dissemination

Tips for adaptation

NEW ABC wants to share some tips to make it easier for you to adapt the activities to your own context. Click on each of them to see a longer explanation with examples and further details.

Be ready to adjust your plan. Plan the project as flexibly as possible and accept that the situation changes, and sometimes things do not go as you expected.
  • Be prepared to deal with uncertainty and modify your plans.
  • Provide feedback throughout the project.
  • Think about your own role as a producer and facilitator of the project.
  • Think about what added value the project brings to the organisation and participants.
  • Do not solve issues alone.
It takes time to build trust and relationships. Therefore,
  • Create a safe (learning) environment with other professionals.
  • Take time to negotiate the meaning of the main concepts and activities
  • Discuss professional roles, rules, and boundaries (coaches, artists, researchers).
  • Talk about difficult issues immediately and act as agreed.
Promote agency and equality of participants.
  • Agree the main rules with participants.
  • Prioritise diverse experiences of young adults.
  • Ensure equal access to information for everyone participating in the activity.
  • Encourage interaction in different languages ​​and ways (using different modes).
  • Guide activities carefully so that possible sensitive issues can be discussed and examined critically without blaming anyone.
  • Listen!
Be realistic! Stakeholders do not necessarily have the same amount of time or resources.
  • Reserve a good amount of time and human and economic resources for planning, implementing, and sustaining activities.

TIPS FOR RESEARCHERS

Not everyone is familiar with participatory research.
  • Explain in a comprehensible way what participation in the study entails.
  • Ensure that participation is voluntary throughout the project.
Be sensitive to participants' desire to maintain their privacy or be identifiable (including sharing artistic outputs across different media outlets and channels).
  • The matters of being identified should be discussed and negotiated with participants.
  • Agree rules for the dissemination of collaboratively co-created artistic outcomes.
Invest to maintain stakeholders' and participants' motivation. Be prepared to justify the benefits of the project now and in the future.
  • Consider a particularity of participants’ life situations related to the experience of trauma, displacement, and social isolation.
  • Consider various ways to adjust to the new circumstances.
  • Provide a certificate of participation, including concrete examples of activities and learning outcomes.
Remember that you are a guest. Respect the organisation’s values and operating methods, ask, and learn.
  • Enter a new institutional setting with an open mind and open learning.
  • Ask – don’t assume!
Invest time for learning new ways of producing knowledge (e.g. a video project)–this can be slow and has many stages.
  • Keep in mind that producing a shared output takes a lot of time and may involve creating a few versions before all parties involved are satisfied with the final output.
Discuss how once-developed activities could later be implemented in different organisations.
  • Encourage collaborating institutional stakeholders to try activities in new contexts and adjust activities for new purposes.
Create a final event with participants and stakeholders. The project is the result of collaboration!
  • The final event is also a great opportunity to exchange memories, reflect on activities, think of the next steps.
Share experiences with other researchers who have conducted arts-based participatory research or would like to do so.
  • Talking to researchers who conduct similar activities can help you and them cope with difficult situations.
  • Do not hesitate to develop new arts-based projects and new types of collaboration in new contexts.
Consider group dynamics while working with a group of participants.
  • Encourage positive interactions and intervene in an immediate but sensitive manner in cases of negative interactions.
  • Facilitating group dynamics is important in creating safe spaces.
Encourage continuous feedback on your project and research activities.
  • Have informal conversations and organise regular feedback sessions.

Italian

Spanish

French

Portuguese

Polish

Greek

Finnish

Catalan

Basque

It is important to implement this pilot because…

focusing on the situations and experiences of forced migration can contribute to the understanding of how young immigrants with a refugee background and the local population, as well as institutions such as reception centers or organizations, construct daily inclusion and integration. This gives opportunities to understand the construction and change of the identity of young migrants with a refugee background, their experiences, and participation and agency in different communities.

The aim of this pilot action is…
to collectively create good practices to overcome the conditions and experiences related to forced migration by developing the personal autonomy of young adults and their opportunities to get work, education, legal help and health care or language training.

In the pilot

  • Young adults with refugee backgrounds produce stories about their experiences by using various participatory and creative methods. During this process, researchers work with young adults of refugee backgrounds, representatives of various stakeholders and community volunteers. Young adults participating in the pilot gain also experience as co-researchers.
  • Already existing socio-communicative practices in young people’s living spaces or places where they spend their free time are mapped together with young adults and various stakeholders.
  • We will share information and disseminate experience from the results of the pilot.

This pilot aims to influence the reception system locally, nationally and Europe-wide as well as the actors involved in it, such as authorities, NGOs, political decision-makers and volunteers.

Presentation of the repilot International migrations & (im)mobilities...

Presentation of the pilot International migrations & (im)mobilities...

Conversations on the International migrations & (im)mobilities... pilot action

Multimedia gallery

Photos of the pilot activities conducted in the repilot phase, in Finland

Ahmed's statement about his participation in NEW ABC

Photos about the main pilot activities regarding life and migratory trajectories of young adult migrants