Context of the course

In the framework of the project RAISD, Reshaping Attention and Inclusion Strategies for Distinctively vulnerable people among the forcibly displaced, partners are committed to identify vulnerable groups, their specific challenges and needs, and ultimately to define tailored strategies of inclusion. In order to do so, Tailored Attention and Inclusion Strategies (TAIS) have been designed to identify and draft innovative and effective practices for a given context, to tackle vulnerable needs and support inclusion.

TAIS are implemented by multidisciplinary groups, set in each partner city, called ARUs: Action Research Units. ARUs are distributed throughout Central-Eastern (Hungary), Southern (Spain and Italy) and Northern parts of Europe (Finland), Eastern Europe from Asia (Turkey) and Middle East (Jordan, Lebanon). Each single ARU will cover a territorial scope and focus on national vulnerability contexts and groups: ARUs will be in charge for selecting, adapting, implementing and evaluate the impact of each TAIS, contributing to set up and test the innovative strategies in each own context. ARUs are composed of project partners and a number of external stakeholders representatives for the civil society, decision-makers and local authorities, organizations and include also vulnerables groups since the early stages.

To perform at their best, ARUs members have attended an online training, organised by UNIMED, to gain knowledge and skills on a wide range of topics, needed to conduct the ARU activities and the TAIS. The training intends to support ARU’s staff in their path towards innovative attention and inclusion strategies, tailored upon the vulnerability context in which they operate, therefore the training has been designed to build capacity of the staff working at the ARUs, the stakeholders involved and eventually newcomers to the groups.

The training was planned to be in presence but has been replanned to be performed online, because of the COVID 19 pandemic which prevents or hinders traveling across borders. This has in turn widen the scope of the training and will offer the possibility of training other ARU members and stakeholders also at a later stage.

Starting from November 23 and until December 21, 2020 the live sessions of the training have been held.

Arranged by UNIMED, with the support of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and with the contribution of external experts, during the live sessions learners met, exchanged inputs, get informed by the training content and promoted a peer-support system.

Through this course, trainees will:

• Develop an advanced expertise in a wide number of Horizontal and Specific topics to allow ARU to effectively analyse specific challenges and needs of the targeted vulnerable groups
• Update their skills to implement suitable and evidence-based strategies to promote the involvement and inclusion of the vulnerable groups
• Learn how to make their TAIS effective and the ARUs performing in a meaningful, long-lasting, sustainable and cooperative way, with constructive monitoring and evaluation of activities
• Share experiences and productively discuss about positive solutions with both peers and experts
• Improve the use of digital tools for virtual collaboration and a participatory approach

ARU showed a high degree of committment in the implementation of the TAIS, and more generally towards implementing the best practices in their hands to support inclusion practices. In their words, the training will be important to:

• Help ARU members to develop TAIS in the most optimal way possible and according to the specific criteria of active participation and gender required by RAISD methodology throughout the project
• Enhance knowledge on their sustainability and the Observatories
• Have an outcome that develops the meaning of inclusion practices
• Learn about useful tools and methods
• Be an exchange of knowledge, but also a tool for finding and setting common goals
• Have the ability to build their own evaluation methods

Moreover, the training may become a good opportunity to approach ARU members with the offer of providing them with useful knowledge (and not only asking for their inputs). Last but not least, training is believed to have a cohesive function: it helps ARU members to create shared views of both common goals and means to achieve them.

Where to find the course?

The course is now available on the UNIMED Moodle platform and participants can access the content anytime. Here you can download the brochure with the trainings list and the instructions to enter the course.

What’s next?

Further Modules of the training will be held in the next few weeks.

To stay informed on the project developments, you can consult the project website here.