• During the meetings there was interpretation from Spanish to English and from English to Greek

 

• The General Director of “Efxini Poli” Dr. Nikos Krimnianiotis welcomes the partners and expresses his wishes for a future cooperation in the frame of EQUAL.
• Participants presentation and general checking of the timetable.
• The presentation included a brief description of the profile and activities of the Organizations.
• The extension of the Community Initiative “Employment”/INTEGRA (Transnational Project PHILOS) is as follows:

In the frame of the previous project Integration through training and work – ΗΟR ΙΖΟΝ, there were founded Information & Support Centers for Repatriated Greeks. These Centers continue their activities as regards welcoming and informing mainly the repatriated Greeks and immigrants and refugees as well.

Three (3) new Information and Support Centers for Repatriated Greeks were founded ( 1 in the center of Athens and 2 in West Attika). The Repatriated Greeks Associations and Federations are responsible for these Centers in cooperation with Efxini Poli and under the support of the General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad.

Other Activities of Efxini Poli:

• Greek Language Learning Program ( Aggeliki will be responsible for a special Greek language course -for the begginers )
• Social – educational activities
• Raising awareness activities – events
• Cooperation with the schools of Acharnes area that a high percentage of the students are repatriated
• Cooperation with the Transcultural School in Acharnes area that 40% of the students are locals whereas 60% do not have the Greek language as a mother tongue, (repatriated Greeks, immigrants, refugees). Some of the school teachers come from the target group. The University of Athens funds the school.
• Providing with vocational training 15 repatriated Greeks on “translating – interpretation”. Efxini Poli came into contact with National Employment Offices in order to promote the postgraduates of the training course in the labor market.

Efxini Poli is Information and Support Center for Socially Excluded Groups and participates in European projects concerning repatriated Greeks, immigrants, refugees, Gypsies, offenders and ex-offenders as well.

In addition, Efxini Poli was very active providing help after the earthquake on the 7^th of September 2000.

Efxini Poli provided information about new law arrangements concerning the people who suffered from the earthquake through an Information Unit staffed by a lawyer, a psychologist, a social worker and an information member. Efxini Poli also participated in disseminating food and other first aids material to the earthquake victims (about 500 families).

For the people who have attended a “Fighting against Social Exclusion from the Labor Market” project there are the following alternatives:

 

1. The State through Manpower Employment Organization subsides the employers with 7.000 - 8.000 drs. per day in older to hire a graduate from an enterprising project “Fighting against Social Exclusion from the Labor Market” (funded by the E.U.) for 2 years.
2. The State through Manpower Employment Organization subsides the graduate from an enterprising project “Fighting against Social Exclusion from the Labor Market” with 3.000.000 – 4.000.000 drs. in older to establish his/her own enterprise (self – employment)

According to the statistics of the Manpower Employment Organization 310 graduates from a “Fighting against Social Exclusion from the Labor Market” project out of 10.000 have found a job. The percentage is low because the benefit procedure has delayed. Therefore, the percentage is expected to be higher in the near future.

In the past, only if your parents were German citizens you could be a German citizen too.

Now, since 01.01.2000, the conditions in older for a person to be a German citizen are:

• 8 years of legal permanent residence in Germany (with a card)
• agreement with the German Constitution
• capability of a self – sufficient living
• white criminal record
• speaking the German language (in a medium level)

In addition, the parents who are permanent residents in Germany can give to their 10-year-old child the German citizenship. When the child becomes 23 years old can decide whether to keep the German citizenship or not.

There is also the possibility of having two citizenships. For instance, old immigrant people in Germany can have both the German citizenship and the citizenship of the country they come from. Also, people who have German origin and live in Poland, for example, can have both the German and the Polish citizenship.

The European Commission and the National Employment Federation fund the ABC Integration project (national INTEGRA project). This project will come to an end in the end of June 2000, but they hope that the Senate will fund the Organization for the rest 5 years regardless of INTEGRA.

As regards the new activities of VIA:

• three (3) new Centers were founded ( 1 Center on January, 1 Center on February and 1 Center on April 2000
• two (2) new colleges were hired

The three new Centers provide support services exploiting the NGOs contribution. They are situated in areas where a lot of immigrants from the countries of ex Soviet Union live in.

More specifically the activities of the Centers are:

• Coming in contact with candidate employers in older to promote the immigrants into the labor market
• Giving advises concerning use of computers, putting data elements in Internet, filling application forms etc, with the aim of finding a job (not a seasonal one) through Internet
• Helping immigrants to improve their qualifications and consolidate them
• Providing vocational training courses (with national funding) concerning computer use, filling application forms, looking for a job through Internet, career guidance, improving the German language
• Helping people who wish to study in the University

4 courses with 39 trainees have already finished.

There are no elements regarding the number of people who get a job after the mediation of the Centers.

In 1987 4 Centers were founded aiming at providing support to refugees. These Centers overcame their initial objectives and continued functioning with great success.

The Centers provide temporary accommodation, food and psychological support to the asylum seekers. They provide services to approximately 600 people whereas there are 396 positions within the Centers.

The INTEGRA project will come to an end in April 2000 but the European Union will fund the Organization for the next 6 years.

• Vocational training
• Promotion to employment
• Raising awareness
• Transnational cooperation

As regards raising awareness, the activities taken place are as follows:

• Making contacts and exchanging experiences with local Institutions and Authorities
• Holding conferences, meetings, round tables in local and national level
• Organizing events, competitions and presentations in Mass Media

Social marketing: a private company can fund a project as a part of its profit is given for humanistic reasons.

IMSERSO in cooperation with the Municipality produced a Health Guide for Immigrants and Refugees in the Spanish, English Chinese and Arabian language, which is distributed for free.

As regards vocational training, the Centers offer vocational training courses and language courses as well. All the unemployed who live in Spain regardless their nationality can attend these courses. Due to the fact that the asylum seekers can not work making a contract in the first 6 months the training courses are focused on obtaining working qualifications and improving the Spanish language.

315 adults out of 600 families who come to the Centers are looking for a job.

The page is divided into two parts:

The left part (navigation panel) includes 7 navigation buttons: the National Programs, The Partners, Visitors Discussions, Partners Meeting Room, Calendar of Actions, Interesting Sites and Contact us.

In the right part, the content of each button shows up.

• For a password control in the discussion forum so that only the partners can use the project.
• To change the initial page of the website so that any browser can read it.
• To add two more addresses in the page with the links:

http://www.snafu.de/ ~~via.integra

http://www.migranet-eu.org

1. Introduction / Representation of the Organization of each partner / the meaning of integration
2. Objectives of PHILOS project, as agreed
3. Brief description of the national project of each partner
4. Results of PHILOS project
5. Photos
6. Target groups description
7. General results

• The dissemination material will be written in two languages (English and the language of each country).

• The number of pages will be 40 (20 pages in each language).

• The deadline for the implementation of the dissemination material is the 31^st of March 2000.

Other deadlines:

• 15 June 2000: Final decision for the photos
• 15 June 2000: Dispatching the elements in English ( the Spanish and Greek partners to the German)
• 20 June 2000: Dispatching the elements back ( the German partners to the Spanish and Greek ones), by e-mail
• 30 June 2000: Translation of the elements in each partners’ language ( the Germans, Spanish and Greeks) and dispatching the elements back to the Germans
• 7 July 2000: Implementation of the material and dispatching it back to the partners for corrections
• 17 July 2000: Dispatching the material back to the Germans and starting the printing (100 copies)

There are three (3) basic axons:

1. Control and evaluation of the relations developed among the partners – working people in the Centers – relationships dynamism

2. Evaluation of 4 suggested models (application)

• enterprising model
• employment model
• raising awareness model
• model that is placed between the Local Authorities

3. Activities born by the transnational cooperation (web-site, elaboration of the material concerning the model application way (Local Authority), dissemination material…)

Consequently, there are 3 questionnaires (one for each axon):

 

• questionnaire 1 (it is given)
• questionnaire 2 (it is given)
• questionnaire 3 (it will be given on about the 20^th of June – it uses the same principles and evaluates some actions – it has to be filled after the end of the actions)

All the questionnaires have to be filled in the end of the project.

Deadline for returning the questionnaires: 31 July

Representation of the results: September

• 9 June 2000: Dispatching the Questionnaire 3 to all the partners (Oscar)
• 14 June 2000: Dispatching the Questionnaire 3 corrected to Oscar (partners)
• 28 June 2000: Dispatching all the Questionnaires to Oscar (partners)
• 27 September 2000: Presentation of the final evaluation of the project (Oscar)

Questionnaire 1: 9 people will fill the Questionnaire 1 (3 from each country). One should be manager and the rest two should be employees of the Organization.

Questionnaire 2: 12 people will fill the Questionnaire 2 (4 from each country). The people should work in a high position and have direct connection with the target group.

Questionnaire 3: The same as Questionnaire 1.

The Director of the Department for Disadvantaged Groups/General Secretariat for Adult Education – Ministry of Education welcomes the visitors. The General Secretariat for Adult Education is a partner of the Greek national project EVORA that EFXINI POLI is the leader.

According to the Treaty of Geneva and New York the Spanish State organized a Service System for the refugees. It established 4 Centers: 2 Centers in Madrid (1987), 1 Center in Valencia (1991) and 1 Center in Seville (1992). All the Centers belong to IMSERSO (Immigrants Institute and Social Service) and IMSERSO belongs to the Ministry of Labor and Social Matters. The Centers provide accommodation, food, psychological – social support and legal support. The immigrants and refugees can stay in the Centers for 9-12 months.

The Centers are open all day and have cooperation with NGOs such as the Red Cross, Spanish Helping Committee and Spanish Committee for Immigrants.

8% of the asylum seekers manage to take the asylum. The decision is taken 6 months after the asylum application. 15% take asylum for human reasons. When the asylum application is rejected the interested can seek legal redress.

A new law has been applied in Spain concerning the immigration policy, that have affect on the persons do not get the asylum status.

International Social Service is a NGO that provides:

• information about the needed official “papers”
• psychological support
• counseling concerning integration
• services such as psychological, legal and social support to trainees in different training courses (funded by the European Union and the Greek Ministry of Labour)

The International Social Service is based in Athens and has another Social Service within the Refugees Center in Lavrio. The International Social Service cooperates with the local Institutions.

U.N.H.C.R.is an International Human Organization that is based in Genova. According to Genova Convention (1951) and New York Protocol (1967) U.N.H.C.R aims at facing the first needs of the refugees. U.N.H.C.R. was established in Greece in 1952. According to U.N.H.C.R a refugee is the person who has got out of his country borders for political, racial or other reasons that put his life in danger.

U.N.H.C.R. provides helping projects and legal protection within the Greek Council for Refugees and social support within Social Work Institution as well as it partly funds the International Social Service. The Information Department of U.N.H.C.R cooperates with Mass Media and launches European campaigns for the integration of refugees in Europe as well.

The Greek Council for Refugees can welcome refugees. Since 1989 the Greek Council for Refugees has been funded partly by U.N.H.C.R, by European Union projects and donations. The Council is divided into two departments:

 

1. The Legal Department

2. The Social Department

The Legal Department provides legal support.

The Social Department welcomes the refugees providing them with:

• temporary accommodation (20-30 days),
• Medicare,
• information about their rights,
• Greek language courses (3 transnational Centers for the courses).

The Council also owns Day Centers for the children and cooperates with other relevant Organizations. The Council also is a certified Center for providing services such us psychological, social and legal support to refugee trainees of European projects.

Voluntary Work of Athens is a NGO that provides refugees with:

• General support to refugees and especially to Kurds
• Accommodation (in N. Smirni for 2 families, in Kato Patisia for 30 persons)
• Legal support concerning the asylum issue
• Escort to the hospital – cooperation with the social services of the Hospitals
• Medicare in cooperation with the doctors without borders
• Street work
• Recording the needs
• Greek language courses

There is no law for the immigrants in Germany. There are approximately 8.000.000 non-German citizens. The German State accepts only the refugees that have been persecuted by their country. In addition, these refugees have no right to work. They are taken care by the State as regards the cover of their basic needs. There are 6 Welfare Organizations.

“Migranet EU” network is a European network that aims at exchanging information about issues concerning immigrants and refugees among European countries. The network is based in Berlin .

The participants divided into two groups:

All partners agreed the following:

Employment Model is the main activity of PHILOS project. The activities of IMSERSO’s Centers mainly concern asylum seekers. Employment is the main way that leads to integration. A lot of Employment Centers were established through HORIZON and INTEGRA.

In the beginning the Centers tried to do everything for the interesting asylum seekers. However, the asylum seekers themselves should learn how to “fish” and not take ready “food”. The Centers cooperate with NGOs, Associations, Employers and mediators.

The Centers provide asylum seekers with vocational training in older to promote them into labor market.

The Centers gather statistics elements in detail and give them to the Ministry of Labor.

There is a new law in Spain but it has not been in force yet. According to this law all the immigrants who entered Spain before January 1999 will be legalized. This law will influence positively the enterprising model.

They aim at hiring mediators working in the Centers through EQUAL in the near future. Each country can adopt a basic common methodology and basic rules.

The cooperation of the Centers with all the local Institutions is extremely important.

 

• Description of the target group : Repatriated Greeks
• Reasons for social exclusion of Repatriated Greeks, such as language disabilities, lack of information about labour market, lack of vocational qualification and experience, a.o.
• Description of the Trainees’ Group of the training course titled “Translation – Interpretation” which was attended by 15 Repatriated from ex-Soviet Union

 

• Main points of the Training :

Introduction to Interpretation

Scientific Terminology

Introduction to Translation

Translation needs in Enterprises

Translation needs in Literature

Computing

Subtitling techniques

Legal Status and Function of an enterprise

• Description of the Enterprising Model which had been produced by the three partners of the previous transnational cooperation IN.LAND.ER.(European Initiative EMPLOYMENT – HORIZON – Disadvantaged Groups(1995 – 1997) :
• Employment Bureau and Training Unit
• Presentation of the Implementation of the Model
• Experimental Element
• Economic Elements
• Social Elements (Positive/Negative)
• Results after the Implementation of the Enterprising Model

• “Your health is the main thing” -Health Guide for Immigrants and Refugees (in Spanish-English, in French-Japanese and in Arabian)
• Employment Model
• Development and specific contents of INLABOR – CAR PROJECT 1999
• Courses January – March 2000
• Direct Information January – March 2000
• Employment January – March 2000