Migration is an expression of the human aspiration for dignity, safety and a better future. It is part of the social fabric, part of our very make-up as a human family.

Ban Ki-Moon, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations, 2013.

About the Project

In a Europe that prides itself on free movement, anyone who has migrated has found the process of emigration and immigration to be long, costly and full of bureaucratic hurdles.

This is a problem that has affected millions of people for more than 50 years and has not been addressed by the institutions.

However, there have been a number of associations across the continent that are professionally involved in guiding migrants and returnees through the bureaucratic labyrinth of free movement in the EU.

Our goal is to connect these associations to help each other, to create their network of support in order to positively impact the experiences of migrants across Europe.

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At European level, there is no exchange between organisations that advise and support returnees and those wishing to emigrate. This project aimed to open up a global learning space that would enable us to learn from each other and find out more about the different contexts and approaches.

On the other hand, with this project we wanted to work together to identify the needs of socially disadvantaged returnees and those wishing to emigrate and develop programmes that would enable them to participate independently and actively in society. The aim is to get to know, develop, test and adapt methods and approaches of adult education and counselling together.

Depending on various factors such as level of education, social background, length of stay abroad and age, returnees face problems similar to those of migrants. A lack of information about the functioning and requirements of the social systems and benefits, a lack of social and family networks and difficulties in having qualifications obtained abroad recognised make the return of many of these people a challenge.

Comprehensive information is crucial at the moment of emigration, but also upon return to the home countries, in order to ensure participation and inclusion. Our organisations are themselves partly the result of the self-organisation and empowerment of returnees. 

The cooperation between the organisations should also serve to develop formats that meet the needs of different generations and people of different social backgrounds and genders. In this respect, we want to jointly identify the needs of the various groups of returnees and those wishing to emigrate and discuss the adaptation of the programmes.

The project pursued several goals:

  • Dealing with central aspects of education, support, counselling for returnees and those wishing to emigrate, the use of digital media and getting to know the approaches of other organisations.
  • To promote the intercultural and social skills as well as the digital skills of the full-time and voluntary staff of the participating organisations, 
  • Strengthening the inclusion and participation of European citizens who return to their country of origin after migration and those who are interested in emigrating.
  • Laying the foundations for a transnational exchange in the field of education and counselling for those wishing to emigrate and returnees, knowledge generation, exchange and joint advocacy for the interests of the target groups.  

The project has had a lasting impact on the participating organisations. Germany and Spain are key countries of destination and origin for the respective emigrants and returnees. It was therefore of enormous interest to get to know the setting of the respective partner organisation and to enter into dialogue with returnees and those wishing to emigrate as well as with local network partners and authorities. The exchange about target groups, migration narratives and resources not only provided more information, but also helped us to scrutinise our own routines and rethink our approaches. For example, the Raphaelswerk is increasingly addressing the issue of the use of voluntary work and AGEyR is currently revising the structure of its knowledge management.

The project also served to bring the issue of digitalisation and the use of social networks into focus. Based on the discussion about reaching the target groups, it became clear that the presence of both AGEyR and Raphaelswerk could be significantly improved and that neither organisation uses social networks specifically to address and advise target groups with fewer opportunities. We therefore expanded the online workshops in this direction and brought in experts from the organisations La Red e.V. and Minor Projektkontor für Bildung und Forschung. Both organisations systematically shared their expertise in this area and specifically addressed the needs of the target groups.

Emigrants and returnees will benefit directly from the improvement of the activities of AGEyR and the Raphaelswerk. The transnational link, the increase in knowledge about other approaches and ultimately the increased use of digital counselling methods and a stronger presence in social media will directly benefit both target groups.

An Overview of the Project

30+ Participants

9 Workshops

Online Meetings

Networking

Communication

Achievements

The Participants

Collaborators

The European Network

Talking migration

We focused on asking the participants of the project on their thoughts and problems regarding their work and their hopes for the European network

The Raphaelswerk

  • Birgit Klaissle-Walk
  • Nina Treue
  • Renate Albrecht
  • Uta Koch

AGEyR

  • María José Hueltes
  • José Cobos Ruiz
  • Jacqueline Puga Prieto
  • Alberto Medina

Volvemos

  • Diego Ruiz del Árbol
  • Cristina Navas Bernal

Evangelische Auslandsberatung

  • Julia Siebrecht-Tintelnot