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Description
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) proposes the establishment of 10 Supported Independent Living (SIL) apartments in Athens, with a capacity of 40 places to accommodate asylum seeking unaccompanied children (UAC, boys) aged 16 years old and above. The IRC will provide quality accommodation and a holistic package of individualized support services to at least 120 UAC over a duration of 33 months. In cooperation with public entities, such as the National Employment Agency (OAED), the Municipality of Athens (MoA) and the National Centre for Social Solidarity (EKKA), we will facilitate UAC access to training opportunities and accelerate the referral and transfer of UAC in SIL. Four children will live in each apartment and they will receive a range of services, including legal aid, individual and group psychosocial support, non-formal education and skills building activities tailored to their needs, by a core team of experienced social workers, caretakers and interpreters. The caretakers will further ensure that adolescents develop their independent living skills, are able to perform household tasks, manage their budget and live peacefully with limited supervision from staff. UAC and SIL staff will jointly develop individual development plans that will include their goals and means to achieve them in order to reach their full potential in life.
In SIL apartments, children are provided with a series of personalized support services tailored to their unique needs, strengths and weaknesses, and particular emphasis is placed on their empowerment and self-reliance. Our goal is for UAC who turn 18 to have the ability to rent their own accommodation and benefit from the same services as the Greek population.
Summary of project results
The number of UAC had significantly increased, yet the number of accommodation spaces has limited and of poor quality. The provision of quality services in large-scale group housing (shelters, SZ, hotels)
the average number of places was 26 in shelters, 30 in SZ, and 38 in hotels. In addition, the lack of staff or skilled staff and the lack of investment in life and professional skills, disables adolescents smooth transition to adulthood.
Care has proven to be ineffective for children''s emotional, physical and social development, and for their self-reliance. In contrast, alternative accommodation solutions, such as SIL, have proven to be more cost-effective and sustainable. The EU guidelines on alternative care, the Council of Europes recommendation on the rights of children and the successful SIL models implemented in the EU, all present SIL as an effective model that provides older adolescents with housing, support
services and semi-autonomy. This is corroborated by IRCs own experience in Greece piloting SIL with the support of
UNICEF. IRC experience shows that investment in quality accommodation and services can positively impact the lives of children.
At the beginning of the implementation period, IRC prioritized the recruitment of the project team along with the identification and preparation of suitable SIL apartments. This preparation included all procurement and organization of furniture, electrical appliances, household items and food and hygiene items necessary for the UAC upon arrival. Professional cleaning and various technical works to meet the criteria for optimal living conditions for the children, were also undertaken.
In the set-up period of the project, staff recruitment and training took place, and all team members actively worked to identify apartments for the project, especially for the 10th apartment which at the time, would have to be accessible for people with disabilities.
Throughout their stay, all hosted children received individualized support according to their needs, with social workers and the legal advisor conducting one-to-one sessions.
Enrollment of UAC to public schools was a priority for the project as it is a critical step in the childrens integration process. In addition, enrollment in non-formal educational activities for afternoon language courses provided by other NGOs was also completed, according to the needs of the children. The caretakers augmented the learning process for the children with some lessons and games at the apartments, but also through everyday interaction.
The language skills of children improved in all cases, as the SIL program was designed to have a limited presence of interpreters, with the goal of enhancing the children¶s independence through communication with all team members, but also with each other. The placement of UAC from different countries of origin was encouraged, with the aim of children of different nationalities living together in order to learn to communicate in one common language and see that co-existence and friendships can be formed regardless of ethnicity, race, language, or religion. This goal was achieved with an amazing track record of children living peacefully together and creating family-like relationships in the apartments.
The team also organized activities in the apartments to develop the relationships between the children and create a sense of trust between the children and the staff. Especially during the COVID-19 lockdown the team tried to keep the children active and motivated, despite the difficulties everyone faced during the pandemic. Once the COVID-19 measures became more flexible, the team focused on external activities and the children had the opportunity to have many first-time experiences, such as attending the Release Athens Music Festival, visiting the Cultural Center of Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNFCC), going to the beach, bowling, the cinema and theatre.
For many of these activities, the boys and the girls of FUTURA attended together and got along very well. This has been a very important aspect of the project because it contributes to their socialization and their freedom to interact with each other.
The SIL team conducted also a series of Life Skills sessions with the participation of the UAC with topics such as: How to make changes in our life, Education and work in Greece, Public transportation in Athens, getting to know the city, Dealing with strangers (safety and security), How to handle rejection in life.
The social workers worked with all UAMs close to adulthood to seek possibilities for their future as adults, to help them start preparing for the job market and understand their labor rights in Greece. Three UAC who in 2021 participated in UNICEF and OAEDs Cultural Mediators Training Program and successfully graduated after three months of intensive classes and enhanced their CVs before reaching adulthood.
The IRC Greece Advocacy team held three self-advocacy workshops for the UAC about learning children¶s rights and how to claim them.
Residents¶meetings also took place during which UAC expressed their thoughts, discussed any cohabitation issues, and worked to resolve them with the assistance of the staff.
The caretakers, the social workers and the SIL Units Coordinators participated in a training facilitated by the Roving Safety and Security Director of IRC.
All staff participated in a Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) training during December 2021. More specifically, the ³Diversity in the Workplace´training was initiated in 2017, aiming at equal access to the Greek labor market for people from different cultural backgrounds.
IRC Hellas commenced the implementation of the Women¶s Independent Living Apartments (WIL) unit, after conducting a needs assessment, due to the low occupancy rate of the second SIL Unit. Based on the results of the needs assessment and following the donor¶s approval, the apartments and the staff of the second SIL unit of FUTURA were repurposed for the operation of the WIL Unit. The apartments were rearranged according to the needs of the single-parent families, as they were previously used for UAC accommodation, and the necessary equipment was purchased. The staff conducted a service mapping on services relevant to the needs of single mothers and came in contact with other field actors to establish a referral pathway. As soon as everything was prepared, the announcement of the beginning of the Project was circulated to officially inform all stakeholders.
Of the 91 referred women with their children, 47 were asylum seekers, while 38 women were recognized refugees. Apart from those cases, three women were not registered yet at the Asylum Service, and two had second degree rejection for their asylum request. Four more were not eligible for the Project; as one of them was waiting for an appointment to file a subsequent asylum request and three were alone in Greece, while their children were located in their country of origin. Finally, an additional two referrals concerned single women without children. It is worth mentioning that as the flow of referrals increased and the waiting list grew, the status of quite a few women changed. By the time the IRC staff called them for the first interview, some had left the country, some had found independent accommodation, while others had received a negative response to their request for asylum in Greece.
All women received psychosocial, legal, and day-to-day support for their smooth transition to independence, through oneto-one counselling sessions, skills building and educational activities, as well as a safe and supportive accommodation environment that allowed and encouraged their personal growth and integration process.
The Social Workers conducted one-to-one sessions, group meetings and home visits. They also accompanied them to their medical appointments, public services, and the bank in order to assist them with the procedures of registering and opening an account.
All families were informed that they could receive legal support upon request. The WIL Legal Advisor conducted one-toone sessions and follow-ups on their cases depending on their needs.
On the 4th of September 2022 the WIL Unit Coordinator conducted the first Residents Meeting of the newly formed Unit. The Staff explained in detail the rules of the hosting agreement and discussed with the women issues that emerged and which could cause difficulties in cohabitation. Residents¶meetings took place when possible (due to the heavy schedule of mothers) in all WIL apartments. These meetings provided an opportunity for open discussions between the women and team members, where the participants could express their concerns and thoughts.
Skills-building activities, tailored to the needs of the single mother families, played a key role in the project¶s holistic approach; the WIL team conducted a series of Life Skills sessions throughout the reporting period, with the participation of the women. The topics included: Diversity and respect, Depression, Conflict resolution, Means of transport in Athens, How to write a professional resume, Gender equality
In terms of capacity building and networking, on the 16th, 23rd, and 29th of July 2022, the WIL team participated at a three-day training of Transnational Initiative Against Trafficking in the Context of European Asylum Service (TIATAS) Project, conducted by the NGO ARSIS.
The Child Protection Manager and the Women¶s Protection & Empowerment (WPE) Project Manager delivered a one-day
Gender-based Violence (GBV) and Child Protection Training on the 5th of August 2022, in which the Caretakers and the Social Worker of the WIL Unit participated. The topics of first part of the training focused on increasing the knowledge around GBV prevention and response in emergencies and the second part on the early stages of child development.
A total of 82 unaccompanied children (henceforth: UAC) were hosted in the FUTURA Supported Independent Living (henceforth: SIL) apartments since the start of the project (see Indicators 2 and 4). All UACs received psychosocial, legal, and daily-life support for their smooth transition to adulthood. This support included one-to-one counselling sessions, skills development, and educational activities, as well as a safe and supportive accommodation environment that allowed and encouraged their personal growth and integration process.
Throughout the project implementation, IRC Hellas established its cooperation with EKKA and the General Secretariat for Vulnerable Persons and Institutional Protection, through which the child protection management team received referrals for unaccompanied children wishing to be placed in SIL apartments. IRC¶s cooperation with the General Secretariat for Vulnerable Persons and Institutional Protection was of great importance throughout the project implementation, as also mentioned by the supervisor of the General Secretariat¶s Unit for Managing Accommodation Requests, during her speech at FUTURA¶s closing event in June 2023.
Although the program was initially operating two (2) SIL Units, IRC proceeded with a needs assessment due to the low occupancy rate in the second unit. According to the needs assessment, a great gap concerns housing programs for single mothers. Following this finding and upon the donor¶s approval, IRC switched the second SIL Unit to a Unit for asylumseeking single mothers, called WIL (Women¶s Independent Living).
During project implementation of the Women¶s Independent Living Apartments component (henceforth: WIL), four apartments were established and have become fully operational to host single-parent families (women with their children). A total of 11 single women and 14 children entered the program, thus 25 family members in total. All families received psychosocial, legal, and daily-life support depending on their needs, for their smooth transition to autonomy through oneto-one counselling sessions, skills building, and educational activities, as well as a safe and supportive accommodation environment that allows and encourages their growth and integration process. Although IRC has a strong Women, Protection and Empowerment programming component worldwide, the implementation of a housing project for asylumseeking single mothers was something new for IRC Hellas. The experience gained from the implementation of WIL, included the complex case management combining crosscutting sectors of WPE and Child Protection, while also providing useful lessons learned regarding the difficulty of sustaining such programs, when a state-funded one is not already running. IRC was constantly searching for funding opportunities in order to sustain the WIL Unit, and although the design of state programs such as ³Stirixis´was underway, it had not rolled out by the time the program closed, therefore women could not be referred to it. Despite the sustainability challenges of the WIL component, it was of great importance to the single mothers, as at the end of the project, the remaining families were able to find independent living