Overview

People are forced to leave their own country, their house and their belongings because of civil wars, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, political ideas, ethnicity, racism etc. The number of refugees and asylum-seekers is increasing day by day in European countries. Seen as a vulnerable group, refugees and asylum-seekers are often the first target of racial hatred. In this context, refugees and asylum-seekers live in a constant fear for their safety.

Project aims

The Participation of Refugees into Social Life (PARSOL) project aims to inform the European communities about the struggles of refugees and asylum-seekers as well as to contribute to their integration in the receiving countries. This project wants to make people aware of the fact that refugees and asylum-seekers are living in our regions and they are in need of help: they are trying to meet their basic needs while struggling to get accustomed to their new situation and the new environment. Being from different cultures and speaking different languages makes the process a lot more difficult and the receiving communities need to accept refugees and asylum-seekers with their differences and similarities and help them feel safe.

The project will contribute to a better understanding of refugees’ basic legal rights, health, education and housing situation through social, cultural and artistic activities. The key message delivered by the PARSOL project will be solidarity.

Partners

  • USED (Lead Partner), Turkey – non-governmental with 52 members and nearly 40 volunteers, founded in 2010. USED aims to create artistic works on international and global dimensions and wants to combine experience with creation and imagination for a long lasting period. The members of USED are educators, sociologists, art teachers, Folk Dancers and Drama Writers who are researching the cultural and artistic values belonging to the different civilisations and ethnic groups.
  • Arte-Via Cooperativa, Portugal – regional and cultural non-profit association founded in 1999, whose members work as volunteers. It promotes classes such as painting, yoga, English and embroidery for elder people and migrants. The cooperative is organising events such as readers’ communities, international seminars, writing contests, art exhibitions and multimedia performances.
  • Dema, Spain – non-profit association founded in October 1998 that focuses on adult education – particularly in the field of labour and social integration, training for trainers, development of active citizenship, pedagogical and methodological research, etc. 
  • SECURIO, The Netherlands – SECURIO’s general context is to be determined as relations development between European organisations active in cultural, educative and R&D domains. SECURIO is cooperating with various partners foremost from the European Union. Specifically SECURIO is also promoting the use of the Internet as a worldwide communication tool, especially for Intercultural events within the European Community and hence in the European Union.
  • EDInet