Through peer-to-peer and multigenerational learning, we will establish new connections between local immigrant students, their families and their community. Our project will offer participants from different cultures the ability of broadening their social network, learning the language and co-creating activities for integration. With help of participants we will develop more efficient methods of working with immigrants, create guidelines and encourage local authorities to use them.

Ljubljana, Moste-Polje city district

We will tackle the problem of social exclusion of immigrant families. We aim to create a kind, supportive, and safe multicultural community. We already run a multi-generational center, with free activities for people from our district. Based on our work, we are convinced this problem needs a more structured and direct response. We will create possibilities for locals and immigrant families to learn from each other and collaborate in everyday life. It will give the locals a chance to overcome stereotypes and fears attached to different cultures and empower immigrant families to integrate and become more active within their community. We will encourage local authorities to be more receptive of needs of immigrants and adjust their ways of handling their problems.

Our key target group are the socially excluded and underprivileged immigrant families. Some of them are already involved in our programs and will help with the execution of the project. They will provide insight to the challenges they are facing, helping us create new activities that are specifically tailored to their practical needs. The majority of immigrant children are in need of learning support. They generally have a hard time following along with schoolwork because they do not understand the language. The problem has progressively gotten worse during the pandemic. Schooling is not able to provide equal learning support. Most parents usually do not have the time, skills, knowledge to help their children. To broaden the idea, we want the project to be beneficial to all citizens.

Through our already established channels, we will inform schools, locals, our beneficiaries and other organizations in the district about our project. Every child and/or family will be connected with a volunteer for general and/or learning support. We will prepare training for volunteers on special characteristics of children and families so they will better understand the challenges they are facing. They will also have a chance to turn to us with questions or problems at any time. Participants and volunteers will each get a notebook for creating a diary about their involvement in the project (what did they learn, has anything changed for them, how can they use new knowledge in everyday life, etc.) and will be able to meet in our center, other local establishments or online, at least once a week. We will also organize monthly activities for participants and volunteers to spend quality free time together and learn about each others differences (workshops on different cultural traditions, cuisines etc.). All of them will have the access to our online learning platform where we will upload resources for them to use (such as learning strategies, ideas, workshops, prompts, fun quizzes, personality tests, motivational articles, etc). We will also offer Slovenian courses for parents and organize a one-day trip for all of them, so they can connect even more.

Our expected results are new connections between locals and immigrant families. We expect families will be more open to connect with locals, learn the language, get the courage to speak up, voice their opinions and kids will improve their schoolwork. Besides that we expect to change the way local authorities deal with immigrants.

Through this project, we will give a voice to those who feel like they do not currently have one. Most immigrant children and families keep quiet within our community and try not to speak out on injustices in school or on the street. We will teach them how to express what they need or miss, and how they feel on a daily basis. This will have lasting impact on our community and hopefully improve their collaboration with local authorities. Many times, they feel like nobody will listen to them and their only option is to respond with violence or just not say anything, and we want to change that. With more knowledge they will be able to engage more and stand up for themselves.

Behind the scenes, there is a large team of trained, hardworking employees and volunteers that strive to make a difference in their community. Our two student employees who would be in charge of this project have been working with our beneficiaries and the local community for 3 years. People in the district have gotten to know them and trust them, because of that they never have trouble inviting new participants. Majority of the volunteers has also been with us for years. What motivates all of us is a wish to provide better quality of life for all people in the local community.

1. Personnel costs: 22.860€
2. Workplace expenses (rent, utilities, office supplies etc.): 10.800€
3. Phone and internet costs: 600€
4. Workshop costs: 1.560€
5. Day-trip cost: 2.500€
6. Expert training for volunteers: 900€
7. Diaries cost: 360€
8. Online classroom upkeep: 1.500€

Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time and reading our idea!
We would love your feedback on our project. Is it written in a way you can understand it? Are there any parts which are not described clearly? Were you able to picture our idea while reading it? Do you have any other comments?