Jun 03 2018
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What was different with WELCOMMON center for refugees

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WELCOMMON, was an accommodation and social inclusion center for refugees, initieted by the social cooperative, ANEMOS ANANEOSIS / WIND OF RENEWAL,  featured four important innovations:

1.Overhauling of old building in the center of the urban fabric. We rented and upgraded –at minimum cost and with voluntary work –a 3200 m2 building in the centre of Athens that had remained closed since 2013 (ex hospital). We overhauled it and created a model community centre with a hosting capacity of up to 160-180 refugees. In total, 600 refugees from 22 countries (half of them kids) were hosted between October 2016 and February 28, 2018 (when the centered closed), upgrading and revitalizing the Exarcheia neighborhood (near Kanigos Square).

2.Accommodation for the most vulnerable groups of refugees and in need of urgent care, such as: people with chronic diseases, serious psychological disorders, disabilities, victims of torture, sexual abuse and trafficking, pregnant women and families with newborns. The residents of Welcommon included 40 newborn babies and a number of pregnant women.

3.Μodel facility for empowerment and care, based on the idea of ‘’community’’ and combining safe accommodation with social inclusion and job integration of people with high vulnerability. We provided a social clinic, psycho-social support, non-formal education, support for kids who needed to register in Greek schools, social support services and job integration processes. Our “community model” can be suitable also for other communities and neighborhoods – especially areas that have collapsed socially and economically and need to berevitalized on a new basis. It was organized on the basis of the needs of the community and was successful thanks to wide participation and extensive collaborations.

4. Search for solutions for decent work both for refugees/immigrants and unemployed Greeks, in common /together with them and in innovative sectors.

The WELCOMMON center was our proposal for the role that the social economy could play in inclusion issues, combining the hosting of vulnerable persons with new models of social inclusion, empowerment and mobilization of people in need in general, not just refugees. We cooperated with many social organizations –including 15 universities, students and more than 230 volunteers from all over the world during the operation of the center. Many social groups, MEPs and MPs, international organizations and representatives of municipalities visited us.

It was a project in cooperation with the UNHCR and the Development Agency of the Municipality of Athens. It was a pity that the two institutions decided on January 18, 2018 to “discontinue the collective accommodation in WELCOMMON starting March 1, 2018, in order to focus on accommodation in apartments, which facilitates independent living. After their decision to stop financing the housing program for the refugees we decided to try to continue our innovative work by financing our initiatives through the Hostel rather than depend on third actors. We are committed to striving for maximizing the benefit for society. We are active in social, human and environmental rights, we can’t do less than needed in our times. We are convinced that acting in common on an integrated plan we can solve problems in a win-win manner.

Apr 19 2018
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“Training of the Trainers” on climate protection and energy efficiency

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The program “OPEN SOCIETIES AND SCHOOLS IN CLIMATE PROTECTION AND ENERGY TRANSITION (CLIMATE SCHOOL Be.At)” constitutes a collaboration between the Municipality of Athens, the educational community, the Social cooperative “Wind of Renewal”, the citizens initiative “Respect for Greece” (Berlin) and Unabhängiges Institut für Umweltfragen (UfU). It aims to the mobilization of the local communities and municipalities for climate protection and energy transition as well as to the energy efficiency of the schools with the substantial participation and collaboration of the teachers, students, parents and local authorities.

The “Training of the Trainers” is a planned activity of the program and was held in Athens (at the 1st Experimental Secondary School of Athens) from 12th to 15th April 2018. In the training participated 19 teachers (primary and secondary education), environmental education officers and school counselors and the 3 senior experts of “Wind of Renewal”.

 

 

The training opened with greetings from Maria Iliopoulou (Deputy Mayor of the City of Athens for the Child) and Wolfgang Schwarz (RfG). Kostis Kontogiannis (academic coordinator of the program) made a brief presentation of the “Climate Schools Be.At.”. Then followed a presentation of Resilient Cities by Anthi Christou (representative of the Deputy Mayor of Green, Environment, Resilience and Climate Protection of MoA).

The German partner UfU together with a Greek team of experts and educators implemented the 30 hours training. The training consisted of theoretical input and practical workshops as well as an energy tour though the school. The part of the training implemented by UfU was mainly based on the following topics:

    

  • Presentation of the program fifty/fifty in the schools of Germany
  • Theoretical input on fossil fuels, climate change and the energy consumption for an average school and household
  • Presentation of the 9 steps to successful energy saving programs in Germany (kick off meeting and formation of energy team, energy tour, teaching students, energy tour with students, measurements, nudge technical energy saving measures, public relations within school, investment suggestions to school authorities, decision about the use of money)
  • Educational material (what do the students learn during a fifty/fifty program at their school)
  • Examples of achieved savings at schools in Germany, Bulgaria and Romania
  • Pedagogical content (methods, activities)
  • Introduction on measurements (temperature, illumination, CO2 concentration, electricity consumption)
  • Energy saving tips
  • Technical input concerning heating, indoor correct airing, lighting and electricity
  • Energy tour at the school and report of the collected information
  • Examples of small scale investment activities at German schools
  • Methods of calculation of the savings
  • Overall goals of the implementation of the energy saving program at the schools of Athens

  

In addition to the training held by UfU, a Greek team of experts presented information about the energy system in Greece (Nikos Chrysogelos, WoR), technical content of the Greek energy system (Kostas Theofylaktos, Energy Consultant) as well as the energy footprint of the Greek schools (Kostis Oungrinis, Technical University of Crete).

On the last day of the workshop (Sunday 15th of April), Kostis Kontogiannis (academic coordinator of the program) made a presentation of the financial system under which operate the Greek schools and there were discussed methods of calculation of the savings.

Afterwards, Maria Dimopoulou and Panagiotis Piliouras (the Greek team responsible to adapt the training material to the local context) presented a 10 steps strategy on how to run the project in the Greek schools, methodological steps of the project as well as research material consisted of evaluation sheets and three questionnaires that are specifically designed for the purposes of the program. The Greek team of adaptation asked the trainees to enrich with their ideas the proposed methodology and the designed questionnaires. As a result, it came out a constructive exchange of ideas among the participants concerning issues of implementation of the project in the Greek schools.

The training included a very interesting and funny interactive game, the “world game” for climate and energy

It ended with a presentation of the role of the three facilitators / senior experts from WoR (Maya Andreou, Eva Grigoriadou, Miltos Tsakiris) in the project and a short presentation of the moodle platform by Maria Boubouka (professor of informatics) that will be used throughout the implementation of the program.

The evaluation of the training by the participants was made using three methods (moderation cards in two colors, spider net diagram, evaluation sheets) and the outcome was very good in overall. The majority of the trainees believe that the training has enhanced their knowledge about the topic and that the contents and methods presented in the training will enhance the interest of the pupils for the topic energy saving. What comes out of their evaluation is that in general they feel well prepared through the training for the project in their school.

On Monday 15th April a meeting between partners (WoR, UfU) took place. There was made an evaluation of the training and a general discussion of overall goals of the project implementation. In addition there were discussed measures that will enhance the long term motivation of the schools community to stay active on the project (i.e. organize students competitions, change Energy Team every one or two years) and ideas on how to include topics and/or methodologies of the program to the standard curriculum of the students.

 

Jan 19 2018
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WELCOMMON. An innovative model for hosting and social inclusion of vulnerable refugees in Athens will close by the end of February 2018? We need your support. Could you help us?

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WELCOMMON. An innovative model for hosting and social inclusion of vulnerable refugees in Athens will close by the end of February 2018?

We need your support. Could you help us?

Dear friends hello

WELCOMMON, an innovative, model community center in Athens for accommodation of refugees, especially those who need long term care and protection, the most vulnerable groups of refugees – victims of torture, rape, trafficking, pregnant women, families with newborns, people with disabilities, serious medical conditions, serious psychiatric disorders – is going to be closed by the end of February. Only if we have your support, the support from many citizens, institutions and organisations, we can continue on our innovative, coherent and holistic work for the protection and social inclusion of the most vulnerable refugees. If you agree that innovation and coherent solutions are needed also for the housing and social inclusion of refugees, please go on reading this open letter.

Since October 2016, we have hosted in WELCOMMON 600 refugees, about 40% of them children, from 18 nationalities. But, increasingly, the refugees we are hosting are particularly vulnerable. Τhe refugees who arrive from the Greek islands to the main land are almost only the most vulnerable ones. Today in WELCOMMON, 81 of 150 of our guests belong to the most vulnerable groups: 9 people with special needs, 55 people with severe health problems, 17 people with psychiatric problems. We are also hosting 14 newborns and some pregnant women.

The current cooperation between WELCOMMON and the Development Agency of the Municipality of Athens and UNHCR, that started in September 2016, will be finished soon. Today (18/1/2018) we received the official letter by the UNHCR informing us that our cooperation will be finished by the end of February 2018. All the vulnerable refugees will be hosted in apartments. We fully support the hosting of refugees in appartments. But not all of them are ready or able to do this immediately after they have left a hotspot.

Our experience confirms that an integrated, innovative center offering both decent / safe housing and opportunities for empowerment, social inclusion and job integration of vulnerable refugees is needed now more than ever. Vulnerable refugees like victims of torture, rape, trafficking, with severe health and psychiatric problems need a transition period, integrated efforts, enough time and a supportive environment (of a structure like WELCOMMON) in order to suceed in their new lives. Otherwise, we will see them left behind, excluded and isolated in a appartment without hope and solutions for many of their problems.

That is why we are looking for alternative sources of funding so that we can continue beyond February 2018. We know how difficult is to succeed in that. Funding for such an integrated project is difficult, we know it. There are not open calls at the moment either at the European or at national level for such an innovate and integrated center. Therefore we are depending on the support of many.

We are different

WELCOMMON is an excellent example of empowerment, coexistence, dialogue between the cultures and cooperation until now between:

– 160-170 refugees from 18 different countries/nationalities, a total of 600 since the opening of the center in October 2016, most of them very vulnerable, people who have suffered in their own skin the violence,

– 160 volunteers from 4 different continents (Europe, Africa, Asia and America) who participated in many activities for and with the refugees, gaining experiences and feelings, having the opportunity to understand better and respect the different cultures. It is also an important experience for them and an opportunity to acquire know-how (much more if they have relevant knowledge or work professionally in relevant fields).

– 32 employees, most of them long-term unemployed Greek citizens, some enthusiastic – but with no experience in job – youngsters, a number of migrants living in Greece for many years and 1 new comer- refugee. We make sure we have interpreters and social mediators for everyone.

– the local authorities, the local community, educational institutions and organizations from all over the world.

WELCOMMON is a structure not only for refugees but with refugees for the benefit of the local community as well. It is implemented by the social enterprise Wind of Renewal (“Anemos Ananeosis” – WoR).

If you would like to learn more about WELCOMMON, please visit our web site http://www.welcommon.gr or/and see the links with videos in this text. If you agree that Greece but also Europe needs such an innovative center for the most vulnerable refugees, we ask your kind support to this model community center where we combine decent and safe housing with social inclusion and job integration of the most vulnerable refugees.

How did we formulate the project

In order to shape our project, we cooperated with communities and organizations representing migrants and refugees in our country (Greek Migrants Forum, Greek Refugee Forum, Syrians living in Greece and others). In addition, we studied the existing (good and bad) examples of similar projects. Our plan differs from most others, because it aims in an integrated way of reception and housing (in decent conditions) of refugees who need long term care and support, but also in supporting their social and job integration.

Welcommon offers:

To refugees

– Decent and safe housing, food and coverage of basic needs. We also meet the nutritional needs of the guests, as accurately as possible, depending on age, health status or cultural perceptions. Guests can wash their clothes in the washing machines and tumblers that exist in the center, or use sewing machines to repair them.

– Psychosocial support. 3 social workers , 1 psychologist and 1 chlid-psycholigist are working in the center. We support systematically and on many levels the preparation, intercultural education and social inclusion of our guests – for us they are not only numbers and papers – in cooperation with organizations and services based in Greece or in the countries of resettlement.

– Primary medical care and systematic support (medical records file, interpreting, escort) for secondary care, if necessary, with respect to the cultural and religious sensibilities of the guests, especially since the populations we host now are among the most vulnerable ones and with multiple needs. Primary medical care is provided on a daily basis by WELCOMMON’s nurse and midwife, we have a close cooperation on a voluntary basis with the Doctors Without Frontiers, the Spanish Red Cross and arab-speaking doctors of the Union of Syrians in Greece.

– Non-formal education of children as well as adults, such as: continuous and innovative language courses (Greek, Arabic, English, German and more), painting, music, photography, theater, creative activities for adults and children, sports, dancing. We help and prepare the children who have been out of school for many years to be able to attend attend the greek school immediately. We are very proud for our “arabic class” as well as for the tutoring lessons (language lessons and help with the lessons in school) for children that participate in the formal Greek educational system. The walls of our building are slowly being transformed to a “gallery” with “exhibitions” of paintings done by our guests at WELCOMMON.

To local community

– Innovative services and new organizational models that help address social issues in a way that benefits both vulnerable social groups and society as a whole. These models could be applied to other vulnerable groups, such as long-term unemployed greeks, socially excluded people with socio-psychological difficulties and people with special needs.

– New jobs creation in WELCOMMON, directly for about 32 people up today, who upgrade their knowledge, experiences and skills so as to be able to respond to new demands of their profession (e.g. teachers, social workers, psychologists etc.). In fact, we offer a kind of continuous practice and vocational training through working at WELCOMMON (both for employees and for volunteers from Greece and around the world). We offer work opportunities in a complex and multicultural-multilingual environment, with refugees from 18 different countries and volunteers from many different countries, with a multitude of different skills and abilities, with different cognitive and cultural backgrounds. We seek systematic cooperation with other institutions (universities, international organizations, social organizations, municipalities, professional bodies) from Greece and abroad, while we host seminars and exchanges practices in fields such as social services, psychological support, education, accommodation of refugees and other vulnerable groups, thus strongly contributing to professionals’ expertise.

– Boosting of the local economy and market as all the resources being spent for the operation of WELCOMMON, return to the greek ecomony and the local market

Social integration – socialization

As part of the process of social inclusion and cultural / environmental awareness of the refugees, we emphasize in art as it works therapeutically and can unite people. We want refugee but also local children to get familiarized with art in their daily live. We emphasise both on organized visits to museums and exhibitions, as well as on artistic activities in our own center.

3 important awards in one year

  1. WELCOMMON was honoured on June 8, 2017 with the “Special Mention” award of the REVES Excellence Award 2017, which aims to strengthen synergies between local / regional authorities and social economy actors, and to highlight the achievements of such cooperation. The evaluation committee consisted of representatives of the European Economic and Social Committee, the European Parliament, the Regional Committee and Social Economy Europe.

  2. The French Federation of Social Inclusion Enterprises invited WELCOMMON to participate in its national Congress organized in November 16-17, in Marseille, as a “good example of social inclusion in Euro-Med area”.

  3. We are awarded as one of the 3 best examples of projects for refugees contributing to the dialogue between the cultures in the Euro-med area (2017 Euro-Med Dialogue Award) by the Anna Lindh Foundation and the Fondazione Mediterraneo. The Bestowing Ceremony took place in Tallinn (16/12/2017) with the support of the Estonian Foreign Ministry.

What the refugees themselves and others say about the role of WELCOMMON

– Documentary “Working With Refugee Communities in Greece”, by the “In place of War” (IPOW) in cooperation with Anna Lindh Foundation

– Bibiche, from Kongo, “What you really know about the refugees”

– Beshir, from Syria, “What you really know about the refugees”

– Ghassan, from Syria, “What you really know about the refugees”

–  We are more than papers

– An article published by the e-newsletter «Cooperative.news»: «Taking steps to meet the long-term needs of refugees»

How you could support and help us

Taking into consideration the above, we would be glad to provide you with further information of our work as well as to discuss with you if you

-have some ideas how you could help our fundraising campaign for the WELCOMMON center or/and

-know institutions, foundations and organizations who could support our work.

We remain at your disposal

Yours sincerely,

Nikos Chrysogelos

Chairman of “Wind of Renewal”

Project manager of WELCOMMON