Recently, our Greek member Apostoli has hosted a conference in Athens on the integration of children and youth with a refugee background. 

The event saw the participation of European Network of Charities and Social Welfare Organizations and delegations from Latvia, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Czech Republic and Finland. During the conference, there were extensive discussions on social inclusion of children and adolescent refugees focusing on education, Greek and language learning, vocational training and skills and vocational guidance. Eurodiaconia was present at the event was part of the Migration Network Meeting organised in Athens.

The theme of the conference touched on various aspects of the overall integration process for children, adolescents and the refugee and migrant families in general. On behalf of “SEND” Dr. Vassiliki Leontari, Program Director, and staff from the Escort Hostel for Refugees and the Mission Center for Children of the World presented the multiannual work, various programs and actions of refugees in the field of asylum and the social integration of refugee-migrants in Greece, and also a visit to the Training Center maintained by “Apostolis” in the Omonia region.

Key interventions in the conference included Ms Efthalia Pappas of the Committee on Churches for Migrants in Europe speech on the refugee and migrant situation in Greece, while the Ministry of Education and Religion, Dr. Angeliki Aroni, Head of the Independent Refugee Education Coordination and Monitoring Department, focused on the educational policies of the Greek State regarding the integration of refugee migrants. The international delegates gave extensive presentations about the programs and actions being developed in their countries.

A very insightful event for Eurodiaconia for sure, where our staff and members from our network had the oppportunity to learn directly from key local actors on the ground, their experience and their commitment for a better integration of refugees and migrants in Greece. We are klooking forward to getting back to work and using the valuable inputs we gathered from our Network Meeting to better serve our members and strive for a Social Europe.

 

 

To know more about Apostoli’s work with migrants and refugees, please visit the organisation’s website.

To know more about our policy work on migration, we invite you to read our latest policy paper.