The SIREE Project was created to make a tangible difference to the lives of newcomer families to the UK, France, Belgium & The Netherlands to begin a new chapter in their new host countries.
Social Integration of Refugees through Education and Self Employment
The SIREE Project (the Social Integration of Refugees through Education and Self Employment was created to make a tangible difference to the lives of newcomer families to the UK, France, Belgium & The Netherlands to begin a new chapter in their new host countries.
The University of Greenwich led the €4.8 million project and has realised many outputs and deliverables:
- 52 Learning Communities were created by project partners in a variety of educational establishments from pre-primary schools to adult education. There were over 500 meetings and over 2400 participants. Initial findings are showing that as a result of the Learning Communities, parents were more engaged and absences were decreased.
- 2 new programmes of study were created for student teachers which taught them about the teaching in superdiverse schools and the different needs of newcomer families. An e-course will soon be available online.
- 40 new Businesses were registered as a result of the entrepreneurship interventions of the project. Over 150 newcomers attended workshops on starting a business and over 800 people accessed the website. In the UK, the following activities were created for migrant and refugee aspiring entrepreneurs:
- 4 in person workshops
- 3 YouTube live webinars
- 35 Entrepreneurship Action Plans
- A website created providing steps to set up a business - http://how-to-be-an-entrepreneur-abroad.com/
- A network with 40 members with 8 online networking sessions
We are delighted to announce that the ebook of our findings is due to be published soon, along with dissemination guides to replicate the project in other areas.
This project has received funding from the Interreg 2 Seas programme 2014-2020 co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund under subsidy contract No SIREE 2S03-035.
The SIREE ebook is available for download in three languages: