04/01/2017

WAO – We Are One (Altogether Better)

Futuro Digitale is a partner of the project

We are one

ID Project: UK01-KA204-024478

Running dates: 01/09/2016 – 3/08/2018 

Partners:

  • Learn.Org.Uk (Leading partner)
  • Awesome People
  • DRAMBLYS: Social Creativity Lab
  • Asociación Intercultural Europea – Go Europe
  • Futuro Digitale

 

Summary

There is no doubt that Europe is an ethnically diverse continent, full of different minorities (even though there is not a shared definition of minority). The majority of European countries have minority populations of less than 20%, while others have more than this baseline (e.g. Belgium). However, it is important to look at how such minorities are involved in national and European mechanisms to speak out concerning their rights. As it has been quite evident in that in the last European elections, minorities were absent on the political agenda of most of the parties. Furthermore, the minorities struggle to communicate their culture through the media especially online, which on their side have been flooded by news and messages, which contributed to the raise of Islamophobia, as showed by the study on media representation of Islam done by L. Rodriguez, President of Junta Islamica Catalana.
Therefore, their active engagement in society is hard to pursue. In particular, the partnership building process, either at national and European level requires a lot of effort when it comes to communicate with social media or digital communication, hence the luck of skills related to that could be potentially a source of exclusion for some minorities.
The acquisition of this kind of skills will enhance their influence at a national and European level, bridging the gap for this minority group, ensuring equal opportunities. The project aims to help minority and disadvantaged communities in participating more and lay a fuller role within the EU society, beginning from the training about ICT and communication skills.
This will be done through a train the trainer process, transferring knowledge from the lead organization to NGO’s that are Minority led or serve minority/disadvantaged, therefore passing on the knowledge to the NGO’s target group at local level.
A side of it a training on EU citizenship and session to orienteer the minorities through the EU funding opportunities and how to apply will be done to narrow the gap between minorities and EU.
Modules will consist of learning English (with embedded case studies on Islamophobia and the role of Muslims/Islam in the EU), ICT and Digital communication skills (including modules such as ECDL, Raspberry Pi to engage people to develop own code or development of tools through technology), ERR (employment rights & responsibilities), European citizenship, , inclusion, awareness & opportunities for the Youth & Small Businesses in the EU.
The contents are portrayed narrow the gap between minorities and majority, either to enable a better communication between the parts through the use of ICT tools and enabling them to build and make concrete (fund) project involving the communities.

Specific objectives of the project are:

  • Improving and extending the offer of high quality learning opportunities tailored to individual adult learners through usage of e-learning material;
  • Improve the digital competences of marginalised communities through vocational education activities;
  • Encouraging a proactive participation of minorities through a holistic approach of action;
  • Favouring greater understanding of cultural diversity in Europe;
  • Favouring a more positive attitude towards European awareness among involved minority groups.

The WAO network will become a Syndicate Association to support the NGO’s in EU which serve minority or disadvantaged communities especially Muslim and Asian communities (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Burma & Middle East communities). National Contact points WAO will be established in the different partner countries.
Within the WAO network, LEARN.ORG.UK will train partners in TAQA qualifications to the project partners which will be subsequently transferred to other NGOs in UK, Italy, Spain and in Sweden;
The project has been thought on 3 main pillars:

1. Education & Training of Staff/Volunteers in the areas of Quality Assurance & Good Practices: Partners will receive training from LEARN.ORG.UK trainers to become qualified in Quality Assurance & Assessing. On Completion, the staff/volunteers will receive an Europass certificate & a UK accreditated qualification to certify the skills acquired.

2. Integration&Positive Opportunities for the Disadvantaged or Marginalized Communities within the EU: Mapping job, training and funding opportunities offered by the EU and how they can be well promoted among the minorities members. This will also highlight the EU added value for citizens in the partner countries, especially UK citizens due to the many sceptical discussions that are currently being put forward;

3. Digital Technologies & e-learning: It is about boosting employability of community members in the areas of Coding, Use of ICT tools and digital communication methods and tools. Already existing e-learning opportunities will be mapped and new one will be designed in order to better address the digital needs and the communication needs of the communities.

 

Results

  • Taqa Training Scheme
  • E-Inventory On Discriminations
  • Animated Material For Anti-Racism Contents And Development Of The “Ict And Digital Communication Strategies” Online Course
  • We Are One Info Pack
  • Executive Plan Tool For Implementation And Exploitation At National And European Level