Seeds for Integration

A new initiative by OBESSU to build bridges between migrant children and their peers in secondary schools

New large-scale programmes are being developed and carried out to support migrants' inclusion by a group of EU-level organisations, EPA being one of them. One of the partners, OBESSU, in order to encourage building bridges between migrant children and their peers in secondary schools, decided to launch the project Seeds for Integration. The main idea is to provide small, medium and large seed-grants to secondary school student unions and councils, or - in case there is no student council in the school - to independent groups representing the school’s students, to come up with creative initiatives around the topic of educational inclusion of migrant and refugee children. Read on to learn more about the initiative, and inform secondary school students who would be interested in it.

We will share information on all other projects, including our own, in this cooperation, made possible with the financial support of Open Society Foundation. Follow the EPA blog for new initiatives.

There are three overall objectives of Seeds of Intergration: 

1.) to engage all students – regardless where they come from – into a debate over the situation of refugee and migrant children in Europe in the context of education, and to forge a dialogue among schools on a local, regional and national level about this topic,

2.) to foster and support initiatives of school students that empower their peers with migrant background to share  their experiences and the challenges they face in the field of education with the school community, thus raising awareness of the issues refugee and migrant pupils might encounter during their everyday life,

3.) to build closer ties between the communities migrant students come from and the school community.

On a local level, secondary school student groups can apply for a small scale grant of maximum 500 Euros. On a regional level, project teams composed of students from different secondary schools or Regional School Student Unions can apply for a medium scale grant of maximum 1000 Euros. On a national level,  OBESSU Member, Candidate and Affiliate Organisations only can apply for a large scale grant of maximum 2500 Euros.

The “Call for Initiatives” has been launched and the application deadline is the 5th of October 2016. For more information on the project or the application procedure, consult the following website: www.seedsforintegration.org In case you have any questions, comments you can contact Eszter Somogyi, Programme Coordinator, at the following email address: seeds@obessu.org.

Seeds for Integration is a great opportunity for secondary school students to design and implement an initiative fully funded by OBESSU. Plant a seed for a better future and follow the developments on twitter #seeds4integration.