LLP - Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013

Project Outcome

Call for proposal 2007

Subprogramme: Grundtvig - Adult Education and other Educational Pathways

Action: Multilateral projects

Priority: no. 6 - Adult education for marginalised or disadvantaged citizens, including prisoners and ex-offenders

(in particular, following references to the priority:

- developing alternative learning methods, approaches and tools encouraging the reintegration of marginalised and disadvantaged citizens into society and into the labour market;

- developing innovative prevention strategies helping to reduce levels of re-offending)

Title of the proposal: Educational model for the Integration of Immigrant Inmates: education and working opportunities in the care services sector

Acronym: to be defined

Background

The condition of immigrant inmates or ex-inmates is one of the most difficult in terms of integration: they have to face firstly the integration obstacles as immigrants, secondly as individuals who may represent a danger for the security feelings of our societies. They live a sort of a “double disadvantage” in the integration process.

Today, prison represents also a way of management of the difference; it is seen as a place where to marginalise and to hide individuals who are considered dysfunctional compared to the ordinary social rules. Such attitude is deep-rooted towards national inmates, and it is even more strong towards immigrant inmates. Between 15 and 20% of prisoners in Europe are immigrants, facing with difficulties of a low level of juridical knowledge, of weak knowledge of the language, of less opportunities of labour insertions and social integrations.

In such a contexts, education is a powerful instrument for immigrants inmates and ex-inmates; it is even more important and significant if it is developed as an alternative educational pathway, able to combine the learning methods together with the in-service experience, in order to profit of the formal as well as non-formal and informal training to encourage the reintegration of prisoners and ex-inmates into the labour market. In particular, according to the Restorative Justice approach (Basic Principles on the use of restorative justice, ONU 2000; Recommendation (99)19 European Council), the development of a work insertion experience into the social sectors (care services) might allow to the beneficiaries to make a valuable practice, extremely motivating, useful for their social re-insertion and for the acquisition of a new connotation, a ‘caring’ individual instead of ‘excluded’ one.

Why? (goals)

Project main objective is to develop an alternative educational pathway for immigrants inmates/ex-inmates, through learning approach and working reintegration programme, able to provide them with the linguistic, cultural, social and professional competences, and to allow them the re-insertion in the society. The project will design, identify, test, evaluate and disseminate an Educational Model for their integration, based on the positive social valence that might acquire to join the immigrant inmates/ex-inmates population to the social services sector.

Specific objectives are:

- to develop an educational pathway, able to provide the beneficiaries with knowledge, skills and competences for their labour and social integration in the care sector;

- to practically test and to monitor the educational pathway, activating working insertion of the trainees within the care sector, with the precious support of organisations providing social services;

- to reinforce (or to set up) a solid network amongst institutions, Third Sector organisations and NGOs, in order to establish a tutoring and accompanying action, aimed at monitoring the intervention and at promoting its prosecution as stable programme instead of episode initiative;

- to diffuse such good practice model, as an opportunity of integration for the beneficiaries, as well as opportunity to recuperate their personal and social relations;

- to contribute to the reducing of levels of re-offending, developing an educational initiative with a ‘social’ and ‘valuable’ connotation and encouraging the social rehabilitation of ex-offenders.

Who? (beneficiaries)

Beneficiaries of the project are immigrants ex-inmates (recently out of prison and in need of support) and immigrant inmates (who may access to alternative measures to imprisonment, which give an opportunity to those convicted of an offence to serve some or all of a sentence of imprisonment outside prison), in both case legally-residing. They will be the trainees of the educational programme as well as the beneficiaries of the working practice within the care services sector.

How? (methodology)

The project is carried out by a partnership involving 4 European countries (Bulgaria, Italy, Ireland, Romania). The project is articulated in the following work packages:

WP1: project management (project start-up and management)

WP2: analysis and feasibility study (surveys on beneficiaries needs and social sector requirements)

WP3: conception of the educational model (design of the educational toolkit, preparation of the working insertion, strengthening of Third Sector organisations networks, agreement with public institutions)

WP4: testing (experimentation of the educational model and activation of caring/social interventions carried out by the beneficiaries)

WP5: finalisation of Educational Model(revision of the tool according to the testing phase results, development of the complete model - education&working experience - as example of good practice of reintegration, suggestion for the working insertion and the practice sustainability)

WP6: monitoring and evaluation (evaluation of the project results, monitoring of testing interventions, feedbacks from the project beneficiaries and the services users, assessment of the outcomes)

WP7: diffusion, dissemination, valorisation (presentation of the project, its results and its outcome as a transferable and replicable good practice of reintegration).

What? (expected results)

- to encourage the acquisition of competences useful for the reintegration of the beneficiaries, through a complete educational process;

- to encourage the labour (and social) reintegration, through working opportunities in the care and social sector;

- to reinforce the potentialities of networks, amongst Third Sector organisations and NGOs, working in the education, in the prison environment as well as in the care services sector;

- to apply the principles of the Restorative Justice, as a possible model for the resolution of the consequences of a crime;

- to develop an innovative prevention strategy, aimed at reducing the levels of re-offending;

- to identify an innovative and potentially powerful direction for the civic and social coexistence of disadvantaged groups, by the mutual relations that normally set up in the care services sector.