Bonds (EN)
PROJECT
What is it?
The project intends to design and develop specific training/education programme for immigrant mothers and children, focusing on the acquisition of key competences and soft skills for social inclusion and well-being through the methodology of Collaborative Comics Storytelling. It will be aimed at the acquisition of soft skills and language/cultural/ICT/social and civic competences through the exploitation of the emotional dimension of training. These competences will also provide women and children opportunities for public voice (providing information on access to social services, on access to communication, rights and responsibilities), which are fundamental for a real social inclusion in the host community.
The Objectives
The main objective of the project is the acquisition by immigrant mothers and their children of key competences and soft skills for social inclusion and well-being. For the achievement of this objective four main activities will be realised:
- The first activity is a preliminary survey for defining the main contextual factors that in the host community affect the emotional/knowledge dimension of immigrant women and children and hinder their social inclusion;
- The second activity is the planning of educational workshops and seminars for women and children as part of an educational programme for letting them acquire key competences for social inclusion and well-being, on the basis of the research results. These key competences will mainly focus on three areas, namely:
- soft skills for social inclusion and well-being;
- accessing critical information such as social services (including online services and media as a source of information and civil participation though ICT) and rights and responsibilities; improving family-school relationships (through making explicit information on the school system, its organisation and structure that is often perceived as tacit knowledge for the locals);
- promoting the social inclusion of families through the provision of cultural-content courses in the language of the hosting country with translation facilities and multi-modal means (e.g. symbols, ICT, etc.) for both mothers and their children with the aim of promoting their educational and social inclusion;
- The third activity is the evaluation of the educational programme at European level so to define its effectiveness and impact;
- The fourth activity provide the realisation of a specific framework for organisations working with immigrants as well as policy makers, aimed at developing training models which address the needs of immigrants.
The Methodology
- It is a narrative form that combines two other forms of expression, words and pictures. During the creation of a comic story you might work alone or you might have to work with others as a collaborative and co-creation oriented-team, building on diverse backgrounds, knowledge, experiences and skills (script writer and penciler, inker, letterer etc). Comics creation is nevertheless a co-creation process. Either you work alone, or you work inside a team you always interact with your audience and external environment. We use comics storytelling as a tool to foster collaboration, teamwork and creativity;
- Comics, according to many scholars and educators do not tell the stories of creatures with supernatural powers, but they also have this supernatural power to transfer knowledge. According to many researchers comics can strengthen “students’ understanding of literary devices such as point of view, themes, symbolism, allusions, morals, tone and mood, flashback, and foreshadowing” , as well as reading comprehension and understanding (Gavigan, 2010).
Participants and Place?
The people directly involved in the project during its life span are immigrant mothers (and other caregivers) and children that will be involved in BONDS preliminary survey, immigrant mothers (and other caregivers) and children that will be involved in BONDS educational workshops and seminars and its impact evaluation, trainers/social workers that will be involved in preliminary training for staff to share the BONDS educational model and in carrying out BONDS education workshops and seminars.
The project action will be carried out at European level, in national contexts characterised by different migration flows and policies.
Multiplier events will take place in Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain.