Abstract:

As the configuration of the recent European political scene testifies, there is an upward trend of the nationalistic and xenophobic atmosphere within the EU societies, which is undoubtedly being reinforced in the recent years, due to both the large refugee flows and the terrorist acts occurring across Europe. Accordingly, the Gallup study of attitudes toward immigration found people in Europe the most negative in the world towards immigration. The majority of residents (52%) said immigration levels in their countries should be decreased. And all that while migrants constitute the 4.6% of the European population, a percentage which could be ‘translated’ into numbers as 20 million of migrants. Consequently, the aforementioned situation invokes a matter of intricacy in order for the NGOs and other organizations, who are dealing with the issue of the integration of migrants and refugees, to work and emphasize on the notions of global interdependencies and equality, with the oversimplified argumentation occurs to be the wide range of resources that strengthen the dominant narrative.

The innovative character of the project FATI (From Alienation to Inclusion, https://www.projectfati.com) lies on the effective collaboration of the project partners, who are seeking to create activities by developing a unique on-line environment which contains comprehensive training modules on social integration of migrants and refugees into EU societies, while seeking to eliminate all those social, linguistic and psychological barriers which prevent migrants and refugees from being integrated in the new environment. Also, the environment of the project is being endowed with a variety of other pioneer digital tools and applications, specially designed for the creation and establishment of a strong network amongst European NGOs, social enterprises and charities for migrants and refugees, thus forming strong alliances.

Accordingly, the ultimate aim of the project is to bring together such organizations, thus adopting a more collective and therefore effective action. Simultaneously, the e-platform involves the wider EU public, mainly through the ‘Library of Commodities’ which operates for the purpose of provision of humanitarian aid, as the wider European public gains the opportunity to offer its used objects to refugee settlements located in the partner-countries. Additionally, through a ‘Directory of European NGOs, social enterprises and charities for migrants and refugees’, being created as a part of the outputs of the project, a strong network of such organizations emerges, therefore allowing their actions to acquire global dimension, primarily by using volunteers and services of other EU organizations located in other countries; such operation is being considered the initial point for the development of a mutual European policy on migrants and refugees.

Keywords:

Migrants, refugees, social integration, on-line environment.