Online Digital Database – Resource

Online Digital Database – Resource2022-04-07T11:55:57+02:00
Groep Intro vzw

Description

Groep Intro is a non-profit organisation committed to working towards an inclusive society. It works across towns and cities in Flanders working on projects in the labour market, in schools, in the justice system, in communities and in leisure activities. Groep Intro engages Youth Workers who work with young people at risk of social exclusion, including those in the Secondary School OKAN classes (reception classes for foreign-speaking newcomers) both in schools and in the communities. An example of a project is CHILLweek in Mechelen aimed specifically at children from migrant backgrounds. In the Spring break of 2019, forty young people, between 12 and 18 years old from the various OKAN classes, were introduced to Mechelen leisure activities. CHILLweek was an initiative of the municipality of Mechelen, in collaboration with the Agentschap Integratie & Inburgering and Groep Intro. Groep Intro also works on projects in part-time and apprenticeship education, including dual-learning, and offers individual coaching and initial training and work experience for young people, providing access and information for accessing the local labour market. The financing comes from within. Sometimes, there are additional local subsidies to enable project extensions.

Category:
  • Good Practices
  • Country of origin / implementation:
  • Belgium
  • Language:
  • Dutch
  • Compliance with the Dashboard Outcomes:
    • Access to compulsory education
    • Children complete compulsory education
    • Children maintain their cultural identity while adopting new cultural values and intercultural competences
    • Children remain in (formal) education beyond compulsory levels / Access to (formal) non-compulsory education
    • Children's academic skills
    • Children's competence in host language
    • Children's life satisfaction / happiness
    • Children's sense of belonging
    • Friends and peers (bridges)
    • Friends and peers (support)
    • Institutions
    • Teachers
    • Types & levels of (formal) non-compulsory education attended

    Evaluation ex post
    In addition to permanent evaluation with the participants (they help determine the content of the offer), project evaluations are conducted with the clients every year. This results in later adjustments to content, announcement, offer, timing, location, etc. The general satisfaction of both participants and clients scores high.

    Projects’ deliverables
    Facebook (to young people), WhatsApp (to young people), mail and presentations (supervisors), flyers (to hand out at schools), and in some regions also newsletters.

    Reproducibility
    The project has been replicated internally in several cities. Depending on the demand for available resources, it is also possible to replicate it in other cities. Often local accents are still placed on the demand of young people. The OKAN NA SCHOOL project and other similar activities within Group INTRO annually involve more than 600 young newcomers of various central cities in Flanders (Ostend, Bruges, Kortrijk, Ghent, Sint-Niklaas, Aalst, Dendermonde, Mechelen, Hasselt, Genk, Diest, Anderlecht, ...).

    Motivation for the submission
    We met and interviewed Youth Workers working in OKAN classes in Mechelen City who outlined various activities that their organisation is involved in with the aim of making access to work more inclusive via educational and cultural integration initiatives.

    Funds:
  • Local funds
  • Private funding
  • Type of action:
  • Extra-curricular activity
  • Vocational training
  • Target:
  • Migrant children (first and/or second generation)
  • Newly arrived migrant children
  • Refugee and asylum seeker children
  • Unaccompanied and separated children
  • Professionals involved:
  • Educators
  • Teachers
  • Youth Workers
  • Networking - Actors and institutions mobilized by the project:
  • Local authorities
  • NGOs, third sector organizations
  • Schools
  • Students / parents associations
  • Latest news

    Together we make all the difference

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    August 21st, 2023|Children, Schools|

    We are thrilled to share a major milestone in the IMMERSE project! Thousands of questionnaires were distributed among children, parents, principals and teachers from 6 European countries from June 2021 until July 2023.  The database resulting from our extensive data collection [...]

    Immerse Irish team findings will be shared at an event on September 15th

    July 12th, 2023|News|

    University College Cork will held an event on September 15th to share the Immerse H2020 project findings on the integration of migrant children in the Irish education system. The event will take place at the UCC premises with the participation of [...]

    IMMERSE co-creation approach: core facilitation tools – facilitation welcomes and farewells

    June 28th, 2023|Co-creation|

    In order to set the mood for the workshop, it is important to open the session in the right way. As such, the facilitator should be assertive in introducing the session and explaining the agenda. This ensures that everyone knows [...]

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