Help to empower refugees to find work and socially integrate
Our intention is to help organisations more effectively and empathically engage with their new residents, and to help Ukrainians deal with that trauma and allow them to better integrate and move forward with their lives thus contributing to the local economy and community.
Background
Having experience in resolving conflicts as in legal procedures and alternative dispute resolutions we can offer our knowledge and skills in emotional support, basic communication skills, and resolving conflicts peacefully transforming them into educational courses that were already held in Ukraine before the war.
Knowledge
Take lessons learned from successful academic and highly skilled work in Ukraine, specifically:
- mediation, negotiation and talking skills
- working with schools/ parent/ pupils
- non-violent communication and other techniques
Experience
Combine them with specific lived experience, namely being refugees that have fled Ukraine and now live in Scotland
Creativity
Use that mix to share techniques and lessons with both local organisations in Scotland and refugees themselves to negotiate cultural differences, trauma and grief and the stress of change
What is purpose
The war brought grief to every Ukrainian family. During this time, more than 12 million people were forced to leave their homes and seek safe housing in other regions of the country or beyond. UNICEF reports that almost two-thirds of children in Ukraine are internally displaced persons or have left the borders of Ukraine, hiding from the war.
Obviously, people don’t have much experience and the ability to deal with emotions, uncertainty, and financial instability. In this way, people could be carefully supported on how to do it and get an understanding of their emotional state. The most important for each person have their own perspective and to feel their life under control.
We want to deliver an understanding of emotional balance and effective communication skills through theoretical lectures and practical exercises to form a list of tools that could be used in everyday communication, especially, in searching for work, accommodation, and resolving communication issues.
What it is about
Based on Kolb’s experiential learning model it is 12 hours educational course on the four topics:
- the theory of conflicts (understanding of conflict’s nature, the evolution of conflict, how to work with interests and needs, using a negotiation approach in conflict with Ukrainians)
- emotional awareness (understanding own and other’s emotions, self-regulation, empathetic approach, social intelligence)
- non-violent communication (working with toxic communication)
- cultural differences (strategies of behavior in Ukrainian and Scottish communities, working with Ukrainians who have war trauma)
The course structure consists of face-to-face lessons on theory, media-content, practice, sharing experiences, and giving feedback.