Application for funding granted by the Swedish Inheritance Fund for the project Disabled Refugees Welcome

Project name:
Disabled Refugees Welcome

1. Summary
2. Background
3. Target Group
4. Purpose and objective
5. Method
1. Overall guidelines for our work
2. To reach the target group
3. Activity plan
4. Project staff
5. Anticipated challenges
6. Project Organisation
6. Collaborations
   The project is based on cooperation with the authorities and NGOs in important respects:
7. REASONS FOR APPLICATION
    Creation and development
8. Target group participation
9. Continuation

1 Summary

Describe in no more than half a page what the project is about. Summarize the project's purpose and goals, methods and activities. Specify the target audience and describe how you think your efforts will be sustained after the project funding ends.

Government agencies and nonprofit organizations working with asylum seekers have demonstrated a lack of readiness to receive asylum seekers with disabilities, which will eventually hamper their integration into Swedish society.

 The project will improve the reception of asylum seeker who have disabilities by building a network of government agencies, NGOs and individuals working with asylum seekers. Our partners in this network will refer asylum seekers with disabilities to us and the information we provide, through flyers, social media, a printed guide, email and the project website. We want to reach asylum seekers with disabilities to inform them of their rights, refer them to support efforts by other operators. We will invite them to meetings, physical and virtual, so that they can share experiences and benefit from peer support.

 The project will document the perceived needs of asylum-seekers with disabilities in periodic reports as well as seminars targeted at government agencies and nonprofit organizations working with asylum seekers.

 Project activities and experiences will be recorded and evaluated in order to develop and test a method for receiving applicants with disabilities. The method will be summarized in a guide on the project website and will be taught in workshops to participants in the network that can incorporate the method as a natural and integral part of their work with asylum seekers. It  is expected that the project activities will no longer be needed after a project period of three years.

 The project manager and the rest of the paid field workers will be recruited from among applicants with disabilities.

2. Background

Describe what is already being done in the field in Sweden. What are the needs? How different project from what you and others are already doing or have done?

 More than 160 000 asylum seekers found their way to Sweden in 2015 and there are still people arriving here with immediate needs for help with food, shelter, medical care and often psychological support after traumatic experiences. In order to clarify their situation, their future prospects and to gain new life goals and the tools to be able to work towards these goals asylum seekers need to be connected with swedish people, legal counseling, language training, further education and vocational training, etc.. Many people have been injured in war or during the often perilous journey to get here or had a disability already.

Public information on the number of asylum seekers with disabilities and their needs are not available (Fria Tidningen 2015 11 18).  These disabilities in many cases require adjustments such as housing, education, vocational training and rehabilitation, assistive devices and mobility services in order for people to be well placed to participate in society. There are sporadic reports of individual asylum seekers with disabilities in remote refugee camps without the right to transportation services and thus without the ability to get to the Swedish teaching, counseling, job placement, etc.  (Fria Tidningen 2015 11 18). On Facebook, there were, for example, a news and discussion about a 15-year-old Afghan boy who had to be carried everywhere by her father for lack of a wheelchair (En utsträckt hand februari 2016)

Government agencies and nonprofit organizations working with asylum seekers need to know the extent and nature of disabilities and the resulting needs of asylum seekers in order to better adapt their work to all asylum seekers. Preparedness in terms of human resources and procedures necessary for including asylum seekers with disabilities, as a natural and integral part of the authorities and organizations work, to be received in a dignified manner and integrated into Swedish society.

3. Target Group

 Describe the target group and how to reach the target group. Enter the number of people  you expect to reach through the project's activities, both as active participants and total number reached. (By active participants meant those that can affect the project planning and implementation.)

 Also describe how you know that the project is wanted by the target group or its representatives.

 The target group consists of:  girls, boys, adults and older people with disabilities who have come to Sweden as asylum seekers, government authorities, NGOs and individuals working with asylum seekers.

 The number of people in the target group.

There are no statistics available on the number of people with disabilities among asylum seekers. The Swedish Migration Agency covers costs for local government for asylum applicant's voluntary health screening which about 60% of asylum applicants chose to undergo (Bengt Gradin, Swedish Migration Agency ). Because of this screening it is estimated by the  Swedish Migration Agency that  20% to 30% of applicants have special needs (Bengt Gradin,  Swedish Migration Agency). For 2015, it would mean that among the more than 160 000 asylum seekers that came to Sweden in 2016 there were between 32 000 and 48 000 persons with disabilities. In 2016(7?),  a higher proportion of quota refugees is expected than before (SHIS), which means a higher proportion of people with disabilities due to the priorities of the Swedish refugee quota.

 Project constraints

Given the great diversity among asylum seekers in terms of nationality, culture and language, and with regard to the project's limitations in terms of staff and other resources, the project will be limited mainly to asylum seekers who speak Arabic, English or French. People who speak other languages, we will  refer to organizations in our network better able to respond.

4. Purpose and objective

Describe the overall purpose and why the project is important to implement?

Also describe the project's intended outcome: the results you want to achieve with the project? The objectives should be specific and measurable.

 The project will improve the reception of asylum seekers with disabilities and their ability to integrate into Swedish society through the development, testing and application of a method for the reception of asylum seekers with disabilities, which could eventually be taken over by authorities and NGOs and become a natural part of their general work with asylum seekers.

 The effectiveness can be measured in part by documenting among other things, how many asylum seekers with disabilities who meet the project workers; how many are referred to rehabilitation, aids, adapted housing; participating in project activities and group meetings for exchange of experience and peer support for asylum seekers with disabilities.

Additional measurable outcomes

the frequency and distribution of periodic reports to the authorities and NGOs for asylum seekers with disabilities and their perceived needs. How many copies of printed material that are requested by authorities and voluntary organizations working with asylum seekers.

Attendence numbers for the project seminars on the perceived needs of asylum-seekers with disabilities and visitor numbers for the project workshops held with government agencies, NGOs, the public and the media about the development of methods for the reception of asylum seekers with disabilities.

Other ways to measure the project's effectiveness is how the projects method for the reception of asylum seekers with disabilities is used by government agencies and nonprofit organizations working with asylum seekers in general ..

5. Method and activities

How will you proceed in order to achieve the objective? What methods will you use? What activities are you planning to implement to promote gender equality, accessibility and diversity? How will the project be organized, such as the steering committee or reference?

Make a time and activity plan for each year, preferably in a list or table form. If you wish, make it an appendix.

Method

The project will

• inform asylum-seekers with disabilities about their rights and the support available from authorities and NGOs.
• help asylum seekers with disabilities to seek the support they feel they need.
• collects and disseminates statistics on perceived needs of asylum-seekers with disabilities
• develop and test a method for the reception of asylum seekers with disabilities which will then be spread to public and private actors working with asylum seekers

Overall guidelines for our work

• The project cannot directly contact individual asylum seekers with disabilities so we must spread information about our work, so that they themselves can take the initiative and contact us.  
• We do not assess people's needs or  level of disability
• We listen to Asylum-seekers' own views about what they need, not what the project workers believe.
• Project workers and volunteers will sign a confidentiality agreement protecting the right to privacy of people who contact the project .

To reach the target group we 

• build a network, via electronic mail, the project's website and social media and through cooperation with governments, NGOs and individuals working with asylum seekers.
• produce information in relevant languages ​​and accessible media about the rights and support measures available to asylum seekers with disabilities  
• publicize activities among asylum seekers using the network, for example through leaflets in relevant languages. Participants in the network helps us spread the information among asylum seekers so that they can contact us.
• meet asylum seekers with disabilities in group meetings and activities

 We know from our contacts with asylum seekers, Immigration Service and the organizations working with asylum seekers Stockholm City Social Services Department, SHIS homes, Jesuit Refugee Service, Refugees Welcome to the activities that our project would implement needed greatly.  

Activity plan

Year 1.

The activities begin in Year 1 with a geographical focus on the Stockholm region and will continue in Year 2 and Year 3

• Project workers with relevant language and cultural skills are recruited among asylum seekers with disabilities and trained in Peer Support (mutual peer support)
• Several weeks of training for project workers organized by the authorities and voluntary organizations working with asylum seekers.
• The project website is built with the information in the relevant language of refugee rights, public and private actors' actions, news about regulatory changes and statistics, etc.
• A network is built up via electronic mailing and project website for the exchange of experience and cooperation with authorities, NGOs and individuals working with asylum seekers. The network's aim is to be able to refer asylum seekers to the players who are best placed to meet the specific needs
• Production and distribution of leaflets, posters and leaflets in relevant languages, in print and electronic media, rights and support measures for asylum seekers with disabilities  
• Knowledge spread of activities among asylum seekers using the network for example through leaflets, posters and social media in relevant languages. Participants in the network disseminates information on us, so that asylum seekers with disabilities can contact us.
• After seekers with disabilities have contacted us, we can meet them, learn about their perceived needs and refer them to the appropriate authorities and NGOs. In this work, the project employed refugees guidance and support of a social worker with many years of experience in the disability field.  
• Reporting twice / year in written summaries and seminars on the perceived needs of the asylum seekers we come in contact with
• Friends of Disabled Refugees Welcome constructed as a virtual network with all those interested in the issue and who want to contribute to the project in the way they can, material and volunteer - not least by being a friend of one or more asylum-seekers with disabilities ..

 Year 2

 Activities that started in Year 1 will continue in Year 2 and Year 3rd

 During Year 2 the following activities commence 

• The project will recruit, introduce, coordinate and supervise volunteers among students and senior citizens with training / work experience in social work and disability. The volunteers act as mentors and assists the government and healthcare contacts, phone calls, forms, meeting appointments and accompany people to meetings at least the first few times
• The project will produce a guide for authorities and NGOs that work with asylum seekers. The guide is then disseminated in print and electronic form to the authorities, NGOs and individuals working with asylum seekers
• Asylum seekers with disabilities are offered regular group meetings (about once a month) for information on rights and support efforts, exchange of experience and mutual assistance under the Peer Support principle. The meetings will hopefully increase the participants' social networks. Virtual meetings will be tested due to  transport problems.
• Meals are arranged in connection with physical meetings of the group.
• The project recruits, introduces and coordinates activities of cooperating disability organization members who want to mentor asylum-seekers with disabilities.
• If the reference considers that the activities meet their goals, we plan to submit during Year 2 an additional project application for working with local organizations to start up similar initiatives in Gothenburg and Malmö.

 Year 3

 Activities that started in Year 1 and Year 2 will continue

 In Year 3, the project will 

• offer seminars for government agencies and NGOs on the needs of asylum seekers with disabilities
• compilation of our experience with the reception of asylum seekers with disabilities in a written description of our method
• teach the method to the authorities and NGOs in workshops so that readiness for asylum seekers with disabilities are a natural and integral part of their activities for asylum seekers
• spread the method to other parts of the country by contacting and inviting public authorities, NGOs and individuals from the rest of Sweden to the workshops.

Project staff

The project manager will

 network with government agencies and other organizations working on refugee issues; detail efforts of the authorities and NGOs; represent the project at meetings on refugee issues; recruit, train, supervise project workers and volunteers and coordinate their efforts; document and evaluate the project's work and methods. The project management as well as some other project workers, recruited from among asylum seekers with disabilities and assisted in its function by people who long worked with disability issues in Sweden.

 Journalist / communicator

 builds and manages the project website and periodic mailings; writes and disseminates information on the project for asylum seekers, relevant agencies and organizations, and a guide on the rights of refugees and public and private support efforts in print and electronic media to be distributed across the country; coordinates the translation of materials into relevant languages; compile and disseminate periodic reports on the needs of asylum-seekers with disabilities; publish articles with appropriate description, analysis and proposals for periodicals and the project website; assist the project by mapping existing support actions, organizing meetings and seminars; documents the continuous work of the project and methods.    

 Project worker

 Locates and visits places where asylum seekers are received, presents the project, meets individual asylum seekers with disabilities and their families; map their needs and, if necessary, refer them to agencies and organizations for help; inviting them to group meetings for information and peer support; recruit, introduce, coordinate and supervise volunteers. Several project workers recruited from among applicants with disabilities.

 Volunteers

 with a background in social work, related occupations, disability movement and immigrant associations and any relevant language skills act as mentors or interpreter for one or more asylum-seekers with disabilities in post and under the supervision of the project. Volunteers are also needed to provide babysitting for parents who participate in the project activities.

 Interpreter, translator

Project workers and volunteers with relevant language skills are recruited among asylum seekers and immigrants.

 Additional internal services

 Database Programming / webmaster as well as an internal consultant to support project management are functions that already exist within the organization.

 External services

 Accounting including financial statements have proved more cost effective when operated by a hired external experts.

 Introduction, training and supervision of field workers and volunteers to be carried out by a retired social worker in the Stockholm social services with good contacts within the city administration. The person works as an external consultant and assists with project contacts with authorities.

 For peer support training of field workers and volunteers we engage outside experts with experience of reciprocal peer support in the disability field.

 External consultants will be engaged to help with the preparation, layout and production of our information.

Anticipated challenges  

We will meet people who have experienced traumatic events, have had to leave everything behind, seen death up close, injured and traumatized. We must anticipate their distrust. One way to counter skepticism is to recruit project workers who are themselves asylum seekers with disabilities and to work as closely as possible with the people and organizations who have the asylum seekers' confidence. We are trying, for example, get the Christian and Islamic religious communities and organizations as partners in the project.

 Impairments can be seen in some cultures as a result of the individual's or parents' past behavior with consequences for the person and their family's social status. To openly seek help for a family member with a disability is not always obvious which will complicate the work. We have good contact with a British researcher in the field, Dr. M. Miles who has provided us with reference material in preparation for the project.

 Taking part in group meetings requires transportation. One way to solve it would be to engage the Stockholm mobility service authority in the project to build a pilot project with transportation service for asylum seekers with disabilities. A complement / alternative to physical meetings can be virtual meetings for which we try to engage a mobile phone operator in the project.

 Group meetings for exchange of experience and peer support requires trust between the participants. Considering asylum seekers have many different backgrounds in terms of ethnicity, culture and religion, we must reckon with conflicts within the group. One possible way to deal with the conflicts are inviting, at least initially, people with similar backgrounds to the group meetings ..

Project Organisation

 The project is owned by the Independent Living Institute

Cooperating organizations are thus far: DHR, Apply Human Rights, the Jesuit Refugee Service Sweden which includes the offer of meeting space for the project team meetings, the City of Stockholm (to be confirmed), Refugees Welcome Sweden (to be confirmed)

The steering committee meets about twice a year and consists of a few representatives of the collaborating organizations. Stockholm's disability ombudsman attends select meetings.

 The reference group consists of representatives from the other players we cooperate with and are contacted / convened as necessary.

Friends of Disabled Refugees Welcome is constructed as a virtual network with all those interested in the issue and who want to contribute to the project in whatever way they can, material and volunteer - not least by being a friend to one or more asylum seekers with disabilities.

 6. Collaborations

If you are planning to collaborate with another actor, describe how this work will be carried out and the role your partner should have in the project. Remember that reported partnerships can contribute positively to the Swedish Inheritance Fund's assessment of how well the project meets the criteria innovation, participation and survival.

 For each partner please provide name, address, contact person and their contact information (email and phone).

The project is based on cooperation with the authorities and NGOs in important respects:

 1. Knowledge, information gathering and dissemination, and training of project workers

The project recruits project workers with relevant language and cultural skills among asylum seekers with disabilities and organizes several weeks of training for the partners, government agencies and NGOs working with asylum seekers. Where do they follow, help, study and document their work. In this way, they learn where asylum seekers with certain needs can be cited.

 The project workers describe current efforts and support for asylum seekers with partners, governments, NGOs and individuals on the project website, printed flyers and social media.

 2. Network Construction 

The network of partners 

• We tie the project together with partners, governments, NGOs and individuals working with asylum seekers, via electronic mailing and the project's website, to exchange experiences and to refer asylum seekers to the players who are best placed to meet certain needs
• we spread information among the partners in the relevant languages ​​and accessible media rights and support measures for asylum seekers with disabilities  
• we spread knowledge of the business including asylum seekers, among others, by leaflets in relevant languages ​​and outreach / field visits Partners in the network helps us find asylum-seekers with disabilities and disseminate information on existing support and group rights
• we locate up and visit asylum seekers with disabilities, map their needs and refer them to the appropriate authorities and NGOs. In this work, the project working asylum applicants, guidance and support of a social worker with many years of experience in the disability field.  
• we are looking for people with and without disabilities who want to become mentors to applicants with disabilities.     

 3. Dissemination

 Project partner participation in the network is critical to the dissemination of results. 

• The project identifies and documents the efforts of asylum seekers, the authorities, NGOs and individual offers with a focus on Stockholm. The periodic reports compile existing provided and the remaining unmet needs of the asylum seekers with disabilities that the  project workers meet.
• The reports are disseminated by email within the network with partners, government agencies, non-governmental organizations and individuals inside and outside the region. The reports are also on the project website. They also form the basis for a series of seminars for partners in the network on the needs of asylum seekers with disabilities. .
• The project's own experience with the reception of asylum seekers with disabilities is continually documented and summarized in a guide that is tested and updated during the project period. Also, the guide will be published on the project website, translated into relevant languages ​​and disseminated within the network to partners.
• The method that the business develops during the project taught in workshops with partners, government agencies and NGOs operating in Illinois and the rest of the country during the project's second and third years.
• After the project period is expected to project the workers recruited by enterprises, non-profit organizations working with asylum seekers - as a further means to exploit and disseminate the project experience.
• In case the project approach is estimated to reach their goals, planned - in a new application - similar ventures with local partners in other Swedish metropolitan areas. Where can the project approach adapted to local conditions and be taught to non-profit organizations working locally with asylum seekers.

Partners so far

• Apply Human Rights
• DHR
• Jesuit Refugee Service Sweden
• Swedish Migration Agency
• Refugees Welcome Stockholm  
• City of Stockholm
• The Equality Ombudsman

 During the project we expect the list of partners to grow and include other local and regional government bodies and non-profit organizations, including more disability organizations, ethnic groups, Christian and Muslim faiths.

REASONS FOR APPLICATION

Inheritance Fund has three main criteria that must be met for the project to be funded. Motivate under items 7-9 how the project meets the criteria.

7. Creation and development

Describe what is innovative and evolving with your project. For example, to create new forms of communities, partnerships or methods. The description should always be related to what has already been done in the field. Disconnect happy together the grounds with the background description as you did in paragraph 2. 

Inheritance Fund assesses this criterion from a national perspective, but we take into account geographical and demographic conditions.  

• People with disabilities among asylum seekers have not received sufficient attention as confirmed by the present lack of statistics on their numbers and needs, lack of adapted housing and adapted transport (no entitlement to transportation service) etc.. Knowledge of the needs of the group is essential for authorities to plan for group integration into society. The project is to produce and disseminate such information periodically.
• Government agencies and nonprofit organizations working with asylum seekers today do not seem to have procedures in place, as an  integral part of their overall operations, in order to receive asylum seekers with disabilities and meet their needs. The project will develop, test, and distribute such a method.
• Considering disabled refugee transport problems in the county test the possibility of holding virtual meetings via cell phone that is for today's refugees, perhaps the most important possession.
• The project will try to establish a partnership with the Stockholm mobility authority to allow participants in project team meetings to use the transportation service.
• The proposed project workers are themselves asylum seekers with disabilities, have personal experience with refugees and are thus well placed to win the trust of the target group.
• Asylum seekers with disabilities as project workers show other asylum seekers and the public that asylum seekers and disabled people may hold important functions in the workplace.
• Preparedness for asylum seekers with disabilities is seen as a natural responsibility for government and nonprofit organizations and an integral part of their work with asylum seekers.

8. Target group participation

How has the target group been involved in project planning? How will the target group be involved in the implementation and continuation of the project? What organizations are you going to work with that are well rooted in the project's target audience? 

• The project idea and description has been developed together with Ntobuah Julius Mvenyi in many conversations and meetings since November 2015. Julius seeking asylum in Sweden since September 2015 and have a disability.
• In preparation for the start of the project visit, he is currently working with representatives of the Independent Living Institute authorities and NGOs to discuss, improve and gain support for the project plan.
• Other project staff will be recruited among asylum seekers with disabilities to contribute their own experiences of refugees to the project design and development.
• During the project, we bind to the project, a group of project participants to exchange experiences and views on the continuous development of the method.

9. Continuation

Who is responsible for the operation continued after the project is finished? Which parts of the project to live on? What do you calculate that it costs to run per year? How will the business when financed? How will knowledge be documented, utilized and disseminated to others? 

• The Project will not be needed for longer than three years
• One of the goals is to develop, test, establish and implement a procedure for the reception of asylum seekers with disabilities to public and non-profit organizations can benefit in their overall work of all asylum seekers. The working method is transferred to these parties through information, workshops and cooperation. Thus, we expect that the method will be a natural and integral part of the relevant authorities and the organizations' work and that the project thus no longer needed after three years in the Greater Stockholm area ..