SAND GAMES for social inclusion

Due to the rise of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq in the European region and the immigration crisis that has emerged in terms of hosting and accommodating refugees at the entry countries and then forwarding them to others, a rise in xenophobia and racism has been perceived, along with discrimination and exclusion from the social and labour market. The debates concerning the response to rising levels of migrants and refugees arriving to Europe have become substitutes for debates on exclusion, racialisation and global inequality. The reason why this partnership chose the SPORT sector to encourage social inclusion was because sport and physical activity can be extremely valuable in the context of social inclusion and integration. Main objective was to build a replicable sports event for sport clubs, using Sand games, in order to advance the inclusion, strengthening and employability of young refugees in Europe and the World. The project duration was 36 months due to pandemic.Core Activities1.To develop the “Sand Games” Sport event prototype2.To implement the first Pilot “Sand Games” Sport event3.To disseminate the development of the “Sand Games” Sport event prototype4.To support refugees volunteering and participation at the “Sand Games” Sport event Target groups and project beneficiaries are described as such:•young refugees 15-24 years old, living is refugee camps or rented apartments, who have limited access to employability and professional development;•sport clubs and associations, who will have access to a concrete event methodology, a manual for innovative sport event using games to be performed near to beaches, lakes and rivers;•trainers and coaches, who may exchange inclusion experience at transnational level;•sport volunteers, being trained by experts on proven volunteering methodologies during the pilot•local policy makers, to have access to the inclusion sport tool that will improve the social environment•local refugee associations, to have access to the inclusion sport tool generated that will improve their efficiency with social integration of refugees.•local tourism businesses, to host and provide services to people participating at such sport eventsPartners & participants: Four partners from Greece, Italy, Romania and Spain gather together to fight this by applying for a Sport Project called Sand “Games for social inclusion”. Participants were from all countries and more specific from Greece.Methodology and results: Our methodology based in Working Packages (WP) with distributes responsibilities to all partners. We used five WP equally for the consortium and more responsibilities to the Lead partner Pythia from Greece. That result to have all outcomes as planned in order to assure correct preparation, management, administration, coordination, evaluation and quality control, monitoring and reporting of the entire project.Implemented Activities: Five Meetings on sight of a total of six, implemented during the project. The pilot event was implemented in the Municipal of Kavala, with the participants from all partners and participants from the local camp. The six meeting was implemented online with all partners to evaluate the outcomes and results of the event. The aim of the project was in favor of the European values, diversity, social inclusion, tolerance and active citizenship, using sports and games. A network of organizations and people with an interest in sports was developed, with the aim to move forward with this project and many follow up suggestions to come in the future with the assistance and participation of youths.