Projects
Project summaries: Click to view our ongoing projects
Project Name: Project Integrated
Start date: 01/01/2024
End date: 31/12/2024
Funder: UNHCR
Partners: Women’s Rights Foundation; aditus Foundation
Aim:
The goal of the project is Advocacy for Protection and Solutions. It consists of two components, one focused on protection (mostly addressed to asylum-seekers) and the other on facilitating integration (aiming mostly at beneficiaries of protection in Malta).
Summary:
The aim of protection component of the project is three-fold:
- that asylum seekers are not deprived of their liberty unnecessarily and are received in conditions that respect their dignity;
- that they are able to obtain information about their rights and about the asylum procedure to be better able to access protection; and
- that asylum seekers and beneficiaries of protection who experience SGBV are able to obtain effective access to legal redress as well as to the services and support they need.
This will be achieved through regular outreach, albeit in different forms, in detention and reception centres to monitor practice and provide basic information and legal counselling, as well as by increasing our capacity to provide information on the asylum procedure through the JRS drop-in service and advocacy.
The integration component of the project, which follows up on projects implemented in previous years, is to work towards a situation where asylum-seekers and beneficiaries of international protection are integrated in Maltese society, effectively enjoy their rights, and achieve true independence and self-sufficiency. This will be achieved through: service provision including legal assistance and specially designed programmes and services; capacity building of mainstream service providers to facilitate easier access to such services; monitoring integration gaps and advocating both on specific integration-related issues, as well as for the development of better integration services and programmes.
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Project Name: Pathways towards a hope-filled future: the implementation of an integration programme for youth
Start date: 01/09/2024
End date: 31/08/2028
Funders: Asylum, Migration and Integration (AMIF) 2021-2027, Fundación MAPFRE
Aim:
Develop and run a targeted integration programme for adolescent and young adult asylum seekers and beneficiaries of protection aged 15-30, promoting self-development, social inclusion, and labour market integration.
Summary:
The programme, which aims to provide young asylum seekers with opportunities to develop the necessary values, knowledge, skills and attitudes for active citizenship and employability, consists of a combination of:
→ Information provision and individual guidance, mentoring and support to address gaps in information and integration support for this cohort of TCNs.
→ Non-formal education, including language, literacy, civic orientation and life-skills, for those who are unable to obtain these services from other sources.
→ Community-building initiatives aimed at creating spaces where refugee youth can come together to find support, make friends, and explore the different facets of life in Malta
The project builds the capacity of service providers to provide holistic and appropriate integration services to refugee youth and explores ways of making these services more relevant and accessible to categories of young asylum seekers and beneficiaries of protection who are hard to reach, particularly young women, including those who have children.
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Project Name: From surviving to thriving: A Project to Help Young Asylum Seekers Achieve their Potential
Start date: 01/11/2022
End date: 31/10/2025
Funder: Operational Grant for Youth Organisations (Aġenzija Żgħażagħ)
Aim:
To develop a supportive framework of accompaniment and mentoring, by professionals and trained refugee mentors, ensure that young refugees and asylum seekers are not alone in the process of navigating educational institutional requirements and other challenges, and keep them motivated and engaged throughout their respective journeys.
This grant helps address a number of existing gaps in the care of unaccompanied minors are being addressed, by maintaining a supportive presence in the lives of these unaccompanied children and young asylum seekers, facilitating their access to formal education in a meaningful and holistic way. A personalised education plan with and for young asylum seekers is created, with clear and achievable goals, and the pathway towards them.
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Project Name: Ambaxxaturi ghall-ġustizzja soċjali u esperjenza hands-on ma’ JRS
Start date: 21/08/2024
End date: 20/08/2025
Funder: Komunitajiet Aktar Inklussivi Scheme, managed by the Ministry for Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector (MIV)
Aim:
This project is designed to cultivate active and inclusive citizenship by encouraging volunteering initiatives, and providing transformative educational experiences for young individuals. 4-8 young people are being offered the opportunity of becoming Ambassadors for and with others, through a non-formal educational programme that focuses on social justice.
Summary:
The program has four key components: (i) formation and on-the-ground experience, (ii) communication and media training, (iii) community engagement with migrant youth, and (iv) the opportunity to actively support JRS in awareness-raising campaigns. This comprehensive program aims to foster personal growth among youth, while making a positive impact on the community and the organization, fostering a generation of informed, engaged, and compassionate individuals.
A 20-hour programme will be developed and piloted, so that the curriculum and materials piloted through this project will continue to be offered to young people on a regular basis.
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Project Name: Supporting the protection and integration needs of vulnerable asylum seekers in Malta: a coordinated approach
Start date: 01/10/2024
End date: 30/09/2026
Funder: Swiss contribution to reduce social and economic disparities in the EU (Swiss Europe Rapid Response Fund)
Partners: aditus Foundation; Migrant Women Association Malta
Aim:
Ensure that vulnerable asylum seekers receive the individualized care and support they need to integrate in Malta and live with dignity.
Summary:
The project, implemented in partnership with aditus and MWAM, promotes the integration of vulnerable asylum seekers in Malta through a combination of direct service provision, developing structures for improved networking and service coordination between service providers, and outreach and capacity-building with and for refugee communities.
The project focuses on two priority areas:
Priority 1: Improving the case management of vulnerable individuals
The project will achieve this aim by reinforcing and increasing the partners’ capacity to provide services – including legal, psychological and social work services, cultural mediation, basic integration support – to vulnerable individuals, and address the challenges related to social integration, through a new service promoting community-building and skill acquisition. In addition, the project will bring different NGO services together to develop a more coordinated approach towards service provision and will develop and strengthen partners’ links with mainstream services, to work together more effectively and advocate on issues related supporting vulnerable asylum seekers.
Priority 2: Empowering the communities of support
Through the project, partners will reach out to refugee communities to better understand the protection and integration needs of vulnerable asylum seekers, and communities’ capacity to support them. This will enable partners to work alongside and with communities, supporting their potential to address this challenge through information provision and capacity-building. As a result, partners together with refugee communities will engage in a public awareness campaign and advocacy with mainstream services on issues related to poverty, homelessness, and health care.
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Project Name: Educational Support Programme 2020-2021
Funder: 1Run + UNHCR
Partners: KOPIN
Aim: The Educational Support Programme (ESP) 2020-2021, funded through the 1RUN initiative with the support of UNHCR, aims at ensuring that refugees and asylum seekers in Malta are provided with the personalised support they require to pursue their education.
Previously known as the Integration Priority Track (IPT), the programme was initially developed through Project Integrated, a UNHCR-funded project aimed at promoting the inclusion of refugees. In 2020-2021 the programme will be implemented by JRS Malta and Kopin, in collaboration with Integra and Aditus Foundation, thanks to funds from the 1Run initiative.
The programme offers a number of packages, designed as ‘stepping stones’, aimed at enabling children, young people and adults to continue and complete secondary education or sixth form, access Higher Educational institutions or improve their employability. The support provided could include: the provision of educational hardware or software (tablets, laptops, educational and vocational software) and/or educational materials, and the payment for courses and training fees. Other related costs may be considered as required. Selected individuals will be followed up by programme staff, who will monitor progress and provide the necessary support.
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Project Name: Acting on the Margins: Arts as Social Sculpture (AMASS)
Funder: Horizon 2020
Partners: Lead partner – University of Malta
Aim: The project is a research study that examines the social impact of arts on various societal challenges, by focusing on the participation of immigrants in the arts, and raising awareness about social issues pertaining to immigrants in Malta. Our role is to assist with the recruitment of participants for a series of art workshops, to take place in the art studio of the University of Malta.
The workshops will focus on training of the participants in artistic techniques required for screen printing, photography and fashion. JRS will assist in pre- and post-project structured individual interviews, and a focus group with the project participants. JRS will also assist in the recruitment of local participants that will use the items made in the workshops, and will assist in structured individual interviews with these local participants.
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Project Name: FA.B! Family based care for children in migration
Funder: AMIF
Partners: AWAS (2nd tier partner)
Aim: FA.B! Family Based care for children in migration is a project aimed at supporting the improvement and expansion of alternative family-based care system for unaccompanied migrant children in 5 European frontline Mediterranean Countries: Italy, Greece, Spain, Malta and Cyprus. Family based care is commonly recognized as the best way to facilitate integration and promote the well-being of children, yet only a minority of unaccompanied migrant children benefit from foster-based care. FA.B! focuses on addressing this gap through awareness and advocacy, intervening on the critical aspects of the process of establishing a foster based care system as an alternative to reception centres.
FA.B! lines of action are:
(1) transfer of know-how and instruments for the implementation of foster-based practices and tailored services;
(2) enhancement of competences of key actors and professionals;
(3) awareness-raising among civil society and stakeholders;
(4) qualification of local systems.
Under this project JRS, as the national partner for Malta, will be coordinating field visits, workshops and training for various professionals, to share knowledge and learn about good practices and methodology in this area. Locally, in light of the recent Minor Protection Act 2019, it provides an opportune moment to bring stakeholders from different sectors and fields together, and consider how the recent law may impact decisions on quality care for unaccompanied minors.
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Project Name: Forced to hide: Understanding the human cost of the shadow economy on the lives of vulnerable migrant workers in Malta
Start date: 01/07/2023
End date: 30/06/2025
Funder: Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) and the Robert Bosch Stiftung’s grant programme on labour rights and labour migration.
Aim:
To build the capacity of JRS Malta to undertake advocacy work that addresses the reasons that migrants and asylum seekers are forced to work irregularly or precariously, and advocate for laws and policies that protect workers, and that facilitate, rather than block, access to regular employment.
Summary:
Through this project JRS Malta will develop a more systematic and extensive knowledge base of the day-to-day realities of undocumented migrants, and the consequences of government policy on their lives. JRS Malta would also like to better understand how these migrants see their situation, including what, if anything, they would like to advocate for in the circumstances, and how they would like to do it. This project brings migration experiences that are otherwise invisible and existing outside of the margins of society to the fore, shining a light on needs which have largely been left ignored, and encouraging action which is informed by people’s lived experience.
The knowledge accumulated, and the networks and relationships built through this process, will form the basis for future advocacy work. This advocacy will, amongst other issues, address the lack of transparency, timeliness, and possibility of regular work for undocumented migrants, which remains glaringly prevalent and largely ignored through Government inaction.