Comenius PRIME 2013-2015

Meeting in Lublin 28th – 31st January 2015

Economy

The Lublin City Office is working on the model of managing cultural diversity.

It is being worked out within the project “Lublin for everyone. Participatory model of managing cultural diversity” financed by Swiss Program of Cooperation.

Actions within the model of managing cultural diversity:

•Creating so-called “support group” –to enable and simplify cooperation between different institutions that deal with cultural diversity and that work with foreigners (Lublin City Office, City Centre of Help for the Family, Voivodship Police Headquarters, institutions of culture, universities, refugee centre and non- governmental institutions).

•Creating the help point in Residents’ Service Bureau. Bureau is the first place where a foreigner comes with his/her problems. Persons who deal with should be able to communicate with a foreigner in his/her language or a language both sides are familiar with (e.g. English)•Creating the post for foreigners’ integration in the Lublin City Office. Such a person is expected to have enough knowledge of many aspects (social, economic) in order to deal with all foreigners’ problems and to inform appropriate offices

•Trainings for Lublin City Office workers to show them sources of information about migration situation. Detailed topics of the trainings will depend on workers’ needs and they may comprise the issue of law against discrimination•Paying attention to publishing information about migrants and it making wide-known (statistics, activities of non-governmental institutions, local diagnosis).•Inclusion of migrants in the discussion on migration; making migrants present in the process of deciding about their problems

Projects in social area

"Housing and Work - Integration of Foreigners in Lublin"- the project co-financed by the European Refugee Fund

•Place of the project execution: the city of Lublin.•Project beneficiaries: The project is meant, directly, for people with the status of a refugee or additional protection, and it relates, indirectly, also to the receiving society. •The goal of the project is integration of people covered by international protection, including recognized refugees and foreigners using additional protection

Actions planned under the project:•Meetings of a family assistant with the representatives of the local environment and the school environment.•Organization of vocational trainings or courses for foreigners, according to their possibilities and preferences.•Organization of internships for foreigners.•Stay of foreigners in protected apartments. •Organization of participation of children of foreigners in educational and general-development classes, e.g. kindergarten classes, common room classes, circles of interest and trips, or other forms of rest.•Organization of psychological assistance. •Organization of cultural meetings for foreigners.•Preparation of press publications,•Organization of photographic exhibitions about the life of foreigners.•

Project „Social work with immigrants – pilot training project for MOPR workers in Lublin”

Content range of the project:• improvement of social workers‘ competence and knowledge in the field of crosscultural communication•improvement of familiarity with legal and administrative procedures that apply to foreigners•improvement oft he knowledge of education system and foreigners‘ access to Polish schooling system•improvement of health care and foreigners‘ access to Polish healthcare system•making social workers more sensitive to special needs that people from Third Countries may have and to hazard caused by the lack of crosscultural competences

Project: "Integration of Foreigners in Lublin Region III" -- project co-financed by the European Fund for the Integration of Third Country Nationals and the state budget.

Actions taken under the project:•Creation of the Information Centre for Foreigners, hotline counseling for beneficiaries and legal advice online•organization of seminars for foreigners whose theme will be about important topics of the newly arrived migrants to Polish (legal, cultural and social issues) •Conduct free legal advice,•Develop and issue an informant for foreigners "Witaj w Polsce!„•Develop and publication of a handbook about rights and obligations of foreigners in Poland•Organization of free Polish language courses for foreigners •Creation of a website www.migrant.lublin.pl

Education

•Children of foreigners which subject compulsory schooling in Poland learn and have care provided in public primary and high school on the same rights as Polish citizens.•This law applies to all foreigners independently from their legal status and the basis of residence on the territory of the Polish.•School education includes the Polish language classes.•Obligatory education means: one-year pre-school preparatory education (in kindergartens or in primary schools), primary school and secondary school (gymnasium) and the obligation stops when a person becomes 18 years old.

Learning the Polish language

Foreigners who come to Lublin (teenagers and young adults) have the opportunity to learn the Polish language in The Polish Language and Culture Centre for Polish People from Abroad and Foreigners (UMCS) which offers the following types of courses:

•Summer School of the Polish Language and Culture 2014 for beginners, intermediate, and advanced students.•Afternoon Polish language course for beginners•One – year preparatory course for foreign students who wish to study in Poland

Culture

•"Town Integration" which is part of the "Omnes Gentes - integration at Lublin region„ – held in 2014, made by the Volunteer Centre in Lublin. Its main objective is to promote awareness and increase the Poles’ acceptance of migration and the promotion of multiculturalism and the presence of foreigners in Poland.

•Summer school for Polish Language and Culture - it contains classes for foreigners who want to learn the Polish language and to know more about Poland. More than 130 volunteers arrived at KUL, including people from the United States, Korea, and Taiwan.

•„Multicultural Lublin” - event that encourages learning about the cultures of other nations

•Seminars and conferences – discussing the topic of foreigners in Poland (e.g.November 2013 , organised by the Institute of Journalism and Social Communication

•Crosscultural meetings – e.g. Christmas Eve of the Polish community and foreigners in the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (December 2013).