NEW CALL FOR PROJECTS – Special COVID-19

We want to continue our efforts to encourage and promote valuable and viable options for people with refugee backgrounds or seeking asylum and asylum seekers to access and benefit from education, and be part of our communities.

The COVID-19 crisis has resulted in severe economic and social impact worldwide. Students and young people, and even more young people with refugee backgrounds, are particularly vulnerable to the pandemic. Many are now at risk of being left behind in education, economic opportunities and (mental) health/wellbeing at a crucial stage of their development and inclusion in the host society.

At the same time, we also see that young people and students are responding to the crisis through innovative solutions: volunteering, campaigning, advocating, etc. As previous calls, we keep inviting and supporting university students with or without refugee backgrounds to work together to develop and experiment concrete ideas tackling the main barriers limiting the access and inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers in education and society, in this very uncertain period of time.

With this programme, we want to inspire change and:

• Inspire student-led initiatives addressing refugees’ and asylum seekers’ access to education and living conditions in time of crisis.
• Build capacity for student representatives to be more responsive to issues related to forced migration, focusing on social inclusion and access to education in time of crisis.
• Empower National Student Unions to promote and advocate for clear policies that ease the access of refugees and asylum seekers to Higher Education following COVID-19 health crisis.
• Build long-lasting links between refugees, their communities, and student communities.

We do fund:

• Support to student/youth-led initiatives at local, national or European level proposing concrete solutions answering the impact of COVID-19 for students with refugee and migrant backgrounds
• You can apply for any sum up to 7,000 EUR
• project costs, including staff salaries up to 35% of the total grant (if sustainable and relevant).

Deadline: 18 October 2020

Call for projects: HERE

Application package: HERE

If you have any questions, feel free to contact our programme manager, Fanchon, at movingforward@esu-online.org