We welcome young Refugees

Specific action dedicated to newly-arrived migrants

PROJECT OWNER

Name of the project owner: Benjamin Renauld

Status of the project owner: Local association

Area of work of the project owner: Sport / Migration / Youth / Social integration / Intercultural exchange / Health

Website

PROJECT

Belgium

Geographic scope of project: Local

Project objective: Promote social diversity / Develop language skills / Educate and transmit values through sport / Develop intercultural relations and/or intercultural competency / Promote access to volunteering in sport / Practice a physical activity for physical/mental health

Types of sport or physical activity carried out: Football

Partnership / supports: --

Project duration: 5 year (start: September 2019)

Project status: Underway

Supervising staff: Volunteers

Summary of the project: R. Europa Kraainem F.C. is an amateur football club located in the eastern suburbs of Brussels. Founded in 1992 by a group of European civil servants, the club hosts today more than 350 young players coming from 42 different countries. This multicultural diversity is omnipresent in Kraainem; it is part of the club's DNA and without a doubt its main asset. The club has always been convinced that football has the power to bring people together and facilitate social integration. As a grassroots sport organisation, the club develops its social capital from this diversity and creates a very particular community based on the 350 players of the club and the refugees who are welcomed within the new community.

Following this line of conduct and answering the migration crisis that reached Europe in 2015, the club has decided to carry out an initiative with regard to the integration of migrant populations through sport, in partnership with Fedasil (the federal agency for the reception of asylum seekers). Kraainem F.C. has adapted its daily routine in order to welcome unaccompanied minors at the club. The whole range of activities is part of the integration process of these young people that the club is targeting.

The main objective of Royal Europa Kraainem Football Club is now to maintain the activities that have been carried out during the first four seasons of the project and made it a success. The core business remains the typical afternoons organised at the club during the football season, from September to May. Groups of 6 to 10 young migrants are welcomed at the club and enjoy language classes and conversation sessions, followed by football training within the club's youth teams. After their training, they share a meal at the club's cafeteria, together with the players and the volunteers of the club. Since 2019, a fourth afternoon has been added, where girls and young women are invited to join our programme in Kraainem.

Since its origins in September 2015, the project has been based on a partnership between the club and the general direction of the Fedasil centres. They are the platform for the reception and the integration of young refugees in Belgium. The club's project is now considered as a flagship integration project by the general direction of the federal agency.

TARGET GROUP

Country of origin: Afghanistan, Middle-East, Sub-Saharan Africa 

Type of migration: Refugees, asylum seekers

Target beneficiary: Families / Men only / Women only / Children / Teenager-Young people

Target age group: 5 - 20