
The Xarxa d’Hospitalitat (Hospitality Network) project connects host families with asylum seekers to guarantee a home in which asylum applicants can stay for the duration of their application process and attend activities organised by the network's organisations.
During the COVID-19 emergency, in response to a growing need for housing, the network was able to grow through its opening of the Arrupe Community, a hospitality community located in Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona province) in facilities provided by the Society of Jesus. A maximum of 10 people can live together there, accompanied by the Migra Studium team and volunteers. The network is working to increase the number of families willing to host migrants in the future.
Project Goal
The main objective of the project is to promote a new culture of hospitality, sensibilisation, advocacy and cooperation. Its specific objectives are:
- To offer a housing alternative to homelessness and social shelters for refugees and migrants at risk of exclusion or in a vulnerable situation.
- To offer social and legal accompaniment to advance the regularisation process, and to promote their training and capabilities to ensure their entrance to the labour market.
- To favour the creation of social networks through communities and reception spaces from an intercultural scope, thus favouring their integration process and an increase in their well-being.
- To promote a culture of hospitality through empathy to the general public and the accompaniment of host families and communities.
Who benefits
The beneficiaries of the project are primarily migrants, mostly in an irregular situation, and asylum seekers of legal age who need residential support. The ultimate goal is to achieve full autonomy while creating social and professional links with volunteers from and those associated with the network, including hosts. Wider society also benefits from these links and the resulting increase in social integration and inclusion.
There are three main profiles for those eligible for the project:
a) Applicants for international protection while waiting for their asylum interview and/or their possible entry into official social reception programmes, and those who remain outside these programmes.
b) People in an irregular administrative situation who, with a few months of reception, can begin the regularisation procedures through their ties to the community.
c) People who placed in care as unaccompanied minors who, upon reaching the legal age, are excluded from reception resources or are required to wait a few months to be allocated an official reception resource (such as an accommodation centre or sheltered flat).
How it works
The process of the Xarxa d'Hospitalitat responds to the need for accommodation of refugees and migrants. This accommodation is given through host families or communities that offer a room and meals for a predetermined length of time (this time may vary according to each case, but is usually 4 months). The stay at home facilitates the creation of links between the host family or community and the migrant. This fact helps the integration of migrants in different spaces and networks of the city. Reception within the Network is designed to last a maximum of 12 months (4 months in each family or community).
The project works across two areas:
- Welcoming families and communities: a follow-up and training process is designed when a family or community decides to join the network (individual interview, home visit and participation in a training day). There is also the offer of continuous training for those families or communities that have already welcomed people in the past, which aims to exchange different experiences of reception and the review of what has worked and what needs to be improved.
- An itinerary is drawn up for those being hosted according to their individual needs for reception, language learning and job training, always in coordination with other projects of the Migra Studium Foundation. The volunteers who accompany people in completing these itineraries help to consolidate their language learning, to develop the tools that facilitate their search for employment, to learn skills for professional and personal development, and carry out follow-up that facilitates access to the different services (municipal or not) that are required: citizen care, health, education, leisure activities, and so on. Migrants may also receive legal advice and follow-up in their regulation process whenever possible, from the volunteers of the Migra Studium Foundation that are knowledgeable in this field.
Results
- Reception in homes: 20 people hosted (for the duration of one year)
- Reception in hospitality communities (autonomy apartments): 25 people welcomed over the year in 4 autonomous apartments
- Monitoring of the work plan: continuous monitoring of the 45 people hosted
- Language learning (Catalan/Spanish): the beneficiaries regularly attend language courses taught at the Migra Studium Foundation
- Social and legal advice: an average of 15 consultations related to legal processes were conducted per month
- Volunteer meetings: preparation and execution of 6 planned annual meetings
Evaluation
The project is evaluated quarterly based on indicators developed from the specific objectives. In this way, different proposals for improvement are regularly reviewed and implemented.
Funding and resources
46% of the budget for the project comes from public administrations, 42% from private donations, and the remaining 12% from the foundation’s own resources.
About this good practice
- Project dates
- Geographic area
- Spain
- Organisation
- Migra Studium Foundation
- Contact person
- Pilar Pavía
Details
- Original source
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