Introduction

The IMMERSED project is based on innovative citizen-centered solutions that will provide employment sustainability and financial resilience to Ukrainian refugees. This will be achieved through a multi-layered model of well-being support and immersion in local communities.

The IMMERSED project will help address the specific social problem of lack of employment sustainability support for Ukrainian refugees in host countries, which also generates inability to achieve financial resilience, low well-being and difficulty integrating into local communities. The IMMERSED project will leverage good practices from existing products and adapt them to the new situation of Ukrainian refugees. The IMMERSED project will empower citizens and improve the way our societies and their social welfare systems function and provide support to Ukrainian refugees.

The main pillar of the IMMERSED ecosystem will be a strong network and collaboration among partners, but especially with associated partners who represent the quadruple helix model of the four main actors in the innovation process - public, private, academic and civil society.

By assessing existing evidence, the IMMERSED project will build the foundation for a new approach to supporting employment sustainability and financial resilience for Ukrainian refugees through:

  • Training and creating materials for employment sustainability trainers,

  • Creating a new model of discussion clubs,

  • Mapping local initiatives (barter and networking opportunities - with reference to Quadruple Helix, bottom-up initiatives and local communities),

  • Comprehensive (addressing different anxieties and traumas) mental health support program for Ukrainian Refugees.

These solutions will be tested in local communities in Poland (Bielsko-Biała and Katowice), Slovakia (Žilina and Prešov), and Romania (Cluj-Napoca and Iasi) with the support of the associated partners mentioned in the proposal, but also with the participation of a wide range of stakeholders.

Activities

Objectives

Leaflet

Manual

Partners

  • About:

    Foundation Innovation and Knowledge is a Poland based organization established in 2012 to deliver social change, tackle professional inactivity and inequality, and increase financial resilience of disadvantaged client groups. We work nationally, internationally and globally through projects and programs aimed at supporting entrepreneurial development, social and professional activation, innovation in education, and life-long learning and promotion of financial education. Our mission is supporting the socio-economic development of individuals and communities through the dissemination of innovative solutions for acquiring knowledge, raising social awareness, and creating entrepreneurial attitudes. Our values: partnership, respect for dignity, commitment, innovation, fairness.

  • About:

    People in Peril (PiP) is a Slovak non-profit organisation with over 25 years of experience supporting vulnerable individuals and communities. It provides tailored employment counselling and psycho-social support while actively promoting community work, education, and volunteering. PiP supports the social inclusion of refugees and other vulnerable groups through long-term field programmes, and cooperates with employers, schools, and public services to help people overcome barriers to full participation in society.

  • About:

    HEKS/EPER Romania is part of the larger HEKS/EPER network, established by our umbrella organization in Switzerland. HEKS EPER operates in more than 35 countries around the world, focusing on supporting vulnerable populations through both humanitarian aid and development cooperation. It’s an organization with a long history of responding to people’s needs in times of crisis.

    Since 2016, we’ve been working mostly in development cooperation, focusing on projects that promote Inclusion through Education and Employment. But in recent years, we've expanded our work in humanitarian aid as well. For example, we’ve been active in hard-to-reach areas like the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the Ukraine Response.

  • About:

    CESIE ETS is a non-governmental organisation, established in 2001, inspired by the work and theories of the Italian sociologist Danilo Dolci (1924-1997). CESIE ETS contributes to the active participation of people, civil societies, and institutions through the implementation of projects on various thematic areas, towards the promotion of growth and development, always valuing diversity in the respect of ethics and human development. Our MISSION is to promote growth through innovative and participative educational approaches. Along with other institutions and organisations, CESIE ETS is currently implementing over 120 projects in more than 80 countries. As a European centre of Studies and Initiatives, the organisation is dedicated to the promotion of research and development so as to increase and improve future-oriented innovation processes in educational, social, economic and cultural spheres believing in the cross-cutting of organisations cooperating within heterogeneous fields and sectors.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Social Fund Agency. Neither the European Union nor the Granting Authority can be held responsible for them.

Project number: ESF-SI-2024-UA-01-0014

Contact

+48 22 225 25 48

fiiw@fiiw.pl