Jesuit Refugee Service Europe has launched a campaign called “I Get You” to map, network and strengthen local initiatives of refugee welcome in Europe.
Across Europe, citizens have opened their doors to people in search of safety – migrants and refugees – sharing meals, learning languages and simply being together. The goal of I Get You is to identify and bring together community building initiatives for local citizens and refugees in nine European countries.
It began with some questions: What are the best practices that community building initiatives have found for working with local citizens and migrants? How do these initiatives build understanding and friendship? How do they counter racism and xenophobia?
I Get You has three main calls to action:
- Nominate an initiative by completing the online mapping questionnaire
- Send photos and stories with the hashtag #IGetYou
- Share news about the project via social media
The research side of the project will enable JRS Europe to analyse and compare initiatives across Europe. They will produce a mapping report and after that go to interview people in the initiatives themselves to gather more data. Finally, nine national reports and one European report will be prepared and disseminated amongst policymakers and practitioners to raise awareness about best practices.
“We believe that bringing people together is the best way to build mutual understanding,”said Fr Jean-Marie Carrière SJ, JRS Europe Director.
JRS Europe is working on I Get You with JRS Belgium, JRS Germany, JRS France, SJM Spain, JRS Italy, JRS Malta, JRS Portugal, JRS Romania and JRS South-East Europe Croatia. The project was launched exactly two months before World Refugee Day and is co-funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship (REC) Programme of the European Union. [Jesuit Refugee Service Europe]
Visit the interactive campaign website at www.igetyou-jrs.org.