Over 30 refugee and host community member women and children participated in the first training in ”Movement, Games and Sport” psychosocial methodology of Terre des hommes, in Bucharest, between 19th – 27th of June 2018.

Through the project ‘MOVE together – Sport as a tool for integration and social inclusion of refugees’, Terre des hommes intends to contribute to a better social inclusion and integration of refugees in the Romanian society promoting the benefits of sports. The project is implemented in 2 cities: Bucharest and Constanta. A mix group of 32 refugees and host community member women will be trained and coached using the “Movement, Games and Sport” Methodology of Terre des hommes. They will form a community of practice with skills and knowledge to deliver psychosocial support to refugee and host community children and young people through sports.

In partnership with sport clubs and local service providers, they will organize fair play and sport events for mixed groups of refugees and host community, increasing their confidence, resilience, interaction and respect for differences. Dissemination events will target representatives of Romanian sports associations, local authorities, NGOs and the general public, increasing their awareness of the refugee’s situation, difficulties and rights, but also their interest of including sport activities into the package of integration services available for refugees.

First training activity took place in June, in Bucharest, under the motto ‘Sport for inclusion’. Over 30 refugee and host community member women and children participated in the project activity which aims at strengthening intercultural dialogue and social connection between refugees and host community, creating a mixed group of women trainers able to provide psychological support through movement, games and sports to refugee children & young people and raising awareness on the potential of sport to make a contribution to the local integration of refugees.

For 6 days, the Tei Complex in Bucharest hosted a group of 30 women and children who understood the benefits of sport as a means of contributing to mental health and positive social outcomes. MGS uses games and sports with a specific methodology of experiential learning and participation to transfer competences to adults for an improved support of children and youth and the participants spend enjoyable and fruitful time together.

In the following weeks, the trainees will be coached, both through group and individual sessions, to support them in preparing and implementing the sport events they will organize for children and youth. These coaching sessions will also have the added value of providing a safe space for communication and interaction for the trained women and can help to build and keep de informal network alive.

Other activities organized during the project include: 1 training organized in Constanta, 4 fair play and sports events organized, with at least 120 participants, 2 round tables organized for sports clubs/associations, elaboration of a short guide on how to organize future psychosocial sports events for refugees, drafting a case stories booklet including the results of the project, organizing a final conference, to share the results and the best practices.

We hope the organised activities will increase the interest of the authorities and NGOs to include sport activities into local integration programs, to enhance understanding of sports clubs of their role in integration of refugees and to raise more public awareness on the benefits of sports for social inclusion.