Category: HOMEPAGE

«SOLIDARITYNOW: The Greek citizenship is a matter of conscience and inclusion in the society

Posted on Tuesday November 22nd, 2016
(Ελληνικά) Giorgos Moutafis for SolidarityNow

The granting of Citizenship to second generation migrant children was one of the main policy priorities of the Government from January 2015.

The relevant legislation was introduced on July 2015 and was widely praised by civil society organizations.

Sadly, the structure of the newly-found Ministry of Migration Policy does not reflect such prioritization, since it does not incorporate in its mandate the Department of Citizenship, which stays under the mandate of the Ministry if Interior.

SolidarityNow calls the Greek Government to revise this decision and incorporate the Department of Citizenship into the Ministry of Migration Policy, in order to reflect, both administratively and politically, the prioritization of granting citizenship to Second Generation migrant children.

SolidarityNow presented its work at the Museum of Cycladic Art

Posted on Wednesday October 26th, 2016

“The Greek people have not only endured the situation, but mostly they have shown solidarity to the refugees. And this is something to remember. Because migration will continue and will be one of the main challenges of the European scenery” said Mr. Stelios Zavvos, the President of SolidarityNow during the event entitled “Refugee Flow & Initiatives taken by SolidarityNow» held at the Museum of Cycladic Art on Wednesday, October 20.

The event took place with the occasion of the exhibition of the Chinese artist Ai WeiWei, hosted by the end of October and carried out with the support of SolidarityNow, as a social partner.

The aim of the event was the presentation of the organization’s activities, both in terms of the refugee crisis and the humanitarian crisis in the country in general. Prominent guests were invited by the members of the Board of SolidarityNow, whereas keynote speakers were the President and the BOD members, Mr. Stelios Zavvos, Professors Christos Rozakis and Nikos Alivizatos, Mr. Aristos Doxiadis and Mrs Jenny Kavounidou.

 

Ibrahim from Syria and the experience of Paralympic Games in Rio!

Posted on Monday October 17th, 2016

Eleni Kokkinou describes us her experience
as a member of the Paralympic Refugee Team

 

by Eleni Kokkinou,
Special Physical Education teacher in SolidarityNow, for Hosting Scheme Project “Home for Hope”

 

I work as a teacher of special physical education and fitness for the last 13 years since I got my degree, mainly in the disability field, but also in formal education. I joined the SolidarityNow team last summer, being responsible, along with a fellow psychologist, for the sports activities of children aged 6-12 being hosted in Theoxenia Hotel and for the creative activities of preschool and school age children.

I think that provide a child, and man in general, with equal opportunities in education is one of the most important assets for its life, and is also one of the reasons I choose to interact and mingle with socially vulnerable groups. The occupation with vulnerable groups differs from formal education, and although it might make each day a little more difficult, simultaneously it makes it stronger in happy moments.

The unforgettable moments are the ones when you see a child or athlete, conquer knowledge and evolve, as well as when we overcome various obstacles aroused, working effectively as a team.

In early summer, I was informed that we would be together with Ibrahim Al Hussein, refugee from Syria with amputated leg from a bomb and an athlete, in the “Pioneers” swim team, members of which are people with special needs. The “Pioneers” took part in the first team of refugees-athletes with special needs ever created in Paralympic Games of Rio, Brazil! Our group went under the name Independent Paralympic Athletes.

The initiative for the formation of this team, was taken by the International Paralympic Committee following the proposal by the Greek Paralympic Committee and the Chairman Mr. Fountoulaki. The joy and pride for the athletes of this special team was great since it inspired and motivated them to continue fighting in order to achieve their goals and dreams; no matter how big they are.

For me, it was a unique experience; from the support expressed on behalf of other groups from different countries for our presence, until the award given to one of my athletes. The Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award kontrak is granted to one male and one female athlete who are ambassadors of the values and importance of Paralympic movement. For Ibrahim the most touching moment was during the game as it was the dream come true; a dream that was born in Syria long before war starts.

I am so proud of Ibrahim! He achieved two individual records in freestyle swimming of 50m. and 100 meters. and he made it under the pressure of such a great game! And I mean “great”, underlying the special meaning of this word in the world of Paralympic Games.

 

*The Hosting Scheme Project Home for Hope is implemented by SolidarityNow
with the support of ‪‎UNHCR and EU funding.

Huffington Post: The first UN World Humanitarian Summit: Results, omissions, and future goals

Posted on Monday September 26th, 2016

The first UN World Humanitarian Summit: Results, omissions, and future goals
By Arianna Tsolakoglou, Advocacy Officer of SolidarityNow

Published on the Huffington Post on 30.05.3016

The recently concluded, first-ever UN-led World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul may be remembered as an impressive logistical achievement: around 9,000 stakeholders representing 173 countries, including heads of states, representatives of UN agencies, NGOs, civil society organizations, philanthropy, the private sector and academia came together to talk about how to improve aid delivery to people affected by various crises around the world.

Unlike the COP, for example, the WHS was not an inter-governmental process in which governments tried to agree on a specific text in advance. Instead, it sought a range of ideas from all actors involved in humanitarian aid. This automatically meant that is was bound to be somewhat unwieldy and unfocused. And to a great extent, it was. Yet, it also meant that many voices that do not traditionally have power were given a voice – and were heard. Either way, the very fact that the Summit took place in the chaotic and directionless way that it did, was in itself a tacit recognition of a narrative that has become increasingly popular: the humanitarian sector is an “eco-system” rather than a top-down, command-and-control system and for this reason, it requires a stronger shift to collaboration and cooperation, among all its actors. By bringing this wide range of actors to the table, the summit also helped put humanitarian issues higher on the agenda in the politics, business and society at large.

What was agreed on:
The most concrete outcome of the Summit was the top 30 donors and aid agencies signing a so-called “Grand Bargain” to make aid more efficient, including harmonizing time-consuming donor proposals and reporting, reducing costs, introducing collective needs assessments, and earmarking less funding to specific projects. Also a shift towards greater use of cash transfers as aid was generally endorsed but did not constitute a collective agreement.

The “localization” of aid was also an important agreement of the discussions, as the Grand Bargain affirmed it will direct 25 percent of humanitarian funding in a more direct and efficient manner to local and national agencies. The Summit also marked the launch of NEAR, a network aiming to “reshape the top-down humanitarian and development system to one that is locally driven and owned, and is built around equitable, dignified and accountable partnerships”. Twenty-seven international NGOs also signed the new Charter4Change, committing to passing 20 percent of their funding to national NGOs by 2018.

Among others, the Summit also agreed on and emphasized the need for more innovative approaches to financing. Several initiatives were announced, including a one in which private investors make an initial investment into a humanitarian response program and are reimbursed (with a profit) by traditional donors only if certain outputs are met, an autonomous, global Islamic endowment fund for humanitarian needs and a private-sector led initiative to increase risk financing in the most vulnerable countries.

Finally, it was agreed that the humanitarian sector needs to better respond to conflicts and shift the part of the focus off natural disasters, and that protracted conflict must be at the core of humanitarian work.

What was not agreed on (and should have)
Perhaps the biggest disappointment of a Summit whose primary aim was finding ways to prevent and end conflicts was the absence of world leaders, particularly the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Apart from this –inexcusable- absence, what was striking was that a better deal for the people on the move and their hosts, was not made. Before the Summit, the UN Secretary General had proposed a fairer approach to sharing the burden of the people on the move with host countries, and a target to reduce internal displacement by 50 percent by 2030. To our disappointment, Summit participants only managed to agree on the need to pursue a new approach to address the needs of these vulnerable populations, without concluding anything more concrete, however.

Another great loser were the new actors who are at the very epicenter of the global humanitarian crisis – namely, volunteers and ad hoc civil society organizations who have come to the forefront in the last year or so, due the influx of the people on the move in Europe. The question of how to work with such groups, often made up of those with no humanitarian background or training, seems to have passed the WHS by. States have passed a resolution to better protect volunteers, but others on how volunteers can share information with professional humanitarians, were bypassed, sadly indicating that humanitarian actors that have stuck around for a while, are the ones who get the focus of attention.

The unwieldy list of individual and collective commitments of the Summit will supposedly be gathered into what the UN calls a “Commitments to Action platform”. But exactly how that will happen is not yet clear. The UN plans to “review” the commitments with the summit’s participants over the summer before the Secretary General presents a report to the UN General Assembly in September with recommendations for member states. But this does not mean that it is not vital for roadmap for delivering on the commitments made by all actors that attended the Summit, to be created. In fact, many of the participating actors have admitted to not knowing exactly how they will implement some of the commitments they made. And what is more serious than this?

What is certain about the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit is that it did not end. It is an ongoing process, which does not only involve proposing more structural changes to the humanitarian system, but also taking concrete actions to tackle the root causes of crises at a political level, and the political decisions that allow conflicts to flourish.

The fact that a global meeting that was premised on a reaffirmed commitment to humanity took place at all is already a major achievement. And besides, it would have been unrealistic to expect the Summit to be a revolutionary game-changer. But, it was a landmark in the sense that it effectively gave formal recognition to protracted conflict as the “new normal”, thereby acknowledging the scale and complexity of needs in this “new normal”, and the diversity of response required to address them.

Looking forward, the real challenge that lies ahead is to maintain the momentum of the Summit, and how to turn all the promises and commitments undertaken into meaningful – and measurable – humanitarian actions on the ground.

VIMA: The wounds and dreams of the refugees in the accommodation structure in Rovies

Posted on 

Their anxieties, their hope for relocation, and their gratitude to the Greeks

Published on the newspaper “To Vima”, June 3rd 2016

On one of the hottest afternoons of June, in the yard of a family hotel in Rovies, children are seen running, playing on the swings, playing quietly, almost silently, under thee shade of trees. Walid, one of the few adults who got up this morning, uses tools to take care of the garden, repairs what is broken, and is constantly looking for something to work on. In the kitchen, only few women help the cook to prepare traditional dishes of their homeland. Nearing the end of Ramadan, life for the people hosted at the hotel starts just before the sun sets, while breakfast is served at 2.30 in the morning so that they can endure the endless hours of fasting.For the past month, the coastal village of North Evia hosts 82 refugees who are eligible for relocation, and are mainly from Syria, with 40 children being among them. This is all being done as part of the Hosting and Housing Program implemented by SolidarityNow in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and with EU funding.

The full article is in Greek and can be found here

September finds them all together in Tilos!

Posted on 

Three families of nineteen adults and children arrived at Tilos a few days ago in order to be hosted in the island’s Accommodation Centre. The Center is functioning by the Municipality of Tilos with the support of SolidarityNow, since the summer of 2015.
The Mayor of the island, Ms Maria Kamma, describes the reception of the families and shares with us feelings and imagery of solidarity in action.

“This afternoon we welcomed at the Accommodation Center in Tilos, three families of refugees, accompanied by a translator of NGO METAdrasi as well as a representative of UNHCR.
The surprise and joy of refugees was evident when they saw that each family will have its own space! In the Accommodation Center they will be able to do it all by themselves since the necessary equipment is provided; they can cook and store their food as well as to take care of their personal hygiene. In addition, the children accommodated at the Centre can, in addition to learning English and Greek, play on the playground and in the surrounding place of the Centre!
We realized and shared their relief, when we heard by them that they spent time living in Lesvos in a container with 30 people, sharing only one toilet. The transportation of the families was made by the bus acquired via the SolidarityNow funding project, in cooperation with the Municipality of Tilos“.

Today, the Accommodation Centre in Tilos has covered half of its capacity, while Ms. Kamma hopes that soon they will be able to accommodate more people exploiting the Centre’s facilities to the maximum. SolidarityNow actively supports the work carried out in Tilos and will continue to do so by funding the expansion of the Accommodation Centre.
History needs examples of humanity, such as the one of Tilos and as Ms. Kamma notes, “we hope the example of Tilos become the model of solidarity which will pass on all over Greece, since it is the evidence of successful coexistence among people of different nationalities based on the one thing needed: love!“.

Let’s create a tolerant society

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Dimitra Sarantopoulou, a sociologist in SolidarityNow’s refugee accommodation center in Porto Heli, talks about her experience – the experience of someone who tries to help and stand by to the people in need.
Today, 350 refugees of Kurdish and Afgan origin, are hosted in the accommodation center of Porto Heli.

A team with a common vision
Dimitra is a member of the organization’s team involved in educational activities provided to the refugees – the team consists apart from Dimitra, a philologist, a gymnast and an interpreter. For Dimitra and the rest of the team, the goal is one and clear: “To create a small society based on the principles of tolerance and acceptance in which different cultures and cultural habits can coexist”.

The different daily routine of this work
“There are a lot I can say about our daily life, the work we do, the feelings we share, that I really cannot put my whole experience into words. I feel appreciation that I was given this opportunity and I consider myself trying, along with the other members of the team, for a better world. There is no better feeling than knowing you made someone happy even for just a while.
My main role as a sociologist is to study and record the interaction of our society with new cultures, which are governed by different relations, laws and religions.
In parallel, it is my duty to try introducing in beneficiaries’ daily lives new habits and customs which will contribute to their smoother integration within the host society. Based on this principle and as a result of a great effort, we have created a small school which operates in the accommodation center. The entire team, with love for what we do, with persistence and patience, we were able to make feasible a dream that we thought impossible in the beginning! In order to have an effective school we have distinguished among the beneficiaries of different age groups and created a program able to engage all groups simultaneously and for as much as we can.
At school, beneficiaries are taught English and Greek, whereas one of its operational objectives was the creation and production of a guide with basic information that a refugee needs to know, in Arabic and Kurdish. Other activities included in the school program are gymnastics, volleyball, basketball, football and of course special activities for children such as art activities, singing and dancing – through the latter we become kids too!”.

I try…
“…in order to support them to catch the thread of their life from the beginning. I joined the organization Solidarity Now, which is trying to provide the least to people in need: a decent shelter, humane living conditions and food, opportunities for integration into Greek society, education”.

Present is part of the future
“I cannot think of the future; I prefer to think about the present. I just want to continue offering strength, courage and support to those who really need it”.

*The Hosting Scheme Project “Home for Hope” is implemented by SolidarityNow with the support of UNHCR GREECE and EU funding.