For this webinar, we invited three organisations to showcase their examples and experiences with organising training for refugees and trainers in various forms.

The first speakers were Melanie Schöppner, Alexandra Kreutel and Sabrina Sütö from the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), Germany with their project ‘SMILE: digital teaching and learning for integration in sports’. The project aims at developing competence-based training modules for trainers and consequently setting quality standards for integration work in sports.

Alexandra explained the concept of a ‘blended learning format’, which they used to design the training modules – a format that was so timely to be implemented at the time of the pandemic. But it is also more than just a ‘corona solution’, comprising elements of online learning and face-to-face teaching that complement each other by combining different methods and media. Alexandra also gave a brief insight into the content of the training course and how they currently implement the concept with one of the partners.

Hanna Johansson from RF-SISU / StreetGames, Sweden, was the next to share how her organisation works with leadership and why StreetGames is so efficient in helping young people, including refugees, achieve their goals. Starting from explaining the concept of Folkbildning (or popular, non-formal adult education), Hanna showcased the unique system of leadership steps and how it helps to create leaders and role models in sport through education, networking and exchange. Rules established within the team of trainers help to sustain the good atmosphere required for developing future leaders.

Tea Iskra from Taekwondo klub Jastreb, Croatia concluded the first part of the webinar by presenting the results of their sport summer camp, organised through the EU project ‘Sport education for life’. Tea shared an inspiring video with highlights from the camp, and talked about how participating in this project helped refugees overcome their fear and mistrust. Not only did the refugees take part in the activities, but they also participated in workshops with psychologists, which helped them accept challenges such as cultural differences in exercising and other rules that might be new for them.

In the second part we opened the floor to questions and discussions in smaller groups, where the participants could share their experiences and learn from the others, at the same time making connections between organisations working with refugees.

You can watch the webinar recording below