TIME

Description

In the increasingly multicultural European societies, understanding and trust between people of different origin is a major need. As part of the EU integration policy, intercultural mediators have been trained and employed throughout Europe in order to help remove linguistic and cultural barriers in the social, educational and health sector. The benefits from intercultural mediation for immigrants have been widely recognized by all stakeholders. However, no clear picture exists so far on the experience accumulated in Europe in this field, nor is intercultural mediation treated as a distinct profession. This leads often to poor service quality and inefficient use of resources. The project TIME – Train Intercultural Mediators for a Multicultural Europe is an Erasmus+ strategic partnership for innovation and the exchange of good practices in VET.

Training providers, regional authorities, social services, healthcare institutions, and NGOs working with immigrants will have access to modular training programs for intercultural mediators that meet European standards. Local and regional needs for mediation can thus be met in a tailor-made and reliable way, empowering both professionals and immigrants.
Intercultural mediators in all partnership countries will profit from the free training material available at the project website and from the efforts made to promote the professionalization of their occupation. Researchers and policy makers will profit from the presentation of good practices at European level and the holistic approach to intercultural mediation adopted by TIME.

Final Conference

Hellenic Open University, with the support of Olympic Training and Consulting (project co-ordinator), organizes the international conference “Intercultural Mediation in contemporary Europe: challenges and possibilities”, in the context of multi-lateral project “TIME: Training Intercultural Mediators for a Multi-cultural Europe” (http://www.mediation-time.eu). The conference will take place on September 8 & 9 2016, in the Airotel Stratos Vassilikos hotel, 114 Michalakopoulou str., Athens, Hellas.

The conference is the third in a series of events organized by the DAISSy research group  of the Hellenic Open University (http://daissy.eap.gr) during the past years. It is addressed to researchers and practitioners of IM and associated disciplines, including among others social workers and researchers who interact with immigrants, members of immigrant communities, personnel of educational institutions, training centers, NGOs and voluntary organizations, employees of public administration and local authorities.

The conference will promote exploitation of the results of project TIME (Training Intercultural Mediators for a Multicultural Europe), which was funded under Erasmus+, aiming to identify and discuss challenges, explore possibilities, exchange knowledge on practices and interventions and present successful IM policies.

You can find more information about the conference here.