Download EU Migrants` Inclusion Model of Sport for All

Project
MIMoSA
Migrants’ Inclusion Model of Sport for All
Preparatory Action in the Field of Sport – EAC-2010-1325
Period: 14 month; 1 March 2011 – 30 April 2012
Introduction
Sport has been recognised by European Union as a tool of social inclusion, education and
socialization for all, throught out his document (White Paper on Sport). However, many legal
and cultural constraints limit the access of migrants, refugees and other groups to sport.
Among obstacles that migrants face in acceding to sport, the limited financial resources and
the lack of information on sport organizations, sport facilities and their location, as well as
the requirement for acceding to sport activities linked to skills and performance. Limited or
lack of cooperation among sport organisations, migrant organisations and national and local
authorities is a challenge if to effectively address the above mentioned problems.
In this frame, Sport for All, based on social and personal relationships between individuals
rather than skills and performance, offers a mean for stimulating active citizenship,
improving inter-ethnic and inter-communitarian dialogue and facilitating the social inclusion
of migrants. There is also a need for the empowerment of migrants directly involved in sports
organisations, clubs, local or national bodies dealing with sports issues, in order to promote
their participation in the organization and management of sport activities and their access to
leadership position in the above mentioned entities.
Specific Objectives
Mimosa intend to reach the following goal:
1) to build and strengthen a transnational network – at European level – between 3 different
level of actors involved in the field of sports (sport associations, national and local authorities,
universities), with the purpose of sharing a methodology as a common basis for the future
work of the network;
2) to elaborate, following a process of in-depth exchange of experiences and assessment of
best practices, a model of social inclusion and empowerment for migrants and other groups
(refugees, asylum seekers, Roma, women refugees), based on sports related initiatives, both
mainstream and marginal. In fact, the 2010 call for proposals points out that the exchange of
best practices in the field of sports is mainly focused on certain mainstream sports or specific
groups, as young immigrants, and encourages a broader approach, taking into account a wide
range of sports and targeting different groups. In this framework, MIMoSA project has a set
of innovative features, giving special attention to marginal sport disciplines, particularly ones
from the migrants’ countries of origin, and targeting different groups that meet more
integration problems, among which refugees, asylum seekers, Roma and women refugees.
Retracing the experience of migrants’ inclusion through football, the project will test the
effectiveness of the proposed model within a wider range of sports, as cricket and baseball
(through the examination of best practices), and will carry out an experimental component,
through social research studies, to test out touch rugby and dodge ball as potential and more
suitable means for the inclusion of Roma and women refugees. The project aims to
investigate and document the main factors that limit the migrants’ access to sport, and to
provide possible solutions, centralized in an ethics code, and a set of guidelines for sport
associations and for local authorities. Project’s long term objectives are:
3) to promote social inclusion of migrants and other groups through sport;
4) to promote the empowerment of migrants and other groups in sports.