Bridging The Gap Between Adolescence And Adulthood:Fostering The Development Of Unaccompanied Refugee Youth In Cairo Through Holistic Psychosocial and Educational programming Emma Goldie, Coordinator for Unaccompanied Children and Youth Psychosocial Program

Unaccompanied Refugee Children in CairoWho are they…

1,200 Unaccompanied and separated children

Ethiopian, Sudanese, Somali, Eritrean and Syrian

Fleeing conflict, detention, torture and trafficking

Majority aged between 14-17 years

Problems faced by Unaccompanied Children and Youth in Cairo• Hostile urban setting• Harassment and sexual abuse• Limited financial assistance• Independent living and no secure housing• Language barriers• Limited education opportunities : in 2014 less than 5% in full-

time school• Non-Arabic, non-English speakers particularly affected• Drop out for other reasons

• No right to work leading to informal sector employment and exploitation• Ageing out • No family, community or support networks

The Bridging Program

A full time hybrid psychosocial and educational program

StARS services targeting Unaccompanied Children and Youth:Aim to capture all areas of need of a young person - from those who need assistance accessing basic services to those who need help in developing further skills and education in order to not only survive but also thrive in Cairo. Work with them until 19 years.

Refugee Legal Aid Project

Pro-bono legal support and advocacy

Youth Advocate Leadership Project

Training up youth leaders to advocate with communities

Unaccompanied Children and Youth Psychosocial Program

Community based Individual case management and group support

Community Mobilisation Project (runs throughout our programs)communities responses to child protection and child participation.

The Bridging ProgramA full time hybrid psychosocial and educational program for unaccompanied children and youthTo bridge the gap between adolescence and adulthood with increased access to employment and education and to further build students’ self-protection and increase self-reliance. • Full time school, for 6 months, with 75 registered in each semester. • Intensive English, Arabic, math, science, IT• Psycho-educational afternoon classes (getting around Cairo, nutrition, service

providers, detention and safety tips, know your rights, dealing with stress, sexual health, child rights and using your voice, employment safety, education and livelihoods opportunities, transition plans)

• Preparatory and alumni English classes• Job placements for 10 teaching assistants from the program and placements

into our full-time school program at StARS: 10-15% of students are unaccompanied children

What about those who don’t have the ability to attend full time or those who drop out?

Unaccompanied Children and Youth Psychosocial Program Community based Individual case management and group support

Focusing on the most vulnerable, community based psychosocial caseworkers provide long term support that goes beyond responding to emergencies and encompasses all areas of a young person’s wellbeing.

o Individual community-based case management

o Psycho-educational groups in community centres

o Youth Groups and sports activities

o Community mobilisation

All complimented by the work of the Refugee Legal Aid Project, StARS

Community, family and friends

Managing your emotions

Communicating and solving your problems

Budgeting and rent

living with others

Knowledge of services and your rights

Learning and Working

Health

Understanding UNHCR and your legal status

Being Safe

Youth Advocates Leadership Project4 day training followed by 6 month Youth Advocates project. The Youth Advocates Leadership project at StARS has been developed in order to promote refugee youth’s active involvement in decision making in matters that concern them, both within their communities, at services as well as at StARS.

• 15 youth took part in a four day training. • Monthly trainings/meetings on further skill development and

brainstorming ideas for improving communities and services response to young people

• Facilitating dialogue with communities and services and UNHCR.

Results33% 35%

14%

42%50%

Which services helped you the most?Based on services accessedYoung people commented that

individual support provided them with emotional support, guidance and hope as well as helped with legal and advocacy.

Strong link between girls who attended psycho-educational groups in the community and then attended the bridging program.

Graduates of the bridging program – 1/5 got enrolled in full time school, improved self reliance and better able to communicate and care for themselves.

M&E every 6 -12 months, monitoring involvement in meaningful activity.

No5%

A little30%

Yes45%

A Lot20%

As a result of the program, do you feel you are more prepared to enter other education programs, look for a job or

volunteer in your community?

Confident

Care for yourself

Be independent

Friendships

Communicate0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

After the program are you more or better able to do the following?

No

A little

Yes

A Lot

Nu

mb

er o

f Res

pon

ses

Biftu’s story…

Challenges and Opportunities: •Bridging to what? • no right to work continues and lack of integration and safety in Cairo.

• Increase in irregular migration and young people crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe

• Influx of young people coming and going changes the aims and needs of the program.

• Mobilising communities in urban settings – hard when resources are low.

•Moving forward to 2016• Focus on finding employment opportunities and placements for young people.• Developing community responses with help of the Youth Advocates in order to

secure better housing and alternative and community based care.

Lessons learnt and recommendations• We need to have different levels of integrated support

for unaccompanied or other children at risk, that includes intensive case management for the most vulnerable.

• We need to be more creative in our aims for education for vulnerable adolescents in emergency settings. Re-evaluate our goals and focus on skill building and vocational training to improve their self-reliance and coping mechanisms.

• Increasing social connectedness and building children’s relationships with the communities to give them a voice and provide them with hope and protection.

• Improve community responses to child protection.

Thank You

“I wanted to show the community I had power and could do something…Many children in Cairo have the power in them but they just need guidance and the confidence to use it “

Biftu, StARS Youth Advocate - Cairo