City Council and CEFCanMir join forces to promote the integration young migrants through futbol

City Council and  CEFCanMir join forces to promote the integration  young migrants through futbol

The City Council of Rubí and the Club Escola Futbol Can Mir have begun to work together with three other international partners to facilitate the social integration of young migrants through the BRACE project, subsidized by the Erasmus Plus program of the European Union. The initiative is committed to turning football into an instrument of inclusion, capable of breaking those first social barriers suffered by young people from other countries.

"We are talking about people who, for various reasons, need the accompaniment of entities and administrations for their integration. Sport does not solve problems on its own but, combined with other measures, it can facilitate integration, "explained the mayor, Ana María Martínez.

Rubí promotes this project from its condition as a diverse and welcoming city, which claims the value of difference and understands social policies from a transversal perspective, impregnating many other areas of municipal management.

The BRACE project is led by the City Council of Rubí and has as partners the CEF Can Mir, the Associazione Sportiva Bresso 4 of Italy, the KCS Machelen club of Belgium and the Higher Institute of Gestao of Portugal. Within this initiative, all the organizations involved will have a space to share their experiences working with immigrants, and especially with unaccompanied young people and refugees, through football. The idea is to be able to exchange knowledge and methodologies that allow them to improve the projects that already have assets and make them replicable in other municipalities.

The BRACE will take place over a whole year and will include various activities:

1. A transnational meeting in Brussels, Belgium, which will serve to analyses the current situation of migrants, refugees, and unaccompanied minors in the European Union.
2. A meeting in Bresso (Italy), in which the experience of the Associazione Sportiva Bresso 4 will be presented and new ways to achieve the social inclusion of vulnerable people through football will be discussed; a meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, where the Instituto Superior de Gestao will offer a seminar on how to break the economic barrier suffered by immigrants and refugees; and
3. A final meeting in Rubí, which will include awareness days in educational centers, a workshop on how to replicate the project, and a cultural exchange between players, coaches, and representatives of collaborating organizations, among others.

In parallel to these meetings, work will be done on the elaboration of a document of good practices, which will collect the experiences of the partners but also advice and suggestions on how to replicate these actions and how to promote the social inclusion of immigrants through football.

The Rubinense football club is one of the essential pillars of the project thanks to its experience with young migrants. Since 2019 Can Mir has been developing its own social inclusion initiative with 23 unaccompanied minors and, previously, it had already launched another project of activities aimed at refugee families. Among its teams, there is a youth group made up of children from different cities and unaccompanied minors who live in the region.

For the mayor, "It is a great satisfaction to share this project with an entity that not only works in an exemplary way in this area, but also in the inclusion of people with diverse abilities."

The president of CEF Can Mir, Jordi Peiró Simón, has been excited about the launch of a new initiative that, through sport, can help young migrants in their process of inclusion, "To socialize, to incorporate civic values that we have in our society, to improve the language ... This project not only gives them the opportunity to play football but also gives them the opportunity to feel welcomed, loved and that they can have tools for a more effective integration."

 Although participation in the BRACE project is a great organizational challenge, CEF Can Mir has approached it with great enthusiasm. According to Peiró, "It is not only a great experience but an intrinsic recognition of the work we have done during all these years."

From the entity we hope that the different activities contemplated in the project can be carried out normally, without regulatory obstacles that affect the mobility of the young participants.