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Care 2 Work
Race, Power and Young Carers in
Europe: New evidence and directions
2nd International Young Carers Conference
“Every Child has a right to …”
29-31 May 2017, Malmo-Sweden
Dr. Theo Gavrielides
IARS Founder and Director
C2W Project co-ordinator
Funded by the Erasmus+ under the 2014-2-UK01-KA205-011967
What is this session about?
Present new research on young black and
minority ethnic carers in Sweden, the UK,
Greece and Italy
Contextualise the findings within Europe’s
current reality
Connect power, education, equality & young
carers
What are my goals?
Inform – the educative part
Challenge – the dodgy part
Reflect – the critical part
What is power?
•Realism defines “power” as a capability to
impose, enforce or exercise influence and
dominance
•. Liberalism identifies power with law and order
•. For Foucault power is what makes us what we
are
•. For Thucydides power is the “necessary
ingredient in the pursuit of goals and aims”
Power can be a good thing!
Are we ready to see power?
How we see power depends very much on where we
sit – on our own positions and identities.
NGOs, donor agencies, social movements who are
trying to understand power ‘out there’ are also part of
the power picture themselves!
Approaching power in this way can also create
discomforts. Discomfort often leads to resistance in
the form of reluctance to look at our own power
(personally, organizationally, or on a broader political
scale).
Education: another way of viewing power
Education is the most powerful weapon which
you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela
Convention on the Rights of the Child
Article 28 – Every child has a right to …
“States Parties recognize the right of the child to education,
and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on
the basis of equal opportunity…”
Education & young BME carers: Reality
check Meet Arti – a young BME
carer
. Young people = future,
dreams, potential, hopes
. Young BME carers = 65%
more likely not to be in
education or training
Within an unequal society
dealing with an economic
downturn
The Numbers
There are more than 100 million carers in Europe today.
This accounts for about one fifth of the entire European
population.
The economic value of unpaid informal care in the
community and at home is estimated from 50-90% of the
overall cost of formal care provision
•UK: 1.5 million carers below the age of 35
•Italy: 170,000 young carers below the age of 17
•Sweden: 25,000 below the age of 17
•Greece: unavailable national statistics
Findings: Visibility – Research - Policy
•The grey number of young BME carers (culture and stigma)
•There is a higher prevalence of hidden young carers in families from
refugee or migrant backgrounds
•There is no legal or policy framework, which focuses on young BME
carers at the EU or the examined national levels (UK, Greece, Italy
and Sweden).
•The key reasons for becoming a young BME carer
•financial difficulties of their families face
•inability to access the welfare system
•migration status
•language barriers.
•Moral obligation to take care of their family
Findings: The barriers & challenges of young
BME carers
•More likely to develop ‘adultized’ behaviours and role reversal meaning
that many children and young people miss the chance of enjoying their real
age
•Live socially isolated both as members of ethnic groups or minorities
•Have a higher likelihood not to be in education, training or employment
(NEET) between the critical ages of 16-19
•Twice as likely not to speak the local language as their first language
•Less likely to access services that support people with a disability/mental
health problem
•Do not know where and how to find information
Findings: The barriers & challenges
•Do not have the time or the appetite to improve themselves as carers,
because of the great psychological burden they bear and the frustration
they feel.
•Public services are generally resoundingly absent. Some limited
activities implemented by NGOs funded through EU programmes are in
place, but are not adequate to cover the increasing needs of young
BME carers.
•The frustration that the young carers feel and the lack of free time do
not allow them to develop their skills or to search for a job, which could
improve
•Their living standards
•Professionalise them
•Better integration into society.
Findings: The strengths & the opportunities
•Caring helps develop empathy towards other people
•Communication and negotiation skills, multitasking
and perseverance
•They perceive themselves as being more sensitive,
responsible, mature and self-confident
•They believe to have developed problem solving
skills.
•They feel empowered by their caring experience
Findings: What do BME young carers need?
Flexible and tailored access to education and training
psychological and mental health support
communication with their peers
targeted financial support
connections with employers
confidence building and the realisation of their key
strengths and skills
Where did these findings come from?
C2C was 2 year programme (May 2015 – April 2017)
funded under Erasmus+ (KA2) in the field of youth
Care 2 Work – Aims and Objectives
•Understand and help tackle the barriers faced by
young carers from Black and Minority ethnic groups
(BME) in accessing employment, education and training.
•Empower young BME carers by recognising and
cultivating skills developed through caring and turning
them into a sustainable skill-set that can be transferred
to employment.
•Increase the capacity of service providers, youth
professionals and educational services in the areas of
integration, equity, inclusion and discrimination.
•Promote cultural and institutional change that can be
embedded within our modern European societies.
Working in partnership
The programme was delivered in partnership with
our 3 European Partners, namely:
Anziani e non solo (Italy)
Linnaeus University (Sweden)
KMOP(Greece)
The IARS International Institute (UK) -
Coordinator.
Working in partnership
Care 2 Work & Europe
Care 2 Work was inspired and motivated by the priorities of
the European Youth Strategy and is developed aligned
with the provisions of Lisbon Treaty:
In 2009, the Council of Ministers Responsible for Youth
adopted the new European Youth Strategy aiming to guide
both the EU institutions and the member states in pursuing
policies to improve the lives of all young people.
Lisbon Treaty: “Encourage the participation of young
people in democratic life in Europe”
What did we do?
Youth-led research x 4 countries (evidence base)
Curriculum (training material)
Young people
Professionals
Pilot the curriculum (face to face and online)
Independent Youth Advisory Board, Care 2 Work utilises a
youth-led methodology that directly involves young carers in
the development, delivery and evaluation of the project.
Through their active engagement and involvement not only
they learn their rights but also shape, influence and inform
policies and practices that affect them directly.
Our Results
Over the last 24 months Sweden, Italy, Greece and United
Kingdom developed in their national language:
2 e-books taking into consideration their national
differences including cultural, societal, financial,
Institutional.
Accredited Face to face training for professionals
Certified face to face training courses for young
carers
Accredited E-learning awareness and empowerment
courses for both professionals and young carers
freely available!!
Returning to power: Why?
Understanding how power relations affect and shape
any particular issue can help to deepen our
understanding of the problem and help to shape
deeper, more robust solutions.
It requires bringing politics and the political back into
development and social change processes, not just
technical solutions.
Power and human rights
Liberalism and realism recognize that power
undeniably influences global politics and that human
rights may construct an appropriate framework that
can bring balance of power
Hobbes stressed the importance of controlling forces
of power or authorities’ control in imposing
compliance with treaties.
Care to Work and power
C2W aimed to foster integration, social equity and
inclusion through a two-tier approach
by empowering and involving directly
marginalised youth in its delivery
By increasing the capacity of professionals and
organisations servicing them
The Europe 2020 Strategy and the European Youth
Strategy
The user led model of social action projects
If “Youth-led” policy is constructed through youth-led
research methods, then by default its content will be
informed by the lived experiences of its target group.
However, this cannot be achieved without learning to
share power with young people.
Steps for IARS model of youth-led research
for policy
Step 1: Relinquish power and remove hats
Step 2: Reach out widely and recruit diverse groups with others
Step 3: Empower through ad hoc and tailored accredited training that
is flexible and adjustable to young people’s needs as these are
defined by their diverse lives
Step 4: Facilitate discussions on current topics that need change
Step 5: Coordinate their action research and support to write
evidence based solutions through peer reviewed processes (Youth
Voice Journal), websites, social media, campaigns, videos, posters
and other means that reach young people
Step 6: Support the evaluation, monitoring, project management and
control of all previous steps through youth-led tools and a standing
Youth Advisory Board
Step 7: Reward and accredit.
Where do we go from here?
The law alone cannot bring social justice!
It is through the result of millions of small actions
that we change status quo.
The role of civil society has long been
underestimated and it is now becoming clearer
that without the NGOs, movements and
campaigns that comprise it, governments and
other vessels of power would not be held to
account.
Disadvantage thinking vs positive
thinking
The foundations of positive thinking
Young people are not “risks” to manage
Young people “at risk” have talents and it is those
that we need to target for nurturing – not the
young people!
Europe needs the hopes and ideals of young
people more than ever. This cannot be a mere
statement of intent and theory, but one of genuine
and proactive action.
Some Recommendations for Europe
Continuous support to strategic partnership programmes
with emphasis to programmes that develop the skills and
competencies of young carers.
Development of learning opportunities from other
countries, sharing knowledge and experience.
Adoption of legislation on recognition of non-formal and
informal skills.
Professional development opportunities for youth workers
that support young carers.
Recognition of the skills of professionals in a wider EU
level.
Continuous building on the intelligence of community
based organisations.
Final words
However much money is thrown by the EU, the Council of Europe,
government, trusts and donors for new policies, good schooling,
textbooks, volunteering programmes, different curricula, improved
parenting or even affirmative action schemes it won’t help address
the real issues faced by young people and the widening gap
between the powerful and powerless
------
Share power and this will allow young people from all walks of life
to construct their own philosophies
If power and with it responsibility are shared, then young people will
be left to develop their much needed autonomy