ΑRSIS is implementing the project “Child protection, detention monitoring, persons with disabilities support and legal aid in Central and North Greece, Attica and Dodecanese”, which is implemented by UNHCR and funded by the European Union.
Under this Project, ARSIS will operate a community centre in Athens for the provision of psychosocial and legal support to beneficiaries that will be identified and registered by the street work teams and the team that will work in detention centres. The non-formal education centres which operate in proximity of the Resource and Identification Centres in Kos and Leros will continue to operate and assist children of school age. Additionally, recreational activities will take place at the RIS facility in Leros. Additionally, ARSIS will coordinate with other actors for the prevention of Sexual and Gender Based Violence and the provision of support to SGBV survivors in Kos and Leros, until June 2019. In Thessaloniki, ARSIS will maintain street work teams and case management services in order to identify, approach and support children at risk.
Community Centre in Athens – Interventions in urban areas and detention centres
ARSIS will operate one community centre in Athens for the provision of psychosocial and legal support to beneficiaries that will be identified and registered by the street work teams in urban areas and the team that will work in detention centres. These cases will be children and adolescents (at the Community Centre), young adults (street work and detention centres), as well as UASC. The Center will be a reference point for the cases registered in street work interventions and detention centres providing services that require the additional attention, protection, education and care that this setting offers in Athens and broader area.
Education and Child Protection in Dodecanese
In Kos and Leros Arsis will continue operating KEDU and LEDU (non-formal education centres). Arsis will implement educational and recreational activities for children and adolescents (6- 18 y.o) from RICs Pyli and Lepida, ARSIS accommodation, as well as PIKPA and Villa apartments (Leros). Kos based lawyer will support and represent in all procedures (penal, civil and administrative) unaccompanied
and separated children enrolled at KEDU in cooperation with actors operating at RICs’. Furthermore, legal support and representation will be provided for minors undergoing age assessment, in all procedures (penal, civil and administrative), until there is a definite assessment of their age, from the Asylum Service.
In Leros Arsis, through its education project, will continue implementing recreational activities for children of ages 3 to 5 years old residing at Pikpa (RIS facility Supplementary classes to continue in LEDU for children attending public schools. Classes for children with special needs to continue in KEDU and LEDU, based on the assessment of needs. Engagement of asylum seekers as volunteer teachers to continue in 2019.
Support SGBV survivors including LGBTQi in Dodecanese (including at the RICs)
ARSIS supported until the end of June 2019 SGBV case management already implemented by state actors operating at the RICs in Kos and Leros and continued working on prevention activities with the close guidance of UNHCR focal persons in the field. The rehabilitation of survivors the provision of psychosocial support and all the necessary referrals and relevant follow-up was processed once survivors were referred by state actors to either UNHCR or their partners or both, as deemed appropriate.
Street work in Thessaloniki
In Thessaloniki, ARSIS will maintain street work teams and case management services in order to identify, approach and support children at risk (the project satarted at 1/1/2017). The target group of the intervention will be children at risk (i. UASC and ii. children with families that are on the move or residing in a state of homelessness), with a special focus on UASC that a/ are detected in the urban area and are at risk of engaging in high-risk behaviors or negative coping mechanisms (mainly drug dealing and petty crimes), b/ are homeless or on the move (mostly new arrivals and undocumented), c/ are victims of or at risk of becoming victims of trafficking in human beings and/ are under protective custody in the detention facilities of Thessaloniki area.