Compass – Setting Migrants and Refugees in the Right Direction

Erasmus+ KA2 Strategic Partnerships for adult education  

General description

COMPASS is an Erasmus+ funded project led by IB Brandenburg Nordost (Germany).

This project aims to provide direct support to both refugees, asylum seekers and migrants and the agencies and volunteers who support them. This project will provide a lasting and adaptable tool to deal with early contact language issues rated as one of the most important problems by both groups. The project will use innovative technology to provide multiway translation of key words and phrases covering the major issues as defined by both refugees and support agencies.

Facts and figures

Mass migration is a European wide issue. Europe’s refugee crisis is the worst since the end of World War 2” (Newsweek, December 2015).  The situation facing most migrants when they arrive in Europe is chaotic.  Local services are usually overrun and there is a particular need to tackle language barriers, which is the key aim of this project.

Main objectives

We will develop a platform (available for both PC and phone) that contains basic vocabulary, including phrases particularly relevant to migrants and the situations they face (1000 words and phrases in total) in the most widely spoken migrant languages (Arabic, Persian (Dair/Farsi) Pashto, Kurdish, Albanian) and the most relevant EU languages (German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Turkish)

Meetings schedule
  • Kick-off meeting (16th – 17th Nov 2017, Germany)
  • The 2nd meeting (UK) // to be implemented
  • The 3rd meeting (Barcellona P.G.) // to be implemented
  • The 4th meeting (Greece) // to be implemented

Main contributions of the project:

  • Expects to easily achieve 2000 refugee/migrant users.
  • 200 refugees/migrants will be involved in the testing of materials and will have early access to the website.
  • New migrants support agencies, not currently involved, will be engaged giving at least to 80 staff members the opportunity to use the platform.

Project’s partner

IB Brandenburg Nordost (Germany)
RLN (UK) Ltd. (United Kingdom)
Europe for Diversity Culture and Coexistence (Greece)
Alos Centro Europeo de Idiomas (Spain)
Associazione Artistica Culturale “A Rocca” (Italy)
Kirikkale Aile ve Sosyal Politikalar IL mudurlugu (Turkey)