A few years ago the Migratory Birds newspaper was set up by the Network for Children’s Rights. If you have not heard about this initiative yet, you can read more about it here. The newspaper “Migratory birds” (as well as the Web Radio “Dandelion”), is one of the many initiatives of the Network for Children’s Rights, which aims at the integration of refugee and migrant children and young adults, as well as at the fight against xenophobia. The articles of the newspaper are produced exclusively by teenagers and youth, with a refugee or immigrant background, together with their Greek peers. Through this programme, NCR aims to convey the principles and values of journalism, promote intercultural dialogue and help children exercise their basic rights, such as the right to freedom of opinion and expression. 

When we heard about this project at the Embassy, we looked into ways to cooperate with the NCR and to support the project. In our view it combined two major priorities of the Embassy: the migration issue on the one hand, which is an issue we report on, but also offer practical support for as much as possible. On the other hand: innovation and entrepreneurship, which we support through our initiative Orange Grove. 

 

The combination of both priorities lead to what we call the Migratory Birds Flying Solo project. We started to look for ways in which we could support what NCR started as a project, by helping it become a more independent business, that is able to stand on its own feet, or in the case of the ‘Migratory Birds’, help it fly solo! So we have set up an Orange Grove training program especially for the Migratory Birds. 

 

One of our aims at Orange Grove for a while now, has been to offer our knowledge and trainings to a broader group of people, including refugees and migrants, that have come to Greece, with lots of skills and different backgrounds. Allthough we regretfully have had only a few teams at Orange Grove with a migratory background in the past, this is the first educational program that is targetting this group more specifically. 

 

We are very pleased to be able to do this with our partners and trainers from IdeaHackers. They have a very broad experience when it comes to working with teams of people looking to start up or to scale up their business. their incredible energy and positivity, alongside with their large network of mentors and experts, will be put to good use in this context. 

 

The Flying Solo project is taking off, metaphorically and literally, as we speak, so follow the Orange Grove blog for more news about this initiative! 

 

By Natasha Apostolidi, Senior Innovation Officer at NL Embassy & Orange Grove