PRE-DEPARTURE ORIENTATION TRAINING FOR FINLAND-BOUND QUOTA REFUGEES AGED 7-12: developing a guidebook for children's PDO trainers and a workbook for children of PDO for International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Abstract

Roaa Al-Qassab, Mohammed Younus Alkurdi PRE-DEPARTURE ORIENTATION TRAINING FOR FINLAND-BOUND QUOTA REFUGEES AGED 7-12: Developing a guidebook for children's PDO trainers and a workbook for children of PDO for International Organization for Migration (IOM) 50 Page November 2022 Diaconia University of Applied Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Social Services (DSS) Bachelor of Social Services

The International Organization of Immigration IOM was established in 1951 as a result of the displacement in Western Europe that followed the Second World War and was first known as the Provisional Intergovernmental Committee for the Movement of Migrants from Europe (PICMME) (IOM, 2021). After a series of name changes and developments to the specific duties of the organization, the IOM became “The Migration Agency” in the 21 century (IOM, 2021). The UNHCR helps refugees to resettle in other countries. The IOM on the other hand cooperates with the UNHCR, governmental actors, and other stakeholders to facilitate the process of resettling refugees in their new country.

The IOM organizes Pre-Departure Orientation training (PDO) and Cultural Orientation (CO) for the refugees and their children before moving to their final destination country. PDO and CO refer to the same topic: Preparing refugees for resettlement by providing them with basic information about their destination country once they have been accepted as refugees in that country. The purpose of this project-based thesis is to develop a standard guidebook for children’s PDO training facilitators and to develop a workbook for children participating in the PDO training, besides a set of PowerPoints and list of video materials for purpose of delivering PDO trainings. Our target group is Finland-bound quota refugees who are seven to twelve years old.

As a part of the Project Management and Innovation study module in Spring 2021, our group has developed a pilot edition of the guidebook for children’s PDO facilitators with learning materials. In Summer 2022, our group continued working on the project as a project-based thesis, resulting in a workbook for the children of PDO training and final version of the guidebook for children’s PDO trainers. The materials will be used by IOM as standard materials for PDO trainings of children of Finland-bound quota refugees. Three online PDO trainings were implemented by our group members for children in Zambia in Spring 2022. In the Summer-Fall of 2022, our group delivered five in person children PDO in Lebanon and in Turkey for the same target group. Both online and in person children’s PDOs were evaluated; Feedback was collected from the children, childminders, and interpreters during the implementation of children’s PDO. Direct cooperation with social workers in different municipalities regarding children’s PDO trainings is recommended for the IOM, as recent cooperation with municipalities has only been through the Finnish Immigration Service. Municipalities are stakeholders who benefit from PDO trainings, as these trainings aim to familiarize quota refugees with life in Finland before moving.

Keywords: Quota refugees, PDO training, pre-departure orientation, IOM, PDO children,