SONETOR Seminar - Contribution of intercultural mediators to the social inclusion of migrants

The European project SONETOR is the first systematic effort internationally to design services that meet the professional needs of intercultural mediators.Within this framework, a seminar on, the “Contribution of intercultural mediators in the social inclusion of migrants" was held on Tuesday 15th January 2013 in Patras with great success, both in terms of audience numbers and the level of presentations and debate. During the workshop scientists, representatives of migrant associations and specialized services managers discussed the facts of education and employment of intercultural mediators, focusing on the experiences recorded in Patras and other Greek cities, from efforts to integrate immigrants into local communities. The on-line Training Platform for Intercultural Mediators was presented alongside which is combined with social networking applications and training methodologies so that to help intercultural mediators during their work through specialized educational content and services. Of particular interest were the six workshops held in the second part of the event, in which various topics were addressed especially training of cultural mediators, and specific incidents and problems they face in their communication with migrants in the fields of education, health, housing and legal support.