Lisbon / Portugal
Key-stakeholders involved:
- Ginásio Clube Português (GCP)
- Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (SCML)
Brief description
Implementation of the practice
Impact
Lessons learnt/recommendation
Contact details
Through this project, the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (SCML) intended to respond to the solidarity challenge launched by the EU institutions through welcoming young refugees and migrants in its Residências de Autonomização (Autonomy Residences). This project was launched under its social responsibility program with the objective to offer sporting activities that increase the opportunities for interaction of young refugees (17 to 25 years old) with their GCP members.
GCP developed STORYTELLERS under the “National Sports for All Program” of the Portuguese Institute of Sports and Youth (IPDJ) with the aim of creating a model of social inclusion through sport, with impacts on the physical, cognitive, emotional and relational dimensions of these young people, in the know-how of institutions that work or wish to work with refugees, in the development of intercultural dialogue and in the dissemination of a model of good practices.
STORYTELLERS 1.0 was launched in 2019 as a collaborative project between GCP and SCML with the aim of promoting the integration of 32 young refugees, through sports.
STORYTELLERS 2.0 (#backstreetgirls edition) ran from 2020 and 2021 with the focus on doubling the number of participants and increasing female participation to 25%.
In STORYTELLERS 3.0 (#NOTLOST IN TRANSLATION EDITION), in 2021 and 2022, GCP focused on eliminating barriers and promoting facilitators for practicing sports among young female refugees and migrants, in an environment of support and integration with partners.
STORYTELLERS 1.0: 32 young refugees and migrants from 9 countries (Brazil, Ghana, Congo, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Portugal, Gambia, Mali and Sierra Leone)did an active and autonomous practice (5.6±3.6 training sessions/month) at GCP, 16% of which were female participants. This project stage carried out two key actions to develop intercultural dialogue: “Free Transit” and “Evaluation of Effectiveness” (this latter action was not finalized due to the declaration of a national state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic)
STORYTELLERS 2.0: This project stage integrated 60 young refugees (17-25 years old), through sports and saw an increase in female participation to 21% of total beneficiaries, reducing the gender play gap. In the initial 9 months, the project promoted sports, and in the following 3 months it focused on collaboration, sharing learning and creating models and tools to support the development of projects with other institutions. Four key actions were implemented to develop intercultural dialogue: the “Free-Transit” and “Effectiveness Assessment” actions (already successfully adopted in STORYTELLERS 1.0), a specific key action aimed to break down barriers to physical activity in women, and a “STORYTELLERS Week”, where GCP presented the wide range of GCP sporting activities in which refugees could participate.
STORYTELLERS 3.0: The objectives of this prohect stage were to further promote the benefits in the physical, cognitive, emotional and relational dimensions of the target group, and increase female participation in STORYTELLERS to 30% of total beneficiaries. This was carried out by promoting the integration of 60 young refugees through sports and the translation of the GCP website into Spanish and English in the initial 9 months; and by focusing on collaboration, sharing learning and creating models and support tools the development of projects with other institutions in the subsequent three months. The project also promoted one basic international peer-to-peer counseling course for organizations and professionals who were working on the integration of refugees through sport.
The translation of the GDP website was meant to break down language barriers, facilitating access to digital content and promoting autonomy in scheduling sessions.
The number of participants rose from 32 in STORYTELLERS 1.0 to 60 in STORYTELLERS 2.0; also, the Gender Play Gap went from 16% in STORYTELLERS 1.0 to 21% in STORYTELLERS 2.0. During the 3 years of activity (from September 2019 to August 2022) the initiative involved a total number of 152 participants.
There was a 30% increase in GCP inclusive performance according to IRTS.ISCA.ORG indicators.
The impact was also considerable with respect to the awareness raised on the sport and social inclusion community: the dissemination of a model of good practices, designed to be replicable at national level, was based on four “beneficiary dimensions”: a) physical -regular physical exercise increases participants’ physical fitness levels, particularly in muscular strength, aerobic fitness, and body composition, all of these components associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and total mortality. b) cognitive – there are deeper benefits as your self-confidence is strengthened and you develop the valuable skill of effective communication. Furthermore, much evidence shows that regular physical exercise is a strong gene modulator that induces structural and functional changes in the brain, resulting in a huge benefit in cognitive functioning and well-being; c) emotional – regular physical exercise promotes general well-being and relaxation, allowing STORYTELLERS to better deal with stress and more depressive mood states, with expected results in their quality of life; d) relational – regular physical exercise can be used as a tool to achieve socialization as many exercises play a role in this: pair exercises such as dancing and acrobatic gymnastics help young people learn to cooperate; and group sports teach teamwork as well as sportsmanship.
Analyzing the activities carried out within the scope of STORYTELLERS 1.0 in 2019 until the declaration of the national state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in adition to the know-how acquired through experience and multidisciplinary work carried out with SCML, GCP is capable to expand its integrative offer in this program, simultaneously with the elimination of barriers to practicing sports in specific population groups, such as women.
GCP is an example of good practice in this field, given that 58% of its practicing partners are female. Some of the strategies successfully developed at GCP throughout its 145-year history to reduce the gender play gap have now been included in STORYTELLERS 3.0.
Breaking down the linguistic barrier to the adoption of physically active behaviors during and after confinement made it possible to improve the different dimensions of refugees’ quality of life and the scope of their participation in GCP activities.
Ginásio Clube Português
Cristina Caetano(Director-General of GCP): cristinacaetano@gcp.pt
Xavier Melo(Coordinator of GCP Lab): xaviermelo@gcp.pt
Rita Silva(Techincal coordinator of GCP): a_rita_s@hotmail.com
Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa
António Santinha (Director of the Unit “Support to Autonomy” of SCML): antonio.santinha@scml.pt