IEEDO Project Interview with our Project Officer Naomi
Partnering with 5 organisations: Germany, Greece, UK, Sweden, and Spain, the Erasmus+ funded IEEDO project aims to support refugees and migrants by Increasing and Enhancing Effective Digital Opportunities (IEEDO)
We talked with Project Officer Naomi about the IEEDO Project and learned about the recent developments.
Keep reading for our delightful interview with Naomi.
1- What is your name and which department do you work in ACH?
My name is Naomi Gill and I work as a Project Officer in the Projects and Research Team at ACH.
2- How would you describe this project for those who do not know?
Partnering with 5 organisations: Germany, Greece, UK, Sweden, and Spain, the Erasmus+ funded IEEDO project aims to support refugees and migrants by Increasing and Enhancing Effective Digital Opportunities (IEEDO). We are coming together to create an app for digital self-learning, it is like gamification of learning. Our main idea is that refugees and migrant communities will be able to take control of their own learning and their own planning for integration and settlement.
This project has 2 different parts, for learners and for coaches. We are developing a Pedagogical Guide and Digital Resource Pack for Coaches using the online platform Moodle. This is what we call ‘training the trainer’. In this training programme we focus on themes like game-based learning and working with diverse people.
The other main outcome of the project is for learners. We're trying to help newly arrived people to become independent, rather than relying solely on their support worker to find out what they need to do. Our app will include questions to help learners to create their own pathways to integration, for example, develop their language or understand health systems. A personal plan will be prepared according to the answers they give to a set of questions. This app will therefore help people arriving to a new country create a plan to adapt to and access opportunities in their new country.
If I were to summarise in one sentence, it is an app that gamifies learning for newly arrived people.
3- At what stage is the project now, what kind of progress has been made?
Last month we went to Greece to meet with the other partners working on this project, following the first trial of the app. We looked at the feedback from the forms people testing the app had filled in. So now we have come a long way!
In the last phase, we will translate it into several community languages. It’s already translated to Arabic, but we want to make it available in six more languages!
4- What will be the release date of this application? When will we access it?
We are planning to pilot the app from January to May, but it won't be available to the public at that point. Each project partner will test the app and after that, the app should be available from the end of the project, which will be September next year.
5-Can you give some more information about the game?
Of course! In the first part of the game, the app asks questions to make a tailored plan for each person. After the questions, it creates a graphic, which shows you your results. If you've got a lower score on your health; the app will encourage you to make activities relating to this topic and set a deadline. When you complete that task, you get points!
Also, in the app, there's a diary to support people with their mental health. Here they can write about feelings and emotions.
And then the course is great too. It is a very intensive course, offering 120+ hours of training. Each partner prepared one module each; we prepared module one. Germany prepared another module; Greece prepared different module… For this reason, it is really collaborative!
6- You said ACH team went to Greece for this project recently. Can you tell us about Greece journey?
It was exciting! Because we got together with the other partners, and we are really passionate about the project. We believe this app can really make a difference for refugees to make their lives easier.
And I think it was a good opportunity to learn from each other because each organization brought something very different. We had good discussions about how to produce high quality outcomes. Also, we learned a lot about digital learning and video games, which is quite new for me.
7-What is the target audience of this project? Is it just for students or for anyone who wants to develop themselves?
The target audience for Moodle, is anybody who is supporting refugees and migrants. And the target audience for the app would be an anyone who's new to any country because it's going to be an international app.
8-What is the main goal you want to achieve with this project?
To sum it up in one word: Empowering!
The main aim of the whole project and the app is to give refugees and migrants their own agency, putting the control in their hands. Our main goal is to enable them to establish an independent life in a new country.
9- How can we contact you about this project?
If you want to know more about this project, you can send an e-mail to me or Tom Dixon!
naomi.gill@ach.org.uk and tom.dixon@ach.org.uk
