EpsiLon is responding to two current and urgent educational needs in Europe i.e. (1) the rise in migrant and refugee numbers (2) the persistent inequality and persecution of Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans-gender groups (LGBT). Combined together these two characteristics make LGBT migrants and refugees one of the most vulnerable groups in modern Europe. Our project aims to help address this issue by increasing the knowledge, skills and awareness of all those adult professionals and volunteers who come in contact with them. According to UNHCR, in 2015, over 1.1 million migrants and refugees arrived in Europe. In 2016, this flow continues at a rate of 55,000 per month. Violence at the collective and personal level is the key driver that forces these individuals to abandon their homes. While doing so their basic needs and human rights are compromised. This also includes their free choice of identity, dignity and respect. It also includes being free to exercise their sexual orientation, have a partner from the same sex and develop a family life. It also includes exercising this right without being killed or bullied. However, the reality is different as a considerable proportion of refugees and migrants is in fact made homeless because of their sexual orientation (whether this is kept hidden or is revealed). The EU and modern Europe have signed treaties and Directives that aim to protect all individuals from persecution and discrimination on the grounds of their sexual orientation. Examples include the Right to Private and Family Life in the European Convention on Human Rights as well as the 2004 Directive stating unequivocally that those who face persecution for their sexual orientation and gender identity qualify as refugees and many reports showed how minorities, including LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual) people. The European Parliament EU (2015/2325(INI)) also called on all Member States to adopt asylum procedures and endeavor to develop training programmes, which are sensitive to the needs of LGBT persons and especially women.These high-level, EU-wide policy initiatives must be complemented with on-the-ground, national and local educational efforts targeted at adult professionals and volunteers who work directly with LGBT migrants and refugees. This complementary work needs to have an EU wide impact and must be evidence based and user-led. Responding to this need, EpsiLon brings together key partners from 5 case study countries to develop a training programme for professionals and volunteers working with asylum seekers and refugees in asylum centres, camps, other shelters and in local communities. The partners come from key locations in Europe where the two cross-cutting themes of migration and LGBT discrimination are particularly acute. While we will look at Italy, Greece and Cyprus as locations where not much progress has been made for LGBT rights, we will explore the Netherlands and the UK as member states that have introduced progressive practices and policies in education and training for gay issues and rights. At the same time, Greece, Italy and Cyprus are case studies for migration flow and the so called crisis.EpsiLon will adopt a user-led methodology by constructing educational tools that are based on the voices and real needs of LGBT migrants and refugees. Through theses voices, learning will take place in the form of face-to-face and online. This will be promoted both internally (between partners) and externally (nationally and EU wide). We will develop an innovative, evidence-based, user-led training methodology and contents targeting professionals and volunteers working in services for asylum seekers, refugees and migrants in order to raise their awareness and sensitivity to the needs of all those with LGBT background. The educational tools will enable the professionals to identify these LGBT groups' most current and urgent needs some even reaching on issues of survival, dignity and respect. It will also help them challenge their own biases. The need for the development of such training programme is highlighted at top level by all competent organisations such as UNHCR and the EP. The intellectual outputs of Epsilon will (a) reach widely outside of the participating countries through free, online access Europe-wide (b) continue being delivered after the project's funding is finished (c) reach groups in society that would not have been otherwise able to receive the face-to-face package and in print material (d) reward and formally accredit its target audiences.

The social sector in the CEE region needs improvement and adaptation to changing social needs, one possible way is to realise and learn to utilize the untapped potential that lies in the cooperation with the local community. With the intention to enable social institutions (run by a government or local government) to develop and implement volunteer programmes involving local citizens into their operations thus enabling them to provide higher quality services to a wider range of clients 6 NGO volunteer-involving started to cooperate. Within the frame of the Erasmus + project, so-called SoVol, the project partner organizations aimed to strengthen the capacity of social institutions through the involvement of volunteers. In order to encourage social institutions to make the best use of the benefits and the added value volunteers can bring, tailor-made volunteer strategy, effective volunteer management, new competencies and skills are needed. Therefore a methodology tool kit - covering all areas of implementing successful volunteer programs into social institutions - were created for those employees of social institutions who are open and willing to undertake the adventure of building up and maintaining a volunteer programme in their institution for the benefit of all parties. The methodology tool kit was actualized in the form of a series of handbooks as follows:A detailed step-by-step guidebook on how to set up volunteer programmes in social institutions.The handbook on measurement and communication of the impact of volunteering in social institutions aims to provide the social institutions with practical knowledge on how to measure the impact of volunteering and how to best communicate about volunteering in order to raise the public awareness on the value that volunteers bring to the social institutions services and to the overall society. Several handbooks were created for the trainers training employees of social institutions in order to raise awareness and teach new competencies and skills to them: Trainers’ Handbook on the benefits of volunteering in social institutions (How to deliver sensitizing workshops for beneficiaries of social institutions, for employees of social institutions and for members of community/ stakeholders)Trainers’ Handbook on how to train volunteer managers of social institutions enabling them to design and maintain volunteer programmesTrainers’ Handbook on how to train volunteer guides of social institutions enabling them to be the intermediary link between the volunteers, clients and volunteer manager. Trainers’ Handbook on how to train volunteers of social institutions with a focus on clients such as elderly, children living in foster care, addicts, homeless people, disabled people, and psychiatric patients.The background to create the methodology tool kit has been a longterm experience of project partners in managing volunteers and previous collaborations. Another input was the desk research, performed in the first realisation phase of the SOVOL project by means of a questionnaire. 316 social institutions took part in the research in 6 countries, to integrate the know-how of European countries. In the frame of a study visit to the Netherlands – where the integration of volunteers into social care institutions was already tackled – the best example methods and approaches were comprised in the tool kit. The first version of the handbooks and training courses were tested in 5 social institutions in 5 countries (Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Poland, Croatia). At a chosen social institution a volunteer program was launched and mentored to test the tool kit. The results of the testing were implemented in the final form of the handbooks.Finally, national dissemination events were organised in the following countries: PL,CR,SL,RO. An international conference took place in Budapest to spread the possibility of capacity building of the social sector through volunteering, as well as to expose current and future volunteer organizations and social sector leaders to a vibrant learning experience that promotes best practices, innovative thinking, and awareness of the possible cooperation’s. All partners elaborated follow up plans for the future usage and dissemination of the results. As a result of the project the number and the quality of volunteer programs increased, employees of social institutions were trained however a longer term effect is that stakeholders around social institutions in Central and Easter Europe gained new connections, ideas and inspiration on how to boost their capacities. As a result of the project- on national as well as international level - different stakeholders were connected, new bridges were built between the volunteer and the social sector which could add to a more responsive modern society.