Time for action, time for advocacy…. and reflection on how could we move forward to guarantee rights and full insertion in the new society of settled refugees and migrants. With more than six years of residence and a stable job and healthy family environment we have no doubts that are contributing to the economic growth of the country. The principle of freedom of movement demands also the assumption that they should hold full rights in the new society.

With the pass of time refugees/migrants need to be fully involved into the structures and mechanisms of the new society for becoming a truly democratic society.

Is a must to create the correct framework without loosing the own cultural identity of the refugees/migrants, allowing a new-diverse-special culture that welcome a new environment and a new wave of relations at all levels.

Racism and xenophobia processes -as Brexit- brought also an incredible opportunity to make of advocacy an essential pillar and not just an accessorize for those more active, talented or willing to make a change. An urgent need to be on a “permanent state” of advocacy is the only resilient way to get through this chaotic feeling of going back on time to nationalist structures under an anti-global focus.

Universal rights are just that: a universal framework, but their implementation is different accordingly to the legal framework of each country and their own culture. Is it so, that the correct way to exposure refugees/migrants claims become paramount for achieving results with speed and efficiency. Demanding full participation in the local community represents a challenge in itself but is key for a real involvement into a strategy of social development.Is it not enough to hold a legal framework if is not accompanied but other advocacy resources. Now, how they could do it? Which are the tools? How would the local society deliver the correct advocacy framework?

Training and more training, that is the answer for a solid involvement and effective results able to make changes. Adults Education is the way for delivering advocacy tools that allows people to fight effectively for their rights. This is much more than activism but a steady activity of building a new society.

The presence of different cultures change traditional codes positively based on local people´s values and traditions. The birth of a new culture comes from an active participation of each member of the society that feels and acts empowered.

But to achieve this ambitious goal of full participation that let a move forward to a “brand new society” we must see the process of empowerment as a drastic training on the following main pillars:

Leadership, management of emotions (emotional intelligence), change management (taking main principles from the business sector), values on integration, multiculturalism and a strong capacity of association by boosting creativity and finally become a truly “rebuilder”.

All aspects that contribute to build an advocacy work effectively if each migrant/refugee maximize its potential at individual level within a collective action. Joint-action represents –once again- that power that would lead them to become resilient in a world moving towards isolationism, nationalism, racism and xenophobia.

The advocacy training for settled refugees/migrants is the best tool of empowerment for becoming real “influencers” of the society in “Vuca times” (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) in which the road for change and a revolutionary boost of multicultural values is a must for resilience.

Activism is not enough and delivers partial solutions for a growing and in-depth crisis of values and traditional structures around freedom of movement and multicultural principles.

Building structures and people around the concept of a steady advocacy activity is the way out for achieving tangible results under harmonic goals and feasible resources. Going beyond short-term struggles and moving forwards towards a work “on delivering” and shaping a new attitude as a basis for an active multicultural citizenship up to face global challenges.

In a group or individually: both versions of an advocacy work that technology and social networks make it possible. A campaign to mobilize the community towards a goal on protecting the environment, an association that promotes a migrant/refugee as a political candidate, etc. All examples are good to illustrate the meaning and extent of the advocacy goals.

Metaphorically the controversial reality of a settled refugee/migrant may be seen as half empty, half full but at the edge of the shore.Training and will for becoming active members of the new society by reshaping a new culture and rebuilding new codes would lead them to reach the shore of a multicultural society.

Because freedom is about respect and integration ….

*Sculpture Bruno Catalano

*”Vuca Time”. Joan Cos Codina https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/conscious-leadership-vuca-times-joan-cos-codina/?trackingId=1N0LTvDSAfiDnZ%2FKFlHIpQ%3D%3D