Curing the Limbo 2018-2021: Athens’ lessons shared
Curing the Limbo is a pilot program that was implemented from 2018 to 2021 in the city of Athens. Its main goal was to test a dynamic and innovative integration model that allows refugees to become socially active, while supporting their transition from emergency assistance to an autonomous life in Athens. It is the first holistic integration program implemented at the local level by a municipality in Greece, having as its strategic objective the development of a policy proposal for the integration of refugees, in both Greek and European cities.
The program was addressed to adult refugees, providing them several concomitant services and connecting them with active citizens in Athens, giving them the opportunity to join activities and contribute to the improvement of city neighborhoods. The core services of Curing the Limbo offered language and technical skills training, access to affordable housing, psychosocial support, and job counselling services.
Curing the Limbo was implemented with the strategic collaboration of the University of Athens, Catholic Relief Services, the International Rescue Committee and the Athens Development and Destination Management Agency. The program is co-funded by the City of Athens and the European Regional Development Fund, through the Initiative “Urban Innovative Actions”.
During the online event, program partners will present their main findings in the fields of housing, education, job counselling, and collaboration with civil society, highlighting the innovations of this pilot integration approach. The audience will have the chance to watch testimonies from the program participants’ experience, as well as from other project partners (homeowners, employers, active citizens).
To register for the event, please express your interest as soon as possible, and no later than June 15th following this link, where you can also find additional information about the program and its participants.
For further information, you can contact the event team at curingthelimbo@gmail.com.
The event will be in Greek with simultaneous English translation.
Parallel activities and workshops
Urban Innovative Actions
Urban Innovative Actions (UIA) is an Initiative of the European Union that provides urban areas throughout Europe with resources to test new and unproven solutions to address contemporary urban challenges. Housing is on the core of the UIA initiative and several supported projects are in the process of developing affordable housing models in the framework of reducing poverty, integrating refugees and other vulnerable social groups while creating new jobs and promoting circular economy. UIA allowed the City of Athens to pilot the program Curing the Limbo from 2018 to 2021.
Integration of migrants and refugees
