Background/ rationale:

The issues faced by asylum seekers, refuges and migrants range from legal to social and cultural. It is regularly reported, though, that the biggest problems faced by them are loneliness and isolation, and therefore the lack of support to address this. Support in rural areas is a greater need than anywhere else.

Asylum seekers, refugees and migrants can sometimes find themselves in remote rural areas with few services, where the hosting of foreign groups had never been experienced by the local community. In such circumstances, the feeling of being exposed or under scrutiny is much higher than in urban contexts. The path to integration for these, often heterogeneous, groups (i.e. different languages, cultures, religions or ethnic origins) has therefore proved arduous when faced with homogeneous rural communities.

The rationale for this project is based on the expressed need for support for asylum seekers / refugees / migrants in rural areas. All the partners have expressed a vital need to test the accuracy of their perceptions and systems of integration. Placing their own actions on a European perspective will help raise their profile.