The idea

Refugees and the city in post “limbo” state

Refugees who have received asylum but have not yet managed to normalise their lives in Athens by engaging in everyday activities are the main participants of the program, which aims to actively support them to exit the “limbo” state, caused by long-time inactiveness and an overall feeling of uncertainty. “Curing the Limbo” co-formulates a model of action, in order to address this state of inertia through participatory activities and consultation with the refugee population, active citizen groups, owners of vacant properties, and city entities. The innovative action plan ensures a spillover effect and impact spreading on a broad number of beneficiaries, beyond the direct participants. “Curing the Limbo” is founded on the principle of giving back to citizens and the city; this is the added value of the program.

The challenge

Social reactivation through innovative actions

The innovation of “Curing the Limbo” lies on collaborative modeling, which provides retraining and affordable housing. At the same time, by improving their basic skills, refugees are more likely to get employed, mainly in areas of the exchange economy and the social entrepreneurship sector. The program aims to introduce a dynamic model of action, ensuring that refugees are becoming socially active again, get trained, attend courses in Greek, English and ICT, interconnect with active citizen groups via synAthina, a City of Athens initiative, gain access to affordable housing, while they themselves provide for the neighbourhoods of Athens. In coming together in various ways, refugees and the city exit the “limbo” state, take action, and start to cooperate and co-exist. This is the big challenge that “Curing the Limbo” has to face.