Working together gets you forward

Updates from Victoria Community Centre and our Partners

It feels like just yesterday when we first met with Silvia and JB from A Drop in the Ocean at Victoria Square to discuss a potential collaboration. Now, at Victoria Community Centre, we’ve been working as main partners since March 2022.

A Drop in the Ocean aims to improve the daily lives of displaced persons by providing direct and immediate support inside and outside refugee camps and advocating to increase the attention on the situation for people forced to flee their homes. They distribute necessary items and they provide non-formal education and activities to support psychosocial well-being and build a sense of community and belonging. Their activities focus on Community Empowerment Mobilisation (CEM), Integration Support, and Non-Formal Education.

In Athens, A Drop in the Ocean offers Non-Formal Education in English, Greek and Computer literacy to adults (18+) of varying skill levels. They design their programs to be accommodating and flexible, so as to not exclude people unable to commit to formal education. To prepare the students to participate in vocational training and job searching, they developed a Business English and Business Greek curriculum, that gives a language base to master a specific job. Furthermore, their team supports the employability of the participants through seminars and workshops on professional development, CV and cover letter writing, interview prep, and administrative support.

A Drop in the Ocean’s Athens Field Coordinator Silvia says: “Our activities in Athens are run within Victoria Community Centre, in partnership with OHF and in collaboration with many other MHPSS (Mental health and psychosocial support), legal and social supporting actors. The site management is well coordinated by OHF and we are very happy to have created this shared project and new focal point in the urban context, specifically in Victoria’s neighbourhood, in collaboration with esteemed colleagues and partners.”

We thank A Drop in the Ocean for our smooth collaboration and congratulate them on the wonderful job they’ve been doing! Seeing their students hold their certificates with pride on graduation days is definitely one of the highlights of our day.

Training at the Community Centre

This month, we’ve had a real focus on capacity building and training all our team members and partners. IRC (International Rescue Committee) has hosted two really important sessions on child protection, while Diotima (a Greek NGO) have held training sessions for our team members on gender based violence. UNHCR also hosted sessions with Farsi-speakers about communication with communities and integration into Greek society. All these sessions and training have been really valuable to our team and partners. We have learnt so much and look forward to future sessions.