Advocating for Refugee Education

In this episode, Konstantina Mirtzani and Valeria Miglio speak with Giulia Cicoli, co-founder and Advocacy Director of Still I Rise NGO. Still I Rise was first founded in 2018 to address the lack of appropriate education services for minors living in the Samos hotspot. Since then, the organisation has opened schools for displaced youth in Syria, Kenya, and Turkey. These projects focus on providing education in emergency contexts (Syria, Greece) as well as in protracted refugee crises (Kenya, Turkey). The organisation is also involved in a series of advocacy projects, including an ongoing lawsuit on the human rights violations towards unaccompanied minors at the Samos hotspot. During the episode, Giulia shares her field experience of working to promote education to refugee children and fight against the several barriers encountered by displaced youth when accessing this fundamental human right. Along with the importance of education for refugee livelihoods, the importance of building trust with the local community and the topical issue of criminalisation of aid workers assisting refugees are covered. To find out more about the organisation, check out www.stillirisengo.org or @StillIRise on Facebook and Instagram.