Hello everyone and welcome to the second newsletter of the Resilience Collective!
Before speaking about what is happening in our RIFs, we cannot start this newsletter without thinking about our colleagues in Ukraine. It is indeed with sadness that we have heard of the closure of the two Terre des hommes (Tdh) Fab Labs on the spot. Unfortunately, we have little information to pass on to you at this time.
However, what we can say is that the number one priority for Tdh remains the protection of the teams on site. For this, Tdh has set up a task force to ensure the safety of its teams and to prepare a response to the victims of this conflict. We wish everyone a rapid end to the conflict.
While waiting to give you more information on this subject soon, we share with you news of the other RIFs of the Resilience Collective. This will give you the opportunity to see the many activities and initiatives that are taking place, and the strong interest in the RIFs. It is with great pleasure that we can also definitively welcome two new RIFs to the Resilience Collective. Indeed, the RIFs of Morocco and Guinea have officially launched their activities. We wish them all the best. Good reading to all!
Thanks as always to our member organizations for supporting the dream of resilience through digital connection and empowerment.
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Ukraine
Due to ongoing conflict, all facilities in Ukraine are currently closed until further notice. Tdh is working on a separate humanitarian response. Click here to learn more.
Tdh RIF Győr, Hungary:
December and January were busy at the Fab Lab in Győr, Hungary, which held multiple workshops attended by at least 50 children and youth.
Several one-off workshops gave the opportunity to capture the interest of new visitors, as well as to expand its network with new local actors and partners. These 2 to 4 hour events introduced the available technologies and took participants through the process of creating a small object needed by the community.
Ongoing workshop series teaching digital design and production skills were also attended by three different groups, including two from local secondary schools, and a local children’s home. Children learned to use Fab Lab equipment to make their own furniture, with various attachments and modifications.
The Lab has been invited to present a five workshop series at the OLIve weekend program in Budapest, an event focused on people who have experienced displacement. The Győr team will use their mobile lab to provide a career-skills oriented course for up to 12 students.
In the coming weeks they will also develop and organize a series of workshops in cooperation with local actors working with children and youth from disadvantaged communities, with the aim of providing in-depth knowledge of one or more of the lab’s technologies, which in turn will provide a better idea of what can be achieved.
A new collaboration is taking shape between Fab Lab Győr and the Design Campus, a department of Industrial and Graphic design within the University of Győr. We aim to co-design a workshop series together with faculty students who would use the Fab Lab to design and create ideas that solve challenges faced by participating children from disadvantaged groups in their communities.
With the increase in workshops, the workspace at Fab Lab Győr is both filling up and constantly changing. Latest additions include a circular saw, a soldering station, and a newly designed wall-mounted tool rack. Changes are so frequent that spotting the improvements has become a regular game to play with children before every workshop.
Tdh RIF Oujda, Morocco:
The RIF in Oujda officially opened to the public on January 31, 2022, receiving 20 participants. Representatives of national and local Moroccan organizations and associations were present during the ceremony, as well as representatives of international organizations and other NGO partners.
The ceremony also featured the introduction of Children and Youth on the Migration Routes of West and North Africa, a project supported by the Swiss Cooperation that our RIF will be participating in. Our site manager Mehdi explained the RIF approach before describing our planned activities and objectives.
Since the launch, our space has been attracting an increasing number of beneficiaries, arousing interest and motivation in order to get involved and carry out projects.
They organized an introduction to Design Thinking for children and youth, and have a further cartography related activity planned for this month.
The next phase of the project is to reinforce partnerships with associations and institutions.
IOM RIF, Gaziantep, Turkey
One of the lab’s donors, the United States Department of State Bureau for Population Refugees and Migration, visited the centre on January 14, 2022 and met with 20 beneficiaries, consisting of local people and immigrants, and examined the projects made by the beneficiaries.
Meetings were held with Gaziantep Regional Industrial Design and Hybrid Modelling Centre (GETHAM), which is affiliated to the Chamber of Commerce, which is our Implementation Partner. The trainings to be held at the meeting were discussed.
A Circle Meeting was held with the beneficiaries of our centre and the projects were discussed.
Vocational Trainings and Entrepreneurship Innovation Trainings have started. The trainings will last 8 weeks and both local people and migrants will attend.
A Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Plant is being planned to be established in our center and approval has been obtained from Gaziantep University. After the installation is completed, the center will generate its own energy.
Tdh RIF Resolab, Burkina Faso
Members of Resolab‘s technical team visited their technical partner WakatLab in Bobo-Dioulasso for an enriching skill-sharing exchange around the theme of renewable energy, engaging in the following activities:
- Training in computer graphics;
- Introductory training in Business coaching, ;
- Practical training in the assembly of photovoltaic panels;
- Identification of the plates meeting the standards in force;
A mobile Fab Lab was held in the village on the Kargtanga site, in Mogtédo.
After the enriching experience of the mobile Fab Lab near the gold panning sites, Resolab has several events planned:
- Meeting with master craftsmen, trainers, workshop and business managers and placement of young beneficiaries of the RIF and bearer of ideas for apprenticeship and professional training projects with them
- Creativity workshops with recycled materials;
- Electronics Workshops;
- CNC workshops;
- Beginning of training for students from second chance schools on the E-learning literacy platform
- Organization of psycho-social animation and awareness sessions integrated into training, on different themes within the Fab Lab (migration, gold panning, SSR, etc.)
Tdh RIF Guinea:
The Tdh Guinea delegation organized the official opening of the Guinea RIF at the Kaporo youth center in the commune of Ratoma on Tuesday, January 11, 2022 in Conakry. The opening took place in the presence of local and government authorities.
Following the opening ceremony, several trainings were proposed to children and youth at risk of migration in Kaporo.
For example, three afternoons a week, the RIF proposes for example crash courses on digital inclusion. Workshops on design thinking have also been proposed to children and young people to develop their creativity, before introducing them to 3D modeling and digital fabrication.
Thanks to these activities, the space has been attracting more and more beneficiaries, aroused their interest and motivation to get involved and carry out projects.
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