HELLO GREECE HAS LAUNCHED WELCOMING SIX NEW HELLOPRENEURS.

 

Hello Greece was officially  launched this summer with the aim of supporting local and international initiatives that can empower newcomers and local populations with the common goal of building a better, more integrated and open society at all levels.  

Following a series of visits and discussions with key civil society and local authorities across Greece in October 2018 to better understand the realities and challenges of the sector, the Hellopreneurs and their solutions were chosen through an open call and jury selection just this past October. 

 The solutions chosen were:  

  • Habibi.Works: a FabLab & a meeting place near Ioannina where Katsikas refugee camp people, locals, entrepreneurs, and international experts creatively collaborate around products and perspectives, combining their knowledge and sharing their expertise.

  • Hestia Hellas: an NGO that serves vulnerable populations in Athens, supporting them to prosper and achieve a more dignified life by providing critical support and self-sustaining skills including: psychosocial counselling, life skills and community advocacy. 

  • HeterArt: an NGO giving young, "gifted underachievers" from both Greek & refugee communities a common language through music and art to express themselves, find community & belonging and develop soft skills such as critical thinking, creativity and adaptability.

  • InterVolve/Irida Women’s Centre: In operation since Jan 2018, The Irida Women's Centre offers a safe space, activities and support to women of all backgrounds, helping them realise the power within themselves.

  • Office of Displaced Designers: a creative-organisation based on the island of Lesvos providing educational and professional development opportunities in design, bringing together diverse people from the displaced and host community to explore the built environment, protection issues and cultural understanding through a variety of design disciplines. 

  • Social Hackers Academy: A coding school offering free web development classes for refugees and unemployed Greeks enabling them to find jobs as web developers in Greece and abroad. Currently based in Athens and in Crete, the NGO is in the process of expanding its network throughout Europe. 

“Whilst the magnitude of the refugee and migration crisis in Greece is still unfolding on a daily basis throwing constant challenges to everyone involved, the ecosystem supporting these displaced populations has been working tirelessly to adapt to this evolving situation for years but is currently reaching a pivotal point in its development: a point of increasing maturity where there is an urgent need for a transition from “firefighting” and reactive delivery of services to a more coherent, systemic, collaborative, sustainable and strategic way of tackling these challenges. I strongly believe that the expertise, methodologies and network that Ashoka and the Hello Europe programme bring to Greece is paramount to this successful transition!”
— Margarita Maniati, Programme Manager

The programme offers three ways of participation for those selected:

  1. Through the Impact Scaling Accelerator,which is structured around the principles of sustainability, effective collaboration and co-creation, clear vision and effective strategy and finally, the creation of a strategy for systemic change;  

  2. Through the promotion of International Collaborations by bringing together relevant organisations and stakeholders in Greece with organisations from Ashoka's global network and Hello Europe’s portfolio of solutions, with the aim of establishing possible collaborations on innovative models that respond to local needs and challenges;  

  3. Through a program of broader activities, co-development of initiatives and events designed to promote effective collaboration and co-creation between organisations, bodies, funders and key decision-makers and stakeholders in the public, private and social sectors, as well as representatives from the refugee and migrant communities in Greece.  

Finally, the Hello Greece Festival will be taking place on Friday 27th March 2020, an event that aims to bring together key stakeholders and decision-makers in the migration sector from across the public, private and social spheres in Greece (and beyond) and to forge collaborations and a constructive dialogue, which will hopefully continue beyond the timeline of the event - if you are interested in receiving details of the Festival, please register here. 

To learn more contact Hello Greece Programme Manager, Margarita Maniati: mmaniati@ashoka.org.

Serena Mizzoni