The students of Degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) have become, during this semester, simulated consultants of UNHCR Spain, the UN agency for refugees in our country. In partnership with the entity, they have analyzed the actors and initiatives in support of refugees that exist in Spain, in order to determine their impact and address possible solutions to various problems. Divided into groups, they have worked in four areas: economic inclusion, Education, access to housing and community support.

The presentation of the projects took place on November 30 and was attended remotely by Dania Moschella, senior assistant of Durable Solutions of UNHCR Spain; Edelmira Campos and Pablo Fernández Jiménez, manager and attachment of External Relations of UNHCR Spain respectively, who have also collaborated in the subject attending the students through webinars and workshops at work.

As Carolina Montoro, professor at subject, explains, initiatives in support of the population applicant of asylum have multiplied spontaneously following the outbreak of war in Ukraine, making it difficult to identify, coordinate and assessment: "There was an objective need to locate and characterize these initiatives in order to, with a view to the future, discover opportunities to "amplify" the response of partnership of Spanish civil society towards the people in this status. The students carried out a mapping of the initiatives, followed by an analysis and a proposal approach for UNHCR in order to seek future commitments with institutions, companies, etc.".

To become aware of the global reality of the phenomenon of migration for humanitarian reasons; to improve access to information and procedures that refugees must carry out upon their arrival in other countries; to alleviate the imbalance that exists between the different autonomous communities in our country, with respect to the reception percentages and available resources; or to take advantage of the experience acquired after the reception of Ukrainian refugees in Spain are some of the conclusions reached by the students to establish different lines of work.

With this activity, the students "have done more than just acquire curricular content: they have connected with the world in which they live and have been able to do their bit to try to improve it," says Professor Montoro. "Now they not only know the reality of forced migrations, but they understand and empathize with the status these people face. In addition, thanks to this experience, they have had the opportunity to discover and participate in the work that is carried out in UNHCR".

The organization has welcomed very positively the conclusions provided by the students: "They have decided to incorporate their analysis and proposals to the Spanish Refugee Forum that they are organizing and that will be held in the spring of 2023. In fact, they have invited our students to participate," explains Professor Montoro. 

This activity is part of the subject "PPE-LAB", a laboratory of socio-political analysis around an applied service-learning project , with the goal of integrating knowledge from different areas of the Degree, in order to analyze some contemporary social problems.