Due to the rise of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq in the European region and the immigration crisis that has emerged in terms of hosting and accommodating refugees at the entry countries and then forwarding them to others, a rise in xenophobia and racism has been perceived, along with discrimination and exclusion from the social and labour market.

The emerged value crisis has to be taken in serious consideration and thoughtful and well-planned response has to be considered. This partnership is considering to alleviate xenophobia symptoms of society towards refugees,

and work towards their social inclusion and the enhancement of their employability profile, using sport events and sport volunteering. This is the reason why the SAND GAMES project was created.

Four organisations from Greece (Pythia Social Cooperative Enterprise), Italy (Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Margherita Sport e Vita Basket), Spain (Fundación Red Deporte y Cooperación) and Romania (Sport Association Corporate Games), are jointly working to develop the “Sand Games” Sport event prototype, to implement the first Pilot  “Sand Games” Sport event and to disseminate the results, in order to achieve impact on a local, regional, national and European level.

The desired impact is summarized as such: Increase in awareness on how sport can contribute to social inclusion and economic development; Increase in local interaction with the refugee camps and refugee spots and decrease of xenophobia; Provision of sport inclusion tools for European and international organisations; Increased engagement of refugees with the local labour market; Increase in visibility of EU actions and role of Erasmus+ Programme for promoting sport and social inclusion.

Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Sport Programme of the European Union.

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsi­ble for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.