Over sixteen months, Stepping Beyond Tents set out a simple promise: listen carefully to refugee youth and to the professionals who stand beside them, turn what we hear into a clear, usable guideline, and test it in real settings. Led by CIFIR (France) with Backslash (Spain) and Old School Green (Antalya, Turkey), the partnership kept the focus on what frontline teams can start doing on Monday morning—not on long reports that sit on a shelf.

What we did

We combined a short literature scan with two targeted surveys and two online focus groups—one with refugee youth, one with professionals. The questions stayed close to daily life: language and information barriers, access to healthcare and mental health, legal and administrative hurdles, learning and jobs, and how local services work together.

In Valencia (14–19 June), Backslash hosted a five-day seminar—“A World Without Borders”—to present and pressure-test the draft guideline. Teams from France, Spain and Turkey worked through role-plays and design drills, then re-wrote tools on the spot based on feedback. Each country left with a 90-day plan to pilot the materials at home.

What we produced

• A five-point guideline for organisations and decision-makers working with refugee youth. The pillars are:
  (1) Language access at first contact; (2) Low-threshold psychosocial support and clear referral routes; (3) Legal and administrative navigation that sets expectations and cuts red tape; (4) Learning and employment pathways that link language to skills and work; (5) Local coordination so services don’t duplicate or leave gaps.
• A practical mini-kit that turns those pillars into everyday tools, including:
  a first-contact script and a micro-signposting card (when and how to bring in an interpreter);
  a referral flow for wellbeing support, with plain-language thresholds;
  a “what to expect” info pack and an accompaniment protocol for common procedures;
  a skills & goals map that ties language levels to concrete next steps (conversation club → short course → internship);
  a light employer-outreach sequence for shadow days and mentoring;
  and a monthly coordination routine (fixed meeting, shared calendar, one referral form accepted by all).
• Translations in EN/FR/ES/TR to support reuse across contexts.
• An evaluation brief with simple indicators any NGO can track: time to first appointment, interpreter availability at first contact, number of warm referrals, and follow-up completion.
• A dissemination package for partners, SALTO networks and municipal channels to help other teams adopt one pillar at a time.

What changed on the ground

Across pilots, partners report fewer missed steps at first contact, clearer hand-offs between NGOs and municipal services, and faster routing to the right place—especially where the interpreter rota and the shared referral form were adopted together. Youth workers described feeling more confident about when to hold a situation and when to refer, and employers responded positively to short, structured asks for shadow days instead of open-ended commitments. Above all, the work shifted from ad-hoc fixes to repeatable routines.

What remains to do

Integration is a long road. The guideline is designed to evolve: as more organisations use the tools, we will collect short usage notes and update the mini-kit accordingly. The immediate next steps are to widen adoption through peer sessions, encourage cities to trial the monthly coordination rhythm, and keep the indicator set light so even the smallest grassroots groups can show progress without new software or staff.

Thanks and credits

This project was delivered by CIFIR (coordination and research), Backslash (guideline drafting and seminar host) and Old School Green (practice transfer), with input from refugee youth, frontline professionals and local stakeholders. To everyone who shared time, stories and feedback: thank you. The five pillars are stronger because they are yours.