European consortium creates platform to support the integration of migrants and refugees

KITE was designed as a cultural and linguistic icebreaker to support the integration of migrants and refugees. Developed by a consortium of seven European universities, including the University of Coimbra (UC), this multilingual platform offers a set of basic communication tools, such as a picture dictionary, language sounds, the alphabet, and the meanings of common gestures.

The initiative comes from “a strong awareness that those working on the front line of welcoming refugees and migrants often lack accessible, multilingual communication tools with multiple functions, brought together in an integrated way in a single space,” explains Cristina Martins, lecturer at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Coimbra (FLUC), who coordinates the project at UC.

The open-access platform — available at https://kite.usal.es/en/ — offers useful information about how things work in different countries, a picture glossary, a guide to the sounds of the host country’s language (Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Polish), a set of guidelines on verbal and non-verbal courtesy, a non-verbal communication catalogue, and testimonies from other refugees and migrants — from countries such as India, Morocco, and Ukraine — sharing their own experiences of linguistic and cultural integration.

According to Cristina Martins, the platform acts as “a first-aid kit designed to help people engage with the language and culture of the host country from day one.” The Portuguese version currently includes content translated into English and Ukrainian.

KITE is funded through the COMMUNIKITE project, which promotes the development of digital tools to address basic communication needs in humanitarian emergencies. The consortium is led by the University of Salamanca (Spain) and also includes, alongside the University of Coimbra, the University of Bologna (Italy), Heidelberg University (Germany), the University of Poitiers (France), the University of Kyiv (Ukraine), and the University of Warsaw (Poland).

At the University of Coimbra, the project team includes FLUC lecturers Carla Ferreira, Conceição Carapinha, Isabel Pereira, Isabel Santos, Liliana Inverno, Sara Sousa, and Tânia Ferreira, as well as FLUC lecturer Rui Pereira, Celeste Vieira from the Distance Learning Unit, and Nuno Alves, a master’s student at FLUC.