Shortening distance to education / labour market for migrant and refugee women though gender-sensitive counselling and local cooperation strategies Erasmus Project

Project Title

Shortening distance to education / labour market for migrant and refugee women though gender-sensitive counselling and local cooperation strategies

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Migrants’ issues; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment; Gender equality / equal opportunities

Project Summary

In 2015, 1 321 560 refugees claimed asylum in EU, out of which 292 540 applications were approved (Eurostat). The number of women refugees has increased rapidly, as of 15 January 2016, just over 55 per cent of those arriving are women and children, as compared to only 27 percent in June 2015 (UNHCR). At the same time, migrant female unemployment and social exclusion remain one of the main socioeconomic challenges for most European countries. Despite the fact that this group is heterogenic with a big variation in employment patterns between the member states as well as due to indicators as educational background, prior experience, social status, personal situation, immigrant women tend to run a higher risk of unemployment or underemployment (part-time and temporary employment) according to Rand Corporation report “Migrant Women in the European Labour Force”. In average, there is 24 % difference between male and female employment rate when it comes to non-EU citizens in EU-28 (Eurostat 2014).

One of the main reasons for the above challenge is inadequate mapping of prior knowledge and lack of individualised support according to the analysis of the School Inspectorate in Sweden. This depends on a lack of cooperation and coordination between different organisations dealing with training, validation of prior knowledge/experience and employment of migrants/refugees. Each stakeholder (Adult Education Providers, VET providers, municipality, Public Employment Services, NGOs, etc.) develop their own methods for facilitating the participation of migrants in education/labour market. This leads to repetitive standard measures where the holistic approach and individual path development are missing. Moreover, there is no consistent strategy in the area of career counseling and in most of EU countries there is lack of professional standard and training for the professionals in this area. Finally, all Member States tend to lack gender-sensitive education and employment services, turning a blind eye to women needs, which leads to intersectional discrimination based on characteristics including gender and minority ethnicity (European Parliament, 20150000INI).

Three actions to improve access of migrant/refugee women to labour market through education were identified for Igma Femina: 1) Sufficient career counselling through training of professionals; 2) Efficient gender-sensitive strategy for cooperation within local stakeholder networks, dealing with validation/training/job placement to provide services based on individual needs and barriers of every woman; 3) Active involvement of employers in the local stakeholder networks as a key to education to work transition.

The partnership consisted of 7 organisations from 5 countries, a mix of adult education providers with private companies, representing employers, regional NGOs working with refugees, migrants and women and European network for inclusion. This ensured relevance of developed material to the regional needs and to the needs of migrant and refugee women. Moreover, it ensured effective dissemination and exploitation of project and its results at local/regional/national levels. The methodology of igma was adapted to include a gender-sensitive approach. Igma method had been proven effective in all partner countries for effective guidance of low-skilled immigrants into adult education/labour market through a centralised approach and coordinated integration measures on the stakeholder level. Main activities included further-development of the methodology and training curricula namely:

Development of igma-Femina methodology with gender-sensitive approaches
Development of igma-Femina training curricula for local and regional stakeholder networks
Development of EU-wide guidelines for inclusion of gender-sensitive perspective as a part of migration/integration policy based of the desk and focus group research
Development of promotion material for employers and regional/local stakeholder networks
Training activities in all partner countries to finalise igma-Femina methodology and training curricula

The trainings and seminar has led to higher level of expertise (personal and career development) of staff working with counseling of migrant and refugee women through:
• Improving the quality of services for immigrant and refugee women by the stakeholder networks in the support in labor market integration
• Implementation of gender-sensitive approach in the consultation regarding work placement, career advising in everyday practice

The impact of introduction of igma-Femina methodology in the regional stakeholder networks has therefore led to better opportunities for job placements of migrant and refugee women based on their needs and capacities. Moreover, the cooperated efforts of stakeholder networks have resulted in transparency and efficiency on the system level in regards to career counseling.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 333908 Eur

Project Coordinator

STIFTELSEN KURSVERKSAMHETEN VID U-AUNIVERSITET & Country: SE

Project Partners

• DIMITRA EKPAIDITIKI SIMVILITIKI AE
• UPPSALA UNIVERSITET
• VAN DE WINKEL CONSULTANCY BV
• RINOVA LIMITED
• International NGO “Ukraine-Poland-Germany”, Vinnytsia regional department
• 15billion