Citizens First: Integration Training for Immigrant Women Erasmus Project

Project Title

Citizens First: Integration Training for Immigrant Women

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 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Gender equality / equal opportunities; Social dialogue; Migrants’ issues

Project Summary

Citizens First: Integration Training for Immigrant Women is a project partnership between 4 varied learning institutions. These organisations will develop and execute a series of activities (min. 6 training sessions per institution) to meet the varied needs and expectations of two different groups of women (200 total): a group of semi-integrated women and a group of non-integrated women. The French institution (l’Académie de Créteil) will work with a mixed group of women.The aim of this project is to offer immigrant women twofold training: as European citizens; and as members of a community with specifically identified characteristics. For citizenship integration, it is crucial to organize a series of talks explaining what a democratic state offers and requires of its citizens, taking the gender perspective into consideration. It is important for these women to know about European and national legislation, focusing on civic rights and responsibilities. As workers in a host community, they need access to information about labour laws and the job market, and the required training. These immigrant women need to access information about general health and female health matters: contraception, menopause, etc. In order to be protected and to protect their daughters against gender violence, they need to receive information about help centres, domestic abuse, and how to avoid practices like forced marriages, forced school absenteeism, etc. All this information will be provided to these women with the help of numerous stakeholders: local, regional and national-level organizations that work with immigrants. Regarding integration into host communities, the organizations want to offer social activities (when possible) in addition to training, so that students become familiar with the host community’s culture and have a place to meet people. The target group at each institution will consist of: approximately 25 women between the ages of 20 and 50, who are already motivated and who have already demonstrated a certain degree of identification with the host community (by enrolling at our institutions or stakeholders), and who have at times had to overcome their circle’s reluctance regarding their active public participation. Once these women have received training and have started to identify with our civic culture, they will be able to encourage other women from their circles and neighbourhoods to come to our organizations and participate in a similar process.
There will be two methodological approaches: one consisting of pair work between tutors (semi-integrated women) and tutees (non-integrated women); and the methodological approaches used in the ‘Open school to parents’ programme.
Objectives:
– to offer immigrant women dual training: as citizens; and as members of a community with specifically identified characteristics.
– to teach them to be part of a group; and to be aware of the importance of working together to resolve problems.
-to help these women become aware of their political, social, civic and labour rights and duties as citizens in a democratic society.
-to make immigrant women aware that they can encourage other women and members of their community in the same situation to get training and to succeed.
-to be aware that training these immigrant women will affect their family dynamics and their wider circles.
-to turn our institutions into catalysts to ensure more integrated communities
-to train immigrant women in a holistic way that guarantees real social integration and to enhance their team work.
-to create a network of solidarity institutions that cooperate and become more accessible to target women’s groups.
-to share new methods and good practices for motivating, teaching and training immigrant women.
-to improve the quality of work. carried out by varied organizations involved in the training of immigrant women.
-to improve integration between participant countries via the exchange of: experiences; good practices; knowledge acquisition and new skills related to training immigrant women; and by expanding the educational offerings available to other organizations.
-to benefit from the skills, knowledge and ‘know how’ of immigrant women, who will learn to become powerful mediators.
-to make immigrant women aware that as citizens they are entitled to the benefits of European citizenship (UN’s 1948 Declaration of Human Rights).
-to experience that, despite their cultural differences, the things that unite them are more important than the things that divide them.
– to encourage immigrant women to open up to other women in Europe through virtual communication.
– to empower women to become active project members.
-to promote Interculturality, which acknowledges diversity and stresses the importance of relationships between people.
– to observe / compare practices of inclusion in the partner countries and to transfer/ adapt them when relevant and put them into practice.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 80644,15 Eur

Project Coordinator

CEPA Son Canals & Country: ES

Project Partners

• FOLKUNIVERSITETET STIFTELSEN VID LUNDS UNIVERSITET
• UNIVERSITA DEL TEMPO LIBERO SAN FRANCESCO D’ASSISI
• GIP FORMATION CONTINUE ET INSERTION PROFESSIONNELLE DE L ACADEMIE DE CRETEIL