PEPA (Peer Empowerment Programme for Achievement of Migrant Women) Erasmus Project

Project Title

PEPA (Peer Empowerment Programme for Achievement of Migrant 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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Integration of refugees; Inclusion – equity; Gender equality / equal opportunities

Project Summary

Peer Empowerment Programme for Achievement of Migrant Women (PEPA) is a two-year project designed to empower migrant women by providing opportunities to support their peers in learning and social activities, and to volunteer in their communities. Although the project will benefit all kinds of migrant women, it has been designed to be especially beneficial to those with lower educational attainment, on low incomes, social isolated, or in vulnerable circumstances. Data from across the EU shows that women migrating into the EU have worse employment, integration and learning outcomes than migrant men, or women born in the EU; these disparities are the result of a complex of factors including loss of social networks as a result of migration (especially for refugees), limited education and employment opportunities for women in their country of origin, lack of literacy and local language skills, and limited funding and infrastructure for migrant support in their new home countries.

Peer support and volunteering have been shown to significantly improve migrant women’s outcomes for integration, learning and employment, as well as helping them to build new social networks, gain confidence, and improve their mental and physical health. Another considerable benefit is that it creates capacity in third- and public-sector organisations supporting migrants, who are often under-resourced, while also giving migrant women a social purpose during (sometimes lengthy) periods of waiting for settled status, during which they are not eligible to work or enroll in formal learning. Above all, peer support and volunteering give migrant women the chance to achieve things by themselves and for themselves in a sustainable way, rather than be passive recipients of external support that is only available for a fixed period of time.

Peer support and volunteering opportunities need to be carefully planned and of a high quality to maximise the benefit to participants; although this does take place, there are no tools to disseminate good practice from organisations which work well with migrant women, to organisations which have less or no experience. PEPA aims to increase the number and quality of peer support and volunteering opportunities for migrant women, across partner countries and the EU, through the creation of three Intellectual Outputs (IOs): a best practice guide, to be used by practitioners supporting migrant women (IO1); peer support guides, to be used by migrant women themselves (IO2), and a collection of learning materials hosted on a digital e-platform (IO3). Together, these materials form a comprehensive resource that will help practitioners and migrant women to understand the value of peer support and volunteering and motivate them to get started, as well as providing practical tools to help plan, deliver and demonstrate the impact of these activities to the highest quality. As well as creating more capacity for practitioners and more opportunities for migrant women, in the longer-term PEPA will foster better communicate and knowledge sharing between individuals and agencies working in this space.

PEPA will exemplify the philosophy of empowerment and ownership that it seeks to encourage, by involving 180 migrant women in the co-creation, user-testing and evaluation of Intellectual Outputs; 120 practitioners will also be involved in these processes. This inclusive approach will ensure that all learning and support materials are practical, relevant and based on real experiences, including case studies, to inspire and inform. In addition, 1000 individuals will engage with the Intellectual Outputs online, and a further 6000 will be made aware of the project and Outputs via a broad dissemination strategy including print, online and social media.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 183016 Eur

Project Coordinator

Fundacja Instytut Re-Integracji Spolecznej & Country: PL

Project Partners

• DOMSPAIN SLU
• Asociatia Institutul pentru Parteneriat Social Bucovina
• NIKANOR LTD
• Go-Woman! Alliance Community Interest Company
• Strefa Inspiracji i Rozwoju