What are the biggest obstacles that migrant women face regarding looking for and finding work?
And what can migrant women do to increase their chances on work?
These were the central themes of the first public event of the Advancing Migrant Women project, which was organized the 3th of July 2008 at the Cantieri culturali della Zisa.
During the event, the research done in the last months was presented, called the Employability and Entrepreneurial Competence Framework for migrant women’s development and integration (IO1). This research is based on qualitative and quantitative research with migrant women and employers in the city of Palermo. The highlight of the research were the several obstacles that women face, in which education is not enough as discrimination is common in their daily lives.
The presentation of the research was followed by new opportunities in terms of courses that women can do, such as the AMW training course that will start in October. This will be a course divided in two parts: a part focussing on transversal skills aiming to increase employability, and “career circles”, a method developed by the English partners in the project “Inova” in which migrant women will attend coaching moments in which they can learn from each other and develop self-confidence.
The project activities will continue until the end of February 2020.
During the following months, the following activities are foreseen:
- October – December 2018: AMW training programme and Career Circles for migrant women at the CSC office.
- Evaluation of the first programme and a second programme during the spring 2019
- An interactive platform
- Development of a Guide for employers: “Maximising Diversity: The Business Case for the Recruitment of Migrant Women”
Advancing Migrant Women is financed by the Erasmus + KA2 – strategic partnership VET. The project aims to develop high quality training material and support for migrant women in order to empower them by developing their employability and entrepreneurship skills through a holistic programme based on training and mentoring which will increase their self-efficacy. Through this, the partnership will address the employment and integration issues that migrant women face on a daily basis. Furthermore, the project will increase awareness amongst employers of the economic and social benefits of recruiting migrant women.
The partnership consists of 5 organizations:
- Haskolinn a Bifrost (Iceland – Coordinator);
- Inova Consultancy LTD (UK);
- Simenntunarmidstodin a Vesturlandi (Iceland);
- Hellenic American Education Center (Greece);
- CSC Danilo Dolci (Italy)
For more information, write to Vidjaya Thelen, vidjaya.thelen@danilodolci.org or visit the website of the project: https://bifrost.is/english/research/advancing-migrant-women