In the beginning of February, on the 6th and 7th 2020, the final conference and meeting of the AMW project took place in Bifröst, Iceland. It was hosted by the coordinators of the project, Bifröst University. During the final meeting, the partners looked back at a fruitful collaboration and went through the final steps of the project. The project has lasted for 30 months and has been a success both for partners and participants who benefitted directly from the project and its results.
The final meeting was combined with the final, international conference. Like in the national final events that have been held in each partner country, the final conference was divided in two parts: one part in which the partners explained and presented the project stages and its outcomes, and a second part in which participants participated actively by joining the Open Space Conference.
During the first part of the conference, each partner talked about their experiences and the different outcomes and impact in each country. It was a moment to get a good overview of the project with all the experiences combined from the different countries. Then, the discussions were continued during the open space conference, where the participants were given the choice to talk about 4 different topics all related to migrant woman, their access to the job market or to being an entrepreneur, and the obstacles they might face. The discussions were fruitful, also due the complementary diversity of participants. The participants were a mix between migrant women and organizations working with migrants, such as the Red Cross and the Labour Union. The atmosphere was open and collaborative, new contacts were made and participants left the conference satisfied.
Though the project is about to finish (on the 29th of February 2020), the platform will continue to exist and provide information about the materials and other interesting topics related to the project. Anyone who is interested can register for free and download all the developed materials, such as PowerPoints and facilitator guidelines for the training and for the career circles™, the guidelines for employers and the research about the competences necessary and obstacles faced by migrant women. It is possible to access the platform with your google account, through www.classroom.google.com with the course code: fa29na9, o contact Vidjaya Thelen (Vidjaya.thelen@danilodolci.org).
All the other materials will be online on the project’s website: www.advancingmigrantwomen.com and on the platform, in English, Greek, Italian and Islandic, including:
- Employability and Entrepreneurial Competence Framework for migrant women’s development and integration. This report is the outcome of a research in all partner countries on the necessary skills for migrant women to access the labour market and increase their employability, as well as the current obstacles that they face.
- AMW training materials: including PowerPoints, facilitator guidelines and learner packs. These documents are high-quality training materials to increase the employability skills of migrant women in Europe, focussing on 6 different topics such as neurolinguistic programming, positive psychology and competence mapping, strength-based learning, personal branding and CV writing, entrepreneurship and creativity.
- AMW career circles: consisting of elaborated facilitator guidelines for the implementation of mentoring circles with migrant women, including many activities.
- The AMW platform for migrant women, employers and anyone else who is interested. On the platform, all materials are available in the chosen languages, webinars, and also extra materials related to the training topics.
- The Guide ‘Maximising Diversity: The Business Case for the Recruitment of Migrant Women’. This document is a handbook for employers who want to diversify their workforce. It includes information and practical tips on recruitment strategies, stereotypes as well as lessons learned from the project through several case studies.
Advancing Migrant Women is financed by the Erasmus + KA2 – strategic partnership VET.
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)
To keep updated with the project’s progress, please follow us on Facebook or visit the project’s website. Or contact vidjaya.thelen@danilodolci.org.