EM-kit project has developed a digital tool for counsellors and mentors working with migrant women in employment services, Social Welfare Offices, NGOs. This tool will support them to improve accessibility to pre vocational/professional education for immigrant women, especially those with low educational/working experience, in order to help them to enter labour market and to become more active members of society.
The figures on emigration in Europe reveal a situation that places immigrant women in a disadvantage position: women entering Europe are half of all immigrants but only 8% do so to study and 6% to work. More than half do so according to their families (U.S.: 2009). Clearly this is a very heterogeneous group of different cultural backgrounds, educational levels or family situations but they all have in common, like any other group, the need to integrate into the host country.
Labor problems encountered by these women vary according to whether their level of education and professional qualification is high or low:
- those with high qualifications enter the labour market through job, in many cases, for those who are overqualified,
- women with a low educational level facing unemployment, lack of job and educational opportunities.
The latter group also has a precarious employment rate higher than the rest, with low wages and worse social / labour conditions.
Similarly, in many cases, when a migrant woman decides to take action to improve their situation and go to different stakeholders of the territory; she has to contact different entities for each of their needs, which in many cases will require the same information and directing her from one side to another, without her understand the meaning (pourpose). The result, often, is the discouragement and retirement.
The accumulation of all these circumstances leads these women to social isolation and segregation.
Em-kit (Empowerment Kit) is a project aimed specifically at migrant women. To help them achieve their goals, to follow the right training to reach the desired job. To accomplish this, we have created a support tool for counsellors, mentors, trainers, coaches; who are those in direct contact with immigrant women, their hopes, challenges and difficulties.
In the EMKIT project, we organized different phases in which a woman can be on her way to the social and labour integration so that she can clearly visualize her situation and itinerary for she and her related professionals successfully guide her.
This guide has been taken from the Dutch model of active citizenship scale in which the integration process is divided into six stages, from isolation to active citizenship. Each step defines criteria that show whether women are at a particular stage, what are the barriers that may be encountered and how to overcome them, as well as the goals that women need to achieve to progress on their path.
Therefore the EM-kit is a digital tool for counsellors and mentors working with migrant women in employment services, Social Welfare Offices, NGOs, and so on.
The digital tool includes best practices which consist on methods, exercises and projects that have been proven effective in the target group in partner countries of the project. The counsellor and the woman identify the situation where she is and point out targets to be achieved in relation to her individual needs.
Besides effectiveness, best practice proposals affect work among women, native and migrant, in their relationship with the environment in which they live, institutional as well as social, and general strengthening of self-esteem and confidence.
You can access the digital tool and extensive information about the project on the website: www.socialempowerment.eu
EM-kit is a project of the Grundtvig Lifelong Learning Programme lasting two years (October 2010-2012) led by Folkuniversitetet of Uppsala (Sweden) and that has the following partners: FU-Lunds of Sweden, Dimitra ITD of Greece, Mediterranean Management Centre of Cyprus, AKSES of the Czech Republic, FEDEP of Switzerland and Documenta of Spain.
From Documenta, we want to thank the participation and support of all stakeholders from Cantabria and Spain who have helped us in the development of this project by example, advice and recommendations on the selection of good practices and, especially, the Employment Plan of Cantabria Red Cross and Cantabria Acoge that have tested the effectiveness of EM-kit. To all thank you very much.
