Transnational meeting and final conference of IGMA project. Uppsala, Sweden, 12th and 13th December 2013.
Education or labour guidance is not a linear pathway that starts in point A and goes directly to a final destination, or point B. This is the everyday work experience of trainers, tutors and counselors. This is even more evident if the purpose is to guide and support people in particular circumstances such as low skilled migrants in their itinerary
towards adult education or entry into the labour market. Cultural, family and economic issues have a big influence on the process.
Helping to increase the participation of low skilled immigrants is not simply the result of actions of just one single person. Of course, a dedicated trainer, advisor or coach is required, but also it takes time, the management of the involved organization working with this group, and last it is needed a flexible and efficient network made by the other stakeholders participating in the integration process.
IGMA Project. European Integration Agent
Here are some initial considerations of IGMA project-. (“EU Integration Agent” – Innovative Guidance Methodology for Integration of Low -skilled Immigrants into Adult Education) whose specific objective is to develop a methodology for effective guidance of low-skilled immigrants into formal/non-formal/informal adult education through coordinated measures provided by a network of relevant stakeholders.
Guidance will be built on needs/capabilities of individuals with focus on further entrance to labour market.
The approach offers a structure at three interlinked levels of the network:
· The work of the staff and the provider with individual clients. Integration Ladder Method.
· The tasks and responsibilities of the management. Method for cooperation among stakeholders
· The quality of the network involved. Progress management method.
This methodology has been successfully tested in Sweden, Cyprus, Greece, Romania and Spain with both guidance practitioners and end users. The results and recommendations of the participants were the subjects of transnational meeting held on December 12th in Uppsala as a preamble to the final conference in which project results were presented and disseminated.
Final Conference in Uppsala, Sweden
The final conference of the project brought together many experts from different international organizations working in this field, together with the project partners, who could exchange knowledge and experience on the subject.
The conference started with an opening from the rector of Folkuniversitetet Uppsala, Gunnar Danielsson, followed by presentations from 6 different Keynote speakers including the Director of Education of the Swedish National Agency for Education and other organizations in the Netherlands, Greece and Lulea. During the second part of the conference an introductory workshop IGMA practical methodology was held.
“European Integration Agent” is a Grundtvig Multilateral project, funded with support from the European Commission and started in December 1, 2011 with the participation of the following organizations:
Promoter: Folkuniversitetet, Uppsala (Sweden)
Project partners: Revalento, Tilburg (Netherlands), Documenta, Santander (Spain), Dimitra, Larisa (Greece), EDITC LTD, Nicosia (Cyprus) and IREA, Timisoara (Romania).
Further information: http://www.integrationagent.eu/Index.aspx
