ReHIn

EMIRE (Empowerment of migrant and refugee women)

Date launched

November - 2020

Ending date

January - 2023

Language/s

English

Focus

Employment

Type of resources

Video / Policy paper / Toolkit

Education

Asynchronous

Country of lead organization

Germany

Lead organization

KulturLife gGmbH

Who is financing it?

Erasmus + Programme of the European Union 2020-1-DE02-KA204-007398

Target population

EMIRE addresses two main target groups: - Women with migrant/refugee background between 18 and 45 years old who are currently not integrated to the labour market. This age group has high potential of establishing itself on the labour market in the long term and of gaining qualifications. - Social workers, employment advisers, consultants and volunteers who work with adult migrants and who accompany women in the integration process.

Summary

EMIRE (Empowerment of migrant and refugee women) aims to empower women with migrant/refugee background for integration to the labour market and foster social inclusion. EMIRE develops concepts and tools for social workers, employment advisers and volunteers to support the empowerment process enabling women to become self-effective in their own integration process. In addition, a positive perception of women with migration/refugee background in the labour market is supported and thus integration is promoted. Since 2015, about 800.000 women have come to Europe as a result of the refugee crisis, 44.1% of these are 18-45 years old while half of this stated group is not in employment in the receiving country. The main obstacles for women with migration/refugee background when trying to enter the labour market are: recognition of qualifications and previous professional experiences; lower language skills than men from the same group (common reasons: lower schooling level in the countries of origin, less practice due to lacking social contacts in Europe due to predominant family structures); gender inequality. For many women, Europe means a realistic chance of building up an own professional identity and adds to obtaining professional qualifications, as only 1/3 of them were in employment before migration. Furthermore, EMIRE helps to reflect on traditional family structures since women with migrant/refugee background mostly migrate with their families and remain in traditional family constellations.

URL

Main Objectives

The objectives of EMIRE are

  • To share personal stories of women with migrant/refugee background via video-interviews,
  • To create a toolkit for social workers/employment advisors and volunteers in order to help them handle challenging situations which can occur when working with women with migrant/refugee background
  • To develop policy guidelines in the form of an interactive eBook designed for decision makers at local, national and European level.

Pedagogical methodologies used

The materials created are focus on the practical day-to-day lived by women with migrant/refugees background and social workers/employment adviser and volunteers who work with them.
The majority of the activities can be run in peer groups, as working in peer groups also supports the empowerment process

Identified innovation elements

Both target groups are actively involved in EMIRE's activities, e.g. by participating in local activities, focus groups, or training events. Furthermore, they contribute to developing the project's intellectual outputs to test and use afterward.

  • The women from the affected target group have a voice in all the results produced, giving them the chance to talk about their own experiences
  • The policy guideline is developed in the form of an interactive eBook especially designed for decision-makers at local, national and European level

Lesson learnt

  • Producing and filming the multimedia video collection in all the participating countries helps to show the different employment perspectives in the countries involved.
  • Focusing the toolkit on the practical day-to-day social workers and employment advisers work helps them with how to handle challenging situations, which can occur during the work processes with women with migrant/refugee background

Scability potential

Develop the digital resources on other countries to show the different perspectives of the labor markets that the target population live and share the resources produced with labor associations and public administration.

Others comments