Research project coming… Stay tuned!
The Momentum project research report will be soon available to the public. The report, the final deliverable of WP2 (“Mapping of obstacles hindering access of young TCN women to vocational training and labour market, with a focus on social economy”), presents the research findings from the 5 project countries – Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Hungary – and lays the foundation for the implementation of WP3 (“Setting up and pilot testing a multi-stakeholder collaboration framework to remove structural barriers for TCN women’s labour integration”).
To carry out the research work of WP2, EURICSE designed a research methodology and guidelines for partners in the 5 countries to conduct the data collection activities. All data was transcribed, translated into English, anonymized and shared with EURICSE, who carried out the analysis of the data and the drafting of the report.
The report includes the findings of the primary research activities as well as information on each country context in relation to the issue of migration, employment and integration. The findings are based on the analysis of 52 in-depth interviews with TCN women, 5 focus groups with representatives of grassroots migrant/refugee associations, 5 focus groups with representatives of VET providers, 25 interviews with representatives of public employment services, and 91 survey responses from social economy organizations.
The findings are organized in two main parts; the barriers faced by TCN women and the level of cooperation among stakeholders.
Regarding the barriers, findings indicate that barriers are multiple and of different nature. Several barriers related to the individual women were traced, such as lack of skills, low motivation or trauma. At the same time, several external and context related barriers were identified, such as the perception of inclusion as a process requiring migrants to adapt to the new society exclusively, and low representation of migrant population. Nevertheless, data analysis revealed good practices promoting integration. The identification of barriers and their analysis together with the good practices provide significant insight for the design of actions to remove these barriers.
In addition, data analysis highlights the need for the design of skills assessments tailored to TCN women and the need for officially recognizing the existing or acquired skills through certificates. It also provides important information on the skills needed in the market today, both hard and soft.
As far as collaboration among different stakeholders is concerned, networks are formed in all countries of different character-formal or informal- to address specific or common issues and cases and have multiple benefits for stakeholders, such as keeping up to date regarding policies, sharing tools and ideas, advocating, forging synergies etc. One of the limits identified by the research is that most of the synergies are project-based and stop after the completion of implementation. Significant support from public institutions and actions for the sustainability of projects results are identified as the main ways to overcome this limitation.
The main scope of the MOMENTUM project (co-funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund of the European Union) is to improve access of young TCNs, with a focus on refugee women 18-35 years old, to vocational training and labour market opportunities, reducing the structural and cultural obstacles they face, through improved collaboration among key stakeholders.
Stay tuned for more updates…
