Momentum | Main Research Findings

One of the first key steps of the MOMENTUM was to conduct research on the barriers to accessing vocational training and the labour market faced by young migrant women and the level of collaboration among key stakeholders, led by Euricse.

Data was collected in the 5 project partner countries: Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Hungary. The results of the analysis were presented in a full report, which will be used to inform the next project activities involving stakeholders in each country to develop and test a collaborative framework.

The research report includes the findings of the primary research activities as well as information on each country's 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. Some of the key barriers that emerged include lack of skills, low motivation, trauma, and perception of inclusion as a responsibility of the migrant alone. The analysis highlights the need for the design of skills assessments tailored to TCN women and the need for officially recognizing existing or acquired skills through certificates. It also provides important information on the skills needed in the market today, both hard and soft.

The identification of barriers and their analysis, together with some good practices, provide significant insight for the design of actions to remove these barriers. As far as a 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. However, one of the limits identified by the research is that most of the synergies are project-based and stop after the completion of implementation.

The report has been submitted to the EU funding office and will be publicly available with all the collected data after the official approval.