Migrant in Fashion

Project Reference:

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2018-1-DE02-KA202-005148

Migrants in European countries face several barriers to integration, in societal, educational and employability terms.

Summary

Eurostat quantifies in 164.300 the number of extra-EU nationals who sought asylum in the EU-28 during the third quarter of 2017, posing European countries before the challenge of hosting and integrating the newcomers.

Migrants in European countries face several barriers to integration, in societal, educational and employability terms. Newly arrived migrants, in particular, face complex challenges one of them being related to their“insufficient skills and experience (especially language barriers, low levels of education, or a lack of local work experience; difficulties navigating host-country labour markets...); and formal and informal obstacles toemployment” (Policies to get immigrants into middle-skilled work in Europe, Migration Policy Institute, 2014). The European Commission, in its “Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan” highlighted the added value migrant categories can provide to European sustainable growth as potential entrepreneurs, due to the barriers limitingtheir access to the formal labor market also pushing them towards self-employment. Nevertheless, as the Commission has also highlighted “..notwithstanding that migrants have higher business creation rates than therest of the population they fail more due to a lack of information, knowledge and language skills”. In the EU 2020 Strategy the necessity of ensuring access to education and training to enshrines the objectives ofensuring disadvantaged targets (including migrants and to integrate innovation and entrepreneurship at all levels in the educational field, also through promoting the acquisition of transversal key competences.

The female migrant population has to deal with additional challenges, encompassing cultural, language and gender disadvantage. They are therefore particularly in need of training targeted at work integration andentrepreneurship, as they are facing specific needs, challenges and constraints positioning them among the most fragile groups of our societies.

Fashion is a crucial component of national economies across the regions of North Africa and the Middle East, deeply rooted in local cultural peculiarities and traditional, small-scale modes of production and distribution.Building engagement and capacities of migrants in Fashion entrepreneurship has therefore not only contributed to overcoming present barriers and skills mismatches but also lay the grounds for unleashing the addedvalue of innovation inherent in the discovery of the market potential of culturally/traditionally rooted practices and products within the Fashion industry itself, also paving the way for enhancement of market relationsbetween Europe and migrants’ home regions in terms of both trade volumes and quality.

"Migrant in Fashion" (MF) aimed at developing entrepreneurial competences of female migrants in Europe within the Fashion sector through tested innovation in existing offer.The methodological dimension of the project was based on the use of Dig"Migrant in Fashion" (MF) aimed at developing entrepreneurial competences of female migrants in Europe within the Fashion sector through tested innovation in existing offer.The methodological dimension of the project was based on the use of Digital Storytelling, Design Thinking and Mentoring as a combined, integrated approach of entrepreneurial development allowing the transition fromintentions to action in the field of entrepreneurship.The project target was composed of female migrants aged 18-35 affected by social exclusion. The targets encompasses first and second generation female immigrants.MF was an approach grounded on transnational cooperation between VET providers, NGOs and Businesses across a geographical cluster of countries providing a balanced picture of the present challenge of migrants'integration in Europe.

MF results:- Identification and assessment of female migrants' development needs in the Fashion sector and of existing offers of entrepreneurial learning in the field with the elaboration of a Research Report at the Consortiumlevel containing the results collected through the focus groups implemented with female migrants and stakeholders and the best practices research.- Development of a Training Format aimed at training current entrepreneurs in the fashion sector to become mentors of potential entrepreneurs. The Training Format was tested in a Blended Mobility of VET learners withthe involvement of existing female entrepreneurs from each partner country.- Implementation of local activities consisting of mentoring within entrepreneurial education delivered for prospective female entrepreneurs in the fashion sector at the country level. The programme integrated the co-design of the educational contents of local workshops.- Production of a Guide for operators in the VET and stakeholder fields supporting the latter in the enactment of entrepreneurial support schemes targeted at female migrants in Fashion entrepreneurship.- Web Platform integrating digital modules for online educational support of the audience of prospective female migrant entrepreneurs in the Fashion field.