The project EMBRACE aims at structuring a transnational methodology able to identify, document and validate non formal and informal skills and competences acquired by immigrants in their original country – or in another EU State – in order to improve their opportunities and access into the European labour market.The project target group is thus made by immigrants coming from countries extra EU recently arrived in our Continent, currently unemployed, with or without a formal education certification, with or without a former job in their country of origin, or in another EU country.Actual migration flows are very different from the ones we have known in the past: before we had immigration of persons mainly in search of jobs opportunity; today immigrants are escaping conditions of social and political conflicts – when not war – and are seeking protection or the status of refugees.In this context it is difficult to match demand and supply of the labour market due to a lack of shared instruments for the validation and certification of competences owned by immigrants who arrive in the UE without any documental evidence of their previous studies or professional experience. Moreover the tools currently used for this purpose do not take into consideration personal histories, cultures and professional experiences gained in productive systems different from the European one, making them not spendable in our labour market.Considering this situation, EMBRACE focuses on the agri-food sector (production, transformation and distribution) because of three main reasons:- it is the main occupation held by immigrants in their origin country;- in EU the workforce needed by this sector is not always covered by local offer;- although it is characterized by technological gaps, it is a sector present both in the country of origin and in the one of destination. Even with the focus on this sector, currently used instruments are thought for a European labour market lexicon, underlining a lack of competences also in intercultural counseling and certification operators.To fill this gap and achieve project objectives, EMBRACE defines three main outputs:1) A catalogue of professional profiles and competences needed in the EU and in the agri-food sector;2) Methodological guidelines to recognise and validate competences of citizens coming from third countries, tested on 33 case studies within the agri-food sector, but transferable to other contexts;3) A toolkit for counselors and certification operators in order to provide them with a “step by step” guide to support immigrants in their search for a new or better job, through the identification and validation of their non-formal and informal competences and skills.The partnership is made up of 8 partners coming from 6 EU states defining a multidimensional network able to cover all identification and validation process, granting a widespread dissemination to local and international stakeholders and creating a bridge between immigrants and labour market needs. In particular, taking into consideration current immigration flows, partners come both from “arrival” countries (Spain and Italy) and destination countries (Denmark, Netherlands and Germany).This partnership is an asset also to support the transnationality of the project, relying mainly in the need to grant immigrant a “intra-European” mobility and responding to the recommendation of the EU on the need of having stable and shared system for the validation of competences at EU level.It is therefore essential to activate a European approach that focuses on integration and inclusion of citizens from non-EU countries through the definition of strategies for the recognition and transparency of experiences that meet the demands of the international labour market and to promote the empowerment of migrants favouring an active citizenship process in diverse cultural, linguistic, social and economic contexts.
The EMBRACE Project aimed to structure and test a transnationally recognized methodology to identify, document and validate non-formal and informal competences acquired by migrants in their countries of origin or in other EU countries in order to improve migrants’ opportunities for entering the European labour market. The main target group of the project was represented by migrants from countries outside the EU who had recently arrived in our continent and who had or didn’t have formal qualifications or previous job experiences, gained in their country of origin or in another EU state. The project addressed the challenges that migrants face regarding their professional inclusion and strived to contribute to a more inclusive and cohesive society and to a better well-being among citizens, linking together economic development and social cohesion. The project raised awareness that an effective skills validation system could improve the supply-demand matching and foster a long-term professional inclusion based on the actual skills and competences of individuals. That also encouraged a higher level of transparency of the acknowledgements (due to the comparability of the professional qualification systems) and promoted the transferability of competences between sectors and companies also at EU level. This challenge was taken through the elaboration and experimentation of a specific procedure, based on “migrant-friendly” tools and on intercultural approaches. The objectives set in the planning phase have been achieved through the contribution and active collaboration of the whole partnership. Furthermore, in order to achieve the project objectives, it was pivotal to share a methodology based on the awareness that people from third countries constitute a plural universe of individuals, families and communities that cannot in any way be seen as a homogeneous whole: they come from dozens of different countries, they profess different religions, they reach Europe for work, for family reunification, for birth, for transit, for study, for health problems or to escape from a war, they are young (above all) and they are elderly women and men who arrive alone or in family groups. In this scenario each partner implemented several actions in the frame of their institutional activities that followed two directions: recognizing and validating professional skills and paying attention to foreign citizens and their inclusion in society. The partnership was composed by 8 organization from 6 EU countries and included partners from traditional countries of arrival (Italy and Spain) and from countries of destination of the migration flows (Denmark, Netherlands and Germany); partners’ profiles are vocational training and guidance agencies, cooperatives and associations dealing with migrants reception and social integration support, local public bodies and workers’ organizations that, beside their diversity, have been able to carry out the entire project process. The activities have been mainly focused on the agri-food sector, considered as a growing and strategic sector in many EU countries. This sector absorbs a lot of migrants in their countries of origin and shows a strong demand of migrant labour force. Furthermore, despite the various production technologies, it presents basic analogies in the different countries (origin and arrival). EMBRACE has produced 3 main Outputs: the Catalogue of professional profiles and skills required in EU and in the agri-food sector (Output 1); the methodological approach described in the Methodological Guidelines for the recognition and validation of skills in the agri-food sector with reference to citizens from third countries (Output 2); the Certification Toolkit for Experts and Operators which provides tools and a step-by-step guide to support migrants with finding a new or better job through identification and validation of their skills (Output 3). The materials produced can be freely accessed and used via the project website (www.embraceproject.eu) which will be online for 5 years after the end of the project. 2 multiplier events were carried out in Germany and Italy with the participation of stakeholders from local, national and European level. Wide dissemination has been performed via the project dissemination channels and via partners’ networks, by organizing campaigns mainly during live events and Social Media activities, creating and constantly updating a Facebook page and using YouTube and LinkedIn where also many promotional videos were shown.