According to the research conducted by the European Commission in 2015 more than 1.8 million immigrants from non-European origin reside in Europe and are at risk of being marginalized. More than 11% of them are in immediate risk of poverty. Refugees and asylum seekers are constantly arriving to European countries through various means. Thus, the primary European goal should be to ensure their physical safety and psychological well-being, so as they become assets to both themselves and to the host societies. Most of the refugees/migrants come from desperate war and poverty situations making them take all kinds of risks to reach safety in the EU. It is therefore more important than ever to develop new, creative and long-sighted strategies and practical ways, for the refugees and migrants population adapt, integrate and become positive members in the host country: one of the surest ways seems to be; to integrate them in the job market by offering the necessary training and mentoring opportunities to become self-employed. In fact, migrants or refugees can really become an important workforce for the hosting EU countries and thereby make significant contribution to the host economies. This seems to require targeted training and mentoring to become new entrepreneurs. Traditionally, economic prosperity and political stability of the EU seems to have exerted a strong pull on immigrants. In destination countries, international migration may be used to fill specific gaps in the labor market. Europe needs more entrepreneurs and an enabling VET climate for entrepreneurship in order to successfully implement the Lisbon strategy and create necessary conditions for sustainable and inclusive growth and employment. European societies are suffering from an entrepreneurial gap: 50 per cent of Europeans prefer working as a dependent employee, only less than half (45 per cent) would like to be self-employed. So, starting from this situation and following the EC recommendations to include migrants in the European economy, there needs to be emphasis on: A. reinforcing skills in ICT and in innovations - b. increasing abilities in management, language, marketing and in all the soft skills that go along with these - c. promoting the exchange of good practices in the promotion of ethnic minority and migrant businesses - d. creating options for better integration Based on the above, this project wants to give training in the necessary sectors, promote social cohesion and the integration of migrants, facilitate the development of new start-ups, etc. To do this, the project will develop four Intellectual Outputs of different types (Reports, Guides, DVDs, Internet Platform), on which the entire partnership will work for a period of twenty-eight months. These are summarized below: O1. Target Groups Report based on a context survey done in all partner countries in relation to migrant inclusion in EU local economies O2. Guide for Migrants Entrepreneurs O3. Tool Kit for VET Migrants' Providers O4. Online Migrants Entrepreneurship Course To support the above outputs, the following activities will be implemented: 1) a JSTraining Event in which the staff will learn the methodology of a fast teaching in language course (in Bulgaria in April 2019) 2) five Transnational Project meetings to reflect on, monitor and evaluate the activities developed and to plan the new ones - M1. Project meeting in Humlebaek (DK) - M2. Project meeting in Perfugas (IT) - M3. Project meeting in Cenes de la Vega (ES) - M4. Project meeting in Volos (EL) - M5. Project meeting in Potenza (IT) 3) five Multiplier Events in which all the outcomes will be publicized/popularized in Denmark, Italy, Greece, Spain and Bulgaria 4) all the project outcomes: A1. Project brand; A2. Web site; A3. Leaflet; A4. Research of best practices; A5. e-Book of best practices; A6. Facebook page; A7. Facebook group; A8. Mailgroup; A9. Four newsletters; A10. Dissemination activities (an important campaign of dissemination to be realised at wider level to share all the tools created); A11. Monitoring activities; A12. Evaluation activities This project's core philosophy is based on an effective analysis of the existing situation and needs of the target groups/stakeholders (migrants and organizations working with them/in this sector), and innovating context adaptable solutions to a actual/present pressing issue. We believe, that this project will contribute to better migrant integration in EU local communities.
There is a need for an improved common foreign policy across all the European Union's activities. Many of the constraints that until the early nineties were holding back the world's poorest peoples within their national borders have been constrained or have succumbed entirely. This big direct Diaspora movement to richer countries, illegal emigration of masses willing to do anything to reach the goal of arrival has reached massive dimensions. The alarm about illegal immigration involves almost all EU countries; and each responds in its own way, according to their national laws. Immigration is a phenomenon that has characterized the formation of the people, often affecting their social and economic policy. In recent decades there has been a sharp increase in immigration in the world, because more traditional emigrants have been joined by people seeking political asylum and protection, fleeing from war-torn countries. In 2016 alone, about 250.00 people crossed the Mediterranean Sea. But this greta number of arrivals from one side presents a challenge on the other side. In fact, traditionally, economic prosperity and the political stability of the EU has long exerted a strong pull on immigrants. In destination countries, international migration may be used to fill specific gaps in the labor market. Indeed, Europe needs more entrepreneurs and a better climate for entrepreneurship if it wants to successfully implement the Lisbon strategy and create more and better growth and employment. European societies are suffering from an entrepreneurial gap: 50 per cent of Europeans prefer working as a dependent employee, only less than half (45 per cent) would like to be self-employed. In the USA 61 per cent of the population prefer being their own bosses and only 37 per cent express a preference for employee status. In order to promote entrepreneurship, all groups in society have to be involved. Currently about 5 per cent of Europe’s population are non-nationals. A large part of our population, especially in the cities, have a migration background, that is, have migrated to their country of residence (often from outside Europe) or are descendants of immigrants. Moreover, the migrant population in Europe is growing. Migrants and people from ethnic minorities represent a considerable pool of entrepreneurship. Being one’s own boss is much more popular among ethnic minorities and migrants than among the average population. The statistical information that is available demonstrates quite clearly that entrepreneurship and self-employment in ethnic and migrant communities are higher than the national average. Discrimination, low-paid job offers, low status jobs and obstacles to upward mobility may induce ethnic minorities to look to self-employment as a second-best alternative to earn a living. While many migrants and people from ethnic minorities are motivated to become entrepreneurs, there are some difficulties that are specific to this group and that can prevent them from realising their business projects. The most pressing problems are: - access to finance, - access to support services and knowledge of such services, - language barriers and limited business, - lack of management and marketing skills. The EC made different recommendations to include also migrants in the European economy: 1. reinforce skills in ICT and in innovations 2. increase abilities in management, language, marketing and in all the soft skills (the basic business skills of migrant and ethnic minority entrepreneurs need to be developed) 3. have coaches and trainers from among ethnic minorities and migrant communities (it helps a lot the increasing of awreness of these groups) 4. promote the exchange of good practices in the promotion of ethnic minority and migrant businesses (it can create new opportunities) 5. create options for a better integrations. This project has followed what the EC indicated; it addressed the needs of migrants by providing training in the necessary sectors, promoting social cohesion and the integration of migrants to develop new start-ups, etc. To achieve this, in this project four Intellectual Outputs were developed (Reports, Guides, Internet Platform, Curriculum), on which the entire partnership worked for a period of twenty eight months, with the partner countries of Italy (2), Bulgaria, Denmark, Greece, and Spain. Importantly we also realized: - a Joint Staff Training Event in which the staff learned about the methodology of a fast-track language course - five Transnational Project meetings to control the activities developed and to plan new ones - five Multiplier Events in which all the outcomes were exploited - an important campaign of dissemination realised at a wider level to share all the tools created The project was based on an effective analysis of the existing situation and necessities coming from the target groups sectors, namely migrants and organisations working with them.