Europe continues to see a significant influx of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers hoping to build a new life away from their war-torn country of origin. In 2016, the number of people living in the EU28 who had been born outside of the EU was just over 36 million (Eurostat). Within the growing refugee numbers the percentage of women and children has shown a marked increase up from 27% in 2015 to 55% in 2016 (UNHCR) Immigration is not a new phenomenon for Europe and migrant communities have always made a major contribution to the economic development of the Union and to the cultural diversity which characterizes European society today. If EU Member States are to fully harness the potential of this cultural diversity the integration of migrant and host communities needs to be systemic. Successful integration of Europe's migrant communities into civic and political life is essential if a cohesive and inclusive society in Europe is to be achieved. ENGAGE recognises the need for a new approach to the provision of migrant integration supports. Central to this new approach is the provision of new, bespoke integration curricula and a suite of flexible and adaptable training resources that will help adult educators achieve their integration objectives. Migrant integration is very much a developing field where very few individuals, organisations or countries have the necessary skill sets to address the problem in a coherent and effective manner. Programmes like ERASMUS+ provide organisations working with migrant communities opportunities to experiment with innovative approaches to try and find solutions to persistent problems; to call on a diverse range of expertise not normally available to individual organisations to develop new resources; to learn from the past experiences of others in different Member States where migrant issues have been front and central of public policy for many years; and to benefit from the support of their peers throughout Europe and have access to a team of like-minded individuals. In addressing this on-going challenge transnational cooperation is imperative to try and develop robust responses to the issues at hand. The ENGAGE consortium proposes introducing innovative solutions to adult education to support the integration of migrants. The project consortium understands that adult education is often regarded as the poor relation when it comes to investment in in-service training for the continuous professional development of staff working in the sector. As a sector, adult education provision is broad and expansive covering every possible conceivable formal, informal and non-formal learning environment and opportunity. Upgrading the skills of adult education staff to enable them address new challenges as they emerge is a real challenge. In the rapidly evolving field of adult education quite often more specialized areas where CPD training is required are ignored. Despite this lack of training available for key staff a lot is still expected of adult education service providers. They are tasked with supporting and integrating some of societies most disadvantaged and excluded groups. Nowhere is this more evident than in the migrant integration educational arena where the need for bespoke and targeted training for adult educators is required if the key front-line role they are being asked to play is to achieve the required quality of output. The objectives of ENGAGE are; to develop a bespoke, accredited Integration Leader curriculum addressed to migrant women that supports the acquisition of key skills essential to their new role as integration leaders in their communities; to develop an in-service training programme for adult educators and trainers in migrant support organisations to assist them in delivering the Integration Leader curriculum; to develop a cascading model of integration where each trained Integration Leader engages a minimum of 5 migrant women in a micro-network; to provide a toolbox of resources to support the integration objectives of the project. ENGAGE addresses two distinct target groups namely; adult educators and workers in migrant support organisations who will be the focus of the in-service training and migrant women who have the potential to emerge as Integration Leaders in their communities. By developing these pertinent, targeted education curricula and resources, the ENGAGE consortium believes we can contribute to enhancing the skill sets of adult education and migrant support staff across Europe so that adult education can become more responsive to the emerging needs of Europe's migrant population. ENGAGE will also empower migrant women to be champions of integration in their own communities and to support other migrant women through the local networks they will establish.
In recent years, the EU has experienced an unprecedented influx of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers hoping to live the European dream and build a new life far from their countries of origin. Migration is a very complex phenomenon, capable of having significant economic, social and cultural implications, but it is not a new phenomenon for Europe. Migrant communities - in fact - have always made a major contribution to the economic development of the Union and to the social and cultural diversity that characterizes the current European society. Nowadays, migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are likely to face greater social exclusion than the indigenous population, mainly in terms of access to education, social services, health, and employment. Among them, women and girls are particularly at risk and need appropriate gender-sensitive policies and measures on migration, asylum, and integration. Migrant women and girls are able to have an extraordinary and positive impact on the host country, especially if they are able to become a resource and an advantage for the host country. The role of migrant women and girls within their families and communities should be recognized as crucial and particular emphasis should be placed on their empowerment. This is why 6 partners from 6 European countries (FR, IT, IR, IR, CY, AT, HR) have worked intensively for 24 months to promote a more effective migrant integration system that recognizes migrant women and girls as leaders/facilitators of integration and community. During the duration of the ENGAGE project, the partners worked - to develop a bespoke integration leadership curriculum for migrant women and girls that enables them to acquire key skills essential to their new role as integration leaders in their community It is a 65-page document presenting learning modules and resources developed to develop skills, knowledge, and competences through non-formal and informal learning methods. It is available in 6 EU languages (EN, FR, DE, GR, HR, IT) and structured in 6 modules (interpersonal skills, assertive communication, cultural structuré, communitý empowerment, civic engagement, leadership, etc) - to develop a training program for trainers/educators and migrant support workers working in migrant support centers that provides clear guidance and suggestions on how to address and implement training content and activities for migrant women and girls. It is a 40-page document available in 6 EU languages (EN, FR, DE, GR, HR, IT) - to develop a toolbox containing 75 resources to support the integration of migrant women and girls and an online learning platform available in 6 languages (EN, FR, DE, HR, IT, GR) - a policy paper to promote policy change at local, regional, national and EU levels.