Social Media = Social Capital. Building Social Capital & Inclusion for Female Migrants through Social Media.

Project summary

SMS brings together partners mirroring its target groups: two non-profit associations (SE) and three SMEs from UK, PT and IT. They have extensive experience working on projects to support disadvantaged groups in Adult Education to build skills linked to increasing Social Capital (building social networks for greater individual potential) and social inclusion of female migrants in partner countries using social media. Partners have been allocated to lead on Outputs relating to their expertise and skills, whilst working collaboratively across all outputs on sub-activities to ensure a truly joined-up partnership approach. Women migrants and refugees fare the worst when it comes to integrating into new host communities and expanding the necessary social networks in order to gain employment or access to support services. There is therefore a need to find innovative ways to support female migrants/refugees to build Social Capital and networks. SMS aims to do this through tapping into the benefits of Social Media and how having access and skills for these tools can open up new networks and possibilities for social integration. Target Group Migrants/refugee women who identify themselves as feeling socially isolated/not integrated into the new host community/country are the main target group to be actively included in SMS (also via intermediaries/third sector organisations). Women who are low-skilled/qualified will be prioritised for inclusion in SMS. 440 participants will be engaged directly with SMS via focus groups, interviews, attending training programmes and multiplier events. Wider numbers of participants will also benefit from the SMS E learning Hub to build skills and experiences to aid social integration and skill development. Our target group will participate in an iterative cycle of learning, practicing training skills back in their personal life/working life (if they are employed), and reflecting throughout the training programme (through participation in Mentoring Circles™️). Women from each of the Mentoring Circles™️ will run Social Media training sessions to embed their digital skills whereby they train other women in Social Media skills for social impact in the community. Learner packs will be produced, in addition to a Training the Trainers guide. To facilitate skill-sharing for sustainability, SMS will develop an online Learning Hub containing e learning resources and a forum where SMEs and charities/NGOs can post requests related to social media issues and receive support from the ‘Social Media Sisters’ (participants who have been trained via SMS). Overall Aims: To develop an innovative learning methodology (building on previous UK methodologies) where learners engage in six hard skills modules in Social Media Skills followed by 5 soft skills reflection sets- Mentoring Circles™️. To train women migrants/refugees in digital media skills to improve their social integration into their host countries and to promote their future employability and entrepreneurship prospects. Methodology: A blended methodology combining hard skills (Social Media/digital skills) with soft skills (reflection, personal development) with the added benefits of peer learning. Iterative learning will be employed, as well as experiential techniques - aiming to get the female migrants 'learning by doing' wherever possible to build skills and motivation as well as confidence. Main Outputs: - Action Research Reports on migrant/refugee women illustrating training requirements & gaps in Social Media skills. - SMS Training Programme (building on methodology from previous projects coordinated by Inova) including Learner and Facilitator Guides and training materials which will be piloted twice with the target group. - Insider's Guide to Social Media for Female Migrants (a guide aimed at empowering female migrants/refugees in using Social Media to develop their Social Capital, as well as information for intermediaries and organisations working with these groups). - Development of an E Learning hub (access to learning materials and an area where trained participants can transfer their training to others by supporting other women in social media skills). SMS is expected to impact on social cohesion and integration of female migrants/refugees into the community via their involvement in the project and the subsequent building and expansion of social networks which the women will have access to through being trained in Social Media skills. The short term impact will be a greater number of female migrants in SE, UK, PT and IT with greater developed digital skills in terms of using Social Media as well as skills to support them to better integrate to their host communities. Longer-term impacts include the development of employability/entrepreneurship skills and access to support and social networks which can facilitate the economic integration of female migrants into host communities/countries.