Recently arrived migrants bring a treasure of competences and skills that are often unrecognised and/or unknown, without opportunity to unleash their cultural & creative potential. Commission Action Plan on the integration of third country nationals (2016) acknowledges that failure to release the potential of third-country nationals in the EU would represent a massive waste of resources, both for the individuals concerned themselves & more generally for our economy and society. For the handicraft field, migrants bring to Europe “imported heritage” that is often not recognised &/or unknown. Migrant handcrafters have valuable knowledge & skills which they can share & combine with local handcrafters, to foster intercultural dialogue, cross-cultural collaboration & mutual-learning. Handicraft sector is an incredible crossroad & source of potential to address integration obstacles & challenges faced in welcoming societies. Given this rationale, & in line with the ET2020/European Agenda for Adult Learning priorities “My HandScraft” aims to offer high quality learning opportunities tailored to the needs of low-skilled adults in the handicraft sector. OBJECTIVES: •To develop attractive education & training programme aimed at improving basic skills of migrants to increase their opportunities for social & economic integration into society & labour market; •To up-skill &/or re-skill migrants & local handcrafters while applying the creative approach based on handicraft to unleash their potential for inter-cultural dialogue & cross-cultural collaboration; •To increase the competencies of adult educators by elaboration of an innovative approaches to education based on valorising participants cultural heritage & expertise, to be operationalized through ICT tools; •To trigger & reinforce cooperation, networking & synergy among & between local handcrafters & artists, migrants & refugees undertaking handicraft & cultural activities; •Encourage and support the contribution that migrant adult learners and local handcrafters make to the promotion of cultural heritage, the creative economy & European society. My HandScraft project will involve 2200 PARTICIPANTS & has as direct target groups: Adult educators, adult migrants experienced in handcrafts, local adult handcrafters. The project methodology is focused on innovative learning approaches based on valorising artistic competencies, experiences, & the migrants’ and nationals’ traditional handcrafts, to trigger their social & transversal skills, enhance their social inclusion &economic integration. The project will begin with a Field study research (IO1), whose outcomes/findings/contents will be used during the 6-days joint staff training event & the creation +implementation of a E-educational Programme (IO3). Finally a Handbook for Adult Educators (IO4) & a Digital Guide for Handcrafters (IO5) will be developed. 12 multiplier events – 6 Forums & 5 local Festivals & 1 International Festival will be organised. EXPECTED RESULTS: • Developed high quality set of educational offer targeted to migrants, in view to improve their Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, basic, creative & artistic skills. • Supported & accelerated the development of social, entrepreneurial & intercultural competences of migrants & local handcrafters/artists. • Unleashed potential of migrants & refugees’ skills, their valorised knowledge & expertise yet not-fully exploited in terms of employment perspectives. • Increased and enhanced competences of adult educators by equipping them with an innovative educational methodology – approach to education based on valorising cultural heritage and experience • Triggered and reinforced cooperation, networking and synergy among and between educational and cultural fields. • Elaborated ICT resources to promote inclusive education with particular focus on migrants, refugees and asylum seekers by approaching social capacities, entrepreneurial capabilities, artistic and handicraft skills in tandem. • Promoted and diffused knowledge of cultural heritage exploited by the valorised handicraft skills and traditions of the adult learners leading to increased human capital and contribution to the creative economy. IMPACT: • Developed basic skills, key competences & artistic&handcraft skills of migrants •Extended competencies and scaled up professionalization of adult educators; • Enhanced migrants’ social and economic integration; • Unleashed innovative and creative capacities of local handcrafters/artists; • Fostered collaboration between educational and cultural fields; • Enhanced inter-cultural dialogue and cross-cultural collaboration. In the LONG TERM, My HandScraft will innovate educational & training offer for migrants and refugees at EU level by providing a flexible template to promote their social and economic integration. Moreover, the project will develop strong bridges between cultural and educational sectors, local and migrant artists.
MyHandScraft was implemented over 31 months in Italy, Greece, UK, Cyprus and Lithuania, all countries where migrants’ talents and culture are still not enough recognised and where the project implemented a complex set of activities aimed at releasing the potential of migrants in the EU. In spite of the challenges related to the COVID19 pandemic which hindered the delivery of face-to-face activities in all the involved countries, MyHandScraft has encouraged the sharing of valuable knowledge between migrant and local handcrafters, fostering intercultural dialogue, cross-cultural collaboration and mutual-learning, highlighting the value of handicraft to address integration obstacles. MyHandScraft has managed to achieve its overall aim to offer high quality learning opportunities tailored to the needs of low-skilled adults in the handicraft sector, and to reach its specific objectives, i.e.: •developing an attractive e-educational programme (IO3) able to improve migrants’ basic skills, increasing their opportunities for social & economic integration; •up-skilling / re-skilling migrants & local handcrafters through handicraft to unleash their talents, boosting inter-cultural dialogue and cross-cultural collaboration; •increasing the competencies of adult educators offering an innovative approach to education based on valorising participants’ cultural heritage; •triggering and reinforcing cooperation among local handcrafters and migrants through handicraft; •supporting the contribution that migrant and local handcrafters make to the creative economy & European society. The project methodology was focused on valorising migrants’ and locals’ traditional handicrafts, to trigger their social & transversal skills. The action started with a Field study research (IO1), whose outcomes were used during the 6-day staff training event (C1) and provided the basis for the creation and implementation of an E-educational Programme (IO3). A Handbook for Adult Educators (IO4) & a Digital Guide for Handcrafters (IO5) collecting video-testimonies of workshops’ migrant participants were developed, and all project outputs were made available on the E-Learning platform (IO2). 10 multiplier events (5 Forums, 4 local Festivals, and 1 International Festival) were delivered. The project has involved adult migrants experienced in handcrafts, local adult handcrafters and adult educators as direct target groups. More specifically: - 250 respondents (25 migrant handcrafters + 25 local handcrafters / country) involved in the field study research across 5 countries to develop the state-of-the-art report (IO1) - 23 participants across 5 countries, having designed their personal portfolios (IO2) - 67 among migrant and local participants involved in the local workshops (IO3) across 5 partner countries - 22 video-interviews with migrants, 2 with locals and 10 tutorials included in the digital guide (IO5) - 10 adult educators (2/partner) attending the training event in Palermo (C1) - 85 people reached through the MyHandScraft Forums (E1-5): 17 per country - 155 people reached through the MyHandScraft Festivals (E7-12): 40 (IT) + 27 (CY) + 23 (GR) + 25 (UK) + 40 (LT) RESULTS & IMPACT: • Developed educational offer targeted to migrants, to improve their Key Competences and creative skills. • Supported development of social, entrepreneurial & intercultural competences of migrants & local handcrafters and enhanced socio-economic integration; • Unleashed potential of migrants skills, and valorised knowledge & expertise; • Unleashed innovative and creative capacities of local handcrafters/artists; • Enhanced competences of adult educators, equipped with an innovative educational methodology based on valorising cultural heritage; • Reinforced cooperation among educational and cultural fields; • Elaborated ICT resources to promote inclusive education by approaching social, entrepreneurial, and handicraft skills; • Enhanced inter-cultural dialogue and cross-cultural collaboration; • Promoted knowledge of cultural heritage. In the LONG TERM, the project will contribute to innovate educational and training offer for migrants at EU level by providing flexible and tested resources able to promote their social and economic integration, their employability and the interaction with the hosting societies, while encouraging them discover their own talents. The resources developed by the project will remain available in the long term, thus supporting cross-fertilisation between cultural and educational sectors, local and migrant artists, and participants will continue to act as role models for other people through their stories told through the digital guide. The project’s outputs will represent a precious resource for adult educators too, especially those working with migrants. Finally, the success of the action will inspire new initiatives building on the lessons learnt during the implementation.