THE BACKGROUND, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES FOR THE NAME PROJECT - New Actions Migrant womEn In the wake of the current economic upturn, there is an increased focus on the labour supply and the opportunities for strengthening the employment potential all over Europe. In par- ticular, it has sharpened the awareness of the current employment rate among non-Western citizens in general - and especially, the attention on the very weak labourmarket integration among non-Western women. The specific interest in the employment situation of non-Western women should be seen in the light of a development, where non-Western women in total did not increase their employment rate over the last decade. In the Danish context, for instance, the latest figures from August 2018 revealed an employment rate of 47.44 pct, which is, in fact, identical to the corresponding calculation in August 2008, when the employment rate was 47.74 pct. In the intermediate decade, the employment rate of non-Western women declined and only showed a slightly increasing trend in recent years. The current figures for non-Western women's employment rate must also be com-pared with the employment rate among native citizens, which, in the Danish case, would be 73.88 pct. The low level of employment and high long-term unemployment among women with a non- Western background have, with changing weight, been in the political spotlight all over Eu rope over the last decade. In Denmark, migrant women's labourmarket integration was already in the mid-00s a special focal point in the government's integration plan "New Chance To All", followed by a comprehensive governmental programme, launched as “New Danish women's resources in focus". Furthermore, large financial fundings were ear- marked to national initiatives and efforts towards unemployed non-Western women, including jobrelated Danish language education due to new legislation. Finally, we have seen an increasing interest in the health situation of ethnic minorities, their access to the healthcare services and the importance of these conditions for the employment rate, for in-stance in the Healthy Diversity project. In the European context, the situation of refugee and migrant women was addressed in many studies and practical efforts. All partners in the project took part in various efforts in the field. In summary, alarming employment rates and numerous efforts with poor employment effect raise the question, why non-Western women despite much awareness still tend to hold an excluded position in relation to labour-market integration and self-support. It also reactualizes the question of what we actually know about non-Western women’s resources, challenges and barriers? In general, the explan-atory models have pointed to an interaction between the lack of professional factors such as language skills, basic general competences, vocational skills, work identity – as well as socio-cultural and psychosocial factors such as poor health, trauma, culturally conditioned gender roles etc. This complexity has recently, in 2018, been defined as triple disadvantages by OECD, thus referring to the fact that women with a non-Western migrant/refugee/descendant background, in addition to professional, linguistic, social and personal challenges, seem to be hampered by gender barriers, linked to socio-cultural expectations of their role as mothers, housewives and main responsible for familylife. However, the uncertainty point to the fact that the women are measured from most generalizing preassumptions that probably fail to draw a nuanced and differentiated picture of the women's needs and requirements in terms of a holistic support on theri way to employment and self-support. Against this background, the rationale of the NAME project can be summarized as: the current economic boom throughout Europe intensifies the demand for labour reserves who are current not available for employment. Cer-tain segments of non-Western women belong to the labour reserves, as they didn’t increase their employment rate during the last decade. In terms of integration, we also face a political agenda pointing at non-Western women as important role models to pave the way to education and self-support for the new generations of other ethnic origins.The overall aim is to promote and improve the opportunities for employment, selfsupport and a safe and independent everyday life within the framework of an equal citizenship in accordance with the needs and requirements among non-Western/migrant women in accordance with a thorough needs analysis based on a holistic approach. This will be described and implemented on the basis of a new Jobpackage concept and local cross-sectoral Jobpackage Councils etc. The NAME partnership is composed by partners from Denmark, Italy, Lithuania, Cyprus and Spain.
First of all, a thorough needs assessment was necessary. The needs assessment provided the basis for the rest of the project, and provided a common ground for the partnership in mapping the issues facing the different migrant groups in the partner countries. The goal was to create high quality job-packages for migrant women that would aid in them becoming both more employable and better their abilities to hold jobs in the long term. The job-packages would be designed as holistically grounded actions, and able to be adjusted to the needs of the individual participants. The goal of the project was also to test these job package designs in pilot studies, so that they may be improved upon and used in other contexts and reach a larger portion of the target group.
At the time of the application, an economic upturn in Europe had made it a priority to optimize employment rates. Here, it was noted that the employment rate of non-western migrant women had been low and stagnant for a decade. Therefore, further effort into the employment integration of non-western migrant women was necessary. There was also a need to take measures to improve the health of this group and ensure their access to health care options, as this impacts their ability to lead full lives while also being employed. These situations begged questions such as: why, despite increased awareness of their situations, are non-western migrant women still largely excluded from the workforce? What are their challenges, barriers, resources? At the time of application, most answers to these questions seemed to be based on assumptions lacking nuance, lumping all non-western migrant women into one homogenous category and not based on a holistic view of their different needs for support. The NAME project aimed to help unlock more employable persons for a market that was struggling to secure enough hands while simultaneously supporting non-western migrant women in becoming self-reliant and able to live healthier, fuller lives.