CONTEXT In the present global world, the number of international displacements is increasing as a consequence of "conflicts, persecutions, situations of degradation and environmental change, as a marked lack of opportunities and human security" (Report on Migration in the World, 2017). In the last years, in Europe, migration is at the core of social and political conflicts, around the material costs for the societies and the threat to the national identities. In this context, the United Nations 2030 Agenda (2015) insists of the need to "guarantee the security, order and regularity of migrations, fully respecting Human Rights and providing humanitarian treatment to migrants". Within the above described context the project partnership, mainly representing the Higher Education sector agree on identifying as strategic the role that Universities can play in respect to the migration issue in Europe, in their triple role of research, training and social engagement. TARGET GROUPS and NEEDS The project partnership identifies in University students a key target group, in order to answer to their need of a more in-depth and holistic comprehension of the gender issues in migration flows, and through that, promoting among them an enhanced civic and social responsibility to make them the protagonists of present and future commitment to migrant women integration in society at large and in Higher education systems. On a broader level the project also identifies and addresses the needs of policy makers in order to raise their awareness and their need of appropriate strategies to deal with migrant women integration and inclusion according to appropriate gender holistic approaches. OBJECTIVES For this reason the proposed project aims to set up a Strategic partnership involving 5 Higher education institutions in order to develop activities that, through a transnational perspective, identified as key issue to enhance the comprehension of the multidimensional level of the phenomenon will answer to the need of students of developing better knowledge and awareness, train them through an online training programs on Human Mobility and Gender , and will produce effective policy recommendations addressed to Higher education managerial staff and policy makers. In all the proposed activities (research, training program, dissemination and policy recommendations), the gender approach will be combined with a comprehensive perspective considering the interrelation of factors such as: gender, status, ethnicity, age, religion, origin, political opinion. RESULTS and IMPACT The project will produce the following main outputs and related results: 1 - Through the Mapping of relevant initiatives taking the form of case studies, the project will provide University students (and policy makers and society at large) with a wider awareness and comprehension of their civic and social role related to migrant women integration. Case studies, will address the holistic and multidimensional understanding of female migration processes, including differences and specificities related to the countries of origin, transit and destination, and all the contextual conditions that affect the migrant women’s trajectories towards different outcomes as successful integration or marginal positions in the receiving society. 2 - Through the creation of a transnational and interdisciplinary training program on human mobility, integration and gender, the project will achieve relevant results in terms of promoting the acquisition by higher education students of knowledge, skills and transversal competences, related to cultural diversity and gender issues of migrant women. The e-learning course will prepare students of social sciences to deal with women migrants integration combating discrimination, segregation, racism, bullying and violence, and transversally address the needs of also those students that despite studying for professions non directly linked to migration phenomenon could be asked to face and interact with woman migrants integration issues (e.g. health careers, educators etc.). 3 – Through the creation of policy recommendation the project will provide a set of practical oriented intervention proposal to policy makers involved at all level in Higher education and integration of migrants policies. The project will therefore achieve the following results: - Enhance the capacity of Higher Education curricula to prepare students for being future active and aware protagonist of social interventions to promote equity, diversity and integration of women migrants - Strengthen the cooperation and the creation of networks between academic organizations and the third sector and public administrations dealing with migrant women integration - Encourage dialogue and the exchange of knowledge to raise awareness about human mobility and gender in Europe and promote social, labour and citizenship participation and integration of the migrant population.
The VIW project intend to identify, through the transnational cooperation, key issue to enhance the comprehension of the multidimensional level of the migrant women’s phenomenon and to research and compare how the gender approach is combined with a comprehensive perspective considering the interrelation of factors such as gender, status, ethnicity, age, religion, origin, political opinion, using a transnational ad multidimensional approach. Based on this, the main objective of VIW was to contribute to “building an inclusive higher education system” by addressing the major societal challenge represented by migrations and, more specifically, women’s migratory flows in the present European context. The specific objectives were to answer to the needs of all the actors playing a part in inclusion initiatives and in comprehension of the gender issues in migration flows by: - Enhance the capacity of Higher Education curricula to prepare students for being future active and aware protagonist of social interventions to promote equity, diversity and integration of women migrants - Strengthen the cooperation and the creation of networks between academic organizations and the third sector and public administrations dealing with migrant women integration - Encourage dialogue and the exchange of knowledge to raise awareness about human mobility and gender in Europe and promote social, labour and citizenship participation and integration of the migrant population. The project not only fully met its expectations as demonstrated by the Evaluation report and by the end users testimonials, but also expanded the scope of the proposal. Not only has it been possible to improve the training of university students, but also of the different agents that intervene in this social reality, as will be shown in the following sections.
In recent years, migration has also been at the centre of social and political questions in Europe, due to the impact that this reality has on different spheres (social, educational, economic, cultural...). There is a double tendency, on the one hand there is an attempt to advocate the need to "ensure sexuality, fully respect human rights and provide migrants with humane treatment”, but on the other hand, it is intended to maintain border control and the security of the Nation-State. In this context, Migration management becomes a real challenge where all actors must actively participate and attend to this global issue. For this reason, the VIW Project was born. Being aware of the triple role that universities play: research, education and social commitment, it is considered the importance of attending and contributing to the improvement of the reality of migrant women, and specifically in the case of Europe, due to the increase that is has produced in recent years. Universities can do their own immigration research first, helping to dismantle prejudices and superficial images. Traditionally, immigration has been analysed from an androcentric perspective. In this perspective, women were subject to processes and decisions initiated by men. However, in the 80s, several new migration patterns formed with the feminization of migration flows. Globally, an increasing number of women are embarking on cross-border migration, many of whom have developed the process autonomously, becoming in many cases the main providers of the family core. In Europe, women's migration accounts for more than 50% of all migration phenomena. According to most researchers in the field, women's migration "has certain characteristics with distinct causes and consequences". As a result, the concept of gender has become an increasingly important factor to consider when talking about for immigration. It influences individual choices and behaviour. Gender issues also affect the risks individuals face during the migration process, exposing them to a situation of greater vulnerability in many cases. For all these reasons, it was considered necessary to attend to this social reality from a holistic and gender approach, involving all the social actors that intervene, directly or indirectly, in the female migratory processes.