The extent and success of integration can be measured by the degree of parity or equality of outcomes with other members of the receiving or host community. The THRIVE project will directly address this 'parity gap' across the consortium by developing educational and innovative solutions to actively bring people and cultures closer, and help female migrants realise their true civic and social potential through education. Trust is also at the heart of the matter; social inclusion happens at the local level, there is significant value in working with local authorities and communities to cultivate a climate of mutual understanding, trust, and cooperation that THRIVE will build upon. During the second half of the twentieth century, all Western European states became countries of immigration and permanent settlement. Due to a number of circumstances; income inequalities between countries, processes of economic integration and labour market shortages in host countries - immigration will remain an important feature in these, and increasingly all, European countries until at least 2050 according to many current demographic projections.(appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu) The proposed model for female migrant integration in the THRIVE project is being developed and piloted in 6 very different EU Member States, 3 countries with a long history of immigration – France, Spain and Germany and 3 countries more associated with emigration for whom mass immigration is a relatively recent phenomenon – Ireland, Italy and Portugal. This will help to ensure that the processes and outputs are robust and have considerable potential transferability to other countries. The EC Action Plan (2016) on the integration of third country nationals recognises the need to harness the potential of technology, social media and the Internet at all stages of the integration process. THRIVE aims to harness the potential for learning within female migrant communities that comes with 'always on, always accessible' mobile technology platforms. However, partners are of the opinion that the project will only achieve its objectives if bespoke, online learning resources are provided. Interactive infographics are a new learning concept that provide access to learning content through QR codes that can be activated through the camera in any modern smartphone. They provide the perfect framework for developing innovative learning resources that will be appealing and accessible for migrants and third country nationals. To achieve these objectives, the THRIVE project entails three Intellectual Outputs: - Compendium of Interactive Infographic Integration Resources - to build key competences to support the Civic, Social and Economic integration of migrant women - In Service Training Programme - A comprehensive intervention to support the continuous professional development of adult education and migrant support staff - Infographic Learning MOOC - An online learning platform designed for a range of fixed and mobile devices The extent of integration can be measured by the degree of parity or equality of outcomes with other members of the receiving or host community. The THRIVE project will directly address this 'parity gap' across the consortium by developing educational and innovative solutions to actively bring people and cultures closer, and help female migrants realise their true civic and social potential via education. The target groups are; community staff and educators, trainers and mediators workers working in formal and informal community and adult education. Community organisations and agencies looking for new ways to integrate and engage incoming female migrants and third country nationals. female migrants and third country nationals themselves looking to integrate, assimilate, understand and claim a stake in the civic and social life of their new country. The impact of this project will be significant on a number of levels; cultural mediators, community educators and social workers will gain new tools to engage often marginalised and vulnerable female learners, organisations will be empowered to take the initiative in what is a very sensitive and politically charged area, end beneficiaries will have a better understanding of their host culture and all parties will be more have a better grasp of social and civic responsibility.
Thrive aims to improve the learning potential of migrant and third-country national women through the use of innovative learning tools. This promotes both the development of knowledge in the host country but also digital knowledge and skills. Through this objective with the final recipients of the developed educational resources, we had the objective of strengthening and consolidating the digital and IT skills of educators and social workers, to enable them to innovate their practices and tools for adult learning. A further aim was to provide these OERs with a gender perspective, focusing on the issues of migrant women, their specificities and responsibilities (the majority have children and have rare opportunities to participate in training courses).
The motivation in tackling the design of THRIVE arose from the awareness of the growing presence in Europe of people from third countries and the urgent need to contribute, through education, to a more equitable and inclusive society. This push was strengthened by the exchange opportunities between project managers, educators, researchers and technicians from national contexts with different migration experiences (consolidated as in Spain, France and Germany and more recently as Ireland, Italy and Portugal). The consortium is also united by the conviction of the decisive role of women in integration processes and therefore intended to offer with THRIVE various opportunities for lifelong learning, especially non-formal, which acquires an incremental value with women, as it will impact on the family and in the community of reference. The extent of integration can be measured by the degree of parity or equality of outcomes with other members of the receiving or host community. The THRIVE project directly addresses this 'parity gap' across the consortium by developing educational and innovative solutions to actively bring people and cultures closer, and help female migrants realise their true civic and social potential via education. The promotion of the combination of education and new technologies was a further motivation for the presentation of our application, as it represents a current and urgent need for all those who work in the educational and social assistance services. The ubiquity of learning contexts and the accessibility of educational resources via smartphone was the further challenge, granting user-friendly approaches and open tools for the social and civic integration of all.