Supporting migrants in acquiring soft skills to develop employability and entrepreurship

The project aimed to address the challenges faced by migrants in the EU, particularly concerning their socio-economic integration. It highlights key issues surrounding migration: the significant population of third-country nationals in the EU, the diverse origins of migrants, and the employment disparities they encounter compared to EU citizens. Despite contributions to essential sectors, migrants often face higher unemployment rates. The initiative proposed solutions such as a Portfolio for Migrants, which was envisioned as a comprehensive application. This tool integrates an interactive soft skills curriculum tailored for migrants, accompanied by a self-assessment feature to identify skill gaps and monitor progress. Recognizing the importance of soft skills such as networking, communication, and adaptability, the project serves to enhance migrants' access to these essential competencies. The project emphasizes also on the need for cultural sensitivity and context-specific training to effectively transmit these skills to migrants. By enhancing socio-cultural awareness and ad-hoc skills, the initiative facilitates migrant integration and equips them to contribute effectively to the labor market.

Specific project objectives were: - The creation of a Portfolio for Migrants application that serves as a centralized tool - To provide an interactive and flexible soft skills curriculum tailored specifically for migrants - To introduce a self-assessment feature within the application to help migrants identify areas for improvement in their soft skills and monitor their progress over time - To facilitate the validation and recognition of educational and professional skills among migrants to increase their integration into the local labor market - To address the lower access of migrants to adult education, particularly focusing on soft skills that are crucial for employment - To enhance awareness of socio-cultural issues and develop ad-hoc skills that are transferable to various contexts and vulnerable populations - To leverage migrant contributions for addressing skill shortages, drive and support aging societies, ultimately contributing to economic growth and innovation in the EU These objectives, tackling the challenges faced by migrants in the EU, focus on skills development, employment opportunities and socio-cultural adaptation, so as to foster successful integration and enhance their contributions to society.

The project over its 30 months of duration has implemented a large range of local and international face to face activities, including online sessions, testing and piloting phases as well blended learning sessions. Those were operated by each of the partnering entities participating in the projectg within 7 Eu countries. The activities included the participation of team members of partnering organizations, experiences trainers and educational specialists, as well human resources well acquanted with learning procedures and management of Erasmus + project. Additionally within the local actions, especially the CoP and best practices exchange sessions were involved experts working exclusively with migrants, psychologysts, language teachers with focus on vocational training, social cooperative members and many others. Migrants also have taken part within piloting, testing and local learning activities organized by partners. In addition, as for bringing promotion and visibility to the project, within the multiplier events that have been organized, various members of local authorities, local educational institutions or such exclusively dedicated for working with migrants have been present. Overall, the activities have involved more than 1000 people online and offline within the project, some of them still involved also now thanks to the digital platform that has been created and all materials useful for education which it contains. The partners are very satisfied with these achievements and believe that project impact will even further grow thanks to the follow up activities that have been planned during the last transnational meeting where representatives of all promoters working within the consortium met for final evaluation and planning of the sustainability initiatives.

The concrete results that have been produced by the project refer to the elaboration of tangible outputs, the operated reach out and impact. Key Results: 1. ePortfolio for Mentors - Developed valuable teaching materials on soft skills tailored for mentors and trainers working with adult migrants - Includes theoretical and practical knowledge on soft skills and effective teaching methods 2. ePortfolio for Migrants - Creates interactive and adaptable training modules on soft skills specifically designed for migrants - Defined a curriculum tailored to different occupations and contexts, empowering migrants with skills applicable in job interviews, promotions, entrepreneurship, and business networking 3. Self-assessment Tool - Introduces a user-friendly and interactive approach, allowing migrants to identify relevant soft skills for their current or desired positions - Enables migrants to assess their skill levels, designs personalized upskilling paths, and monitor their progress over time 4. ePortfolio Migrants Digital Platform - Established a digital platform accessible via computers, tablets, and smartphones - Hosts project resources and facilitated virtual exchanges among a Community of Practice (CoP) 5. Community of Practice (CoP) - Forms a collaborative network of over 50 experts, specializing in social integration and soft skills, with a focus on work with migrants - Supports the project objectives, elaboration of outputs, and target groups outreach through technical and pedagogical feedback - Consulted via focus groups throughout the project lifecycle to ensure relevance and effectiveness of deliverables. Additional deliverables: - Internal Communication Protocol - defined rules and guidelines for effective communication among project partners - Project Management guidelines and minutes tracking actions progress and decisions made during each phase - Piloting statements out of the conducted testing phases for ePortfolio materials and self-assessment tool. Also, feedback has been gathered from direct and indirect target groups so as to refine and improve project deliverables. - Quality assurance reports - ensured adherence to quality control principles as for maintaining high standards throughout implementation. - Dissemination plan and tracking reports - have developed a systematic strategy for sharing project processes and outcomes with target audiences, also published newsletters, articles, and updates via project website, social media channels, and stakeholder events. A specific project branding strategy has established online presence to showcase project progress and engage with stakeholders. Online presence has been updated regularly, so as to reflect ongoing activities and results. - Multiplier Events were organized to amplify project impact and engage a broader audience in migrant integration efforts. - Stakeholder Feedback Sessions gathered input from stakeholders as for ensuring that project activities are aligned with the needs of target groups. - Impact and future outlook The project successfully equipped migrants and their mentors with essential soft skills through innovative digital tools and collaborative networks. By enhancing skills relevant to employment and entrepreneurship, it contributes to foster greater future socio-economic integration of migrants in the EU. Moving forward, sustained dissemination efforts and ongoing stakeholder engagement are crucial for maximizing the project's long-term impact and scalability across different regions and communities. The whole comprehensive approach operated by the project not only addressed important integration challenges, but also laid the groundwork for continued support and empowerment of migrants in contributing to their host societies' economic and social uplift.