Project Summary EN

5 The INTEGR8 Project The INTRGR8 Project (the Project) recognises the potential for migrant women to play a greater role in the crafting and delivery of initiatives seeking to integrate migrants into European society. The Project has been based on the premise that integration will not be achieved by doing to migrant communities, or doing for migrant communities, but rather only by doing with migrant communities and ensuring their active involvement in what is developed. The Project adopted a ‘bottom-up’ approach to the integration of migrant women, placing the women themselves at the centre of the design process. This approach has recognised that migrant women themselves are most knowledgeable about the issues and barriers they face in new countries and are therefore best placed to lead any new initiative that aims to foster the integration of migrant women. The Project sought to build on good practice in existing migrant integration measures, considering the next logical development steps from these activities. The overall aim of the Project was to develop a tailored and validated ‘Migrant Integration Expert’ Curriculum that is specifically addressed to train and qualify migrant women to work confidently within their respective migrant communities, to support integration with their host communities and with other migrant communities in their local area. The Project has also provided support to migrant integration professionals and adult educators who work in migrant centres and support agencies, specifically those with targeted programmes for women. Objectives established for the Project were as follows: (1) Research the needs of migrant women in each partner country to identify good practice, current supports and training requirements; (2) Develop a train-the-trainer programme to support the continuous professional development of educators and trainers in migrant support organisations; (3) Develop a tailored, accredited curriculum addressed to migrant women that supports the acquisition of key skills essential to their new role as Migrant IntegrationExperts; (4) Utilise a cascading model of training to support locally trained migrant women to establish social networks promoting integration between host and migrant communities; (5) Organise and host 2 migrant integration workshops in each partner country to address key issues identified and start the conversation towards improved integration; and (6) Host a European Conference on the Integration of Migrant Women.