Mums@Work accompanies 36 women in their process of improving their personal and professional skills

They have carried out activities such as job orientation, language improvement, information technology and legal advice, among others

Mums@Work has completed the orientation phase and improvement of the employability of migrant mothers who have participated for more than a year in the European project coordinated by ProArbeit and managed by Bienestar y Desarrollo Association (ABD in Spanish) in Barcelona.

Since February 2021, 36 women have been accompanied through a personalized itinerary with individual and group activities. From sessions to identify and share women’s interests, improve self-esteem and create bonds between participants, creative photography and video workshops, training to resolve legal-administrative issues, workshops on sexual and reproductive health, general and child nutrition and dental health, to training in Catalan, Spanish or English, digital literacy or job orientation.

From now on, the participants enter the job prospecting phase. With the Comunitat Activa support and through individual interviews, job itineraries are outlined and appropriate training is sought for each person to move towards the active job search.

Challenges

One of the main barriers to planning an individual labor itinerary has been the irregular administrative situation of most of the participants, which limits their options for both training and, above all, labor insertion; as well as their availability due to the need to take advantage of any job opportunity, even in the informal market, which makes regular attendance difficult since they prioritize contributing to the family economy.

Another challenge has been to adapt the workshops to the needs and skills of women. For this reason, training has been provided to advise and inform women about their rights, reduce the digital divide and improve their use of new technologies, and sessions have been held to address family and work reconciliation from a gender and cultural diversity perspective, taking into account the fact that the participants are mothers from diverse backgrounds.

As a positive element, the group sessions have generated real spaces of safety and care to raise different topics related to the personal sphere, such as migration status, housing situation, family-related problems, etc. These moments were positively valued, both by the participants and by those responsible for the project, for the construction of the link and the possibility of thinking about future strategies.

Mums@Work will run until February 2023 with the objective of promoting the economic inclusion and social participation of migrant mothers (aged 25 to 45), improving their current and future employability. 

It is a European project funded by the European Union’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and coordinated by Pro Arbeit with the partners Asociación Bienestar y Desarrollo ABD, SYNTHESIS Center for Research and Education, Vital Aid Foundation, Cidis Onlus, Solution: Solidarité & Inclusion, Réseau Européen des Femmes Migrantes.