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Fashion for inclusion: Training and labor inclusions e inclusión laboral through a social, ethic and intercultural fashion

Fashion for Inclusion is a project from the Welfare and Development Association ABD that aims to foster the social and labor inclusion of migrants and refugees at a European level, boosting their access to VET in the field of sustainable and intercultural fashion.

The project, funded by Erasmus+ SEPIE KA202 and coordinated by the Welfare and Development Association ABD, will be carried out from September 2020 to February 2023 in partnership with the organizations IASIS, Mindshift, CIEP, SSF, BAU, Mondo Donna.

Professional training for social and labor inclusion

The Bruges Communiqué Declaration in December 2010 aims to promote employability and economic growth, and to respond to broader societal changes; the New Skills Agenda for Europe highlights the importance of investing in VET for migrants and refugees as a strategic response to population aging and skills shortages, as well as promoting their integration into the host society and the market labor.

In addition, the experience of the organizations that promote the project shows that VET professionals, when targeting difficult-to-employ (DTE) beneficiaries such as immigrants and refugees in vulnerable situations, lack of knowledge and resources in different areas such as methodologies of flexible learning based on practical work- that can increase student success rate and decrease student dropout-; or the use of intercultural and multicultural backgrounds and the collaboration and exchange of knowledge between different organizations.

Fashion for Inclusion aims to address these challenges to promote the social and labor inclusion of migrants and refugees through a VET work-based innovative Training Programme linked to the sustainable fashion sector, which will also promote the professional development of trainers.

The project is based on the following best practices:

FABRIC REPUBLIC(Greece) led by IASIS, is an innovative clothing management system that focuses on refugees’ social needs and their labor inclusion.
MAMALYONA (Spain) led by ABD in collaboration with the Barcelona University of Design BAU, it promotes the empowerment of young migrant mothers that are at risk of social exclusion.
SOCIAL CHIC (Italy) led by Mondo Donna, is a tailor’s atelier and shop employing and training migrant/refugee women that have suffered gender-based violence, located in Bologna.

Specific goals

Strengthen international cooperation in the field of VET focused on the promoting the labor inclusion of migrant and refugee people in the area of sustainable fashion.
Designing, implementing and testing a work-based training program adressed to VET professionals that work with migrant and refugee people in the field of a tailoring, recycling, fashion and design.
Promoting access for migrant and refugee people with low levels of qualification to quality training through flexible learning paths with a gender-based intercultural perspective.
Encourage the development of VET professionals in the field of sustainable fashion with an intercultural perspective, through the creation of innovative educational materials based on mixed learning methodologies.

Main Activities

Create a Competence Framework for VET professionals in the fields of tailoring, upcycling, fashion and design to use when working with students facing diverse oppressions from an intersectional perspective.
Design and test the Fashion for Inclusion Intercultural Training Programme and the Handbook aimed at trainers in the topics of tailoring, upcycling, fashion and design.
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for VET professionals in the topics of tailoring, upcycling, fashion and design.
Short-term training events in Barcelona, Bologna and Athens for VET professionals from different organizations with the Fashion for Inclusion Training Programme.
15 Local Workshops in Barcelona, Bologna, Athens, Brussels and Madrid; in order to test locally the knowledge acquired in the international staff training.
National Seminars in Athens, Bologna, Brussels.
European Conference in Madrid.