Together We Can: Empowering migrant women in rural areas to actively participate in education, employment, or training

<< Background >>A key objective of the European Agenda for Adult Learning is the social inclusion and active participation in the community and society of all adults, including those with a migrant background. Migrant women are still underrepresented in many areas of the educational sphere and labour market, and they still don’t have equal opportunities to achieve quality workplaces, particularly when they are living in rural areas with limited access to adult and further education, training, and employment.<< Objectives >>The “Together We Can” project aimed at improving the field of adult education by offering adequate learning and training opportunities to migrant women living in rural areas, and to support rural communities in which those women live to become local learning environments that promote their inclusion and engagement. This was implemented with a view to identify and develop practices and strategies for the social inclusion at a local level, as a practical and constructive basis for action in empowering migrant women.<< Implementation >>The activities during the project lifetime unfolded in the following 3 areas:- Together We Can Methodology: an actionable methodological concept based on care and co-creation, that recognises migrant women not only as beneficiaries but as equal contributors in their inclusion processes to inspire other local EU actors to shift their perceptions of migrants in general and acknowledge them as co-creators of the local integration strategies that address their needs.- Together We Can Learning and Training Scheme: a package of activities involving capacity building of adult educators/trainers and institutions who work closely with migrants, of migrant women living in rural areas who participated actively in the project, and social inclusion of migrant women in rural areas through their active participation in the Together We Can local training programme aiming at integrating migrant women in education, training, and employment.- Together We Can Forward-Looking Empowering Communities: a whole community approach which engages local businesses, community leaders, public institutions and nonprofit organisations as to collectively understand, assess, and meet the needs of migrant women living in rural areas and foster integration.<< Results >>Key results of the project were: a methodological protocol with innovative methods to empower migrant women and mobilise stakeholders and community members; a transnational report constituting an evidence appraisal and updated analysis of ethical, legislative, political, and social challenges and opportunities that might affect the inclusion and participation of migrant women rural areas; a best practices benchmark statement for local inclusion strategies in rural areas as an educational resource that foregrounds migrant women's integration; a curricular framework for a 40-lesson training course designed for working with migrant women in rural areas and aiming at improving their access to further education, training, and employment; a 3-day transnational teacher training activity; local networking and piloting activities in all partner countries; a roadmap to stakeholders across Europe providing support for rural women migrants; a webinar to introduce the transnational network for the establishment of forward-looking empowering communities; a policy report providing concrete guidance to policy-makers, local authorities, social workers and trainers.