EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Stimulating migrant women to participate in society

Stimulating migrant women to participate in society

Introduction

She too! is a two-year project aimed at getting migrant women in the City of Assen interested in and providing motivation for participation in society, schooling and work.

Problem

Which programmes would interest and motivate groups of migrant women who are difficult to reach?

Description

Enova emancipation consultants in Drenthe, in collaboration with Kliq Reintegration in the Northern Netherlands and the Drenthe College, has developed a method of guiding migrant women who are difficult to reach towards schooling and work. The project She too! works according to this method and aims to motivate the women and their social environments to participate in language lessons, naturalisation, schooling, volunteer work and parent participation at school.

Approach

Besides the women, their partners, families and social environments are involved and motivated. Therefore home visits are made, talks are given in the mosque and group discussions are held as part of the She too! project. An individual step-by-step plan is drawn up for the women who are interested and motivated. The method is demand-driven with the intention of providing tailor-made work.

Results

In Assen, 210 women who belonged to the group of migrant women that is difficult to reach, were involved.
The desire and motivation of immigrant women to participate in Dutch society has turned out to be great.
The desire and motivation to participate were hidden up to now and did not become apparent to the city via conventional channels.
25% of the women are interested in a programme for work and schooling.
60% of the women wish to take part in welfare activities, such as computer classes, Dutch as a spoken language, encounters with native women, talking about the upbringing of children, etc.

Contact info

ENOVA emancipation consultants
K. Tsai

Project start date

01/06/2002

Links

ENOVA emancipation consultants (in Dutch)

Document type

case

Themes

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Community development

Keywords

Citizens' participation