The project arises from a set of needs identified in the development of the activities of the Project Integrating (funded by Action 1 of the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals) and therefore, as a complement to the work that was developed in the municipality of Odemira with the local actors.
It consisted of a set of actions that were intended to be facilitating instruments in the achievement of the general objective of full integration and social inclusion of immigrants where they live, study and / or work. The project was a capacity building programme targeting public and private support services in charge of the reception and integration of immigrants from third countries, through training of their staff members attending immigrants.
Project Goal
The main objective of the project was to provide training to the professionals attending immigrants in order to achieve better integration of third-country nationals in the municipality of Odemira.
The municipality of Odemira is the largest municipality in the country in terms of population rate per km² and hosts approximately half of the immigrants living in the district of Beja (48.5% of 6836 individuals in 2014). The area has big farms practicing intensive agriculture and requiring a large labour force, which the local population can not fulfill. While about 75% of agricultural workers are already immigrants, there is still a growing demand, according to local farming associations.
The assessment of needs revealed that these local actors who work directly with immigrants, needed training. They constantly face situations in which they do not feel adequately trained to respond to, particularly in terms of communication and knowledge of the Portuguese immigration law.
When designing this project, the staff of TAIPA also faced with suspicions on the emergence of traffic of human beings and concerns about the high numbers of truancy and school dropout among the immigrant population.
The goals of the project are:
- to provide the staff members of public and private entities of the municipality of Odemira, who have direct or indirect contact with the immigrant community from third countries, with essential tools for integration, acceptance, inclusion and employability of immigrants;
- to provide these professionals with tools that enable them to recognize and signal persons and / or situation of risk concerning the trafficking of human beings;
- to facilitate the process of adaptation to the job through a closer relationship with temporary work companies and agricultural enterprises.
- to facilitate the full integration of immigrants and their families in the community
Who benefits
The project reached 184 experts working in public or private institutions that work directly on the integration of immigrants in Odemira, namely agricultural enterprises, Odemira City Council, civil parish councils of the municipality of Odemira, the local tax office, the local unit of the Social Security, schools, the Institute of Employment and Vocational Training (IEFP), just to name a few.
How it works
The project was composed of three pillars:
- Thematic practical workshops called “To inform to integrate” were organised on specific issues suggested by the public and private entities. They covered 3 topics: traffic of human beings, immigration law, students' integration in schools.
- The seminar "Integrating and empowering: immigration in Odemira" consisted of a "Reflection on immigration in the municipality of Odemira" in which the TAIPA's staff presented the results of both projects Integrating and Empowering. The Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning of the University of Lisbon also presented the preliminary results of the project CRISIMI on immigration and economic crisis in Portugal. In the afternoon, the Municipal Plan for the Integration of Immigrants, conceived by Odemira City Council in cooperation with several local actors, was presented. The event ended with cultural and culinary shows with the participation of several immigrants living in the municipality.
- A set of training sessions called “Empower to improve” offered classes of basic level English and Russian. Considering the constant contact of the professionals with citizens who master other languages, it was imperative to have basic knowledge of the languages more frequently used by immigrants residing in the municipality, in order to communicate with them when they look for information.
Results
All 3 workshops were held and each was attended by around 20 professionals in its target group, which represents 50 % more than the initial goal of 30 participants, in total.
The seminar was held at the end of May (29th May 2015), and attracted 77 professionals.
As for the training sessions, the “Introduction to English” was attended by 15 people, 8 of which completed the training and were certified. The course “Initiation to Russian” was attended by 15 professionals and 9 completed it with positive grade. The course “Intermediate level of Russian language” was attended by 15 participants, some of whom were farmers with some basic knowledge of Russian and others were professionals who previously attended the course “Initiation to Russian”. All the participants were certified.
Evaluation
At the end of each activity, the project’s staff members handed out surveys to the participants for evaluation. According to the analysis of the forms, it can be concluded that:
- The project was needed, facilitators and trainers were qualified and the topics covered were relevant,. An other positive point is the quality of content during the activities.
- Due to the late approval of the Project Empowering, most of the courses took place in May and June, the peak season for agricultural enterprises, which staff members were the target audience of this project. Some of them could not participate in certain activities since they found it impossible to combine with their professional life.
Funding and resources
The project received funding from the High Commission for Migrations through Action 5 (Empowering of Support Services) of the European Fund for the Integration of Third Country Nationals. It counted on the formal partnership of the Odemira City Council, the civil parishes of Saint Teotónio, Longueira, Almograve and Vila Nova de Milfontes, and the agricultural enterprise SUDOBERRY. It also counted on the support of other entities such as the school Ferreira de Castro in Mem Martins, the central services of the Aliens and Borders Office (SEF) and the Association for Family Planning of Alentejo (APF) that took part in the workshops, the school EB 2.3 of Saint Teotónio and the bank Caixa Agricola of Saint Teotónio that provided rooms for various activities.
The total budget of the project is € 28,478.31 and the co-funding reached € 27,054.39.
About this good practice
- Project dates
- -
- Geographic area
- Portugal
- City
- Odemira
- Organisation
- TAIPA – Cooperative Organization for the Integrated Development of the Municipality of Odemira
- Contact person
- Ms. Elisabete Pacheco
- Position
- Coordinator of the training department
Details
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