CHOICES - cooperation between EQUAL projects

The European Social Fund EQUAL Community Initiative founds CHOICES, a Transnational Development Partnership, with membership from projects in Finland, Spain, Italy and Denmark. (re.Equal Common database TCA 4433) 

Preparation: In March 2005 a preparatory meeting of the partners took place at Roskilde University. The meeting was initiated and hosted by the Danish Research Centre on Gender Equality and in April 2005 the four Development Partners signed a Transnational Cooperation Agreement (TCA).

Project period: The first steering group took place in Italy October 23-25, 2005 and the final meeting will be held in Finland June 18-19, 2007. A common transnational conference will be hosted by Spain March 2007.

Organization: The transnational partners have agreed on the following division of labour between Finland and Denmark as regards to the responsibility of coordinating the transnational activities: Finland will be the TCA secretariat from April 2005 until December 2006 and Denmark during the period of 1 January 2007- 31 October 2007.

Target groups: The Development Partners are all targeting groups threatened by exclusion or segregation from and in the employment market. The primary aim is the empowerment of these groups through training, counselling and work experience leading to their permanent employment in future. The target groups of the national projects consist of young people and adults who have difficulties in their studies, are in danger of dropping out or who need special arrangements and career guidance in order to find their place at the labour market.

Aim: The aim of this cooperation is to reduce gender specific and cultural barriers that keep women and men from fulfilling their potential in the education system and at the labour market.

The goals of the CHOICES cooperation

• To identify differences and similarities in the position of minority youth in the labour market in the participating countries
• To compare and analyse guidance and counselling practices targeted at groups with special needs
• To develop guidance methods to encourage bous and girls to choose careers that do not follow traditional gender divisions
• To desseminate experience4 and results of the transnational cooperation regionally.

Steering group meetings:

24-25 October 2005, Trento Italy

16-17 January 2006, Bierzo Spain 

22-23 May 2006, Helsinki Finland 

28-29 August, Roskilde Denmark 

27-28 November 2006, Trento Italy

26-31 March 2007, Bierzo Spain (transnational final conference)

18-19 June 2007, Helsinki Finland (closing meeting) 

The Danish Project ”Gender, Ethnicity and Guidance”       

The overall objective of the Danish project is - via new approaches to educational and vocational guidance - to include ethnic minority groups in the strategy of breaking down the gender segregated labour market

·        The project aims at reducing the gender-specific and cultural barriers that keep ethnic minorities from fulfilling their potential in the education system and at the labour market 

·        A gender-conscious career guidance that reflects ethnical background will counteract stereotypes and hopefully widen the career choices for young women and men.

·        The project has a dual focus on both gender and ethnicity in surveys and activities.

·        The project emphasizes dialogue with the ethnic minorities as well as with key actors who counsel, influence or guide the young women and men (teachers, career advisors, counsellors, parents)

·        The project will generate research based knowledge by interviews with minority women and men (16-26 years old) and develop new methods for career guidance

·        The project will cooperate with 4 local Youth Guidance Centres in order to develop new approaches and practise     

There are 4 national partners involved in the project, and the Danish Research Centre on gender Equality at Roskilde University hosts the project. Project partners are The Danish University of Education, The Ministry of Education and Wolthers-consult.

Project activities will be run by the national partners in cooperation with local Youth Guidance Centres in four regions: Ishøj, Holbæk, Holstebro and Aalborg.

1. Step:  Interviews with young migrant women and men – 8 focus groups with a total of 40 young people. May-October 2005  

2. Step: Local kick off conferences in each of the 4 local areas. August-September 2005

3. Step: Dialogue meetings between immigrants (mainly young people and their parents) and counsellors (mainly career advisors and teachers)

4. Step: Thematic meetings targeted key players  

5. Step: Contact with workplaces – diversity management – best practices

6. Step:  Developing new approaches and career guidance methods  

Background

The employment rate of both women and men in Denmark is high, but there is strong gender segregation when it comes to professions and categories of occupation. This gender division is especially clear among ethnic minorities and the employment rate of migrant women is lower than that of men. Further, recent surveys indicate that there is a tendency that the career counsellors in primary and lower secondary school contribute to reproducing gender-stereotypical choices by the ethnic minorities (cf. "Gender-blind counselling?” Sine Lehn, Danish Research Center on Gender Equality, August 2003)

The strategy for breaking down the gender segregated labour market is part of the EU-policies as well as the Danish legislation; given that the obligation to gender mainstream  and counteract direct and indirect discrimination requires all public authorities - national as well as local - to promote gender equality and take mainstreaming into consideration in all planning and management (cf. The Danish Gender Equality Act, July 2002 ). Gender mainstreaming is thus also an obligation when it comes to ethnic minorities and career guidance. However, gender mainstreaming is often pushed into the background when the focus is on ethnicity.

Young women and men belonging to ethnic minority groups start youth education to nearly the same extend as other young people but their drop-out rate is higher and their job opportunities are lower (cf. “Educational choices of immigrants and children of immigrants “, The Think Tank on Integration, 2004, Ministry of Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs).

Especially the migrant men have a high dropout rate at the vocational educations (60%), and the young women have a higher dropout rate at the higher educations than other young women. Some get into temporary occupation, where they obtain informal competences, which could be used as basis for further training. In connection with the distinction between formal/informal learning,  some researchers and patricians within the counselling area have developed approaches (cf. "Bilan des Compétences" (F) and "Realkompetense Prosjektet" (N) that can pick up and utilize the informal competences. This is especially important in relation to marginalized groups including immigrants and refugees. It is the ambition of the GEG-project to include such a linking of real workplace competences.

The GEG- project builds on the results from the first Equal project "Youth, gender and career” 2002 –2004, cf. www.unge-karriere.socialfonden.net.

Gender, Ethnicity and Guidance website www.koen-etnicitet.socialfonden.net