Who are the young mothers in Italy? What contributed to their decision to drop out of education? How can we support them in returning to education and training?

These questions were answered by the training “Methodologies for the involvement of young mothers who do not study and work” addressed to Social Workers organized by CESIE in the Municipality of Cefalù as part of the activities of the project BYMBE – “Bringing Young Mothers Back to Education”.

During the training, the Report on National Education and Support Services for Young Mothers and the results of the research conducted by CESIE in the Italian and Sicilian context were presented, highlighting the ambiguities of an education system which sets education for at least ten years as compulsory but which does not watch over actual attainment of a qualification suitable to enter the labour world and which does not provide support systems – educational and childcare – accessible and appropriate to the needs of young mothers.

The tools that the BYMBE project will make available free of charge to Social Workers, Teachers, Trainers, Guidance Consultants and Youth Workers to address issues related to motivation, awareness of personal strengths and crisis management were also presented:

• Handbook for Outreach Awareness and Motivation Strategies,
• Set of Intervention Methods to involve Young Mothers,
• Orientation Pack,
• Empowerment Pack,
• Support

These resources will be further enhanced in the coming months through piloting activities with groups of young mothers in all project partner countries.

The Social Assistants who took part to the training – coming from all over Sicily – also had the opportunity to try some of the techniques and tools of the Orientation Pack, based on the innovative methodologies developed by the SymfoS project based on the use of symbols and peer support.

About BYMBE

BYMBE – Bringing Young Mothers Back to Education is a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme – Key Action 2 – Strategic Partnerships for adult education aimed at developing support  measures  for  young  mothers  who  are  NEET  (Not  in  Education,  Employment  or  Training) for them to  get  back  to  education  and  training and improve their chances in entering the labour market.

Discover the tools and handbooks BYMBE offers to social workers, teachers and trainers to develop their professional skills and provide guidance and support services adapted to the needs of young NEET mothers.

Partners

The partnership holds together 6 European organisations:

• Frauen im Brennpunkt (Austria, coordinator);
• Bimec (Bulgaria);
• EHI – Exchange House Ireland (Ireland);
• Social Innovation Fund (Lithuania);
• Magenta Consultoría Projects S.L.U. (Spain);
• CESIE (Italy).

For further information

Visit bymbe.eu.

Contact Alessia Valenti – alessia.valenti@cesie.org