Empower migrant women for labour market inclusion by providing support services and skills for planning, starting, and running socially-driven businesses.
Context
Entrepreneurship offers job opportunities for migrants and refugees who may struggle to find work. Despite its significance, Europe has the lowest rate of female entrepreneurial intentions worldwide. Meanwhile, social entrepreneurship tackles inequalities, environmental challenges, and poverty. However, there is limited support for migrant women who want to become entrepreneurs. WISER’s goal is to empower migrant women by creating an inclusive Entrepreneurship Framework, reducing barriers, and making social entrepreneurship more appealing and accessible as a career choice.
Objectives
- To build multi-stakeholder and interdisciplinary cooperation that promotes social entrepreneurship as a relevant, innovative, and inclusive approach for enhancing migrant women’s participation in the labour market;
- To set up and launch one-stop-shop centres offering comprehensive services to help migrant women plan, start, run, and grow social enterprises;
- To equip migrant women with essential knowledge, skills, competencies, and the mindset needed to plan, launch, manage, and expand social enterprises, enabling them to become social entrepreneurs;
- To encourage the formation of peer networks as a crucial prerequisite for the success of migrant women’s entrepreneurial endeavours and for enhancing the inclusiveness of local entrepreneurship ecosystems.
Activities
- Establish WISER Hubs: support structures to provide training, coaching, mentoring, networking, advice, business development, technical assistance, and investor connections for migrant women social entrepreneurs;
- Develop and deliver WISER Skills Boosters: learner-centred, non-formal, practical short training sessions to enhance knowledge, skills, competencies, values, and attitudes for starting and managing social enterprises among migrant women social entrepreneurs at all stages;
- Establish two Communities of Practice (CoPs) involving diverse stakeholders to boost local entrepreneurial ecosystems and empower migrant women entrepreneurs through collaborative, bottom-up initiatives.
Resources
- WISER Web Platform
- WISER E-book: Social Entrepreneurship as a Labour Pathway for Migrant Women;
- Guidebook for WISER Officers;
- WISER Policy Recommendations.
Impact
- Increased awareness about the concept, goals, and benefits of social entrepreneurship among migrant women and other relevant stakeholders, such as officers and actors of the local ecosystem;
- Enhanced both soft and hard skills for 160 migrant women aged 20 – 35, including digital, financial, and economic literacy;
- Increased inclusivity in business support services strategies, thanks to the involvement of 24 officers
- and trainers;
- Reinforced knowledge of 100 stakeholders about the benefits of inclusive female entrepreneurship;
- More consolidated local, national and transnational peer networks;
Partner
- Official Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Services and Shipping of Seville (Spain, coordinator)
- INClusion Association (Spain)
- Pro Arbeit Kreis Offenbach (Germany)
- KIZ SINNOVA (Germany)
- Social Action and Innovation Centre (Greece)
- Achaia Chamber’s Development Entity (Greece)
- Programma Integra (Italy)
- CESIE ETS (Italy)
- Panevezys Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts (Lithuania)
- Polish Chamber of Commerce (Poland)
- SYNTHESIS Centre for Research and Education (Cyprus)
- European Migrant Platform (Belgium)
