UPO-Acoge Program is an initiative that was born to promote entrepreneurship and employability of migrant women.
UPO-Acoge Program is an initiative that was born from the collaboration between the Pablo de Olavide University and the Sevilla Acoge Foundation (FSA). This program is promoted by the Vice-Rector's Office for Strategy, Employability and Entrepreneurship, in order to optimize the employability of migrant women, both towards work for others and towards entrepreneurship. It aims at improving the personal and professional capacities and abilities of the users for labor insertion.
UPO-Acoge did a first pilot experience in 2019, aimed at twelve migrant young women of nationalities such as Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Brazil, whose objective is to improve the collective's self-confidence in their work options and sensitize them towards entrepreneurship, through an empowerment process personal and professional.
The UPO-ACOGE program is structured around three experiential workshops:
• Self-discovery process: soft but core skills "
• Emerging competencies ”. The aim of this second workshop is to identify and reinforce the professional and personal competencies of the users.
• CV and guidelines for job interviews.
Resources needed
Teachers responsible to uptake the different sessions.
Coordinating staff both from University Pablo de Olavide and Foundation Sevilla-Acoge.
Evidence of success
In total from the 27 women participants in 20109-2020 editions, 26% have achieved employment after their participation in the programme.
Difficulties encountered
In training activities with disadvantaged groups and at risk of social exclusion, the emotional management of the group is as important as the content of the course.
The involvement of University in this type of training activities is already a first boost for the self‐esteem of the group.
Potential for learning or transfer
When there is such a variety of characteristics in the students, and the course is of short duration, the methodology is key to the success of this training activity, since “it has been learned by doing”and“it has been learned by playing”. Consequently, for this methodology and attention to the group, it is necessary to select experts with the training and sensitivity necessary to manage it properly. These types of training actions can be perfectly extrapolated to other European countries where migratory pressure is also high, improving the chances of labor insertion of migrants, which improves their social conditions and those of their immediate family environment, resulting in the integration of person.
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Labour inclusion, Migration, Social inclusion
