Questions/Answers

The objective of the project "Competence checks for vocational integration of women aged 18 and over", which is being carried out by ABZ*AUSTRIA in cooperation with update training, is to record the educational path of the participants and their previous work experience, to identify possible career opportunities on the Austrian labour market and to filter which opportunities could be opened up by additional training. In addition, previous professional experiences are described and the "competence check expertise" is carried out, in which an assessment of the competences is made. In this project, the women are accompanied for 7 weeks and have the opportunity to do internships/trials at companies. The language of instruction is Farsi or Arabic, training and counselling are carried out exclusively by mother-tongue experts. In addition, a final report also contains statements on other competences and formal qualifications. The possibilities of internships are explored together with the women. The results of the competence check will then be incorporated to the Austrian Labour Market Service as a "results report". At the end of the competence check, each participant has a completed CV, an overview of the qualifications and, in many cases, an internship or a concrete job offer.

Women, due to the pressure to have to work quickly, often become active in help activities, e.g. in the cleaning industry, altough they are often better qualified than their male compatriots. They should be given the time to work in a field that matches their qualifications. An important goal of the project is therefore that women do not get into low-threshold jobs for the wrong reasons.Especially for women with an escape background, the danger of getting into a job for which they are overqualified is greater than for men. To prevent this situation, ABZ*AUSTRIA looks after women.

The aim is to empower women to overcome gender-specific hurdles and to prepare them for the Austrian labour market and to enable equal access to education.The project wants to give women a chance to develop in the best possible way and make a career decision. As a non-profit association for the promotion of work, education and the future of women which is committed in its work to the equality of women and men on the labour market, it was a logical conclusion that ABZ*AUSTRIA was the organisation for the competence check of the target group women 18+.

Due to the increased immigration figures in 2015, we were confronted with the situation of having potential employees on the one hand who did not know the peculiarities and norms of the Austrian labour market and therefore had difficulties in making their competences and qualifications visible, and on the other hand companies which did not know how to integrate the new target group sustainably. In order to make efficient use of this potential, early intervention was undertaken to integrate the refugees as quickly as possible into the Austrian labour market. To respond to the challenges, the pilot project "Competence Check" was launched in cooperation with labour market policy experts, in which ABZ*AUSTRIA was already actively involved during the conception phase. As a first step, the focus is on orientation and preparation for the new labour market. The immigrants were able to contribute their knowledge, expand their language skills, expand their social network and become financially independent. The aim is to assess the potentials, strengths and abilities in the three fields of competence of professional, personal and social competence. Work tests support the classification and validation of the competences and skills mentioned.

Due to the increased immigration in 2015/2016 it was essential to support integration into the labour market. Offers were needed for the acquisition of skills.The competence check is offered in Farsi/Dari and Arabic, even if the women speak German well, it is easier to talk about competences in their mother tongue. We offer Workshops on the Austrian labour market, living in Vienna, job search, etc. Individual coaching concentrates on abilities and potentials of the woman. We support with formal recognition of qualifications, applications for internships, vocational training. Close cooperation with companies in Austria makes practical testing in working life possible

In a first step, the project was developed and conceived as a pilot project with the Arbeitsmarktservice Wien. After the successful implementation of the pilot, the project was continued and expanded.

The measure was presented during the Peer Review in June 2017, hosted by the BMASK and bringing together goverment representatives and independent experts from eight EU Member States. Representatives from ABZ*AUSTRIA, Austrian Development Agency and the EU also participated. As part of the EU Erasmus programme, the managing director of ABZ*AUSTRIA and the project manager of the project travelled to Berlin for an exchange with organisations involved in integration and the labour market. The project Competence Check was accepted as Best Practice with an article for the German organization: Minor - Project account for education and research non-profit limited company

The team is characterised by the exclusive use of female coaches and trainers who are specialised in working with migrant women through different educational and experience. The project manager herself has Farsi as her mother tongue and grew up in Iran. A project assistant, who also speaks Farsi, is available for the operative implementation. In the composition of the team of trainers for the languages Farsi, Dari and Arabic, it was taken care to ensure that the trainers come from different countries of these national languages. A total of EUR 869,909.33 was available for the 2017/2018 project round.

The Competence Check project aims to guarantee women with a refugee background equal access to the labour market and to high-quality technical, vocational and tertiary education to secure their livelihood. To this end, the existing competences must first be recorded. People have different qualifications and competences. Many have no formal proof because they could not be taken along on the run or were lost. The competence check counteracts de-qualification due to non-recognition of qualifications in the host country. The aim is for fugitive women to become self-employed in the long term and receive jobs and training that secure their livelihood, rather than accepting jobs that do not match their qualifications and opportunities in the short term. The strengthening of women's ability to act and their empowerment at the individual level also play a major role. On request, women often reported to have no qualifications. If one goes deeper into the matter, they find, for example, that the women in the country of origin have sewn clothes for an entire village or cooked for 200 people. In the long term, women are also role models for their children, ensuring better and equal access to education and training for the next generation.

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Peer Reviews are one of the main mutual learning processes between governments of EU member states, which are funded by the European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. The department for Migration and Globalisation contributes to two of Peer Reviews, dealing with the Competence Check for the Labour Market Integration of Refugees', which has been developed by the Austrian Public Employment Services, one with an overview on national policies for the Labour Market Integration of Refugee's. Experts from Austria, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovania and the AMS and the European Commision participated in the Peer Review.

■ In which phase of the integration process is the qualification validation process carried out in the participating countries and who leads this process? ■ Development of tailor-made tools for the validation of skills for female refugees. Strengths/weaknesses of the instruments ■ Combination process and outcomes of qualification validation with targeted labour market integration and up/retraining (i.e. taking into account skills shortages and quality of employment) ■ Effectiveness of approaches by subgroup of female refugees and sustainability ■ Success factors and transferability for national contexts ■ Lessons for future policy from the approaches implemented in the participating countries

In principle, the Competence Check is a rather compact measure (5-7 weeks duration), with potential interfaces to a variety of other measures (e.g. in the context of the Integration Year) and actors (e.g. in the context of the Trial Internship, or for the recognition of qualifications). It is also highly transferable adaptable to various contexts, as the Austrian experience in rolling out this measure has shown.

In order to support the process of labour market integration of female refugees, the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection together with the Labour Market Service in cooperation with ABZ*AUSTRIA has developed the project for female refugees. ABZ*AUSTRIA work includes the close cooperation with companies. Companies are stakeholders, they contribute to the sustainable integration of people in their companies, but also in society. The cooperation with companies made it possible for the participants to gain a realistic insight into the respective job description. This ensures that the refugee women find a sustainable job that matches their abilities.

Gender homogeneous groups promote peer-learning Participants benefit from courses in their native language Course duration must be at least 7 weeks to have a lasting effect Alphabetisation in the native language is necessary to learn German Participants are highly motivated and appreciate being able to work in Austria Schedule must be compatible with family duties and other courses Cooperation with enterprises takes time