We can define good practices or best practices are "success stories" . Our objective with IMINET is to learn about them and conclude why certain programmes and measures for the labour insertion of immigrants are successful.

Many times these successful programmes will not be able to be transferred to other contexts without adaptation. According to different economic, social and legal environments, different solutions will emerge.

The knowledge of these good practices will get :
- Inspire new programmes and measures.
- Help to make comparative analyses.
- To learn from others' mistakes.
- Save time in reinventing already existing and succesful programmes.

"on line" form

The immigrant must occupy the leading place, and must have an active participation in the programme. This participation is achieved when the immigrant finds solution to its lacks and feels his potentials valued.

The concrete actions will be developed in the framework of an integral action. An integral focus must be given to the problems and solutions: to work the basic needs together with the labour integration.

It’s essential to work and promote the immigrant’s motivation, in a way that he/she understands the values of the reception society, accepts them in a positive way, and uses them for his/her own integration. In this sense it’s necessary to involve local networks or local women associations in the integration process of immigrant women, who generally suffer discrimination more than men.

The concrete projects must be framed and co-operate with the projects and networks of associations and entities that offer support to the immigrant at a local level. Need of co-operation.

It’s essential to individualize the action plans (and their monitoring), in order that they can be adapted to each immigrant, and make possible his participation in its creation and development.

The immigrant must have permanent accompanying in his/her basic needs : housing, education and work… and when they start an entrepreneurial activity.

To highlight efforts in the learning by the immigrant of the reception country language. If he/she knows the language, the immigrant will be much more receptive and will perceive better the new reality. The success possibilities in his/her integration multiply.

It’s necessary to streamline programmes that make possible an improvement of the personal and social qualifications, the knowledge on the reception country labour market, and a vocational training fitted to the local labour market.

To work as much as possible with the reception society through awareness raising actions, information… training for the personnel of public services (local authorities offices), who work specifically to enhance the immigrants’ integration, through the organization of basic culture and language courses.

To organize ad hoc information campaigns so that these services are concretely and correctly used by immigrant people.

An Insertion Itinerary is defined as the planned and individualised process, of continuous and progressive character that should be carried out for obtaining a job. During all the process, a specialised technician for orientation carries out the accompanying to the immigrant.

To carry out the insertion itinerary it’s important to plan a calendar of activities and to implement an evaluation – valuation of the achievements got.

In general, it would comprise the following steps:

1st stage: Identification of knowledges and abilities.

The immigrant must take into account the already acquired knowledges. This will let him/her:
- To analyse until where he/she is able.
- What lack to complete the training wished.

The aim of this stage is to know the present abilities, so as to identify afterwards which training would complete his/her qualification and how to get it.

2nd stage: Knowledge of the labour market.

The objective is to know the socio-economic environment and identify the employment possibilities. There are two sorts of elements that must be identified:

- External (those that can’ be controlled) that would be limitations of work offers, situation of the market, more demanded sectors or economic recession etc
- Internal (those that can be controlled) that would be those related to the training, strategies, time…

The means to know the environment are the professional orientation services, employment offices, business organisations, chambers of commerce, press etc Through these services we will know the type of companies and predominant sectors in the area, most demanded occupations and work posts, economic forecasts… It’s useful to remember the new employment niches: proximity services (Elder care, children care, building security…); quality of life (improvement of housings, renovation of quarters, collective taxis for rural areas…) and environment protection.

3rd stage: To define the professional project.

The professional project supposes to define the professional aims, to decide what it’s wanted to do, to calculate the employment possibilities, the personal needs, and to valuate the difficulties existing until to achieve the aim proposed.

What do I want to do?. To work with people, with objects, with words, with numbers.
What can I do? Abilities, experience, training and personality.
What is convenient I do? Depending on market and the two previous.

It lets specify what type of work it’s wished and the training that is convenient to carry out for obtaining the objective.

Means:

- Exercise of self-knowledge: Personal preferences and limitations.
- To be inform about the socio-economic situation in the area
- To plan concrete aims and the fitting steps to achieve them.

4th stage: Design of the Training Itinerary.

Once the objective is designed, it’s defined the adequate training to achieve it in relation to the mechanisms and resources existing in the community of reception, and possible specific jobs. This is implemented through the following actions:

- Training in the language and culture of the reception community
- Training for the employment
- Vocational training
- Alternation training
- Workshops – schools.
- Professions Schools.

5th stage: Identification of the employment potential activity.

Identification of employment activity according to the existing offers in the community of reception and the profile of the immigrant, and when needed labour mediation.

6th stage: Evaluation of the insertion itinerary

It’s implemented a continuous monitoring of the degree of integration of the immigrant in the different training and employment mechanisms, redefining if needed the insertion itinerary.

IMINET. Networking for the socio-labour inclusion of immigrants (2002- 2003).

IMINET is a project financed by the programme "Preparatory actions to fight and combat the social exclusion" of the General Directorate of Employment and Social Affairs of the European Commission.

IMINET has as a main aim to prepare the future action plans of the partners organisations in the field of fighting against the social and labour exclusion of the immigrant, through the exchange and learning of the most effective programmes, methods or campaigns that are being applying in Europe.

The project will implement an ambitious transnational exchange of information and good practices with the purpose of identifying positive experiences across the European Union, knowing better the exclusion processes of the immigrant and improving the work methods in order to achieve a higher rate of labour insertion and combat the social exclusion.

Actions.

1- Identification and exchange of the best practices on work methods and programmes aimed at supporting the socio-labour insertion of immigrants that are being carried out across Europe and elaboration of a multilingual catalogue and a Decalogue of recommendations with the results of this search action.

2- Detailed analysis of the immigration phenomena in the partners areas of action, Aragon, Veneto, Copenhagen and Hamburg : features, legal context, socio-labour situation, in order to know better the exclusion processes that immigrants suffer in each area and how the support programmes work to help them.

3- Development of model pathways of training / insertion that correct the exclusion factors identified and help the immigrant to integrate effectively in the labour market.

4- Dissemination of the results obtained at a European level.

Partners:

CONFEDERACIÓN DE EMPRESARIOS DE ARAGÓN (E)
COPENHAGEN CITY (DK)
LAWAETZ STIFTUNG (D)
UNIONE REGIONALE DELLE CAMERE DI COMMERCIO DE VENETO (I)
GOBIERNO DE ARAGÓN (E)
UNIÓN GENERAL DE TRABAJADORES ARAGON (E)
FUNDACIÓN FEDERICO OZANAM (E)
ADMINISTRAZIONE PROVINCIALE DI BELLUNO (I)
IRECOOP VENETO (I)