FEMPower: Vocational Training
Pathways to Success in Vocational Education and Training for Girls and Women with a Refugee Background
Project at a Glance
Project Description
The project brings together research, practice development, and migrant self-organizations (MSOs) from the outset as a coordinated and interconnected process that contributes sustainably to the equitable advancement of vocational education and training (VET).
According to the Central Register of Foreign Nationals, more than 260,000 refugee girls and women aged 15–27 were living in Germany at the end of 2022. Despite these numbers, little is known about their educational and training pathways, the intersectional barriers they face, and the factors that support their success. These issues will be explored through educational and vocational biographical interviews. Case biographies highlighting both enabling and risk factors will serve as the basis for the development and sustainable implementation of qualification and training measures for professionals working in schools and companies.
In addition, the FEMPower Advisory and Advocacy Board generates expertise grounded in lived experience, contributes this knowledge to the research process, and institutionalizes spaces for participation and decision-making through advocacy and political engagement. FEMPower is designed as a participatory process across two research sites (Bavaria and Lower Saxony) and, through the involvement of its practice partners—the Federal Association NeMO (Networks of Migrant Organizations) and the SchlaU Workshop for Migration Education—operates within a nationwide field of action.
The practice innovations FEMPower Board and FEMPower Training will be sustainably embedded in practice through the project’s partner organizations and additional cooperation partners, including chambers of commerce and industry, KAUSA service centers, and municipal educational management bodies.
Organisations
Subproject: FEMPower Research – Training Biographies of Girls and Women with a Refugee Background from the Perspective of Social Work
Munich University of Applied Sciences
Subproject: FEMPower Research – Vocational Education and Training Biographies of Girls and Women with a Refugee Background from a Vocational Education Perspective
Osnabrück University
Subproject: FEMPower Training – Anti-Discrimination Professional Development Measures for Practitioners in Vocational Education and Training
SchlaU-Werkstatt für Migrationspädagogik gGmbH
Subproject: FEMPower Board – Empowerment through Migrant Self-Representation for Trainees with Refugee Experience
Federal Association of Networks of Migrant Organizations (NeMO)
Sponsors
The project “Meta-project Migration, Integration, and Participation in Education” is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Family, Seniors, Women, and Youth and the European Union through the European Social Fund Plus (ESF Plus) as part of the “Integration through Education” program.
