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Published on: 08/06/2023Updated on: 08/06/2023
Personal and household service activities are full-fledged professions requiring specific skills and interpersonal abilities that are often underestimated. While migrant populations are widely represented in the dependency care and home support sector for elderly people in the European Union, they don't always have solid qualifications. Promoting their socio-professional integration through professionalization is the challenge taken up by IPERIA, the coordinator of the MiCare project, and its partners. Let's focus on this European Commission-supported project whose final conference is on June 19 in Paris.
Domestic work and migration: a win-win encounter
In 2020, in the European Union, elderly people (65+) represented 20.6% of the total population, which should reach nearly 30% by 2050*. The European population is aging, making it urgent to anticipate support for seniors. But the domestic work sector is under pressure. In France, an estimated 800,000 positions must be filled by 2030**. Meanwhile, the migrant population, particularly women, faces integration challenges and concentrates its activity in sectors that are little or unrecognized and undervalued, such as domestic work. Foreign-born populations are already very active in the domestic work sector. In Europe, the number is estimated at 8 million: 90% are women, and 70% are migrants (average in France, Italy and Spain*).From these observations, the MiCare project was born, and launched in November 2020, whose mission is to promote the socio-professional integration of migrant populations with in-home support for dependent persons. The challenge? Enabling, through professionalization, a win-win encounter between a high-demand sector and a workforce seeking integration and qualification. MiCare is coordinated by IPERIA, supported by the European Commission as part of its Erasmus+ program, and implemented in partnership with Austria, Spain, Finland, and Italy.
Tools to support skill development of migrant populations
Specifically, support for migrant populations within the MiCare project is provided through several tools produced by the partner consortium:
- A framework defining key competencies required for migrant populations working in elderly people's homes, followed by a training framework with a standard part for all participating countries and a specific part adapted to each country's needs and context.
- A professional positioning tool for evaluating migrant workers' knowledge and skills, identifying missing competencies and how to acquire them through specific training.
- A set of educational resources designed to support the socio-professional integration of migrant populations, focused on cultural and linguistic aspects, communication, and interpersonal skills.
Through this project, which aligns with one of the Erasmus+ priorities for adult continuing education, the objective is to help candidates acquire transversal skills and, ultimately, move toward more targeted professional training.
Final conference on June 19 in Paris: registration is open
To carry out this project, IPERIA mobilizes several of its teams. On the front line, our European and international project design and management experts (Marion Marty, Camille Savre, and Frédérik Costallat) maintain constant contact with partners, supported by teams involved in producing and implementing training tools and pathways, and by other experts. All will gather on Monday, June 19, for the project's final conference titled: "The personal and household services sector, a driver for professional and social integration of people with migration backgrounds, the example of the European MiCare project." It is a day of round tables, debates, and testimonials, with a European perspective and focus on different national contexts.
Here are some of the themes that will be highlighted:
- Demographic trends in Europe and the challenges of evolving family needs regarding aging support
- Professional and social integration of people with migration backgrounds
- Proposed tools to support skill development and professionalization of employees working with elderly people
*Source: Eurostat, 2019B
*Source: data reevaluated following the "Prospective study of the professional branches of childcare providers and domestic employees of individual employers: meeting the challenges of employment, professions, and skills by 2030", directed by Eva Barachino and Nadège Turco, IPERIA, Paris, 2021.
