PROPOSE
PROPOSE is an acronym that sums up the objectives of our project: PROcesses, POlitics and Networks in Support of Women Returning to Tunisia and Morocco.
Processes are chains of action comprising various steps, procedures and activities involved in facilitating the return and reintegration of women in Tunisia and Morocco. These actions may include analysis of the needs of returning women, provision of essential services such as housing and health care, skills training and capacity building, community involvement and awareness-raising initiatives, and monitoring and evaluation of reintegration outcomes.
WE PROPOSE will produce an 'Inclusive Incubation Training Programme' for aspiring female entrepreneurs from a migration background, which will be designed to be replicable with other female entrepreneurs in different MENA countries, and a Toolkit for social workers aimed at developing activities that contribute to the development of the entrepreneurial capacity of returnees, as skills necessary for the expression of their individual agency and autonomy.
Policies are formal regulations that can facilitate or hinder people's projects: facilitating policies are those that make provisions for legal recognition of qualifications obtained abroad, access to social services, job opportunities, housing assistance and financial support for entrepreneurial initiatives. Conversely, we speak of restrictive or discriminatory policies where these risk creating obstacles to reintegration, such as limited access to education, employment discrimination, non-recognition of foreign status or insufficient support for family reunification.
WE PROPOSE will therefore work on evidence-based recommendations at national and European level to provide tools for improving return policies in Tunisia and Morocco (RVA&R and reintegration measures). The recommendations can be adapted to other countries in the MENA region.
Networks refer to the interrelationship that exists between returning women and government agencies, NGOs, community organisations and people committed to their success. These networks provide resources, information and assistance, ranging from job placement and vocational training to health and legal assistance, laying the foundation for an environment conducive to successful reintegration.
WE PROPOSE will develop evidence-based recommendations to strengthen the supporting action of civil society networks and associations.
Further Reading
Kenney, M., Breznitz, D., & Murphree, M. (2013). Coming back home after the sun rises: Returnee entrepreneurs and growth of high tech industries. Research Policy, 42(2), 391-407.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048733312001710
Lietaert, I., Derluyn, I., & Broekaert, E. (2014). Returnees' perspectives on their re‐migration processes. International Migration, 52(5), 144-158.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/imig.12052
Sinatti, G. (2011). ‘Mobile transmigrants’ or ‘unsettled returnees’? Myth of return and permanent resettlement among Senegalese migrants. Population, space and place, 17(2), 153-166.