Objective: to promote innovative governance partnerships for social inclusion and exercise for the EU rights for underrepresented mobile citizens
Donor: European Union – Rights, Equality and Citizenship (REC) Programme
Period: 2 years (November 1 2019 – October 31 2021)
Total budget: € 393.168, 29
Lead: ActionAid
Partners:
Labsus (Laboratorio per la sussidiarietà), IT
CREA (Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agrarian), IT
CPE (Fundatia CPE - Centrul Parteneriat pentru Egalitateр), RO
CSCD (Center for Sustainable Communities Development), BG
ALDA (Association des Agencies de la democratie locale), FR
BRIGHT supports the access to gender responsive public services, (e.g.social housing, public transport to the workplace, community solutions for childcare), for Romanian and Bulgarian women employed in low standard labour sectors in Southern Italy. The core methodology is the adoption of the Public-Public Partnership Agreements as the result of a collaborative process among local institutions, EU citizens, employers, trade unions and CSOs to identify common needs and co-design services.
The pilot foresees the adoption of Public-Public Partnership Agreements in 4 hosting communities addressing mobile women employed in agriculture. This will increase their awareness and participation in local civic activities throughout the co-design of communities-based services. The BRIGHT model fosters the adoption of participatory governance systems to enable the participation of EU mobile citizens in decision- making processes.
A peer to peer actions and an online/offline campaign, in Romania and Bulgaria, create the link between sending and hosting countries and inform women about EU citizenship rights.
Beneficiaries and outputs:
800 Romanian and Bulgarian female EUMC employed with low standard and temporary contracts benefit of the activation of 4 gender responsive public services;
8 women are trained as community leaders;
400 women in the sending countries receive information about the EU rights and labour standards
60 women become Local Labour Mediators;
20 representatives of Italian local authorities co-design new instruments to foster inclusion and social cohesion with trade unions, employers and citizens;
5 EU local authorities join the training programme to adapt the Public-Public Partnership Agreement to their context.
WP1: Project management
Kick off meeting (16-17 Dec 2019): Coordination meeting with all partners aims to define and coordinate the strategy of the project, the work-plan and to inform partners about reporting technical and financial rules. 2 days meeting, 16 participants
Midterm meeting (dec 2020): Midterm meeting organized in the South of Italy. it has a double aim: inform about the adoption of the PuPs local stakeholders and project’s partners and to make the point on the implementation of the activities and of the expenditures and to plan the II year of activities. 2 days meeting plus travel; 30 participants: partners and associates.
Official reporting M12 and M 24. The Steering Committee guarantees the compliance with EC reporting requirements at the month 12 and 24 of the project., with the production of 2 technical and financial reports and the collection of all supporting documents. This includes the set-up of a reporting plan, to define ways of communication among partners, tools to submit documents and periodical verification with internal deadlines.
MEL M1-24. The Steering Committee and the Project Management Team coordinated by the AAIT MEL officer defines a comprehensive MEL plan to monitor the implementation of the activities and the results reached. The plan includes the project’s log frame with a detailed description of indicators, means of verification, frequency and roles and responsibilities for data collection. The plan will also indicate deadlines for internal and external reporting.
WP2: Pilot implementation and validation
Underrepresented groups are still invisible to effects of inclusion policies. The BRIGHT project responds to this gap through the activation of community based participatory process that will bring to the adoption of PuPs, by:
- involving 8 Romanian and Bulgarian women more integrated into the community that will be supported and trained to become Community Leaders and to generate a ripple effect
- motivating 80 Romanian and Bulgarian participants to act through Reflection-Action circles for women workers in agriculture
- supporting women in participation to the Labs aimed at acquire competences and information about their rights as EU citizens and their role as active member of the local communities. They will create a network with other women and local institutions, coming out from their condition of isolation
- activating of 4 services that will produce a positive impact on about 800 women living and working in the South of Italy, improving the quality of their daily life and the understanding of the importance of social participation
WP3: Informative and raising awareness activities in sending countries
One of the main factors of exclusion for the Romanian and Bulgarian women when they leave their countries is the low level of information about the EU labour rights for citizens working in another country and the absence of direct contact with associations and authorities in the host country.
The project foresees informative actions in Romanian and Bulgarian, addressing areas more interested by women departure. 60 Romanian and Bulgarian women will be trained to become Local Labour Mediators and to be active inside communities and women’s networks. The peer to peer approach and the collaboration with the local trade unions will allow to overcome the diffidence towards National and local institutional initiatives and to get in contact with at least 400 women that will be involved in Informative meetings and reached thanks to the distribution of 3.600 informative flyer. Flyer will include practical and legal information and the contacts of associations of mobile people that make the bridge between the countries.
Women will be informed also thanks to the dissemination of a documentary and online messages telling the story of a mobile women that will reach at least 3.000 women in Romania and Bulgaria
WP4: Adapting Public – Public Partnership Agreements
Objective: To enhance the capacity of local institutions and encouraging European countries to adopt participatory governance systems (such as PuPs) that enable the participation of mobile women in decision-making processes.
The BRIGHT project works in Italy with at least 20 representatives of local authorities; 20 employers and 20 members of CSOs and mobile associations to: identify the main gaps in service delivery; design collaborative solution; define the sustainability strategy to keep social cohesion.
After the pilot and the evaluation of the impact of the model on women’s social inclusion, the PuPs model will be reviewed and adapted to be implemented in other similar sectors (as cleaning and care services sectors) and in other local contexts facing the challenge of mobile citizens’ inclusion. The adaptation will include an analysis of existing legal frameworks in Europe and the production of a Handbook on community welfare solutions that will facilitate the adoption of PuPs.
This publication was funded by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020).