WAFIRA - Women As Financially Independent Rural Actors
Duration
October 2021 - February 2025Budget
EUR 3,249,603.84 (of which 95% from AMIF)
Implemented by
The Secretary of State for Migration (SEM) of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration of Spain and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) are implementing this project in collaboration with the Spanish Agri-Food Cooperatives-Andalusia (Spain) and Agence Nationale de Promotion de l'Emploi et des Compétences – ANAPEC (Morocco).
WAFIRA - Women As Financially Independent Rural Actors, is an initiative that seeks to maximise the development impact of circular migration and mobility between Morocco and Spain – through the sustainable socio-economic reintegration of female Moroccan seasonal workers participating in a circular migration scheme between Morocco and Spain (entitled GECCO). WAFIRA will provide them with the necessary skills and financial means to launch their own income generating activities (IGAs) and/or cooperatives upon return to their rural communities of origin in Morocco.
Partners
Activities
Pre-Departure Phase
Awareness raising events will be held in select communities to target migrant women candidates that have participated in circular migration schemes in Spain’s agriculture sector in the past (i.e. GECCO) and have been selected for the 2022 and/or 2023 seasons, to set the stage for selection of WAFIRA participants. The project will select 250 participants based on set criteria, with 50 women constituting the first cohort for mobility and 200 as the second cohort. The pre-departure phase will also entail the provision of a pre-departure ILO business and coaching training, soft-skills training, and financial education training, among others.
Mobility Phase
Once the women migrant workers are mobilised to Spain, they will receive comprehensive business, financial, soft skills and entrepreneurship/self-employment training, including on the formation and management of cooperatives and in agriculture/environment protection techniques. In parallel with the training sessions in Spain, participants will be encouraged to apply their knowledge and progressively shape IGA ideas and capture them in the form of business plans that encompass either the formation of individual business or cooperatives.
Re-integration and Income Generation Support Phase
Upon returning to Morocco, women migrant workers participating in the project will receive follow up support through the formation of small training groups and coaching sessions with various ILO-certified trainers and national partners to fine-tune their business plans and launch their respective IGAs in the form of cooperatives or MSMEs. National training partners (ANAPEC, OFPPT, others) will also provide vocational training on the basis of demand. During this phase, it is also envisaged that a funding mechanism will be established to support the launch of the women-led cooperatives and/or MSMEs.
Strengthening Moroccan Institutions to Provide Follow-up Business and Training Support
This component of WAFIRA aims to support Moroccan institutions in building capacity to implement reintegration activities for circular migrant workers, in particular the provision of tailored and targeted financial and non-financial business development services. Moroccan institutions will be supported with conducting a market analysis that will examine the skill gaps and needs of women seasonal workers in order to develop a bank of business ideas for rural women and to adapt their vocational training programmes to seasonal migrant needs.
