• In the middle of December we published short film summing up 2 years of a project. In the production participated migrant women who benefited from the activities of the project – Hanna Kohlizuk, Katherina Lisovska, Oxana Lytvynenko, Khedi Alieva, project coordinator – Agata Maksimowska, vocational counselor – Anna Thieme, language teacher – Jolanta Skrzydło, and trainers who conducted workshops and supported  women in the project – Eliza Zielińska, Sylwia Chlebowska-Woźniak, Ewa Kozdraj and Alla Maievska.

• What is the labor law in Poland? What kind of documents should be prepared for an interview? How to find a good job offer on internet?  Where to go for a support and information? Those are just some of the information can be found on a leaflet we prepared for a migrant women looking for a job in Poland. Download the leaflet (in russion).
• “Together we can!”, “No one is illegal”, “Integration not assimilation”, those are just some of the leading ideas of the final Women’s Empowerment, Integration and Participation project meeting which took place in London in the middle of the November. Representatives of Karat Coalition, Agata Maksimowska – project coordintor and Kinga Lohmann – project expert, took part in all activities of the event.

• On 28 th of October final event of the project “Refugees women in Poland – meeting for allies women. (National Roundtable)” took place.  In the event, conducted by Magdalena Kawa, political scientist, antidiscrimination educator and activist working for refugees since 2009, took  part 11 refugees women from the Center for Refugges in Łuków and 19 allies, including journalists, psychologists and lawyers. During the Round Table, Magdalena Kawa presented the burning issues of the situation of refugees women in Poland. Also, refugees women presented their daily life in the Refugees Center, both their needs and problems. Part of the meeting was dedicated to the discussion of the possibilities of support from the expert women representing journalists’, psychologists’ and lawyers’ communities.

Video from the National Rondtable is available here:

• On one before last weekend of October two days wendo workshop for migrant women took place. In the workshop took part migrant women from 6 different countries, speaking 3 different languages. With the vigilant eye of  two trainers – Olesya Malyugina and Jola Gawęda, participants worked on self confidence at workplace.

• On 20 th September the Conference “Being a migrant women” took place. Three panels were held during the conference – „Migrant women on the labour market in Poland”, „Challenges of motherhood as seen by migrant women in Poland” and „Integration policies of local governments versus needs of migrant women”. Additionally, dr Olena Babakova, gave a presentation about representation of migrant women in the public sphere. In the event took a part aproximetely 50 people.
  

• Another worskhop from the series of “Handicraft and labour market. Creating own product – rules of promotion and sale workshops” took place in a Refugee Center in Łuków. This two days workshop inaugurated activities of Women’s Encounters Club. This time nine refugee women have learnt how to manage promotion and sale process on the example of making macramé.

• On the last weekend of July in a Refugee Center in Łuków “Handicraft and labour market. Creating own product – rules of promotion and sale workshops” took place. The workshop was  addressed to a group of women refugees.  During the meeting participants of the workshop created hand-made notebooks and learned about the marketing and selling process of the handicrafts.

• On 15th of June  Agata Maksimowska, coordinator of a WEIP project and  Kinga Lohmann, project’s expert, took a part in a “Migrant and Refugee Women’s Integration and Empowerment in Europe: Common challenges, good practices and opportunities for improved support” conference organized by Italian organization Differenza Donna. This event took place in Casa Internazionale delle Donne – an international house of women, created by 40 associations working on common good. Conference was divided into two panels – first – „Challenges and opportunities for integration of MRW in Europe” was about situation of migrants and refugees women in Europe, second – „Empowerment and political participation” was dedicated to the subject of international solidarity and possibilities of collaborative coopeartion in favour of situation of women in nowdays Europe issues. Kinga Lohmann had a presentation about the situation of migrants in Poland.

• On 28th – 30th of May representatives of Coalition Karat partook in a study visit in Gotenburg, Sweden. On a special request, both of them prepared presentations, Kinga Lohmann presented situation of migrantion policy in Poland, Agata Maksimowska had a presentation about Women’s Network – initiative of immigrants and refugees involved in fighting for their rights. Apart from Karat Coalition, 3 other organizations took part in this meeting – Wide Austria, Le Monde Selon Les Femmes oraz Centro de Estudios e Investigacion sobre Mujeres.

• On 25 th of May 12 participants staying in a Refugee Center in Łuków got the certificates of Polish Language Course on A1/B2 level.  Course was supported by “Stowarzyszenia dla Ziemi” association.

• On 21-22 of April took place 2nd Feminist Encounter which hosted feminists from different countries including Poland, Belarus, Chechnya, Georgia, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkey and Ukraine. During two days meeting we held a space for disscussions about the most important issues migrants and refugees face. Women shared experiences and actions to obbey their rights, and to jointly develop demands addressed to decision-makers and NGOs to improve the situation.
  

• In reponse to the needs of our beneficiaries, we decided to organize a training with a lawyer Ałła Maievska, employment legislation expert. Ałła had a presentation about labour market in Poland. This day, she focused on health insurance system issues and a cases of nostrification of diplomas in Poland.

• On 25 th of March in cooperation with a Club of Ukrainian Women we held a training “How to find perfect of job?”. Training was conducted by Iwona Cichowicz, who is a trainer with over 10 years experience. Iwona facilitated a process of job coaching during which participants had a chance to work on a map of competences for instance.  8 hour training was introduced by Kinga Lohmann, director od Karat Coalition, who presented gender perpspective in a process of looking for a job.

• Finally, language courses in Refugees Center in Łuków, has started!  12 particpants will take a part in 3 months polish language course on A1/B1 level.

• On 3rd March workshop about the most important issues connected with looking for a job process, took place in our office. Workshop was held by the lawyer – Ałła Maievska who talked about labor law and how to cope with difficult situations in a workplace.

March 2018

• On 20 th of January 2018 we welcomed, both, emigrants and feminist activists on network building event. Women were to exchange their experience, as well from the emigrants point of view, as from the active feminist living in Poland. Second day was dedicated to work out possibilties for cooperation and support for these two groups of women. Both meetings were conducted by Jola Gawęda and Olesya Malyugina.

January 2018

• On 12th of December we had to say good-bye to a group of fantastic women who accomplished a three months language course on B2 level. It was a pure pleasure to work with those ladies!

• On 11th of December we held a working meeting of partner organizations. For two days we had a chance to exchange ideas, discuss current affairs, build a promotion strategy and celebrate our projects’ successes. In a meeting, apart from Karat Coalition, took a part representatives of 4 organizations – LAWRS from Spain, Differenza Donna from Italy,  LAWRS from Great Britain.

December 2017

• Last weekend of November, together with Club of Ukrainian Women and WenDo Warsaw Initiative, we organized workshop for emigrants and refugees women “WenDo – safety and self confidence at workplace”. Worshop was a part of 16 Days Against Violence Due to a Gender.

• On 17th of November we hosted an employment legislation expert – lawyer Alla Majewska. Alla conducted a workshop about appurtenances of employers and employees in Poland.

November 2017

• On September 13th, an introductory meeting was held for individual consultations devoted to the latest trends in the labor market. Participants listened to the experts on labour market. Anna Węglicka from the Mazovian Labor Market Observatory (Voivodship Labor Office) gave a presentation on the latest labor market trends based on the data on jobis in demand.  Kinga Lohmann presented the results of Karat’s research, encouraging the participants to reflect on the unconscious gender stereotypes that determine our professional choices. Piotr Thieme talked about the employment agencies and where to look for assistance in job searching. Finally, Zbigniew Wejcman from Boris Association talked about the merits of the collective actions and the social economy entities. When the experts had finished their presientations the participants asked questions and discussed the problems and challenges they have faced so far on Polish labour market. The women could sign up for free individual professional consultations.

September 2017

• On September 12th  the Polish language course started in Warsaw. It will be finished on December 15th  2017. Two groups of women migrants learn Polish at the A2 / B1 level. The advanced level focuses not only on grammar, but also on vocabulary related to work in Poland and everyday life. We attach great importance to the issues of cultural differences and women’s rights in Poland and in other countries.

September 2017

• A three -month basic Polish language course for the women refugees from the Center for Foreigners in Łuków finished in July. In September begins a new course, this time for women migrants in Warsaw. The Polish language course is not only a grammar but also an opportunity to talk about everyday life and work in Poland from the perspective of women. We will also start our workshop cycle soon. Based on 97 questionnaires among women migrants and refugees, we identified their main needs and the topics of the workshops. The workshops will be led by the Polish experts in September, October and November. The women migrants will be able to participate in workshops on career choices, labor law and how to cope with difficult situations in a workplace. The slogan of the project is the Power of Women! Power in diversity and solidarity!

August 2017

• On June 28th the representatives of Karat Coalition met with the women refugees in the Center for Foreigners in Lukow. The women refugees are participating in the Polish language lessons within the project.

• On 20 – 21 st of June, representatives of partner organizations of „Women’s Empowerment Integration and Participation” project participated in a coordinative meeting in Madrid.  Red Acoge, hosting organization implementing project in Spain, presented activities run in Procomar Valladolid Acoge. That was a chance to encounter emigrants involved in a project activities, such as language course and workshops.

• The inaugural meeting of the „Women’s Empowerment, Integration and Participation” project took place at the main office of Latin American Women’s Right Service in London.  During two days event, representatives of Karat Coalition,  LAWRS (UK), Red Acoge (Hiszpania), Differenza Donna (Włochy) elaborated plans for the 2 years project activities.