Women empowering women: Successful integration in Vienna's neighborhood project

Women empowering women: Successful integration in Vienna's neighborhood project

In Vienna, the “Neighbours” association is actively involved in integration work for refugee women. This initiative supports newly arrived women by supporting them with women with their own migration experience. In this way, arriving in Austria is made easier and the support is provided in a multilingual and everyday form. On June 3rd, a press event took place in the association's sewing workshop in the 15th district, which offered many interesting insights into the work on site.

The association employs women who work as social assistants in five different native languages. This support usually lasts between six and twelve months. A central element of this support is personal contact: the social assistants visit the families in their homes and act as role models. In this way, the feeling of belonging is strengthened. Students also offer learning aids for children, which can be used on average for three hours per week.

First hand experiences

Firdes Acar, an experienced social assistant, has been supporting families since 2013 and has migration experience herself. She is the contact person for numerous topics such as the school system, healthcare and official channels. An impressive example of her work is a woman who was able to find a job as a kitchen helper through Acar after 20 years in the domestic environment. This shows how important the integration of women is for society, especially in view of the current labor shortage.

Particularly noteworthy is the club's sewing workshop, which has been producing upcycling products for eight years and employs seven seamstresses. In 2023, the sewing workshop achieved sales of 136,956 euros. This type of creative work gives many women not only income, but also a sense of self-realization.

New projects for empowerment

Another exciting project is already in the starting blocks: The “Frau.Macht.Recht” project is scheduled to begin in autumn 2025 and is aimed at women from a wide range of communities. The aim is to give them an understanding of access to democracy. Five workshops are planned for 75 women, which will conclude with creative videos for social media. Women's Minister Eva-Maria Holzleitner is also expected to be a guest of honor at the closing event.

In addition, the situation of refugee women in Germany must be taken into account in a broader context, where various projects have been set up to support people in need of protection. These initiatives emphasize women's empowerment and the importance of knowing their rights. The booklet “Rights for ALL Women” provides multilingual information about basic rights and is an important tool for many. Don’t we all need to understand a little better about how to support women? These approaches should also set a precedent in Austria integrationsleiter.de shows.

In summary, it can be said that the “Neighbours” association, with its projects and dedicated work, makes a valuable contribution to the integration of refugee women and at the same time plays an important role in society. The coming months will bring many exciting innovations aimed at empowering women and integrating them into the community, because as we know: integration works best together.