ForumSkill is a Swedish resource organisation, comprising four employees and based in Gothenburg with a focus on human rights. The activities at ForumSkill consist of Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISE), rehabilitative cultural work, and an educational section that offers lectures, workshops, and educational material in areas such as social enterprise, work environment, sexuality, and functionality.
“One of the human rights is the right to work, and so together with persons who have difficulty entering the work market. We have decided to focus on this target group and help support and start together with this group,” says Randi Myhre of ForumSkill.
Randi is Norwegian living in Sweden, now as a language teacher. She has 15 years of experience in intercultural development projects and started a second-hand shop with immigrants in Gothenburg, and another sewing enterprise together with newcomers from Syria and Afghanistan. She has made educational training materials for the workplace to train newcomers.
“I think in all countries, we are very fast to label people and put them into boxes. So, we want to get rid of those boxes,” adds Beatrice Alger, who is a director of ForumSkill and works for human rights.
Having worked with people with mental disabilities, Beatrice saw their potential and due to the mutual philosophy of “everyone was good at something,” she got into Forumskill.
They've heard that adult education in Norway is good and would have liked to compare the notes under different circumstances; along with how issues like funding and problems like social inaccessibility are addressed here.
Beatrice shared a success-story - “where a person had intellectual disabilities and was due to be put in a care home; but due to FormSkill’s intervention and an opportunity to work, now he has progressed so much!
Randi thoughtfully urged- “The majority of the population, they are like door openers or gatekeepers. Please open the doors. Give people a chance.”
About European Initiatives For An Inclusive Society:The Oslo Desk was invited to contribute to a third study visit of the Family+ project in Oslo under a three-day conference between 11th and 13th March. The project aims to overcome the social exclusion of families through family education and empowerment activities, adapted to the needs of the disadvantaged and migrant families. Therefore the conference is part of exchanging knowledge and practices between Germany, Sweden and Norway. However, the conference was cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown measures. In collaboration with Oslo VO Rosenhof, an adult learning centre, and funded by Erasmus plus programme of the European Union, are we able to produce a podcast season and series of articles.
Text and Podcast cover by Ka Man Mak and Kriti Thepade.
Podcast production by Ka Man Mak and Alex Whateley.
Articles by Maria Cecelia Ingles
Read articles: www.oslodesk.com