FORWORK
FORWORK
Project for the labour market integration of asylum seekers in Italy and Albania, co-financed by the European Commission under the EASI - PROGRESS program.
About the project
Fostering Opportunities of Refugee Workers (FORWORK) is a pilot project aimed at the labour market integration of asylum seekers and refugees hosted in reception centers (CAS) in Piedmont (Italy) and Albania. The project, funded by the European Commission, is coordinated by the Italian National Agency for Active Employment Policies (ANPAL) in collaboration with eight partner institutions including ITCILO.
Who is it for?
The target population of FORWORK is asylum-seeking individuals and refugees in the Italian region of Piedmont. Most of them are hosted in the Centri di Accoglienza Straordinaria (CAS), centres contracted by the Ministry of Interior that provide only basic services and very limited opportunities for labour market integration.
FORWORK-ITCILO ACTION
The ITCILO component of the action revolves around the following objectives:
Selection of functioning practices implemented in EU countries
ITCILO identified and review practices of labour market integration of refugees and asylum seekers from other EU countries, including institutional approaches for multi-partner engagement in programme and service delivery. The process of case selection was mainly articulated into four main stages:
- Initial Mapping
Consultation of internal and external partners in order to map promising practices. - Applying pre-requisite criteria (for the long list)
Pre-requisite criteria such as clear goals in terms of integration and inclusion of refugee people, anti-discriminatory/equality of treatment and opportunity and measures conducted by a variety of stakeholders carried out at regional, national or local level in the European Union. - Applying qualifying criteria
The qualifying criteria are: Effectiveness, Degree of Innovation, Degree of Sustainability, Potential of replicability and/or scaling. - Selected functioning practices
The interview has been conducted by ITCILO based on a semi-structured questionnaire.
Practices
The Refugee Talent Hub (RTH), based in the Netherlands, brings employers and refugee talents closer together with the goal of paid employment. Refugees and employers often struggle to find one another, even though refugees could fill the gap in the labour market. The RTH organizes company visits, trainings, courses, work experience programs and other activities throughout the Netherlands with the dream to create a more diverse and inclusive labour market.
Bee My Job is a project led by APS Cambalache, based in Alessandria (Italy). Bee My Job tackles inequalities in accessing wage earning employment for refugees in Italy. This is by providing professional training and facilitating access to dignified job opportunities in the beekeeping and agricultural field. It also builds capacities of social workers in the design of innovative projects and services which address refugees’ social and job inclusion needs.
EMBRACE was a project led by En.A.I.P. Piemonte with activities throughout Italy, France, Germany, Denmark and Spain. The main objective of the EMBRACE project was to test and implement a methodology for the identification and validation of non-formal and informal skills and learning for newly arrived in Europe third country citizens.
Labour INT2 is the second phase of a project coordinated by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). Labour INT2 is a multi-stakeholder approach to promote the inclusion of asylum-seekers and refugees in the labour market. It promotes multi-layered integration paths, from arrival up to the workplace, passing through education, training and job placement.
MILMA is a project lef by Fuenlabrada City Hall, in Spain. The objective of MILMA is to generate an efficient model of access to employment, work reconversion and inclusion, which in addition helps to improve the number and the opportunities of access to employment, promotes exchange and mutual knowledge, facilitates and promotes inclusion processes and the strengthening of social cohesion in Fuenlabrada.
Magdas Hotel is Austria’s first hotel run as a social business, part of the magdas social business group. Magdas Hotel in Vienna is run by refugees and tourism professionals. Magdas addresses the problem of labour market integration for refugees by providing refugees with training and employment in the hospitality sector.
Share Fair Event
ITCILO was involved in the organization and implementation of the Share Fair Event.
Community of Practice
The second part of the event focused on the support measures implemented under the framework of the FORWORK project. Our partners shared their experience, challenges and lessons learned in areas such as: Job Mentoring & EU Skills Profile Tool; Job Coaching & Traineeships; Cultural Mediation; Skills Recognition and Training courses (language, civic education and vocational training.
