Category: HOMEPAGE

800 people were supported in 2020 by the Accounting Service at the Athens Solidarity Center

Posted on Tuesday June 30th, 2020
Moe Hashemi

The period of the tax statements’ submission has started at the Solidarity Center, for everyone!

Preparing and submitting the annual tax declaration is not a simple matter for all people. This happens because they are not aware of the submission process but mainly because they are uninformed that from the fulfilment of this obligation derive many rights strongly linked to improving daily life; both for themselves and their families. In order to respond to the above described need, the Accounting Service operating -among other services- in the SolidarityNow Athens Solidarity Center actively supported more than 800 of our fellow citizens to claim a better quality of life from the beginning of 2020.

SolidarityNow’ s Solidarity Center in Athens (ASC) responds, through its free services, to every social need in an immediate and effective way. The main goal always remains to support and facilitate the most vulnerable population groups. This happened during the recent health crisis when we adjusted our activities due to the unprecedented conditions and this is happening now that the Solidarity Center is operating again with the physical presence of its workers and beneficiaries.

Accounting & Counseling service

We are going through the period of submitting tax declarations. For a significant percentage of people – Greeks and non-Greeks alike, filling a tax statement is a prerequisite for receiving benefits, insurance/security numbers and supporting documents, as well as other social benefits that are often the only income for them and their only ability not to be “invisible” citizens, but to claim their rights.

The Accounting & Counseling Service, which operates at the Athens Solidarity Center since April 2018, covers pro bono the needs of many of our fellow human beings, providing:

  • Counseling and guidance for municipal benefits, social benefits, debt settlements and
  • Accounting and tax support for individuals.

January – June 2020

From the beginning of 2020 until today (first semester), 800 people have benefited from the Accounting & Consulting Service, with 1 in 5 being Greek-speaking, 1 in 4 being Farsi-speaking and 1 in 3 being Arabic-speaking. In the framework of the Service’s operation and through its specialized staff, the following are offered: issuance and renewal of unemployment card, renewal of free card for the people with disabilities in public transport, issuance of VAT, debt settlement regulations, request for social electricity tariff, request and activation of personal code number (kleidarithmos), statements for accounts’ unseizability, application for benefits.

“It’s not just a tax statement or an application for a benefit. In our contact with the beneficiaries, and in order to offer them what they need, we learn about their lives. We are faced with so many different problems, so many different lives. Our first concern is to be close to the most vulnerable. Due to the pandemic, as soon as we returned back to the Solidarity Center, we called our elderly beneficiaries to let them know that we are here, close to them, and ready to welcome them again and help them be consistent with their obligations. Respectively, we informed, through the social media and in various languages, the beneficiaries who do not speak Greek. I feel that I offer a lot by practically supporting people who are most in need“, says Stelios Tsavalas, Head of the Accounting & Consulting Service.

Learn more about the Athens Solidarity Center and its free services at https://www.solidaritynow.org/kentro-allileggiis-athinas/.

**The Athens Solidarity Center is financed by EEA and Norway Grants, with HumanRights360 and CROWE Greece as the fund operator. The Center is also supported by the Municipality of Athens.

Finding work is easier with new technology to help migrants enter the job market

Posted on Friday June 19th, 2020

A new serious game application launches in time for World Refugee Day June 20, 2020

To mark World Refugee Day on June 20, 2020, a new application called WORKEEN launches to help migrants, asylum seekers and refugees gain access to the job market.

WORKEEN is a serious game application, created by a team of political scientists, sociologists, economists and software engineers based in seven European countries and in Canada, to provide practical guidance and hands-on soft-skills training for anyone entering the labour market for the first time. The application draws from the research conducted in the Horizon 2020 research project SIRIUS “Skills and Integration of Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Applicants in European Labour Markets” and is one of the first of its kind to offer interactive “training” that helps recently arrived migrant job seekers and EU citizens that are new entrants to the labour market, effectively obtain and start a job in their new country.

The application guides job seekers through the two stages of job search and workplace integration. It provides extensive information on how to adjust to new or unknown work and social environments and provides interactive gaming scenarios to help users develop the soft skills they need to be successful.

Stage 1) What you need to know and do to obtain a job offer

The first stage of WORKEEN helps the migrant, asylum seeker or the refugee follow all the necessary steps to secure an offer of employment. The application provides a checklist to help the user identify documentation they will need in their job search, such as their identity documents, language certificates, evidence of previous employment or education, and work permits. The user is then guided on how to present their skills and past experience through the creation of an online profile that is relevant to the new work and social environment they are entering.  WORKEEN leads users through the final stage of a job search, providing information on how to contact a placement agency, write a cover letter and curriculum vitae and prepare for a job interview.

Stage 2) How to succeed in your new role

Once the first stage is successfully completed, the job seeker can explore WORKEEN’s interactive activities to help them prepare to enter a new workplace. Stage 2 is designed to help new employees become familiar with their new country or new position so they may avoid unpleasant tensions. It also makes them aware of their rights and prepares them to address potential exploitation and abuse. Serious games like WORKEEN give participants training on such matters as etiquette at the workplace, gender issues, everyday habits, communication issues, dress code, as well as labour standards and regulations. WORKEEN creates scenarios to help users navigate challenging situations from simple miscommunication on everyday encounters with co-workers or supervisors to facing bullying or abusive behaviour in the workplace or rights’ violations.

The WORKEEN application is available on Google Play store for Android devices, free of charge. It can be used in individual or collective training sessions organised by employment agencies, migrant organisations and other stakeholders. Naturally, it can be directly downloaded by migrants, refugees and asylum seekers or anyone wanting to develop their soft skills to gain employment. The application is available in English, Arabic, Farsi and in six different European languages (Czech, Danish, Finnish, French, Greek and Italian).

**SIRIUS is an EU founded project which was launched in January 2018 and will run for three years. It is consisted of 11 partners from 7 countries and it builds on a multi-dimensional conceptual framework in which host country or political-institutional, societal and individual-related conditions function either as enablers or as barriers to migrants’, refugees’ and asylum seekers’ integration via the labor market.

Concerns over the upcoming exits of 8,300 refugees from their homes in Greece – Joint Letter to EU and Greek officials

Posted on Friday May 29th, 2020

Joint letter to: 

The Minister of Migration and Asylum, Notis Mitarachis 

The European Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson

The European Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas

The undersigned organisations express their grave concern about the upcoming exits of at least 8,300 recognised refugees from accommodation and cash assistance schemes in Greece by the end of May 2020. A considerable number of these people, of which a large proportion are families with children, are facing an increased risk of homelessness amidst a global pandemic.

Refugees who have received international protection are being forced to leave apartments for vulnerable people in the Emergency Support to Integration & Accommodation programme (ESTIA), hotels under the Temporary Shelter and Protection programme (FILOXENIA), Reception and Identification Centres (RICs) and refugee camps. Almost simultaneously, financial assistance in the form of EU implemented and supported cash cards will stop. These upcoming measures will affect the livelihood of at least 4,800 people who need to leave ESTIA accommodation, 3,500 people who need to leave RICs and hosting facilities, as well as 1,200 refugees who are self-accommodated and receive cash assistance. 

The Hellenic Integration Support for Beneficiaries of International Protection programme (HELIOS) provides integration courses and contribute towards rental costs up to a maximum of twelve months for those that have to leave accommodation. In practice, out of 8,752 people enrolled in the HELIOS programme, only 1,590 people receive rental subsidies. 82 percent of people who enrolled in HELIOS since 2019 do not yet receive rental subsidies. To benefit from the HELIOS programme beneficiaries need to have a high level of independence and self-sufficiency. Beneficiaries need to provide a tax number, a bank account and procure a rental agreement to receive HELIOS support. As the Greek bureaucratic system is difficult to navigate, doubly so for non-Greek speakers, people face enormous challenges in finding accommodation, paying deposits, and enrolling in HELIOS. Other than the HELIOS programme which is only available to recognised refugees, apart from a few fragmented municipal and NGO initiatives there is no alternative social support, especially at the reception stage, which in Greece can last up to three years. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone in Greece but restrictions on movement and measures to halt the spread of COVID-19 have disproportionately affected the population that now needs to leave accommodation. Lockdown has also meant that people have had no possibility to search for alternative housing, find employment or arrange the necessary requirements to enter the HELIOS programme. Even now that restrictions are slowly being lifted throughout the whole of Greece, life is far from returning to normal, especially for those in Reception and Identification Centres on the Aegean islands and the hosting facilities Ritsona, Malakasa and Koutsohero where restrictions on movement are extended until 7 June 2020. 

At least 8,300 people need to leave their accomodation by the end of May and only a small percentage are provided with integration support (including rental subsidies) through the HELIOS programme. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that people are almost simultaneously losing cash assistance from the cash card assistance programme. Although both ESTIA and HELIOS programmes are funded by DG HOME and implemented by the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum, there is no linkage between them to ease the transition from one to the other. As a result, a considerable number of vulnerable people will be left without any support or prospect of integration and will have to face a severely increased risk of becoming homeless. Bureaucratic obstacles have meant that many of these people do not have a tax number or a bank account, both necessary to get a job or rent an apartment. Indeed, according to UNHCR, only 7 percent of recognised refugees in the ESTIA programme have a bank account and 75 percent have a tax number. To make matters worse, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it impossible for people to find employment, alternative housing or arrange documentation for the HELIOS integration programme. 

Therefore, we urgently request you to ensure that: 

  • The deadline of exits from ESTIA, FILOXENIA, RICs and refugee camps are extended beyond the end of May so that people have adequate time to find alternative accommodation, search for employment and fully enrol in the HELIOS integration programme after being under restrictive measures since 13 March 2020. No one should face the risk of homelessness amid an ongoing global pandemic. 
  • The monthly financial support under the EU implemented (and supported) cash card assistance programme is extended for those who need to exit accommodation and face the risk of homelessness. 
  • Elderly people, people with serious medical problems and single parents, are included in the extension of exits from accomodation in addition to those already deemed extremely vulnerable such as women in the last terms of their pregnancy and women with high-risk pregnancies. 
  • A bridge is created between ESTIA and other reception accommodation to the HELIOS program which also includes self-accommodated people. Currently self-accommodated people cannot enrol in the HELIOS programme but still need integration support and financial assistance after receiving international protective status. 
  • Bureaucratic barriers are removed so that asylum seekers have access to all the legal documents they are entitled to, such as a social security number, a  tax number, and a bank account, so that people are able to seek employment and accommodation, to guarantee the right to housing.
  • A coherent and long term strategy on integration and housing is created as recent legislation requires newly recognised refugees to leave accommodation within 30 days instead of six months, significantly reducing the time for people to prepare themselves.

We remain at your disposal for more information.

Signed by:

  • A Drop in the Ocean
  • Action for Education
  • ANTIGONE – Information and Documentation Centre on Racism, Ecology, Peace and Non Violence
  • ARSIS – Association for the Social Support of Youth
  • Bridge2
  • CHEERing: Center for Health Equity, Education and Research International Group
  • CRIBS International
  • Danish Refugee Council (DRC)
  • DIOTIMA Centre
  • ECHO100PLUS
  • Ecological Movement of Thessaloniki
  • Equal Rights Beyond Borders
  • Fair Planet
  • FENIX Humanitarian Legal Aid
  • foodKIND
  • Free Movement Skateboarding UK 
  • Glocal Roots
  • Greek Helsinki Monitor
  • Greek Housing Network
  • Hellenic League for Human Rights
  • Help Refugees / Choose Love 
  • HIAS Greece – HIAS Ελλάδος 
  • Higher Incubator Giving Growth and Sustainability-HIGGS
  • Humanity Now / Direct Refugee Relief USA
  • HumanRights360
  • Humans for Humans
  • I AM YOU
  • Intereuropean Human Aid Association
  • International Rescue Committee (IRC)
  • INTERSOS Hellas
  • INTERSOS Organizzazione Umanitaria
  • InterVolve
  • Jesuit Refugee Service Greece (JRS Greece)
  • Legal Centre Lesvos
  • Lighthouse Relief (LHR)
  • Melissa: Network of Migrant Women in Greece
  • MIGREUROP
  • Migreurop
  • Mobile Info Team
  • Network for Children’s Rights – Δίκτυο για τα Δικαιώματα του Παιδιού
  • Northern Lights Aid
  • Omnes
  • One Happy Family
  • Pampiraiki Support Initiative for Refugees & Migrants
  • Project Armonia
  • Project Elea
  • ReFOCUS Media Labs
  • Refugee Legal Support (RLS)
  • Refugee Trauma Initiative
  • Refugee Youth Service
  • Samos Volunteers
  • ShowerPower Foundation
  • SolidarityNow
  • Still I Rise
  • Symbiosis-School of political studies in Greece, Council of Europe Network of Schools
  • Terre des hommes Hellas
  • The Lava Project
  • Velos Youth 
  • Verein FAIR.
  • Wave – Thessaloniki
  • Yoga and Sport For Refugees

Joint letter exits accommodation ENGLISH (29-05-2020)

#OurHeroes is a human storytelling project at the times of COVID-19

Posted on Tuesday May 26th, 2020

SolidarityNow launches new podcast series focused on the “invisible” role
of humanitarian workers in the field

 An Afghan man who managed to collect his documents and be granted asylum in Greece; a woman, victim of gender-based violence who found the strength to support other women of her community; a long-term unemployed who found a job; an unaccompanied minor who was taken to the hospital and received medical treatment. But who are the people behind these stories that supported their success? They are the humanitarian workers of SolidarityNow, the ones who continue providing vital services to those who need them the most.

The new podcast series entitled #Our Heroes made by SolidarityNow is dedicated to all the field workers, through which their voices and contribution will be heard. SolidarityNow presents its own “heroes” and “heroines” through their own stories the way they recorded and narrated them. Because in COVID times, these people do not give up and continue to support the most vulnerable. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, through the quarantine period and still today, SolidarityNow’s programs and activities did not stop or pause; they continued adjusted to the new conditions and needs of our beneficiaries. “The organization’s readiness is a direct result of the swift action, ingenuity and good will of its teams who overcome their personal fears and work for the common good meeting the demands of the urgent conditions. Our personal invisible heroes, who fight every day for the obvious: equal rights, access to medical health, access to work”, states Antigone Lyberaki, SolidarityNow’s General Director. 

Listen to the episodes of the podcast series #OurHeroes, the stories of Evangelia, Konstantinos, Myrto, Vasiliki and Alexandra, Giannis, Marina, Grigoris, Evi and Katerina, some of the “heroes” and “heroines” of SolidarityNow. Their stories are moments of their daily life in the field: at the Open Accommodation Centers for Refugees and Migrants, at the Solidarity Centers and the Accommodation program (ESTIA).  

  • You can listen to the podcasts -that are being updated- at the link:

  • You can read their full stories -that are being updated- at the link:

https://www.solidaritynow.org/en/anthropines-istories/

* The Child Friendly Support Hubs project is implemented by SolidarityNow with the support of UNICEF and IOM Greece and funded by the European Commission.

* ESTIA, the Emergency Support to Integration and Accommodation programme, is implemented by UNHCR and funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund of the European Union.

* The Athens Solidarity Center is financed by EEA and Norway Grants, with HumanRights360 and CROWE Greece as the fund operator. The Center is also supported by the Municipality of Athens

SolidarityNow, amid COVID-19, creates new innovative training tools responding to the needs of vulnerable populations

Posted on Thursday May 21st, 2020
Giorgos Moutafis for SolidarityNow

The organization adjusts its programs and continues to support people living in refugee sites. 

“Readiness, Creativity, Teamwork”: that is the motto driving the SolidarityNow efforts to continue its activities so as to respond to the intensive needs aroused in the times of COVID-19, for the people living in refugee sites. In addition to its presence in the field, the organization created and functions a series of new educational, entertainment and informational tools.

The “Child and Family Support Hubs” program is implemented by SolidarityNow with the support of UNICEF, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and EU funding, at 14 refugee camp sites in Greece. Since the beginning of the health crisis, field teams providing daily legal, psychosocial, and educational support, have created several alternative training tools for the services they offer, in order to maintain their relationship with the beneficiaries. Specifically, SolidarityNow teams undertook the following activities:

  • created a digital podcast training channel entitled SolidarityNow rings a bell!, where children and adults can listen to a series of educational and entertaining messages
  • at the refugee sites of Ritsona and Malakasa, the teachers shifted the weekly delivery of printed exercises into an online format in order for adult and minor students to continue their lessons
  • at the Blue Refugee Center of SolidarityNow, in Thessaloniki, teachers continue the online lessons with the teenager students who have access to digital platforms
  • created 14 groups via Facebook (Fb groups) – one for each of the women’s community existing in each refugee site – through which women can communicate with the SolidarityNow specialized staff, seek advice on issues that concern them, spend their time creatively or even ask for dedicated assistance.

“The crisis caused by the coronavirus in everyone’s life, along with the initial shock and fear it triggered, led us all, and especially our teams working in the field, to become more inventive. Our goal was not to let the measures of social distancing lead to alienation, especially of our most vulnerable fellow human beings. With the help of technology, we have discovered alternative but also creative ways to continue our lessons and group activities in an online public ‘space’, while we have tirelessly continued to inform and provide psychosocially support to the most vulnerable, both remotely but also face to face when allowed, taking the necessary precautions”, says Christiana Kyrkou, Head of SolidarityNow’s Program at the refugee sites.
 

* The Child Friendly Support Hubs project is implemented by SolidarityNow with the support of UNICEF and IOM Greece and funded by the European Commission.

 

#OURHEROES: New podcast series by SolidarityNow on the “invisible” role of humanitarian workers

Posted on Tuesday May 19th, 2020

An Afghan man who managed to collect his documents and take asylum in Greece; a woman, victim of gender-based violence who found the strength to support other women of her community; a long-term unemployed who found a job; an unaccompanied minor who was taken to the hospital and received medical treatment. But who are the people behind these stories who supported their success? They are the humanitarian workers of SolidarityNow, the ones who continue providing vital services to those who need them the most.

The new podcast series entitled #Our Heroes made by SolidarityNow is dedicated to all the field workers, through which their voices and contribution will be heard. SolidarityNow presents its own “heroes” and “heroines” through their own stories, as they record and narrate them themselves. Because in COVID times, these people do not give up and continue to support the most vulnerable. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic and through the quarantine period, SolidarityNow’s programs and activities did not stop or pause; they continued adjusted to the new conditions and needs of our beneficiaries. The organization’s readiness is a direct result of the swift action, ingenuity and good will of its teams who overcome their personal fears and work for the common good meeting the demands of the urgent conditions. Our personal invisible heroes, who fight every day for the obvious: equal rights, access to work, access to medical health.

Listen to the episodes of the podcast series #OurHeroes, the stories of Konstantinos, Myrto, Vasiliki and Alexandra, Marina, John, Evi and Evangelia, Grigoris and Katerina, some of the “heroes” and “heroines” of SolidarityNow. Their stories are moments of their daily life at the Open Accommodation Centers for Refugees and Migrants, the Solidarity Centers and the ESTIA accommodatiom program.

  • ESTIA, the Emergency Support to Integration and Accommodation programme, is implemented by UNHCR and funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund of the European Union.
  • Child & Family Support Hubs (CFSH) project is implemented by SolidarityNow with the support of UNICEF and IOM Greece and funded by the European Commission.
  • The Athens Solidarity Center is financed by EEA and Norway Grants, with HumanRights360 and CROWE Greece as the fund operator. The Center is also supported by the Municipality of Athens.

UNHCR, SolidarityNow and pod.gr join voices to provide information on Covid-19 to refugees and migrants in Greece, through a podcast series

Posted on Thursday May 14th, 2020

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, SolidarityNow and pod.gr are joining forces amid the pandemic to overcome language barriers and provide information to refugees and migrants in Greece through podcasts.

Podcasts are produced through collaboration between UNHCR, SolidarityNow and pod.gr, the first Greek platform that creates and distributes podcasts.  This cooperation aims to ensure ease of access to information about the response to and protection from Covid-19 to non-Greek speaking refugees and migrants. It also aims to disseminate information on the latest official announcements and new state measures, which affect everyone’s daily lives.  It should be noted that SolidarityNow and pod.gr have been cooperating since the beginning of the pandemic, with the launch of a podcast series in March.

This new, expanded partnership is creating seven informative podcasts. Already, three episodes titled “FAQs for Migrants & Refugees– Spread the News, not the virus” have been released, which focus on these subjects:

  • Instructions for home care of patients.
  • How you can protect yourself from Fake News, around the virus.
  • Gradual ease of lockdown measures.

All podcasts are available in five languages: Arabic, English, Farsi, French and Urdu. Anyone can listen to the episodes, provided they have access to a mobile phone and internet connectivity.

Moreover, with a view to safeguard the right of all people to information, even if they have no internet access, SolidarityNow and UNHCR cooperate on the production of a series of radio spots, covering the official state measures against Covid-19. Two radio spots have already been produced on:

  • State Announcement on the Ease of Coronavirus Restrictions
  • State Guidance on Worship and Ramadan in the times of the Coronavirus

In addition, UNHCR and SolidarityNow are collaborating on the translation of Coronavirus-related animated GIFs on coronavirus symptoms, use of face masks and social distancing.

You may listen to the podcasts,

At the YouTube channel and the website of SolidarityNow:

https://www.youtube.com/user/SolidarityNowGreece, https://www.solidaritynow.org/podcasts/

At UNHCR’s platform providing information to refugees and asylum seekers: https://help.unhcr.org/greece/coronavirus/podcasts/

At the Communicating with Communities inter-agency YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrM9R2KPFv409Oo6H9hyRTw/playlists

At the website of pod.gr: https://www.pod.gr/portfolio/faqs-for-migrants-and-refugees/

“How to listen” | Instructions for listening to podcasts:

The easiest way to listen to a podcast is on your mobile. Download from your Playstore any free application for podcasts, such as Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts. Search for “pod.gr” through your podcast app and you will find all podcasts of the Pod team. If you have an iphone, the application is pre-installed on your device and has a purple icon. Open it and search for your favorite Greek podcast easily and quickly.

State Measures for COVID-19 (audio in 6 languages)

Posted on Friday May 1st, 2020

The following message is brought to you by UNHCR and Solidarity Now.

 

On April 28th the Greek state announced the gradual ease of coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

As of Monday May 4th

  • The obligation to hold a movement permit in SMS or handwritten paper is lifted.
  • Exercise outdoors and swimming in the sea is allowed, but not in organized beaches.
  • The following shops will open: small shops, hair salons, bookstores, sports-stores, garden shops, optics shops.
  • Wearing a mask is mandatory in public transportation, hospitals and highly recommended in closed spaces. Mandatory use of masks is applied to workers and customers in hair salons and supermarkets.  Fines up to 150 Euro may be imposed for persons who do not wear masks.
  • Public hospitals will reopen for surgeries and external patients.

On Monday May 11th

  • Students of the 3rd Lyceum grade will return to classes.
  • Retail stores will open

On Monday May 18th

  • Students of 1st, 2nd and 3rd Gymnasium and 1st and 2nd Lyceum grade will return to classes.
  • Zoo, botanical gardens,archaeological sites,gambling facilities will open
  • Traffic movement from one region to another will be allowed.

Monday 1 June 2020

  • Shopping malls and department stores will open
  • Cafes, bars, restaurants will open but only allow customers in outdoors spaces.
  • Remaining justice facilities, courts will open

For further announcements please see the UNHCR Help Website at help.unhcr.org/Greece/coronavirus

You may also hear the audio brought to you in 6 languages, by UNHCR & SolidarityNow

 

Post production: Mohammad Hashemi

About the music score: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…