Category: ΕΓΡΑΨΑΝ ΓΙΑ ΕΜΑΣ

KATHIMERINI | “An Odyssey for the obvious”

Posted on Monday May 20th, 2024

Journalist Ioannis Papadopoulos from the newspaper KATHIMERINI writes about a great success of the Legal Service of the Athens Solidarity Center of SolidarityNow in the case of the young Androniki Kiftis.

“Androniki Kifti, the daughter of Albanian migrants, was born, grew up and completed her schooling in Greece, but in December 2020 the Decentralized Administration of Attica refused to renew her residence permit. She was deemed ineligible because she had been absent from Greek territory for a long time, despite being in the US for studies. Last April, after many years of agony, the Administrative Court of First Instance of Athens ruled that her application had been wrongly rejected”. The article here (only available in Greek).

*Since August 1st, 2023, the operation of the Athens Solidarity Center by SolidarityNow is supported by the Swiss-Greek Cooperation Programme Embassy of Switzerland in Greece / Πρεσβεία της Ελβετίας στην Ελλάδα to reducing economic and social disparities in the EU and by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum.
**The Center is also supported by the Municipality of Athens.

ERTNews | “All Children in Education”: The program that supports refugee children

Posted on Thursday June 22nd, 2023

Journalist Dafni Skalioni, from ERT NEWS, visited the “Homework and Creative Activities Center” of SolidarityNow in Athens and wrote about the work carried out there, as well as in all the Centers of the “All Children in Education” program, operating by the organization.

As of September 2021, through the program have been supported:

  • 5,155 children in non-formal education courses &
  • 2,808 children to enrol in public education.

The programme “All Children In Education” is a UNICEF initiative, co-funded by the European Union and implemented by a number of partners, including SolidarityNow.

Read more here. (only available in Greek)

ERT3: SolidarityNow & UNHCR connect refugees with the labor market

Posted on Monday May 15th, 2023

Mary Asvesta, the SolidarityNow Head of Employability Service, was interviewed by the journalist Elsa Poimenidou during the show “A day with color”, ERT3 TV channel, and talked about the Job Fair held by SolidarityNow and the UNHCR on May 5th, at the organization’s Blue Refugee Center.

The aim of the Job Fair was to bring together employers and refugees looking for work. 200 candidates and 15 business representatives participated in the event.

The show is available in Greek at the following link: https://www.ertflix.gr/vod/vod.270789-mera-me-khroma-133 [from 35:08-46:52]

PARALLAXI.GR: We spent a day with the refugees looking for work in Thessaloniki

Posted on 

Journalist Kleopatra Koutsourou, from Parallaxi e-magazine, visited the Blue Refugee Center of SolidarityNow in Thessaloniki on Friday, May 5th, to attend the Job Fair organized by SolidarityNow and the UNHCR.

The aim of the Job Fair was to bring together employers and refugees looking for work. 200 candidates and 15 business representatives participated in the event.

Excerpt from the article:

“The right to work is one of the greatest and most important rights that man has created over the decades. Freedom to work should be guaranteed and institutionalized for all people, regardless of economic status, racial difference, language, etc.

This was made clear by a refugee woman’s statement from the audience: “I’m talking to all the employers here today. You come to a refugee center to hire people for your work, so if you are not comfortable with the different nationalities that exist, please don’t hire the people who are here today among you, because sometimes you make it more difficult for people like us, so that we cant cope with work. If you know you’re not comfortable with the color of my skin, the way I look, the way I speak, it’s best not to hire us in the first place. Thank you.“

The article is only available in Greek.

APE-MPE: Refugees fill the job vacancies in the tourism sector

Posted on 

Journalist Natasha Karathanou, from the Athens & Macedonian News Agency, visited the Blue Refugee Center of SolidarityNow in Thessaloniki on Friday, May 5th, to attend the Job Fair organized by SolidarityNow and the UNHCR.

The aim of the Job Fair was to bring together employers and refugees looking for work. 200 candidates and 15 business representatives participated in the event.

Excerpt from the article:

“Along with the job interviews, refugees living and working in Greece shared their personal experiences related to working in the country. Following this representatives from businesses and refugees engaged in a vivid dialogue about the opportunities and challenges in the Greek labor market.

“The tourism industry was more open to refugees from the beginning. The important is that this year, unlike other years that asked for staff from June or July, they hired refugees for work from April due to great shortages” highlighted Ms. Asvesta, SolidarityNow’s Head of Employability Service, adding that many refugees who worked previously in tourist accommodation, gained expertise and then immediately found work.”

The article is only available in Greek.

ERT2: SolidarityNow: Response from Turkey

Posted on Sunday February 26th, 2023

Nikos Rangos, head of the SolidarityNow team in Turkey, spoke on the show “Weekend from 6” on the ERT2 channel and to journalists Dimitris Kottaridis and Nina Kasimati, about the conditions in the areas affected by the devastating earthquake, the depth of the humanitarian and material destruction and the organization’s effort to stand by the victims, especially the children.

The interview is only available in Greek.

IEFIMERIDA.GR: SolidarityNow stands by the side of the Ukrainian refugees

Posted on Friday February 24th, 2023

February 24th, 2023 marks one year since the start of the war in Ukraine, a historic moment for Europe and the world. To date, more than 80,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Greece, while 22,000 have received temporary protection status.

SolidarityNow was from the first moment on the side of all those who arrived in Greece from the war zone, directly responding to the needs of the new refugee population, which mainly consists of women and children.

Read more here.