3,000 people were supported and inter-connected with the labor market through the organization’s Solidarity Centers
“I know how to make 120 different desserts“, says Longman Gashimi. Longman, a Kurdish from Iran, currently makes his sweets in a pastry shop in Nea Raidestos where he works; this job was acquired through the SolidarityNow employability service at the Blue Refugee Center, in Thessaloniki.
For SolidarityNow, employment facilitation and empowerment services to access the labor market are an integral part of the support that Greeks and migrants receive in the Solidarity Centers operated by the organization in Thessaloniki and Athens. Linking people to the labor market and enabling them to find a job is the ultimate goal of the comprehensive efforts for their social integration. This leads to the decrease of people’s dependency on state and NGOs’ assistance and provides the opportunities for personal development.
- Thessaloniki Solidarity Center
1 out of 3 Greek and 1 out of 10 refugees/migrants, beneficiaries of the Center found a job with the support provided by the SolidarityNow experienced employment consultants. Thessaloniki Solidarity Center has significant success rates in employment: 30.3% of Greeks have already found a job, while 15.51% of refugees and/or migrants who have received support also found work through the employability program.
- Blue Refugee Center
From December 2016 onwards, through targeted activities for refugees in the Thessaloniki based Blue Refugee Center, 15.89% of the its beneficiaries got a job.
- Athens Solidarity Center
Since 2014, employability services at the Centre in Athens have reached 1,996 people, through the NGO Praksis, with 15.4% of them finding employment.
In addition, SolidarityNow implements specific actions to enhance skills and assist and assist people who are unemployed:
- Supported an improvement in marketable skills through access to ICT and English language training and certification for 100 Greeks and refugees, with the support of UNHCR.
- Provides intensive training in professional interpretation techniques for 100 Arab and Farsi speakers to improve their chances to successfully enter the labor market with the support of Guerilla Foundation.
- Partners with academic institutions in order to analyze job market trends and employability prospects for its beneficiaries.
- Assisted 18 new social enterprises and cooperatives during their start-up phase, through the cooperation with NGO Ergani.
Furthermore, SolidarityNow kicks off a project aiming to strengthen the market-related skills for 330 refugees, migrants and Greeks through targeted education, technical assistance and mentoring, with the possibility for some to get a business start-up grant, with the support of the International Rescue Committee.
SolidarityNow has supported more than 3,000 people to connect with the labor market via the employability services provided in the organization’s Centers. Our main objectives are: to facilitate young people’s access to the labor market, build partnerships with the private sector and academic institutions and develop funding tools for the new businesses’ set up.
Yokan Sefket, 21, from Komotini, learned to believe in himself and claim his right to work, with the support of SolidarityNow. The assistance he has received through the professional counseling service at Thessaloniki’s Solidarity Center has built his self-confidence and, as he says, “when I go to a job interview now, I know exactly what to say!”
Read more in the SNapshot no4: https://www.solidaritynow.org/en/ekdoseis/