Labor Market Mentors for Refugees

Content-related counseling support for the pilot program

In addition to ensuring humane accommodation, adequate care and fair asylum procedures, the primary goal should be to integrate refugees and other people with a migration background into our society in the best possible way. An important component of comprehensive social integration is participation in working and professional life. Education and work can help to create recognition and self-confidence, they lead to a more self-determined life through financial independence and can improve the prospects of staying. In this context, we are committed to the sustainable integration of refugees and other people with a migration background into the primary labour and training market for equal opportunities for education, work and social participation for all refugees, regardless of their length of stay and status.

In order to facilitate access to the training and labour market for refugees and people with a migration background in Saxony, the Saxon State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Transport established the Saxon Labour Market Mentors to provide technical and content-related programme support within the framework of the directive for the promotion of projects to secure skilled labour. Following the model programme (2016-2019), labour market mentors are currently supporting their mentees and employers in every Saxon district or independent city until 2022.

Labour market mentors

The primary goal of the labour market mentors is the targeted placement of refugees and people with a migration background who have been living in Saxony for a maximum of 5 years in the first training and labour market. In the three independent cities and all districts, the mentees are to be sustainably placed in training and work within the framework of 14 participant-related projects. In principle, migrants without vocational or higher education qualifications are to be guided into vocational training or qualification-related training and migrants with vocational or higher education qualifications are to be guided into employment with appropriate qualifications and subject to social security contributions. Another aim of the programme is to advise and sensitise employers and training companies to the recruitment and training of refugees and other migrants and to support them in their integration into company processes.

Technical and content-related programme support

Since 1 November 2016, and continuing in a new funding phase since 1 January 2020, the programme support for the labour market mentors in Saxony has been carried out as a sub-programme of the Sächsischer Flüchtlingsrat e.V. (Saxon Refugee Council). The task of the programme support is, on the one hand, to support the labour market mentors as a direct point of contact for technical questions on the topics of asylum law and all aspects of labour market access and corresponding qualification measures. On the other hand, the project will scientifically evaluate the experiences gained in the context of individual case support and cooperation with all participating actors. This should make it possible to adapt existing regular and support structures to the needs and integration of the target group and to identify best practice examples as well as stumbling blocks.

The technical and content-related programme support offers in particular:

  • exchange of experience and networking between individual project organisers
  • regular strategy and development meetings with the labour market mentor programmes
  • mediation of training and qualification offers
  • technical input from study results, programmes of other federal states and other model projects
  • Networking and technical support for cooperation with regular structures
  • Supporting the transfer of knowledge to regular structures
  • public relations work
  • Scientific monitoring and evaluation

Cooperation partners at local level

  • Local, official and voluntary networks
  • respective employment agencies and job centres
  • Saxon business associations and chambers of commerce

Cooperation partners at state level

  • Saxon State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Transport (SMWA), Saxon State Ministry for Equality and Integration (SMGI), Saxon State Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs (SMK)
  • Saxon Education Agencies (SBA) and the support teachers of the preparatory classes (DaZ classes)
  • the Saxon Commissioner for Foreigners and the Commissioner for Foreigners or Integration of the cities and districts
  • the association meeting with various actors from the governmental and non-governmental field of “Integration and Migration” (arising from the NIMS – Network Integration and Migration Saxony)

Cooperation partners at federal level

  • PRO ASYL
  • Federal economic development structures
  • Federal Employment Agency

 

Contact

Fachlich-inhaltliche Programmbegleitung der Arbeitsmarktmentoren Sachsen
Dammweg 3 | 01097 Dresden
Tel.: +49 (0) 351 796 651 55
Fax: +49 (0) 351 796 651 56

Arbeitsmarktmentoren[at]sfrev.de
www.arbeitsmarktmentoren-sachsen.de

Funding

The “Labor Market Mentors for Refugees“ -program and it’s content-related counseling support are funded within the scope of the “Richtlinie zur Förderung von Projekten der Fachkräftesicherung vom Sächsischen Staatsministerium für Wirtschaft, Arbeit und Verkehr (SMWA)”.

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