2016-2-NO02-KA205-000780 Career guidance for young refugees - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

2016-2-NO02-KA205-000780 Career guidance for young refugees – escaping NEET status with good counselling towards training and employment- RefuNEET

The situation with Refugees in Bulgaria- some statistics

 In 2015 in Bulgaria are registered 20 391 persons who have asked protection from the State Agency for Refugees within the Council of Ministers.  In 2016 applications for protection- 19 418 are 5% less than those registered in 2015.  Last numbers for year 2017 (till September), provided by the State Agency:

• Number of persons seeking protection- 3007;
• People with Refugee status- 706;
• Provided humanitarian status- 789.

A brief analysis of the profile of asylum seekers in 2016 regarding Education

 Data for the past 5 years in terms of educational level show a significant change in the proportion between the different levels:

• With more than twice is decreased the number of people with university
• r college education compared to other categories during the years after

the beginning of the refugee “wave” in the country.

• According to the statistics for the last two years, people without education

are 23%, and the low-educated, with elementary or primary education, are 54%.

• In 2016, those seeking protection who have indicated as their educational

level higher or college education are 6%, as very few of them possess a document to certify it.

Some good practice measures and policies for recording or evaluating refugees' competences in Bulgaria

• Program for employment and training of refugees, financed by the state

budget for active labour market policy- Bulgarian Employment Agency

• Proposal

for Integration Support to Beneficiaries

• f

International Protection in Bulgaria in 2016- the United Nations Refugee Agency in Bulgaria, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): provision of Bulgarian language classes, vocational training, assistance for the validation of skills, translation/ legalisation of previous competences, education and qualifications.

• The Refugee Project- a joint initiative between the Cooperation for

Voluntary Service Bulgaria and Caritas Sofia in conjunction with the Bulgarian State Agency for Refugees: provide educational assistance and a range of activities for refugee children and adults

Some good practice measures and policies for recording or evaluating refugees' competences in Bulgaria

• Information meetings in the centres for temporary accommodation of refugees
• n the necessary documents for registration as jobseekers and mediation

services: preparation of integration profiles of persons with educational and qualification characteristics

• Specialized informational job fairs for refugees, organized by the Bulgarian

Employment Agency in cooperation with the State Agency for Refugees

• Mediation services delivered to persons with refugee or humanitarian status in

the Republic of Bulgaria, provided by the Directorates "Labour Office“

• "Educational integration of students from ethnic minorities and/ or people

seeking or granted international protection“- Ministry of Education and Science

• State educational standard for the acquisition of Bulgarian literary language,

developed by the Ministry of Education and Science: including for the children

• f Refugees

The RefuNEET project

• Title: 2016-2-NO02-KA205-000780 „Career guidance for young refugees–

escaping NEET status with good counselling towards training and employment“- RefuNEET

• Leading institution: Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences,

Norway

• Participating countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, France, Norway, Turkey,

United Kingdom

• Duration: 01.09.2016- 31.12.2018
• Main aim: Project activities are aimed at early assessment of the competences
• f young refugees (age 15-29) combined with effective career guidance and

counseling in order to avoid the status known by the English term "NEET" - a young person who is "Not in Education, Employment, or Training“

The RefuNEET project

• RefuNEET is implemented in parallel with another similar initiative of the

Norwegian partners - RefuSkills, with synergy between the two projects:  Establishment of an easy-to-use mechanism that gives refugees/ migrants an opportunity to document their skills and competences (in their own language) by using basic ECVET and Learning Outcome principles  The previous realized project of the Norwegian partner- Skillsbank is also in use - an ECVET oriented tool kit targeting career guidance, recognition

• f prior learning and individual training support

The RefuNEET project

• Main expected results:

 Developing methods, tools and procedures for identifying and recognizing basic skills and key competences of young refugees acquired through non- formal or informal learning, regardless of the context and learning pathways  Further development of career guidance services targeted at young refugees for continuing education, on-the-job training and employment  Recognition of professional experience of the experts in the field of career guidance, through accreditation of ECTS credit points (link to higher education)  Multilinguality of the toolbox, incl. Bulgarian version and Arabic

The RefuNEET project

Optimal results:  Systematization of good practices for assessing and documenting the skills

• f young refugees;

 Establishing appropriate guidance on methods and procedures for identifying the skills of young refugees;  Recognition of non-formal and informal training of young refugees and the acquisition of ECTS credits;  Creating a RefuPass document based on the experience of using Europass and Youthpass;  Development of a set of easy-to-use RefuNEET documents (certificates, portfolio, etc.) to support the professional realization of young refugees;  Developing a professional training program for career counselors among young refugees - recognizing prior learning and awarding ECTS credits.

Thank you for your attention!