Refugee Employment Platform – Connecting companies with refugee talent
Refugee Employment Platform – Connecting companies with refugee talent
Irena, 57, came to Poland from Kherson after the rockets started falling on the city. "Who would want to leave their home? Nobody. Today everything is destroyed there, I have nothing to go back to," she says. In Ukraine, Irena was a nurse for 25 years and took care of children with cancer. She is currently completing her nursing studies so that her skills and vast experience can be recognized in Poland. Since November 2023, she has been working in a nursing home for older people in Gdańsk.
To strengthen decent work prospects for forcibly displaced and stateless people throughout Europe, UNHCR in collaboration with partners and refugees, has developed the Refugee Employment Platform initiative (REP).
REPs are digital tools connecting companies with refugee job seekers. Their functions streamline the job placement process, while linking refugees and stateless people, employers and integration actors with employment support, skills training, and wrap-around services essential to maximizing job prospects, preparing refugees for the labour market in their host countries, and supporting companies to create sustainable employment. REPs also provide employers with a one-stop shop for successfully hiring refugees and stateless people, helping them navigate the administrative framework, providing access to guidance, good practices, resources, networks and data. 8 national REPs are currently operating across Europe.
This event marks the launch of the Regional Information Hub for the REP to which all national Refugee Employment Platforms (REP) operating in the region are linked. This new site features guidance for businesses, refugees and service providers with a regional scope and includes 35 new country guidance pages created for companies with information on the legal framework, the hiring process, key stakeholders and services supporting employment for forcibly displaced and stateless people, to fill gaps in information where a national REP is currently not operating. This represents full coverage across Europe on country-specific information for companies on hiring refugees and stateless people.
UNHCR will also take advantage of the event to launch the first in a series of new communications materials developed as part of a Europe-wide employment and inclusion campaign.
Objectives and expected outcomes
Present the new regional information hub for the Refugee Employment Platform initiative, designed to attract and facilitate refugee hiring by a wider pool of companies from across Europe.
Illustrate via 2 national case studies the impact of Refugee Employment Platforms and the overall contributions refugees and stateless people can make to the local economy and businesses.
Launch UNHCR’s Regional Inclusion Campaign and officially make available new related communication materials for the private sector.
Please register using this formLink is external. Participants will be sent an invitation to a Microsoft Teams meeting 1 day prior to the event via the email address used to register. Please see the agenda here.