FIER, showing the way forward for labour market integration of refugees
The international refugee crisis is not over, and today more people are refugees than during World War II. In 2015 and 2016, more than 2.6 million asylum applications were recorded in Europe. A total of 366,000 persons were granted refugee status in the EU-28 in 2016 at first instance, 258,000 were given subsidiary protection status, and 48,000 were given authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons. It can be very hard to integrate into a new society and to find a job to make a living as a newcomer in an unknown country where you do not know the language, you are not familiar with the traditions and you lack a network.
The last years’ large inflow of refugees in Europe has also put the hosting society to a new test. Thanks to the support of the EaSI program from the European Commission, the FIER partners — some of them share a long common history of cooperation, others are fresh, committed organisations with many years of experience — have in their hands the chance to scale up already existing measures, learn from each other, and develop and implement new initiatives for a better — and faster — integration of refugees into the labour market.
The FIER project will run for two years, as from January 2018. Last February, all 12 partners gathered for a fruitful kick‑off meeting in Gothenburg, and several bilateral study visits are taking place in the following months. After six months of hard work, the partners have already started to set up their respective pilot initiatives and new language training concepts within the project.
This website aims at informing about our project, highlighting relevant news, and sharing findings and examples from the partners’ work. You will also find relevant upcoming EU initiatives and reports focusing on labour market integration… and much more!
I hope that you will enjoy the reading!
Therese Ydrén
FIER Project Coordinator
FIER - Fast-track Integration in European Regions 