UNHCR mentor program could lead more refugees to employment

Integration of refugees is a dynamic two-way process involving rights and obligations on the part of the refugees as well as of the host society. Integration is also a multidimensional process where employment plays a key role. Refugees face unique barriers when they try to find work, therefore assistance is necessary.
UNHCR Cyprus following best practices in other countries developed a mentoring program aimed at improving the integration of refugees in the local labour market, so they can contribute to the wealth and diversity in Cyprus.

People commonly tend to forget that refugees, who are forced to leave their country, often have good qualifications. Their main problem, however, is that they need to built up their careers in different working cultures. Thus, they may have inadequate presentation or communication skills in their new country.

Cristina Planas, UNHCR Representative in Cyprus, explains about the mentoring programme: “This is not about finding any work for refugees but about equipping refugees with the necessary skills required in a competitive market to find employment. In order to find work, refugees need first to familiarise themselves with the local working culture, learn how to do job research, how to draft their CV and cover letter, how to get prepared for a job interview. With professional guidance, refugees can be empowered to help themselves and recover their self esteem.”

UNHCR Cyprus contacted a number of companies who could act as mentors for refugees and helping them to overcome the barriers in finding work.

Carlos Ayala of Gnoysoft with 30 years experience in both private and public sector explains why he spent time as a mentor: “Others gave up their time to help me in the past, so in return I help new people”. He thinks that refugees will learn a lot with this project: “My greatest learning experiences, the ones that helped me grow, didn’t come from books or classes, but from the attention and time that others dedicated to help me understand and practically use the classroom knowledge.”
This program was developed by UNHCR Cyprus following the best practices around the world. Not only it will help refugees in finding jobs but it will also dispel certain myths surrounding refugees. It is important for the local society to understand that refugees are not a burden, but a resource if they are given the chance.

Refugee, Amin* reacted very positively to the idea of a mentoring program: “It was very helpful. My mentor is a broadminded, international business man. He had in this area a lot of useful advice about looking for work, preparing my CV.” Integration does not happen overnight: “I look very much forward to meet with him again in a second session for more advice.”

Nader*, who met with another mentor, Stephen Michaelides of Grant Thornton, found his session useful and felt supported and listened: “It encouraged me to study further in this field”.

Once asylum seekers are given refugee status, as refugees they acquire the same working rights as Cypriots. With the help of a mentor, the future employees can make important contributions to the national economy.

Many companies have been invited to participate in this project. UNHCR Cyprus is looking forward to reaching more mentors. New candidates can contact the office of UNHCR in Nicosia or browse to the UNHCR Cyprus at: http://unhcr-cyprus.blogspot.com

* Names changed for protection purposes.


For more information on mentoring programs, please click here.


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Πρόγραμμα για μέντορες της UNHCR Κύπρου για καλύτερες ευκαιρίες εργοδότησης των (διεθνών) προσφύγων στην Κύπρο

Η ένταξη των προσφύγων είναι μια δυναμική αμφίδρομη διαδικασία που περιλαμβάνει τα δικαιώματα και τις υποχρεώσεις τόσο των προσφύγων όσο και της κοινωνίας υποδοχής. Πρόκειται επίσης και για μια πολυδιάστατη διαδικασία όπου η απασχόληση διαδραματίζει καθοριστικό ρόλο. Οι πρόσφυγες αντιμετωπίζουν ιδιαίτερα εμπόδια στην προσπάθειά τους να βρουν δουλειά και επομένως η βοήθεια είναι απαραίτητη.

Η Αντιπροσωπεία στην Κύπρο της Ύπατης Αρμοστείας των Ηνωμένων Εθνών για τους πρόσφυγες (UNHCR), με βάση καλές πρακτικές άλλων χωρών, ανέπτυξε ένα πρόγραμμα μεντόρων με στόχο τη διευκόλυνση της ένταξης των προσφύγων στην τοπική αγορά εργασίας, ώστε να μπορούν να συμβάλλουν στον πλούτο και την ποικιλομορφία της Κύπρου.

Παρά τη γενικότερη αντίληψη ότι οι πρόσφυγες είναι ανειδίκευτοι εργάτες, πολλοί έχουν πολύ καλά προσόντα τα οποία όμως δεν είχαν την ευκαιρία να τα αξιοποιήσουν στην καινούργια χώρα. Βασικό εμπόδιο είναι οι διαφορετικές κουλτούρες εργασίας που προϋποθέτουν την ανάπτυξη συγκεκριμένων δεξιοτήτων και ικανοτήτων.

Η Χριστίνα Πλάνας, εκπρόσωπος της UNHCR στην Κύπρο, εξηγεί για το πρόγραμμα : «Ο σκοπός του προγράμματος δεν είναι η εξεύρεση συγκεκριμένης εργασίας στους πρόσφυγες, αλλά ο εξοπλισμός τους με τις αναγκαίες δεξιότητες που απαιτούνται από μια ανταγωνιστική κοινωνία για την εξεύρεση εργασίας. Για την εξεύρεση εργασίας, οι πρόσφυγες πρέπει πρώτα να εξοικειωθούν με την τοπική κουλτούρα εργασίας, να μάθουν πώς να κάνουν έρευνα για κενές θέσεις εργασίας, πώς να συντάσσουν το βιογραφικό τους σημείωμα και τη συνοδευτική επιστολή και πώς να προετοιμαστούν για μια συνέντευξη εργασίας. Με επαγγελματική καθοδήγηση, οι πρόσφυγες θα έχουν τη δυνατότητα να βοηθήσουν τον εαυτό τους και να αποκτήσουν ξανά τη χαμένη τους αυτό-εκτίμηση. "

Η UNHCR Κύπρου επικοινώνησε με έναν αριθμό εταιρειών που θα μπορούσαν να λειτουργήσουν ως μέντορες για τους πρόσφυγες με βάση το πιο πάνω σκεπτικό. Ο κ. Κάρλος Αγιάλα της Gnoysoft με 30 χρόνια εμπειρία στον ιδιωτικό και δημόσιο τομέα εξηγεί γιατί αφιέρωσε χρόνο ως μέντορας: "Κάποιοι στο παρελθόν αφιέρωσαν το χρόνο τους για να με βοηθήσουν, έτσι και εγώ σαν αντάλλαγμα βοηθώ άλλους ανθρώπους". Πιστεύει ότι οι πρόσφυγες θα μάθουν πολλά μέσα από αυτό το πρόγραμμα: «Τις περισσότερες γνώσεις, αυτές που με βοήθησαν να αναπτυχθώ, τις απέκτησα όχι μέσα από τα βιβλία ή τις τάξεις, αλλά από την προσοχή και την ώρα που άλλοι αφιέρωσαν για να με βοηθήσουν να κατανοήσω και να εφαρμόσω στην πράξη τις θεωρητικές γνώσεις."

Το πρόγραμμα αυτό της UNHCR βασίστηκε σε μοντέλα που εφάρμοσαν με επιτυχία άλλες χώρες. Στόχος του δεν είναι μόνο να βελτιώσει τις ευκαιρίες εργοδότησης των προσφύγων αλλά και να καταρρίψει ορισμένους μύθους γύρω από τους πρόσφυγες. Είναι σημαντικό για την τοπική κοινωνία να κατανοήσει ότι οι πρόσφυγες δεν είναι βάρος, αλλά ένας πόρος ανάπτυξης εάν τους δοθεί η ευκαιρία.

Ο Πρόσφυγας, Αμίν * αντέδρασε πολύ θετικά στην ιδέα του προγράμματος: «Ήταν πολύ χρήσιμο. Ο μέντορας μου είναι ένας ανοιχτόμυαλος επιχειρηματίας. Μου έδωσε πολλές χρήσιμες συμβουλές για την αναζήτηση εργασίας και την προετοιμασία του βιογραφικού μου.» Η ένταξη ωστόσο δεν μπορεί να συμβεί μέσα σε μια νύχτα και συμπληρώνει "Ανυπομονώ πολύ να συναντηθώ μαζί του για μια δεύτερη συνάντηση για περισσότερες συμβουλές."

Ο Nader*, ο οποίος συναντήθηκε με άλλο μέντορα, τον κ. Στέφανο Μιχαηλίδη της Grant Thornton, δήλώσε ότι βρήκε την συνάντηση τους χρήσιμη και αισθάνθηκε στήριξη και κατανόηση: " Μου έδωσε ώθηση να μελετήσω βαθύτερα τον τομέα εργασίας".

‘Όταν αιτητές ασύλου αναγνωριστούν ως πρόσφυγες αποκτούν τα ίδια δικαιώματα εργασίας με τους Κύπριους. Με τη βοήθεια ενός μέντορα, οι μελλοντικοί εργαζόμενοι όχι μόνο επιθυμούν αλλά και μπορούν να συμβάλουν σημαντικά στην εθνική οικονομία.

Πολλές εταιρίες έχουν κληθεί για να συμμετάσχουν σε αυτό το πρόγραμμα. Ενδιαφερόμενοι μπορούν να επικοινωνήσουν με το γραφείο της UNHCR στη Λευκωσία ή να επισκεφτούν την ιστοσελίδα της: http://unhcr-cyprus.blogspot.com

* Τα ονόματα έχουν αλλαχθεί για λόγους προστασίας.

Make acceptance yours !

Be honest: Recognize your own biases and biases through open discussion with others. Examine your own prejudices, biases, and values. Discuss your own experiences of being hurt by prejudice as well as the ways you have benefitted from discrimination.

Be secure: Explore and find realistic pride in your own group identity. Having a sense of your own background and group identity will help reduce anxiety and defensiveness in relation to others. Knowing your own strengths will also help you to see strengths in others.

Be a partner: Work on projects with members of groups different from your own. Working as an equal alongside others from different groups on a common project is one of the best ways to undo prejudice and increase familiarity with others.

Be an anti-racist parent: Expose your children to diversity at a young age. Children can benefit from knowing other children from different groups at very early ages, before prejudices and biases get in the way of their making contact.

Be a role model: Be vocal in opposing racist views and practices. And don't just criticize, but help educate others about issues and about your own experiences.

Be an ally: Support victims of discrimination and prejudice. Offer support on whatever level you can. For example, offer yourself as a mentor for someone in your field of work.

Be an activist: Challenge "top-down" or institutional racism. Work to reduce institutional discrimination and prejudice in government, corporations, the media, and other institutions.

Be a member: Support anti-prejudice and anti-racist organizations. Following is a partial list of a some organizations or find one that addresses an issue particularly important to you.

Be a teacher: Teach tolerance. Fight prejudice and racism by proactively teaching understanding, openness, and conflict resolution skills. (The Teaching Tolerance magazine is one resource for teachers and others to get ideas and resources, it is put out by the Southern Poverty Law Center)

Be a student: Educate yourself and others. Reading books, seeing movies, going to hear speakers about the experiences of other groups is an enjoyable way to increase understanding and empathy.


From the APA website.

Become a mentor for an international refugee in Cyprus

1. Private company program

Some private sector companies around the world host programmes to help refugees and subsidiary protection beneficiaries overcome the barriers to employment and provide the company’s staff with focused, structured, personalized and relevant volunteering opportunities.

The objective is to assist refugees to overcome barriers, including unfamiliarity with the work culture of the country of asylum, inadequate communication and presentation skills, qualifications that may not be transferable, or even lack of relevant work experience. The companies aim at equipping refugees with the necessary skills to find employment, and supporting refugees who are qualified and experienced in a given sector so that they can develop professionally in the country of asylum. Specifically, the companies support with staff who on a volunteer basis guide a number of refugees through CV writing, applications, practice of interview techniques, oversee the actual interview process, identification of target companies, and of vocational training.

The programmes involve matching company volunteer coaches with refugees seeking assistance with job hunting. It is an example of Corporate Social Responsibility and of the way in which the private sector can contribute to support refugees. Companies value their staff gaining a new view of the world.

If your company wants to be socially responsible through this modality of cooperation, contact now UNHCR Representation in Cyprus.

2. Individual mentor: retired professional; active professional

The objective of this program (in process) is to offer to each refugee and subsidiary protection beneficiary, during a period of time, a personal mentor from the receiving community to share knowledge and experience on a one-to-one basis to help achieve integration goals.

The program is directed to active or retired professionals with valid experience to make a human contribution by offering help in addressing initial critical refugee needs, such as providing accurate information, advice to overcome difficulties to access housing, to access employment, to access education, vocational training or benefits. The mentor can, through its personal network, offer employment advice to help the refugee enter long-term employment at the earliest opportunity and making the best use of his/her skills The program aims at building confidence and self esteem and maintaining in the refugees and subsidiary protection beneficiaries the sense of hope for the future by encouraging participation and integration.

Often times despite being desperate to work, employment prospects for refugees are poor as they face a multitude of barriers (unimaginable by nationals) preventing them from accessing jobs. Some difficulties are: no prior work experience in Cyprus, employers unable to understand qualifications from country of origin, no references or certificates from country of origin, lack of understanding of the Cyprus job market, level of English and/or Greek language.

Remember that it is legal to employ a refugee and a subsidiary protection beneficiary (SPB). Refugees have the same employment rights as Cypriot citizens. SPB have the same employment rights after one year from the date this status was granted. Remember that world wide the following qualities of refugees are acknowledged: perseverance, resourcefulness, cross cultural experience. A refugee can become your good colleague.

What can a mentor do? Provide an employment to a refugee, employment mentoring (advice and information), or just remember refugees when you are recruiting! Prepare the refugee for the cross cultural communication in Cyprus, or to support in language learning.

The individual mentors will be screened to ensure sufficient professional and life experience to be capable of resourcing a mentee. Mentors are also given information on referral services and general information on their mentees country. Sensitive and considered matching of refugee mentee and mentor on the basis of refugee’s career goals and the mentor’s professional experience is crucial. The matching process aims to link a mentor and mentee of the same gender and age range in an effort to avoid cultural taboos.

Some programs around the world encourage: the signing by both mentor and mentee of a ‘Participation Contract’ to prove commitment to the program and an understanding of the expectations on them to engage; fortnightly meetings between mentor and mentee as a minimum commitment in the ‘Participation Contract’; overall both mentor and mentee are expected to make a minimum one year commitment which is outlined in this contract, but this could vary depending of the intensity of their work and their success.

If you are interested in this program contact now UNHCR Representation in Cyprus.

Discover also our related article "Make acceptance yours".