EQUAL is an element in the European employment strategy. Its objective is to establish transnational and innovative methods for confronting discrimination in employment practices
up
A THREE PHASE PROJECT
The Accelair project aims to handle each person on an individual basis. in terms of training and return to work.. It does this by improving the awareness of tpotential employers, making sure that the solutions will be lasting , and improving our own and our partners’ capability.
There are three steps:
A collaborative creation 2001-2002
The first step consisted of
• finding partners who specialised in getting people back to work
• establishing a financial plan
This was done bearing in mind the principles that underpin the the EQUAL project:
• Set up a contact point with the help of the local employment agency
• Ensure that employers are involved actively in the refugees’ return to work.
AccelAIR will do its best to guarantee the success of the venture by setting up:
1. A strategic committee to determine the overall direction of the project
2. A committee with the various working partners to follow up the individual cases
3. Specialised committees to cover the different aspects of the return to work.
Finally, a sound professional support for those involved will enable us to follow up and to evaluate the project.
Building on success 2005
We will produce a appraisal and a practical manual, so that we can build on the experience gained.
up
A) GENERAL INFORMATION & STRUCTURE
Forum réfugiés is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) created in 1982 in Lyon (France) which is specialised in the reception of asylum seekers and refugees and in the promotion of a fair and humane asylum policy. Forum réfugiés is today acknowledged as a recognized spokesperson by many public authorities (Ministries, European Commission, Council of Europe, Prefecture, UNHCR, local authorities…) and other associations and individuals.
In 2003, the staff consists of around 80 persons. Its activities range from legal and administrative advice to management of several reception centres for hundreds of asylum seekers and statutory refugees.
In 2001, as part of the European programme EQUAL (Line )– co-financed by the European Social Funds – Forum réfugiés launched Accelair. A genuinely innovative project, Accelair is working with a number of players in Lyon but also in Rome, Hamburg and Liverpool through a transnational cooperation.
The local Development Partnership set up in Lyon around the Accelair project is composed of six different organisations that have already worked with the target group (refugees) in their respective fields of competences:
• ALPES: Training organisation (French as a foreign language, vocational guidance...);
• AFPA: National Institute providing Vocational Training for Adults (www.afpa.fr);
• ANPE: National Agency for Employment (www.anpe.fr);
• ABC HLM: Federation of Social and Public Housing Agencies in the Region of Lyon;
• Cimade (Regional branch): Analisis of the Integration measures proposed to refugees; Increasing awareness of key actors on the target group (www.cimade.org);
• Amnyos: Project Ingineering (www.amnyos.com);
All these partners contribute actively to the project by running some specific innovative and complementary actions to help the Accelair beneficiaries to integrate in the French society. They are all members of a Steering Committee that meet every 3 months to follow up the implementation of the accelair project. Furthermore, Specialised Commitees have been created (with meetings on a more frequent basis) to cover the different aspects of the integration process (housing, training, employment, etc..). At least, a Strategic Committee, bringing together all the Accelair partners (including institutional and financial partners), determine the overall direction to give to the project.
up
B) OBJECTIVES
The Accelair project aims at improving the conditions of the refugees’ integration in France.
In France, over 100 000 persons are political refugees. Their main preoccupation is having to rebuild their life in a totally new country. That means starting from nothing. For this special population, different aspects of exclusion pile up – for example no cultural point of reference, not being able to speak the language of the receiving country, isolation, racial discrimination, etc... – which makes the process of integration much more difficult.
Not knowing too much about the refugees’ reality, the French authorities tend to have the same solution for everybody without taking into consideration the special needs of the population of the refugees. That is the reason why the Accelair project was created. Indeed, its sole purpose is to put in place real lasting integrations projects matching the situation and the needs of each individual.
Thus, the first objective of the Accelair project is to understand better the refugees’ special needs in order to be able to build an individual integration strategy which includes getting them to the work place, with follow up and training courses.
up
C) ACTIVITIES
Local activities
Accelair recommends two approaches:
Since the majority of the refugees have no regular accomodation at the time they get the refugee status, and because it appears to be one of the main priorities for this special population, the integration projects we are proposing to them include assistance in finding a house.
Beyond the housing aspect, the other important point is to strengthen the level of employability of the persons by:
• Providing them with the necessary level of language;
• Putting into place special language courses with a professional orientation;
• Working in favour of the recognition of the skills and qualifications of the refugees;
• Providing them with appropriate education and vocational guidance;
• Offering them employement services (trainings in companies, help in job search, information on the labour market in France, etc...);
• Helping them to find a secure paid and permanent job.
Accelair is also developping actions towards key players in the integration process:
• To raise awareness by running training sessions on who are the refugees, what are their skills and qualifications, the intercultural work, etc....
• To developp a network of employers and economic players who accept to “sponsor” the integration project of a refugee....
Transnational activities
Accelair is part of a transnational cooperation with four other Equal projects located in Italy, Germany, France and England. The main activities planned at this transnational level are:
• Exchange of information and experiences through four workshops on different themes about the integration of asylum seekers and refugees in our respective countries;
• Import/Export of new approaches and best practice;
• Parallel development of innovative approaches;
• Exchange of staff and key partners through bilateral visits;
• Developement of common promotional materials to raise awareness;
• Production of a final report with recommandations based on the best practices identified;
up
D) BENEFICIARIES
Accelair is aimed at the persons who have been recognised as a political refugee by the French competent authorities according to the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees. Accelair is not a national project but develop its experimental actions in the region of Lyon, which means that the project intends only for statutory refugees located in this area. Nevertheless, the project is trying to develop a sound approach that could be transferred to other territories.
Around 400 persons were recognised as refugees in the region (Rhône Department) in 2002. Given its experimental objective and its limited resources, the Accelair project is not able to take in charge all the refugees but has to develop gradually. On the 31st of December 2003, 159 persons (adults), that is to say a total of 111 families, were beneficiaries of the actions developped by Accelair.
up
E) PARTNERS
Proposing partner: Forum réfugiés
Local Development Partnership (see point A above) : ALPES, AFPA, ANPE, Cimade, ABC HLM, Amnyos.
Other local partners: Economie & Humanisme (Evaluation of the Accelair project), Adecco (Interim), various enterprises and economic actors, various other NGO’s.......
Transnational Development Partnership:
Germany: GATE (Gesellschaft fûr Arbeit, Technik und Entwicklung) – Hambourg
England : Dingle, Granby/Toxteht Education Action Zone – Liverpool
Italy : ANCI (Associazione Nazionale Comuni Italiani) – Roma
Financial Partners: European Social Fund, French Ministry of Employment and Solidarity, French Ministry of Social Affairs, County Council (Rhône Department), Regional Council (Rhône-Alpes Region), Fondation de France (Private Foundation).
up
F) CONTACT
Forum réfugiés
BP 1054
69612 Villeurbanne Cédex
France
Tel. : +33 (0)4 78 03 74 45
Fax : +33 (0)4 78 03 28 74
Website : www.forumrefugies.org
TCA contact person : Christelle BONVILLE
Tel. : +33 (0)4 37 57 19 79
e-mail : accelair@forumrefugies.org
