NGO “Shelter “Safe House”” informs that in August the integration training course organized under the project Support Actions for Persons under International Protection II was completed by two groups, in which in total 28 persons under international protection from six countries participated.
The fourth group, which started the integration training course on July 27, completed the training on August 10. There were 14 people in this group including 8 adults and 6 children from Russia (7), Egypt (3), Uzbekistan (3) and Ukraine (1).
On August 13, the fifth group completed the training, which started the integration training course at the end of July – July 31. There were 14 people in the course – 10 adults and 4 children – from Iraq (13) and Pakistan (1).
“The training course participants were so interested in the content of the lectures that all the lectures were attended 100%. According to their opinion, the lectures on employment, education, social and medical services were the most useful from the entire information received”, says Project Manager Zanda Rudene. The new mobile application “First Steps inLatvia” was also presented to both groups, the test version of which is currently downloadable free of charge in Google Play and App Stores. “The participants and the lecturers had a possibility to get acquainted with the application video tutorial and to download it on their mobile phones, which they also actively did.”
Both groups received their certificates at the closing event which was held on August 14 in the “Laima”Chocolate Museum. In total 27 certificates were issued – 13 for the first group, and 14 for the second one.
Integration courses provide an opportunity to their participants to acquire knowledge about Latvia, its state system, history, culture and traditions, practical information about Latvia, information about integration into the society, non-discrimination principles, communication, religious and cultural differences, housing market, employment options, education system and opportunities to obtain education. Participants can also learn about spending their leisure time, the health care system, social security network and social assistance system in Latvia. Childcare was organised during the training to enable families with children to participate. Communication with the trainees was ensured by interpreters and speakers of languages.
In order to provide the possibility for the persons under international protection to acquire the knowledge and skills of the Latvian language necessary for the work and social life, while developing the main language skills – reading, speaking, writing, listening and the use of grammar, the Latvian language course is also organized within the framework of the project.
Z.Rudene points out that on August 23, within the framework of the project, certificates of the Latvian language course were received already by the third group, which consisted of 11 people from Russia (4), Turkey (3), Georgia (2), Ukraine (1) and Egypt (1). This group started the training course on July 11.
Until 30 June 2020 support under the Support Actions for Persons under International Protection II project will be provided to 500 persons, among them adults, children, and illiterate asylum seekers.
The Support Actions for Persons under International Protection II project is implemented with the support from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and co-financed by the European Union. Grant Agreement No. PMIF/9/2017/2/01/
Information was prepared by: Rasa Salina (Rasa Saliņa), Multimedia Communications Specialist, phone 22026355, e-mail: rasa.salina@patverums-dm.lv
