Integration course for the third group of persons, who have received a refugee status or an alternative status, has been completed within the project Support Measures for Persons Under International Protection III. The group includes persons from Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, and Belarus. The most interested in the course were people who have already started their independent life outside the CAS “Mucenieki”, but are still actively looking for a job and have a lot of different questions they want to find answers to during the integration course. This was an opportunity for people who had never met before to come together to share different life situations, support one another and find answers to questions they may have.
Together with lawyer Alvis Šķenders, participants visited the textile workshop “Daces meistardarbi”, where the owners of the workshop acquainted them with the specifics of textile business in Latvia and various technologies used in the manufacturing of products. Also, the participants themselves had a chance to try practically working on a loom and to weave ribbons together. The visit to this workshop was particularly appreciated by the participants from Syria and Afghanistan as they recognised that this sector is also very topical in their native countries. Many Afghan women have good rug making and embroidery skills.
To get acquainted with and understand the process of selecting a profession, qualification acquiring opportunities and the education system in Latvia, the participants together with lawyer Gita Miruškina visited the training centre “Buts” to find out about employment issues in practical environment. The participants were very interested in learning a new profession and admitted that the most important thing for them right now is to learn and strengthen their knowledge of Latvian language to be able to study at a training centre.
As a result of the discussions, the sessions highlighted specific needs of the participants for specific assistance to be solved together with the lawyers, such as family reunification issues, revision of potential draft apartment rent agreements, declaration of address of residence, use of the latvija.lv portal, obtaining and using e-signature, application for Riga resident’s card, revision of documents required for starting a business.
This was the last training group of the project. Since 1 September 2020, 28 groups have completed the integration training course, with 394 participants from 28 countries.
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Support Actions for Persons Under International Protection III project is implemented withthe support of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and is co-financed by the European Union. Grant agreement No. PMIF/9/2020/3/02