Skills2Work

Labour market participation is vital for the sustainable and successful integration of residence permit holders. Together with partners, IOM coordinated the Skills2Work project which ran from January 2016 and until February 2018, in Belgium, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom. Project activities sought to improve the access of permit holders, service providers and employers to information and services pertaining to the labour market. The project’s main aim was to promote early recognition and validation of skills and qualifications of status holders.

The project resulted in the following:

1. The establishment of a European network of experts, municipalities, interest groups, employers and academics;
2. Mapping good practices and mechanisms aimed at an early, meaningful and sustainable labour market participation.
3. A directory of good practices across Europe, with information for employers, service providers and participants about labour market participation.
4. A handbook with guidelines supporting initiatives in the field of labour market integration.
5. A website with information for employers, municipalities and status holders to facilitate access to the labour market in the nine countries involved.
6. A film and a booklet about residence permit status holders who have found work and with their employers.

Together with our partners we succeeded in building a large network of employers, academics, municipalities, ministries, private sector parties, technical start-ups, gender experts and integration experts in the participating countries.

Our partners:

Menedék (Hungary), Fondazione Leone Moressa (Italy), Integrazione Migranti (Italy), African Young Professional Network (the Netherlands), the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) (the Netherlands), Radboud University Nijmegen (the Netherlands), the Foundation for Refugee Students UAF (the Netherlands), the Ministry of Interior in Slovakia, (Slovakia), Odnos (Slovenia), the Ministry of Employment and Social Security in Spain (Spain) and Pontis Foundation (Slovakia).

For more information:

Migrant Training, Resettlement and Integration (MTRI) Unit – Integration
Tel: +31.7031.81.500
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

_{*The term refugees as used in the context of the Skills2Work project refers, more specifically, to all Beneficiaries of International Protection.}

Download Skills2Work Guidelines