Good Practices / Emprego Primeiro – Porta Aberta | Agência de Empregabilidade
Emprego Primeiro -
Porta Aberta | Agência de Empregabilidade
Employment
Organization that is implementing
A BAIRROS
Country
Portugal
Project Dates
2nd protocole from August 2021 to July 2022
(3rd protocole aproved)
Level of Implementation
Local (Lisbon Area)
Target Group
Refugees and Asylum Seekers
SDG’s
Project Overview
This Project supports people in vulnerable situations at the employment level.
The main goal is to promote employment in vulnerable publics, based in the cooperation of different entities with a diverse experience in this area and with this population, namely, people using psychoactive substances legal and illegals, person in homeless situation, sex workers and migrants.
From August 2021 to June 2022, 99 migrants were accompanied by the project.
Main Activities
This project is based in a integrated intervention approach, person centered (their skills, vocation, talents, specificities) is the first step for the generation of
This model includes:
- A case manager
- Employment Technician
- Pear
The activities developed by the project team are:
Specialized support in the employment area to the organizations of the social sector, to support their beneficiaries in their Laboral needs
Support to the employers to search candidates’ profiles that best fit their personal needs (job-matching)
Specialized support in the employment area to the organizations of the social sector, to support their beneficiaries in their Laboral needs
Support to the employers to search candidates’ profiles that best fit their personal needs (job-matching)
- Specialized follow-up with employers (at different stages: recruitment, on boarding, post placement)
- Support the employers on finding the right candidate profile to the job tasks (job-matching)
- Specialized follow-up near the employees
- Support to the employee in the implementation of incentives
- Mentorship/coaching/psychological follow up through the partners
- Using a co-workspace to the development of partners activities
The expected answers of this activities are:
- Direct participation on the work
- Trainee program to promote professional integration
- Self-employment creation
- Placement on the job market in personalized functions
- Occupational activity
More Information
How was the Project born?
When thinking about persons with substances use, homeless people, sex workers and migrant people, rarely we think about employment as a priority intervention, since that is basic needs that need to be fulfilled first, to guarantee human dignity.
Elements that facilitated the implementation of the Project
Having this is mind, as well as the fact that in Portugal barely exists any programs promoting intervention with vulnerable people until their autonomation e post autonomation, the Porta Aberta Project started in 2020 with the aim of giving a response to this group of individuals.
Elements that facilitated the implementation
The identification of needs related to employability among the target audience was agreed between the Lisbon County and the social partners working in the field – a factor that is essential for the implementation of the Porta Aberta Project.
The fact that until now there is no project dedicated exclusively to this component proved to be a facilitating element to complement the services already provided in the territory. The Municipal Plan for the Homeless Person 2019-2023 provides a framework for the activities developed, since the project is included in it.
In addition, the Casa dos Presidentes, where the project is based, is a space provided by Lisbon County and is intended to include other organizations, thus generating greater synergy between the responses offered.
Challenges in the implementation
1.Incompatibility between the language skills of migrants and the criteria established by companies in view of their recruitment needs.
How to Overcome?
2. Time incompatibility – migrant women generally find it more difficult to manage working hours in the professional sectors to which they have access, due to the time they dedicate to caring for dependent people (such as children, for example).
How to Overcome?
Articulation with case managers, to understand possible responses within the community. However, the challenge remains and clear and accessible answers in this regard have not yet been identified.
3. Companies’ lack of knowledge about the possibilities of hiring migrants in the process of document regularization
How to Overcome?
4. Difficult access to housing and health services for migrants.
How to Overcome?
Articulation with case managers, to understand possible responses within the community.
How did the Project improve refugees’ lives?
The project indicators refer to the target population as a whole, with no specific indicators for the migrant population. Even so, all the indicators of this protocol were achieved.
By specifically analyzing the migrant population, we found that 99 migrants were monitored between August 2021 and June 2022, among which the following results can be identified:
– 14 job market integrations;
– 9 integrations in activation stage (specific response from the Porta Aberta project);
– 4 referrals to support the creation of self-employment;
– 32 training registrations;
– 5 social referrals (health, housing, documentation, etc…);
– 8 integrations in occupational activities.
Is this project/program replicable and/or scalable?
Despite being a relatively recent project in the process of consolidation, the results are being monitored and analyzed by the CML. The project emerged as a pilot project since there is no other similar project in the region, so the expansion of these activities can always be a possibility.