The Restoring Respect Project (RRP)

The RRP platform assists migrants and refugees in gaining recognition for their qualifications; enhancing their employability and streamlining their integration into foreign job markets.
The project also works to address public perceptions of these groups through social media campaigning.
Our work is guided by research and focus groups held with members of the migrant community.
Through EUROSTAT, we understand that the unemployment rate for refugees and migrants in the EU is double that of its member-state's national citizens.
We believe that these transient communities have much to offer the EU job market.
Data indicates that a majority of migrants and refugees do not utilise their qualifications and employment history when entering the European Job market, but rather enter into roles completely unrelated to their previous ones.
This indicates not a lack of skills, but a difficulty in adapting or having these fully recognised by prospective EU employers.
This is a reportedly common occurrence, despite the availability of apprenticeships, vocational and educational training courses (VET) that aim to assist migrants and refugees when entering the EU job market.
We can deduce that while these tools may be fulfilling some need for skill development and adaptation, they are not adequately considering the changing trends of the labour market.

Consequently, this frequent mismatch between these groups skills and the roles that they enter into are not helping to improve public perceptions or portray the reality of the array of skills, and experiences that they do have to offer.
Public misconceptions and a lack of assistance available to refugees and migrants during the job seeking period can also result in the violation of human rights, dignity and respect for these groups.
The RRP sees an opportunity here for EU member states to adopt a new set of tools and procedures to provide a more effective means of integration for immigrants into their societies; restoring respect and dignity to all.
The RRP pilots innovative tools which serve as an early intervention system for refugees and migrants who cannot secure documentary evidence of their qualifications; putting migrant’s needs at the heart of system design.
A pilot group of migrants can have, therefore, the opportunity to use these tools; their feedback is at the core of the realization of RRP project.
Officers on the ground using the RRP application are able to verify their credentials and access an online database of certificates, CVs and skills that are being established through the project.

Main Objective

To facilitate the recognition of migrant and refugees skills across Europe:

Empower Refugees and Migrants to create their own career paths and maximize their employability opportunities.

Encourage the development of critical media-literacy skills through Vocational Education and training (VET).

Provision of innovative VET pedagogical methods, best practice guidelines, and strategies to encourage the use of digital tools and innovative learning environments.

Empower stakeholders with innovative ICT-based VET systems for improved skills development with migrant workers, where this is needed.

Provision of contemporary tools for the assessment of mirgant skills;
their development and recognition needs.

EU Priorities

✓Training and matching for jobs – CPD accredited training packages for the development of skills to suit business needs.

✓Certification - to improve the recognition of qualifications through a European eCompetence Framework.

✓Innovative learning and teaching – offering curricula at vocational level for our target groups to attain the skills for success.

✓Mobility – assisting those with the right skills to reach the positions where they are needed; decreasing skills shortages across the EU.

✓Awareness raising – encouraging migrants and refugees to access ICT resources and explaining how these can be useful in their job hunt.