The vocational training program “First Step” has been successfully completed with more than 300 people from third countries – refugees, asylum seekers and migrants – taking part, a press release said on Wednesday.
The program aimed at facilitating their integration in the labour market in Cyprus, and its duration was 18 months. It started on February 1, 2019 and concluded in September 2020.
The training courses included two phases and the first one included training on employment policies and legislation, soft skills development and professional development skills.
The second phase included vocational training courses on a specific profession: food safety and health, basic customer service and sales principles, logistics, hotel and leisure management, and basic accounting principles/cash till.
Supplementary English language lessons facilitated the participation of the participants in the two training phases.
The project awarded a scholarship to Widad Al Banna, a recognized refugee from Palestine, at the European University of Cyprus.
Those interested may visit the website and watch the video of participants and educators’ experiences at http://www.firststep.com.cy/gallery/video/
“First Step” is co-funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and the Republic of Cyprus.
It’s a pilot project implemented for the first time in Cyprus and will serve as best practice for similar projects in the near future and namely during the new Multi-lingual Program of the AMIF (2021 – 2027).
