When refugees flee their country and enter a new one they have a history. Some have obtained qualifications in their home country, others may not have formal qualifications but have acquired relevant skills through work experience. Early recognition and validation of qualifications and skills can support refugees’ integration into the labour market. It is therefore a matter of common sense and solidarity to make as much as possible use of the qualifications and skills of refugees.
Turkey hosts 3.4 million Syrian refugees. As part of our support to Turkish authorities and stakeholders on labour market integration of refugees, ETF compiled a selection of practices on recognition and validation of qualifications and skills for refugees in Europe. The selected practices are presented in a report for Turkish authorities and stakeholders and provided input for the conference ‘‘Improving skills and labour market integration for refugees and host communities” that was held on 20 and 21 September 2017 in Adana, Turkey. One of the main features of Turkish led integration efforts is using, as much as possible, the same tools and measures as for the domestic population (e.g. skills assessment, recognition, employability promotion). The European practices on recognition and validation can serve as an inspiration, not only for Turkey but also for other countries that are hosting refugees and migrants.
The report explores procedures for recognition and validation of qualifications and skills for refugees in a number of European countries. The report has four sections:
- I: Recognition of qualifications
- II Validation of Non-Formal learning
- III European tools
- IV Turkish context
Rather than providing an exhaustive overview of initiatives we selected practices that are well documented and are operational. Many people contributed to this report. They are mentioned in the acknowledgements.
We are certain there are other relevant practices on recognition and validation for refugees and migrants that we have not traced. If you know of any good examples in this field please share those by responding to this blog. We also welcome your comments about the report and the descriptions of the practices.
You can find the report here: Recognition and validation of qualifications and skills for refugees - practices from Europe for Turkey.
We will write about the outcomes of the Adana conference in another blog shortly.
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