Spreading happiness in the nursing home before the Bayram festivities!
Syrian Walaa Abouheef, who completed her professional training as a hairdresser under the Regional Integration Accelerators Project (RIACs) together with the hairdresser Parisli Cemil, volunteered to go to the private Dikmen nursing and elderly care home. There they cut the hair of 40 women and gave them personal treatments, including make up, manicure and pedicure.
Syrian Walaa Abouheef is part of a group of refugees that after compleeting their training within the scope of the Regional Integration Accelerators Project (RIACs) recieved their work permits and are now working at Parisli Cemil Hairdressers.
Ahmet Alwaisi, who completed his vocational training within the RIAC Project, also visited the private Dikmen nursing and elderly care home and shaved the hair and beards of 20 men.
Seeing the smiles on the faces of the Nursing home’s residents, who where excited to meet their relatives before the Bayram feast, was something that was worth seeing. They expressed their thanks to the project’s members.
The aim is to find employment for 32 people
The RIAc project, funded by the European Union Employment and Social Innovation Program (EaSI) aims to facilitate refugees and asylum-seekers’ access to the labor market, taking into account the labor market’s or employer's labor needs. The end goal is to establish sustainable employment. The Project started on the 1st January 2018 and will run until the 30th June 2020. Within the scope of the Project 36 refugees and asylum seekers will be provided with vocational training and Turkish education, with the target of finding employment for 32 of them.
During the initial stage of the Project, between the 3rd of July and the 3rd of September 2018, the first participants were trained as male and female hairdressers. This training was held in in cooperation with the hairdresser Parisli Cemil. During these training sessions the “On-the-job training program” of the Turkish Employment Agency (Işkur) was used to provide short-term accident and health insurance for the trainees and to cover their wages.
Training process…
The theoretical part of the vocational trainings was held three days a week at TOBB University campus’ Parisli Cemil Hairdresser Academy. In addition to this they recieved practical training three days a week at Parisli Cemil Hairdresser’ Salons. The participants also attended Turkish language training conducted by experiended Turkish foreign language teachers three days a week. The training of the first group of eight people lasted three months.
From this group, three trainees who completed their training could not continue due to their educational status and personal reasons. Two additional people were not succesfull in obtaining work permits. The remaining three people were hired at Parisli Cemil Hairdressers.
Nine people participated in the second group training, which took place between the 8th January and the 31st March 2019. Out of this group, five people got work permits and started to work at Parisli Cemil Hairdressers.
It is excpected that another 24 people will be employed
Two of our trainees, who have not recieved their work permits continue their Turkish lessons once a week with the support of the project’s Turkish teachers. In addition, a trainee who decided to not get a work permit due to health issues, is voluntarily going to the elderly care center to cut and shave the residents hair.
The project which is supported logistically by IGAM, aims to employ another 24 people by the end of the project. In order to achieve this, RIAC held meetings with the the Ankara Chamber of Industry’s Centre for Sustainable Education (ASOSEM) and OSTIM Vocational Training Cente. As a result of these meetings IGAM has started to conduct field studies and needs analysis, to identify possible new employers.
