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Background

The PRESTO DP aims to test and disseminate innovative approaches to training and employment packages to support and improve the employment prospects of refugee professionals specifically in the Health, Education and Engineering sectors. The PRESTO DP will also work with refugee entrepreneurs, refugee women and refugees with disabilities. The

Aims

• Develop integration strategies and progression pathways for refugee professionals
• Address discrimination in the recognition of overseas qualifications
• Identify models of best practice in refugee training, training materials and methodologies
• Offer work placement opportunities as well as tailored labour market orientation courses to help overcome cultural and market unfamiliarity
• Provide support for self employment by embedding enterprise into training provision
• Develop new approaches using ICT
• Liaise with stakeholders in the public, private and voluntary sectors and developing effective lobbying strategies to shape policy that actively integrates and empowers refugee professionals
• Work with employers by developing a better mutual understanding between refugees and employers through awareness raising
• Explore the incorporation of European refugee integration best practice into the design and delivery of the project

Objectives

PRESTO practice will contribute to achieving the following policy outcomes:

•  The establishment of systematic & coherent pathways for refugee professionals

• Statutory flexibility around work placements/ volunteering opportunities for refugees
• Refugees input directly into the planning and development of integration services
• PRESTO practice informing the development and implementation of the Refugee Integration Strategy in London
• Refugees having access to free English language provision irrelevant of their employment status
• Mainstream refugee employment and training opportunities through equality and diversity streams

PRESTO DP ACTIVITY

THEMATIC TASK GROUPS

The PRESTO DP has committed to joint working through Health, Engineering and Education Thematic Task Groups. The Thematic Task Groups are charged with: providing a forum for information sharing between PRESTO partners and other key stakeholders; providing a forum for actioning opportunities for current and future joint working; ensuring synergy and avoiding duplication and bottom-up project development; and ensuring a strategic approach to mainstreaming and dissemination.

PRESTO will also work within existing fora which include:

• The Building Bridges Steering Group
• The refugees into Teaching Project and wider Teachers Task Force Strategy (Refugee Teachers Hub)
• LORECA and the Board for Refugee Integration in London

ADVISORY GROUP

The PRESTO Advisory Group has been set up and is being facilitated by Refugee Assessment and Guidance Unit (RAGU) at London Metropolitan University to guide the PRESTO DP in the planning and the delivery of its activities. The Advisory Group provides an opportunity for refugee professionals to be actively engaged with the development and evaluation of the services designed for them.

TRANSNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP

The PRESTO DP is part of the Partnership for Equal Opportunities and Practices in Labour in Europe (PEOPLE) with partners in the Czech Republic, Germany and Italy. The Transnational Partnership will explore solutions and compare policies and practices in the integration of refugees and other migrants across Europe.

Target Groups 

Refugees

PRESTO has built on project activity developed in the round one Development Partership LEADER. The LEADER project was divided into four parts, two of those parts have been carried over to PRESTO

Embrace Cooperation Ltd, Employability Forum, Islington Enterprise Agency, Islington Training Network, London Advice Services Alliance, Manor Gardens Welfare Trust - Manor Gardens Advocacy Project, Refugee and Asylum Seekers Initiative for Skills Employability Ltd (RAISE), Refugee Assessment and Guidance Unit (RAGU) at London Metropolitan University, Refugee Council, Refugee Women's Association

Geri Mc Kenna, Education Action International,

Ethnic minorities

Refugees
Total beneficiaries: 100

The Development Partnership will impact local, regional, national and European Strategy on the proper utilisation of migrant skills as a key economic development driver.

Mainstream refugee employment and training opportunities through equality and diversity streams.

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