Challenge/opportunity

More than 6 million people have fled across Ukraine’s borders following Russia’s invasion, with the vast majority heading to neighbouring EU countries. Those arriving are largely women, children and elderly. Many newcomers are now sole caregivers, meaning that care services may be a precondition for their entrance into EU labour markets, pointing to specific challenges for the integration process.

While the potential length of stay of Ukrainian refugees in their host countries is uncertain, many of the working-age adults will seek to work during their stay. In general, refugees face specific labor market integration challenges, if compared with other migrants.

Related to other refugees, Ukrainian refugees have some characteristics that facilitate their integration prospects (e.g. educational profile, existing social networks, immediate access to employment), while others may, on the contrary, hinder them (many are single mothers with children and other dependents).

Highly educated refugees trained abroad face difficulties in having their qualifications recognised and valued on host country labour markets. These markets tend to devalue foreign qualifications, which affects employment, leads to over-qualification and reduces wages

The objective of this seed project is to identify relevant funding opportunities to stimulate social entrepreneurship among Internally Displaced Persons and refugees arriving in programme countries from Ukraine, creating a strategic approach to support the inclusionof the target group.

Transnational cooperation

Project transnationality is one of the key aspects of the proposal. Creating an international network that could lead to the development of new tools and opportunities for supporting Ukrainian refugees requires a proper sharing of information and competences that goes beyond the borders. We believe that our proposal will consistently benefit from the adoption of a transnational approach to the creation of the project proposal, allowing us to identify a wider number of funding opportunities aiming at supporting refugees/migrants from diverse fields of study in developing essential transferable skills applicable in various life and career situations. Moreover, SINTONIA could rely on a wide strategy for project dissemination and impact, which will lead to the multiplication of the impact of our action both during and after the end of the Seed funding lifetime.

Similar/complementary initiatives/projects

We have been able to spot a level of connection with the following project:

- The OSEAP project wants to provide an international online platform for social entrepreneurship in the Baltic Sea region. The goal is to foster entrepreneurial mindsets and benefit social business partnerships. The project stresses the need for more education and mentorship for social entrepreneurs, as well as more encouragement for social engagement in general. It also points to the fact that far from all entrepreneurs in the region speak English, and that courses in local languages are needed - https://si.se/en/projects-granted-funding/project-oseap-international-on...