The employment and training agency VDAB has come up with an action plan that puts refugees into the labour market as quickly as possible and provides them with practical language skills

Leaving your home for a new country – whether to pursue better material opportunities or matters of the heart – is never easy, despite the prospect of a better life. Leaving because your home is ravaged by war or other man-made disaster can be, at best, traumatic.

To help asylum seekers and others better integrate into Flemish society, a number of government agencies are investing time, money and manpower in practical campaigns.

Integration through Work is one such initiative, set up by the Flemish employment and training agency VDAB. With various partners, the agency seeks to get refugees and others into the labour market as quickly as possible, rather than have them first go through an integration process before they look for work.

The VDAB has taken a number of actions as part of the initiative, including additional recruitment and training of mediators, increased use of language training and expanding existing mechanisms for workplace training.

To further help the job seekers, VDAB spokesperson Shaireen Aftab explains, the VDAB offers a range of opportunities tailored to each person, so specific training can be customised to meet the requirements of the labour market. “We try to evaluate the job seeker to understand what is needed to get them ready for the job market,” she says, “whether through providing training, work placement or other measures.”