Dual Training for Refugees

The integration project “Vocational Training for Refugees and Asylum Seekers” (IHAFA) aims to place approximately 500 refugees in vocational training programs throughout Lower Saxony. The project is funded by the State of Lower Saxony, the six Lower Saxony Chambers of Crafts, the Federal Employment Agency, and the counties.

The goal is to identify and train approximately 500 refugees throughout Lower Saxony by early 2017 and prepare them for vocational training in the skilled trades. The Lower Saxony Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor, and Transportation is supporting the pilot project with approximately 1.1 million euros, in addition to participant-related expenses covered by funding from employment agencies, job centers, chambers of crafts, and the counties.

The project proceeds in several steps: In the first step, the responsible counselors at the six chambers of crafts review and select refugees and asylum seekers who have sufficient German language skills and an aptitude for the trades to successfully complete an apprenticeship. Following a skills assessment process at the chambers’ training centers and internships at skilled trades businesses, they will then be placed in apprenticeships starting in the summer of 2016.

>>>More information can be found on the HWK website<<<<