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 across Lower Saxony. The project is funded by the State of Lower Saxony, the six Lower Saxony Handwerkskammern, the Federal Employment Agency, and the districts.

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 Economics, 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, Handwerkskammer, and the districts.

The project is carried out in several steps: In the first step, the responsible advisors at the six Handwerkskammern review and select refugees and asylum seekers who have sufficient German language skills and an aptitude for skilled 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<<<<