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Dissemination Brochure
An opportunity for minority groups

The Area of Centers and Programs for Refugees of the Institute of Migrations and Social Services (IMSERSO), began a project at the end of 1995 encompassed within the Community Initiative for Employment and Development Human Resources, - Employment Horizon. It aims to improving the possibilities of employment for handicapped persons and other disadvantaged groups, in which refugees are included.

This project, called INLANDER-CAR, contains a series of measures and actions or activities whose general purpose is to facilitate the occupational integration of the group of persons supported by the Reception Centers of Refugees (CAR), that is, to asylum applicants, refugees and displaced persons, through vocational training and adaptation to the Spanish labour market. This group has clear difficulties in finding access to the national employment market since obtaining work is an extremely complex task nowadays, as there are evident legal as well as cultural circumstances that leave these persons with worse condition.

The candidates of the targeted social group of the project will be selected from the CAR (reception centers) and will actively participate in the programs.

The project is coordinated from the Area of Centers and Programs for Refugees and is carried out in each one of the four Reception Centers of the IMSERSO located in different regions in Spain: Seville (Andalucia), Mislata (Valencia), Vallecas (Madrid) and Alcobendas (Madrid).

These activities can be classified in three large groups:

Activities related to training
Activities related to job creating
Counselling activities and support for work integration

In addition to doing research and acquiring knowledge of the labour market, training focused on demand and placing of job offers, labour and legal assessment, creating a map and network of labour and social resources, promoting active participation of the selected persons, the project also offers a series of parallel activities which are the following:

Training of experts
Specific training as employment managers for refugees has been provided, not only to those persons who are destined concretely to such functions, but also to the expert team of the four Reception Centers, as well as to their managing directors and personnel of the Central Services, in order to achieve a greater knowledge and to improve the team work directed towards the laboural integration of the group of persons receiving assistance.
Information, dispersal and awareness raising activities:

These are addressed to the receiving society and to the refugees themselves. Some are focused on the potential employers. Each C.A.R. designs and promotes those campaigns that are most compatible with their social reality and resources.
Development of a computer system

for the occupational orientation which will be available in each Center and connected at the same time between each other and the Area in the Central Refugee Section.

The said computer system already functions with the handicapped group and, after a series of modifications, can be adapted for refugee programs and used for:

to keep a record of persons of employable age
the organisation and management of occupational professional training courses
the elaboration of a map of resources (training/employement)
the study of a training courses offer on local and regional level.

Finally, a follow-up and continuous evaluation of the economic and technical aspects of the development of the project is being accomplished at a national and transnational level. The final result of such an evaluation will show us the achievements and mistakes and the way forward.