‘We help prepare migrants for the job market – and prepare Greek employers for diversity’
Author: Dimitra Karapanagiotou
This article is part of Changing the Narrative. Articles in this series are written by student or early career journalists who took part in The Local’s training course on solutions-focused migration reporting. Find out more about the project here.
Over the last few years, news reports about migration to Greece usually focus on the arrival of refugees, overcrowded camps, and the dire need for aid, short-term solutions, and immediate responses. Although this is an issue that deserves coverage, migration in Greece goes beyond the humanitarian crisis on the islands and near the borders.
What happens to the people that decide to stay in Greece? How can they find work, integrate, get their papers in order, and build a life?
The unemployment gap between the native-born and migrant populations is not an issue unique to Greece, so there are lessons other countries can learn. What Generation 2.0 do differently is how they focus on empowerment and advocacy instead of only preparing and training migrants for the workforce.
Reaching out to employers and training companies on issues of diversity is also essential, especially for a country like Greece, which up until recently has been quite homogeneous in terms of race and religion. As Kapnisi puts it “what really matters is for the job market and the employers to be not only accepting of migrants but also treating them fairly and with equality.”