The Ctrl+Alt+Emprego project aims to help immigrants access the labor market by increasing their digital literacy and enriching their social, cultural, personal, and professional skills.

Thus it aims at enabling the immigrants to get access to more employment opportunities with better working conditions, facilitate access to information/knowledge about citizenship rights/duties and other related issues regarding labor matters; and promote independent professional guidance and job prospecting through the creation and operation of a web platform.

To achieve the above mention goal, we intend:

• To develop a Web platform
• To register 500 immigrant users on the platform as a measure of economic empowerment.
• To have five training sessions in the area of ICT, each lasting 40 hours, with a total of 30 vulnerable immigrants, as an economic empowerment initiative.

What is the "story" of its creation?

 The project arises within the JRS, the Jesuit Refugee Service, an international Catholic organization under the responsibility of the Society of Jesus.

In Portugal, since 1992, we have developed a wide range of actions to integrate the immigrant population into Portuguese society. In which the immigrants can get these services without paying anything. Inevitably, one of the areas we focus on is professional insertion.

The project emerged in the employment office, which accompanies refugees and immigrants looking for jobs jobs. In 2019, the office assisted 1372 people of different nationalities. In 2020 the number exceeded the previous year, registering 1898 people. Most of the users we accompany lack computer and digital skills, making the search for a job even more difficult. In this context, marked by the pandemic, the office thought of the Ctrl+Alt+Emprego project as a mechanism to empower people and offer IT skills to acquire skills to find a job and thus fit more easily into the work context. That work is an essential factor in the process of social insertion of these people.

Covid-19 pandemic led to increased unemployment. This resulted to more significant number of immigrants asking for support. In the first six months, we attended to about 1343. We have had great difficulty in accompanying all these people. In this context, the platform that is being developed will offer excellent help in providing skills to these people.

How long is this project?

Duration: April 2021 to September 2022

18 months

What is the funding?

This project is part of the Active Citizens Fund, financed by the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism (EEA Grants – Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway) and is managed by the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian in consortium with the Fundação Bissaya Barreto.

How many people are currently working on the project?

Currently, four people are working on the project and are part of the JRS employment office. They give their contribution in carrying out the various activities.

In addition, the Fórum Refúgio association, headed by Alexander Kpatue Kweh, has been helping to organize the Focus Groups.

Finally, the project has the support, at the moment, of a volunteer, Paula Almeida, who is helping to stimulate the training.

How many people have already received your offer? In which parts of the country?

JRS Portugal accompanies immigrants and refugees from more than 60 countries, with exceptional representation from Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, and Ukraine. This population is characterized by reduced professional experience and low education, which causes severe difficulties in finding a job.

In this context, the present project seeks to help the population with little knowledge of computers and makes their process of social insertion and the work search increasingly tricky.

The employment office, at first, accompanied people in the Lisbon metropolitan area. However, with the pandemic, it has been able to attend people across the country, including the islands. This is because it has used new strategies to be able to follow the immigrants who are looking for a job.

Currently, are you giving any support?

We have offered other help, including looking for jobs, referring our users to various job offers, accompanying foreign immigrants in adaptation/integration of their new jobs, and providing IT training and job search techniques. We also offer help in the elaboration of the CVS. At the same time, information and advice on the rights/duties of workers are also offered to try to combat situations of exploitation.