In its October edition, ACA covered the successful end of the project “European Qualifications Passport for Refugees” (EQPR) led by the Council of Europe, supported by UNHCR and involving the Greek Ministry of Education and the ENIC/NARICs of Greece, Italy, Norway and the UK. In what was only a pilot, about 70 passports were issued, proving the efficacy of the tool and its potential to be used on a wider scale. 

The project has now entered a new three-year phase (2018-2020) and was launched on 28 March in Athens. This time, it will involve more actors: further to the ones involved in the pilot, the new project brings in the Italian Ministry of Education and the ENIC/NARICs of Armenia, Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands. 

The scope of the project will also be broader: online assessment, which was in the pilot used to a limited extent, will now be a key part of the process and an online repository will be developed to safely contain all passports issued. Moreover, the new project will widen the spectrum of the target groups: whereas in the pilot they were mainly Syrian, Iraqi or Afghan refugees, now also those coming from Sub-Saharan Africa will be included, since they constitute most of the refugees arriving in Italy. Finally, the new phase will see the involvement of the beneficiaries in the pilot phase and who will act as tutors for the new EQPR holders, to help them better integrate in the job market or in the education sector. 

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Photo: www.coe.int