Mentoring for Migrants – achieving the 17 SDGs.

Posted on 01/07/2016 Updated on 22/02/2017

Migrants (refugees) may participate in the Program “Mentoring of Migrants” of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce to obtain a volunteering mentor to succor him. First, the mentor identifies the skills and potential of its protégé, and then supports him in learning the culture, values, language, to assist in the case with authorities, to start a business, or in the search of a suitable job. The Mentoring Partnership takes about six months in which the migrant meets with his mentor an average of five hours per month; however, the immigrants (refugees) must provide individual prerequisites such as apprenticeship, graduation or higher education, good knowledge of German, unrestricted access to the labor market and a permanent residence permit. The author was a mentor in this Mentoring program and appeals that less qualified refugees should participate in this mentoring program too: many of these refugees are surprisingly very skilled with their hands. Craftsmen are in demand in Europe (i.e. more than 20.000 welders in the coming five years) and are needed for the reconstruction of the infrastructure (Marshall Plan?) and improvement of the economy in their homelands; moreover, it advances the achievement of the 17 SDGs (UN Sustainable Development Goals). In my opinion, the European and International Development Assistance should carry the cost of this dual-training even if the European states agree on the distribution of refugees. Through worldwide networking chambers of commerce and labor, labor market institutions, UNIDO in Vienna, NGOs and other stakeholders the refugees will integrate faster, – but more vital is that trained and educated refugees are repatriated to their homeland, starting as soon as possible, to achieve the 17 UN SDG goals.

roland.leithenmayr@chello.at, VFV