AN initiative to help skilled refugees gain the certification required to work in the construction sector has won a prestigious award.
Run by Fife Council, Dundee City Council, Clackmannanshire Council, and the charity WEA, the Building Skills Together initiative won the Excellent People, Excellent Outcomes Award at the COSLA Excellence Awards 2023.
The initiative, which comes as part of the New Scots refugee integration delivery project, created two high-quality training courses and aimed to address the barriers that skilled refugees arriving in Scotland face in accessing careers in construction, enhance their employability, and allow them to move from benefits into meaningful employment.
Seven pilot projects were carried out in Fife, Dundee, Clackmannanshire, and online to test out the materials with 50 skilled refugees from Syria, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Hong Kong, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Yemen. 41 people gained Health and Safety certification and 8 people were able to gain CSCS Green Operative Cards enabling them to work on UK building sites.
The resources developed are now available free of charge to those working with New Scots and other adult learners to help them certify their skills to work in the UK construction industry and promote their wider integration.
Congratulating the partnership, Fife Council leader David Ross said, “The COSLA awards celebrate the most innovative work that is helping to make Scotland’s communities better and fairer places. The recognition for this partnership project, and the outcomes it has achieved in helping refugees to certify their skills and promote their wider integration, is very well deserved.”
In 2021, Project Scotland spoke to Dundee City Council about the initiative. To read the article click here.
