Many refugees face enormous challenges after arriving at their new place of residence, especially when it comes to their professional prospects. The linguistic barriers to entering a profession should not be underestimated, especially because each profession requires its own specialized vocabulary. That is why the new project of the Internationaler Bund (IB) called "Radix" is working on the development of a vocational language database for vocational preparation and orientation for young people with a refugee background and socially disadvantaged young people. "Language competence is an important aspect of integration and a prerequisite for participation in many areas of society. Language enables the establishment of social contacts with other people, participation in the education system and the labor market, as well as the acquisition of a cultural understanding," explains Karola Becker, member of the IB Executive Board.
The service will be available for various digital devices and as a website and will offer word translations in a total of 12 languages, including Arabic, Pashto, Tigrin, Albanian, Kurdish and French, as well as the six national languages of the partners from Italy, Spain, Greece, the UK, Germany and Turkey. The project is funded by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union and will run for 2 years (2020-2022).
The project partners have already been able to test their cooperation in the Compass project from 2017 to 2019. The BIBB award-winning project promoted vocational preparation and orientation for young people with a refugee background and facilitated initial contacts between refugees and local authorities.
In addition to the Internationaler Bund (IB) Berlin Brandenburg Nordost, five other organizations are involved in the new "Radix" project: RLN (UK) Ltd, a data systems specialist, the Italian educational organization Cesie, the Spanish language specialist Alos Idiomas, the Greek youth work organization Europe for Diversity Culture and Coexistence, and the Turkish social welfare organization Kirikkale Aile Calisma ve Sosyal Hizmetler il mudurlugu.
