Invest Sofia Took Part in a Meeting on “Integration of Ukrainian Refugees on the Territory of Sofia Municipality”
A meeting on the integration of refugees from Ukraine was held today in the National Palace of Culture, initiated by the UN Refugee Agency in Bulgaria, The Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants, and the Sofia Development Association. At the invitation of the organisers, our Senior Expert Olena Filina, who is the project manager of the www.jobs.investsofia.com platform, joined the event. She took part in the discussion on the opportunities for supporting refugees in Sofia Municipality in accommodation, education, employment and access to the labor market, health care, social assistance and others.
The meeting brought together representatives of the city government, regional administrations in Sofia, state institutions and NGOs involved in Ukrainian refugee integration. Integration-related policies for persons granted temporary protection, national and local funding opportunities, as well as best practices from other countries, were presented. The participants also discussed the challenges at the municipal level and potential solutions, and the role of the non-governmental sector in the institutional efforts to integrate Ukrainian refugees residing in our country.
We remind you that within Invest Sofia initiative to support Ukrainian citizens in our country, our team has already held several working meetings with the community in Sofia and supporting organizations. Among our partners during these meetings were Caritas Bulgaria, the European project RIDE – an initiative that aims to include migrant and refugee women in the digital labor market, the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Open Sofia Foundation, Networking Premium Coworking. With these meetings, we aimed at being a practical supporter to Ukrainians living in the city and providing guidance on the labor market, legislation, improving skills, finding a job, and more.
The platform https://jobs.investsofia.com/, which we created days after the invasion of Ukraine, is also available. The website is accessible in Ukrainian, Russian, English, and Bulgarian. The platform is open both to companies that want to list their open positions and job seekers. Users can easily create a personal profile and professional resume and contact potential employers. Currently, the website contains nearly 50 vacancies announced by companies in various fields of the economy.
