Employment promotion and resilience building (BRIDGES/ Phase IV)

active

The project sponsor, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), has been active in Turkey since 2013 in the provinces most affected by the influx of refugees. The SI measure BRIDGES (Building Resilience through Initiatives Defining Growth potential of Economic Solutions for Syrians in Turkey) has been running since 2016. With the support of the BMZ, the project was significantly expanded between 2017 and 2023. An extension to July 2025 is planned for a fourth phase. The project locations extend across the provinces of Hatay, Kilis, İnlıurfa, Kahramanmarağ and Istanbul. BRIDGES is an integrated project approach that focuses on promoting the social and economic independence of individuals in order to create sustainable opportunities for refugees to earn a living without being dependent on state or humanitarian aid. The training and vocational education measures offered are intended to enable people to find work in the regular labor market or to start self-employment. The activities essentially include legal, economic and social advice, on-the-job training, job placement (including local job fairs; placement of internships), wage and work permit subsidies, start-up advice, workshops on self-employment and support for start-up projects within the framework of start-up grants and basic and advanced entrepreneurship training.