Displacement is not just migrating from one place to another. You also leave your identity and the characteristics that make you who you are behind you. While facing many challenges during the route, you must rebuild your life and yourself in the place you came to.
This is also what Juleta experienced. She is a displaced woman from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. Before the conflict in 2023, she was a psychology teacher, now she teaches sewing at a local NGO in Yerevan, thanks to the European Union (EU) humanitarian funding.
Changing professions is not an easy transformation for most of the displaced people. Military servants become construction workers, lawyers become bakers. Some of them are not yet mentally ready to start the journey towards a different field of work. However, they need to survive and adapt to the new reality, like Juleta.
Need for adaptation
“I was in the class with my students when the conflict started in 2023. After the displacement to Armenia, it was very difficult for me to integrate into the Armenian market as it is very different than Nagorno Karabakh’s. I said to myself: I need to adapt to this new market in order to survive,” she says.
Adaptation & Integration Club
With EU support, the humanitarian organisation Action Against Hunger, in cooperation with a local NGO, Mission Armenia, supports skills development and employability of displaced people through the Adaptation and Integration Club. In this club, they can increase their soft skills and knowledge for integration into the labour market.
Highlighting that this club was very beneficial to her, she says:
“After joining this club, my knowledge of the business sector, and information about the country increased. I learned many things like how to integrate with people, and how to manage emotions during difficult times. We also learned self-introduction, job readiness, writing a CV and, cover letter, and business-generating ideas.”
New sewing class facilitator
These clubs last for 4 months and it’s not only about learning skills. The club members also visit job markets, meet with business and private sector representatives, and learn more about the country while discovering historical and cultural places.
“After this club, I started as a sewing class facilitator at Mission Armenia Centre. I sew some clothes for Mission Armenia staff too. It’s a social entrepreneurship,” she says.
Explaining her experience, she says:
“This new job impacted positively my life. I will do my best to continue it. After the displacement, we lost our balance and our harmony. This club brought me networking and self-confidence.”
Thanks to this EU-funded project, our humanitarian partner ACF, in cooperation with the local NGOs, Mission Armenia and Partnership and Teaching, supported 446 displaced people to attend these clubs.
After 4 months of strengthening their personal and professional skills, 60 participants were provided with self-employment toolkits and started small businesses in different sectors like car repair, beekeeping, beauty sector, dental technician, dried fruit production, etc.
40 participants engaged in internships in different companies. In total, 82 participants were successful in finding employment.
