A boost towards employment

A few weeks before the end of the project, the job prospects for Bertin Ekitah and Merhawi Zerom Eyasu were still uncertain. Yet their hopes were high when they applied for the Coach4Work program last autumn and, following a multi-stage screening process, were finally accepted.

The "Association de Soutien aux Travailleurs Immigrés" (Asti) was born to support immigrants in Luxembourg's complex labour market, at least in terms of its name.The association has long been in favour of providing people who immigrate to Luxembourg or seek asylum here with professional orientation as quickly as possible. To prove that its idea works, it has taken matters into its own hands in recent years and launched various projects.

The Coach4Work project already existed once. In September 2023, the programme started again for a period of two years. The principle is simple: volunteer coaches provide one-to-one support to people looking for work. The costs for the two-year project have been set at 240,000 euros. The European Social Fund covers 40 per cent, with the Ministry of Labour covering the rest.

The project is not intended to compete with the Employment Development Agency (Adem). "We see it more as a complement, " says Stephanie Moscato in an interview with the Journal. She took over the coordination of the project in September 2023. "The Coach4Work project supports people individually in their job search who have difficulties finding a job, who don't know the labour market very well and often don't have realistic ideas about their professional project." Adem itself is also involved in the programme. A two-day workshop is held at the start of the project, which is attended by the House of Orientation and Adem in order to provide general information about the Luxembourg labour market. The coaches also receive a briefing in this way with the support of the Chamber of Labour.