Vocational Training for Groups Facing Social Exclusion - Greece

Source: The Greek Manpower Employment Organization

Prevention and struggle against Social Exclusion constitute a basic principle regarding interventions of O.A.E.D. It aims at the integration of the endangered Social Groups in the Labour Market.

A steadily growing number of groups of population are excluded from Labour Market and subsequently, from their integration in social life.

The rapid advance of technology regarding most sectors of the economy, results to a selective "behaviour" in Labour Market and therefore to the increasing of the menace of Social Exclusion. Social Exclusion consists a major characteristic of the most "vulnerable" workers, or those who will not easily adapt themselves in these changes, due to:

• Lack of basic vocational qualifications and skills, due to insufficient integration to training system,

  • pshycological, mental disorder, physical handicap,

  • imprisonment

  • chemical drug/alcohol addiction

  • social stereotypes

• Lack of communication with the environment or ignorance of the existing measures and institutions who can offer solutions.

Often this reasoning appears as a common characteristic of certain social groups as:

• Drug addicts

• Ex-Drug addicts

• Ex- prisoners or young delinquents

• Persons prossessing certain language, or cultural properties such as ROM, Pomacs etc.

• Repatriated people of Greek origin,

• Refugees,

• Immigrants,

• Single parent families,

• Groups of persons needed support for integration of re-integration in Labour Market and for remaining in work placement, in order to break the vicious circle "Poverty- Unemployment- Social Differentation"

The O.A.E.D. within the framework of desicive intervention activities in the fields of Vocational Orientation, Training and Employment of Labour Force plans and implements a National plan for strengthening and integrating the groups of population facing or endangered with Social Exclusion. The strand of supporting measures enacted, will secure acceptance and remaining of these groups to society.

The planning, implementation, coordination of the supporting programmes and measures as well as their follow up consist a competence of the Directorate for Special Social Groups which runs its activities within the framework of relevant Laws ( 2643/98, 1262/82 P.Decree 246/86, 1836/89, 1892/90, 2081/92, 2431/96,33485/98 ).

This Directorate develops, organises and reorganises measures and actions which render sensitive, activate and support the above mentioned groups of population with programmes of:

• Vocational Orientation,

• Pre-training stage,

• Training in specializations demanded in Labour Market.

The Organization encourages and promotes integration of handicapped or endangered Social Groups in regular Training programmes and Apprenticeship and Continuing Training, to facilitate their integration in society. For this reason 10% of trainees attending each year classes, is this Kind of persons. Each year, approximately 2,600 persons are trained in the specialized Centers of Vocational Training in Athens, Larisa and Thessaloniki. Specializations vary from: Clerks using Applications-integrated Accountancy, and Training of Clerks in Teleworking, Carpentry, Woodworking, Potery, Leatherworking, to Cuttery-Sewery

The training modules are taught within 2, or 4 years of training (Lakkia). Part of the programmes are co-financed by E.S.F.

[Top]