Project “Consultation point for foreigners at the Foundation for Somalia” financed by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway from the EEA Funds under the Active Citizens Programme – Regional Fund
Duration: 30 December 2021 – 30 December 2022
The Foundation for Somalia has planned this 12-month project as a continuation of support for migrants and refugees by providing legal assistance, general and specialist integration support, as well as career counselling. Integration advisors and specialist advisors available within their schedules will support foreigners in migration situations – both planned and forced.
We carry out activities that help them navigate the host country – so that they know their rights and obligations and can navigate the basic services necessary for their and their families’ lives. We help them individually with specific challenges of everyday life – from visiting a doctor or an office, to writing an appeal to legalize their stay in Poland, to situations of violence, abuse of rights, discrimination and mobbing at work. An important aspect is the existence of a friendly place where they can always get advice and support, they can come and sit for a coffee/tea and spend time with other foreigners in a friendly place for them. The point registered unique users of services in the database in the situation of providing direct advice, there are 780 such people. 49% of beneficiaries are people from Ukraine, 12% from Belarus and 9% from India, then in terms of the number of people using our services are Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Iran and Azerbaijan. In total, we provided support to people from 52 countries. After the escalation of the war in Ukraine, advisors provided support by phone and on social media, at advisory and transit points. Such advice and beneficiaries were not officially registered in the database, in order to respect urgent needs and avoid concerns related to data collection.
Advisors provided 2,309 registered direct advices, but much more support was provided due to open duty hours for refugees, telephone line service. A legal adviser provided 306 advices in the most complicated legal matters, and the three most experienced legalization advisers provided 1,524 advices. Career advisers provided 324 advice.
