VIP project

The project

In project VIP (Vluchtelingen Investeren in Participeren – Refugees Investing in Participation), the Dutch Refugee Council focuses on migrants who had recently received a resident permit but who struggle to access the labour market. VIP sought to close this gap by acquainting refugees with the labor market through internships, volunteering and company visits. A holistic approach with a link to civic integration (culture and language) was central to the project. The project started in 2015 and ended in December 2017. In total, almost 1.200 refugees completed the programme, 400 job coaches were deployed, 60 municipalities and 250 employers participated. Due to its success, a second phase of the project (VIP2) was initiated in in November 2017 and ended in November 2020.

Refugees Investing in Participation), the Dutch Refugee Council focuses on migrants who had recently received a resident permit but who struggle to access the labour market. VIP sought to close this gap by acquainting refugees with the labor market through internships, volunteering and company visits. A holistic approach with a link to civic integration (culture and language) was central to the project. The project started in 2015 and ended in December 2017. In total, almost 1.200 refugees completed the programme, 400 job coaches were deployed, 60 municipalities and 250 employers participated. Due to its success, a second phase of the project (VIP2) was initiated in in November 2017 and ended in November 2020.

In order to guide refugees to work, approaches are needed at multiple levels: learning skills, language deficiencies, educational facilities, the labor market and access to social capital. Whereas many labor integration initiatives focus on addressing skills and language deficiencies, a holistic approach that also addresses education, labor market, and social networks was lacking. Studies have shown that refugees cannot get a job because they do not speak sufficient Dutch. But because they are unemployed, they have less opportunities to practice their Dutch.

VIP aimed to break this vicious circle through a mixture of internships, training, volunteering working visits and by consulting with role models/ambassadors. The assignment of every participant to a personal coach ensured the approach was tailored to individual needs. The Dutch Council for Refugees furthermore offered workshops and training to companies that participated in VIP to ensure preparedness, cultural sensitivity and meaningful participation of the company and of the migrant. 

The impact of the good practice

One out of three participants in VIP were employed 18 months after receiving their residence permit. This is significantly higher than the national average (18% of status-holders are employed after 36 months). However, it should be noted that the majority of contracts reflected in the first statistic were temporary. Some migrants received a contract of three months, only to find themselves unemployed once the three month duration expired. Many contracts offered by the participating companies in this project were part-time or zero hour contracts. 

Some of the participants (25%) did not secure employment because they were instead enrolled at an educational institution. Half of the participants gained work experience at some point during the project by means of an internship. Some made use of the placements offered by the project whilst others searched for placements independently. Two-thirds completed volunteer work, although some of these participants indicated that volunteer work did not contribute to learning the language or finding work, whereas others saw it as a way to expand their network.  

The study also disaggregates results according to gender, country of origin and age. Women participating in the project suffered significantly lower employment rates (10%) than men (46%) while women had higher participation rates in volunteer work and men had more internships (41% female vs 61% male). Participants aged 18 to 29 had the highest employment rates (39%) whereas participants 40 years and older had the highest volunteer work rates (81% under 40 vs 60% over 40).