Since August 2023 the project “Athens Solidarity Centre” is supported within the framework of the Swiss-Greek Cooperation Programme. The project aims to support asylum seekers with their asylum procedure (legal aid and legal representation, preparation of documentation and psychological assessments) and strengthen integration efforts of third country nationals (empowerment, access to labour market, tax registration, administrative support and accessing states services). The Solidarity Centres operated by the NGO SolidarityNow in Athens and Thessaloniki support and empower refugees, asylum seekers and migrants to become active and productive members of society.

Project description

Background    

Greece has remained on the forefront of Europe’s asylum and migration challenges since the on-set of the refugee crisis in 2015, primarily as a first reception and transit country.  The overall number of people arriving in Greece has reduced significantly over the last years. This number did however pick up in 2022, with a total of 18,780 people arriving during the year. Moreover, following the onset of the war in Ukraine, an estimated 80,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Greece, mainly women and children, while some 22,000 have ap-plied for temporary protection.  

Objectives

The project aims to support beneficiaries with a holistic set of protection activities during their asylum procedure. Additionally, the project shall ensure successful integration of refugees by providing services such as psychosocial support, referrals to social welfare and employability. 

Target groups

The project aims to support 6.400 individuals, mainly asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants, to empower them to become active and productive members of society.

Activities

Activities include service provision in the field of social welfare, legal aid as well as employability. Concretely, the social services carry out individual sessions with beneficiaries to assess needs, support and empower beneficiaries and prepares documentation to support and enable their requests such as accommodation applications, asylum registrations, child protection cases, Best Interest Assessments (BIAs) for Family Reunification cases and access to social benefits. The psychological services aim to ensure the right to access to quality mental health care, which is crucial, especially for individuals at risk, facing a plethora of challenges. The legal services offer legal consultation and aid across a wide range of cases including asylum and migration. And the employability services support individuals who are looking to re-/integrate into the labour market, mainly through individual session. The beneficiaries are informed about labour processes and are supported with a wide range of services to improve their employability on the Greek labor market.  

Federal office responsible

Federal Department of Justice and Police / State Secretariat for Migration