A training programme which gives help to the long-term unemployed, people with disabilities and refugees has been launched.
Ag Obair Le Chéile is a new training and employment programme run by the National Learning Network in Phibsborough. It is part of the Rehab Group.
The programme has been operating on a pilot basis for the last six months. Of the 16 people who took part, eight have secured full-time employment.
It is aiming to cater to 40 people and will run until April of next year.
Annette Mphalele (58) fled her native Uganda in 1994. She came via South Africa to Ireland in 2013. She was in a refugee hostel in Newbridge.
Through Ag Obair Le Chéile she has managed to get a placement in Airbnb’s head office in Dublin.
“It trained me how to use the computer, to speak and write English,” she said.
Sustainable work
The programme was formally launched by Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe on Friday. He said in the context of an economy growing to full employment, it was important that everybody got an opportunity to work.
Mr Donohoe said the programme provided a “vital resource to people to assist them in finding sustainable work”.
Project manager Tina Leonard said the emphasis in Ag Obair Le Chéile was on gaining employment for participants who might otherwise not be able to find jobs.
She said many of those involved in the course needed the confidence to be able to seek out full-time employment which they may not have had before.
“If they want to pursue employment in a certain area, we’ll source out a work placement for them. We’re looking to get them to work with the whole company so they can put it into their CV, so they can say that they are ready to go out into the workplace.”
The programme is partially supported by the JP Morgan Chase Foundation, which gives €200 million a year to various programmes.
