Skövde and Tibro municipalities are trying to make use of the skills and experience of Ukrainian refugees. Therefore, they are now implementing a ESF project (European Social Fund) with the aim of facilitating the integration of Ukrainians into the Swedish labor market.

The idea and vision of the project is for the municipalities to help participants find internships adapted to their skills and experience. The internship is combined with SFI (Swedish for immigrants) and lasts for a period of 2-4 weeks, with the hope that it will eventually lead to employment.

Objectives and hopes of the project

Hanna Alfredsson and Marcin Johansson from Labour market unit in Skövde says that the project has opened up new opportunities for the municipalitiess finding competent staff. When the project started in mid-October 2023, there were a few hopes and goals.

- About 35 participants have completed the project and it has been very successful. The aim is to provide the participants with knowledge of the Swedish labor market and for them to undergo an internship. It is then hoped that 50 % of the internships will lead to employment during or after the end of the project," says Marcin.

During the project, a speed dating session was held where participants and companies met to see if there is a match of skills and needs.

- It was very successful and several of the participants got internships and some of them were offered jobs directly after the internship," says Hanna.

Participants in the project

Daria and Olena are from Ukraine and are two of the participants in the project. They have both been employed by Skövde municipality and work 50 % as language support in the project while attending 50 % at SFI to learn Swedish.

- I moved to Sweden with my daughter in March 2022. Before I was employed as a language support worker, I worked in home care. My goal for the future is to learn better Swedish, so that I can joke and laugh more with Swedes," says Daria.

Olena also moved to Sweden with her daughter in March 2022 and enjoys living in Skövde.

- Before the project I worked at Skara sommarland, Ekedal nursing home and with an environmental project for ESF. Skövde is a good city to live in, everyone is very kind and nice here, which has helped with integration. I want to help others from Ukraine to plan their future," says Olena.

The project and speed dating have helped many participants match with companies and find internships that match their Ukrainian skills.