On 13 and 14 of May 2023, the EYF Secretariat was in Prague to visit a workshop organised by YMCA Plzen, in the framework of the pilot activity "Building Youth Employability Competences of Ukrainian refugees in the Czech Republic", granted by the EYF under the Special Call to support young people from Ukraine. 

The project aims at increasing the employability of young Ukraine refugees, through soft-skills workshops and intercultural learning. So far, 40 people from Ukraine now living in Czech Republic have attended these meetings. YMCA also set up a website in Ukrainian and Czech with all relevant information concerning the Czech job market with tips on how to apply for jobs https://www.proukr.info

By the end of the project, around 160 young refugees are expected to be reached out. The YMCA project manager shared that this project was found very important by the participants, who are eager to enter the local job market but often cannot find the relevant information or are not given the opportunity to apply for jobs in line with their profile. Cultural differences also play a role when it comes to job interviews and presenting the CV. Not many initiatives of this kind have been organised so far in the region, and YMCA Plzen has been solicited to carry out additional similar workshops in Prague.