We need help to meet the crisis faced by Ukrainians arriving in this country. Most of them have left their homes, communities and jobs without time to plan or prepare.

Omid International is working to SUPPORT those fleeing war and conflict, particularly women; PROVIDE employment opportunities and training to get them ready for work; and CREATE a sustainable, independent future; facilitating the logistics for them to settle and thrive.

Initially set up in 2021 to support female Afghan women and families fleeing the Taliban, we would like to scale up to meet the needs of Ukrainians seeking refuge in the UK and help them into work.

We plan to provide work immediately for 2 Ukrainian and 2 Afghan female refugees – they will be trained as ‘employability specialists’ and support other refugees with CV and interview preparation skills as well as adjustment to the UK workplace.

We will then aim to support 250 candidates into work within 6 months. They will have been through incredibly traumatic experiences; to ensure that they are prepared for work, we will provide a coaching and mentoring package through our partners to build confidence and skills in order that they feel ready to approach the work place. We will work with our sister organization GRA to source suitable jobs, building our network of employers to bring in more work.

We are incredibly lucky and grateful to have the support of experts in the field - Heledd Kendrick of Recruit for Spouses and John Stephenson of Forces Transition Group. The Institute of Supply Chain Management IoSCM are also on board to give those we are supporting access to their Ofqual approved bitesize courses.

Omid is a UK social enterprise, once we are up and running with this, we aim the business to be self-sustaining by 2023.

Find out more at www.omidinternational.org