While the French government does not want migrants to settle in Calais, 79 refugees of the former "Jungle" have just completed a fast-track course in the French language and in are compensating for a workforce shortage in the Hauts-de-France region. This experiment is going to be extended to 1,000 refugees in September.

This program of integrating refugees into the workforce by offering them lodging, orientation and work, known as Pilot, is overseen by the training insurance fund for temporary work (FAF-TT) and was created following a demand from the prefect of the North.

The asylum seekers, who are mostly Sudanese (plus a few Afghans and Pakistanis), were selected during the dismantling of the Calais "Jungle" in October 2016. They participated in a training program in French as well as a vocational course, enabling them to eventually work in a company.

"We started off with the needs of the companies, which sometimes struggle to recruit in the interim and which were willing to give a helping hand to the refugees," Céline Rattez, who spearheaded FAF-TT's experiment and is in charge of its training programme, told Infomigrants.

The refugees are being recruited in job sectors where there is a skills deficit, such as in industry, building, logistics, brick-laying and painting.

The asylum application procedure of these men has been accelerated. They have been given accommodation and food in the AFPA centres (run by the association for the professional training of adults) and not in the emergency housing centres.

'It's Calais that was very difficult'

The Pilot program claims to have culminated in a job for 53 of the participants, some with full-time contracts and others with part-time and interim positions. The training needs to be intensified for 26 other refugees.

"I have now been living in Cantin (north) for eight months and work for Boulanger [an electronic goods company] preparing orders in Dourges ( in Pas-de-Calais)," Mohamed, a 27-year-old Sudanese man who spent four months in the "Jungle" told AFP. "At first, the French was tough, but with practice it's improving. It was Calais that was very difficult."

In Ile-de-France, around 100 refugees have benefited from the same kind of treatment.

1,000 refugees will benefit from the programme in September

Following the success of these experiences, the French state intends to extend this initiative: 1,000 refugees from centres all over France will begin a similar training in September.

"To respond to the call for this project, we have teamed up with six other OPCA [accredited collection offices that manage fundraising allocated to employee training]," Margaux Brousse, who is leading the project for FAF-TT, said. "We are used to public sectors that have high training needs, and we also lead an overall scheme, which makes us right for the job," she added.

Three sectors with a workforce shortfall have been identified: building, industry and services. Those selected will follow either a six or nine-month training scheme before taking up a job. However, unlike the Pilot program which included asylum seekers, this project will only be open to people that have obtained refugee status or have subsidiary protection.

The other condition for being admitted into the program is having obtained a level 1 Delf (initial diploma in the French language A1), in other words, knowing rudimentary French. "The previous experiments allowed us to understand that quickly training people who had absolutely no French proficiency was complicated, which is why this minimal level will be a requirement" Brousse said.