Duo for a Job
When cross-generational exchanges make a difference
Location of impact : France, Belgium
Grant : 5000€
Project supported in 2023-2024
DUO was created on the basis of two key observations:
- Unemployment, which is high among the youth population, hits young people from immigrant backgrounds even harder. Discrimination exists, is keenly felt and exacerbates many other barriers to employment (language, training, social network, job insecurity, etc.).
- The situation of the 50+ is a considerable human and social waste. Their employment rate is too low; the end of their career and retirement can be a difficult time, with few opportunities for stimulating work that matches the human experience they have acquired.
DUO for a JOB is a mentoring programme that enables a young refugee or immigrant to be supported in their job search by a mentor aged over 50. We cross the life paths of two apparently very different groups of people, who are nonetheless often linked by the experience of doubt, indifference or prejudice.
DUO for a JOB is a highly effective means of integrating young people into the workplace, but it is also a project that opens up new horizons and builds human links between people of different ages, backgrounds and neighbourhoods.
Azickia’s donation will be used to fund one or two mentor training courses in Lille. This is a specific feature of the DUO for a JOB programme: all the volunteer mentors are trained beforehand by experts and by our teams on a range of topics (history of immigration, intercultural communication, active listening, etc.) so that they have all the keys they need to help a young person find a job.
the organisation carrying the project
DUO for a JOB is an intergenerational mentoring programme that links young people from immigrant backgrounds with volunteer mentors over the age of 50.
The charity’s aim is threefold: to help young people find jobs, (re)develop the skills and experience of senior citizens and create a unique platform for encounters between neighbourhoods, cultures and generations.
key figures
- More than 6,000 young people supported in Belgium, France and the Netherlands
- A community of over 1,800 active mentors in Europe
- 70% of young people have achieved a positive outcome (job, work placement, training), 50% of them in employment
- 8 out of 10 mentors repeat the experience after an initial mentoring period
- 90% of “duos” come to an end (6 months)
- DUO France has 370 active and trained mentors and has supported more than 550 young people since the end of 2019.
- Our goal is to support 2,400 young people in France over 2023-2025 by maintaining these results.
