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  • 📹 Our campaign with viavictor questions the sincerity of diversity in corporate branding and urges individuals and especially employers to recognise and correct their hidden biases towards young people from migrant backgrounds.

    At DUO for a JOB, our mentors support and empower talents like Chidi who are often overlooked in the recruitment process

    🔗 Our mission is clear: to change diversity from a buzzword to a reality.

    In almost 10 years, DUO for a JOB has enabled more than 5,000 young jobseekers from a migrant background to benefit from free, personalised support from a mentor in their job search. The aim? To combat the inequalities and difficulties these young people face in accessing the job market, and to boost their chances of securing a contract, work placement or training.

    To reach as many young people as possible and offer them this service, DUO for a JOB has launched a campaign based on the many testimonies of young people supported by the association. It highlights and acknowledges the difficulties they face and how they feel, and offers them a solution. The slogans: “Your greatest professional experience is a very small one? “When you say your name, are you afraid someone will say no?”, “Your professional network doesn’t go beyond the neighbourhood?” “For once, you tick all the boxes.

    “We want the young people who see these messages to understand that we are listening to them, that we are aware of the difficulties they are facing, but also and above all that we have something to offer them and that they have everything to gain by being accompanied by one of our mentors”.

    Axelle Le Brettevillois, Communications Director.

    1 young person, 1 mentor

    To counter the discrimination, lack of network and lack of experience mentioned in the campaign, DUO for a JOB matches each young person who signs up with the right mentor, whatever their background, skills or career plans. Mentoring creates a long-term relationship in which the mentor shares his or her experience to support the young person in the process. “It enables young people who no longer dare to dream to broaden their horizons, define projects that match their skills and boost their self-confidence,” concludes Axelle Le Brettevillois.

    Mentoring, a tool for inclusion

    In 10 years, DUO for a JOB’s experience and impact studies have proven that mentoring provides a human and effective response to some of society’s urgent challenges, and is perfectly aligned with the current political priorities of Belgian governments: increasing the employment rate, particularly for citizens of non-EU origin, NEETS and long-term unemployed; improve the management of the end-of-career situation for elderly workers; creation of social links to guarantee social cohesion.

    ”Given the impact and cost-effectiveness of mentoring, we should be offering this individualised support to every jobseeker who needs it, to really work towards restoring equal opportunities in Belgium,” says Julie Bodson, director of the association. “In order to make that happen, Belgium needs a legislative and financial framework to develop and anchor mentoring in a structural way in the various regions.” This is the main recommendation made by the association in its memorandum sent today to the political parties ahead of the 2024 regional and federal elections.

    Here are some key figures after 10 years in activity, with a community of nearly 2,000 active mentors and 6,000 pairs trained :

    ⭐ 7 out of 10 young people have signed a contract, internship or training course, and most of them were NEETs or long-term unemployed.

    ⭐ 9 out of 10 mentors say they feel useful as active members of society.

    🚀 And how many stereotypes have been deconstructed?

    On Thursday 14 September, almost 400 mentors, mentees and partners
    joined to celebrate our 10th anniversary👇

    The Benjamin Ferré and DUO for a JOB partnership

    The young skipper Benjamin Ferré is offering us incredible free visibility with his IMOCA Monnoyeur-DUO for a JOB.

    He will be wearing the DUO for a JOB colours during the Vendée Globe 2024, the world’s largest single-handed, non-stop, unassisted round-the-world sailing race. Offering DUO for a JOB this incredible visibility gives Benjamin an extra motivation, a reason for being that goes beyond the sporting exploit.

    He will be sailing alone but he is not alone in preparing for this adventure as he is coached by Jean Le Cam, a sailing legend. An inter-generational duo who share the same passion and values of DUO.

    We are happy to share the news of the Monnoyeur-DUO for a JOB boat with you and we can’t wait for Benjamin to take us with him to the end of the world!

    “The new generations also teach the old ones and I think it’s more about sharing than passing on”

    Jean Le Cam

    “Using the lessons of the past to create your own trajectory is an incredible richness”

    Benjamin Ferré

    The origin of the project

    Thanks to a common partner who was able to create the spark, Benjamin and DUO for a JOB met for the first time in early 2022.

    One might think that a social project like DUO’s would be at odds with the world of sailing… And yet! A young sportsman and his experienced mentor, it obviously resonates with the association’s mentoring programme. The meeting between Benjamin and DUO for a JOB was therefore an obvious choice as the values of intergenerational sharing and exchange are at the heart of both projects: “using the lessons of the past to create your own trajectory is an incredible richness“ explains Benjamin.

    In the end, our partnership made sense and Benjamin intends to take us with him around the globe.

    They talk about it:

    Follow DUO for a JOB x Benjamin Ferré on our social networks:

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    Do you want to support us or join DUO in this adventure?

    Thanks to the partners who are making this adventure possible

    Le Groupe CAA, Monnoyeur, HUNTEO, AZALEO, SKEMA Business School, 17Capital, Epic Foundation, IMOCA

    Our publications

    Click to read

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    2019

    Other publications and external contributions

    Inspiring and collaborating with other NGOs, the academic sector and research bodies is one of the key objectives of our advocacy work.

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    We will answer you as soon as possible.

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    See you soon, DUO for a JOB

    Mentoring: the path to social and professional inclusion of young people with a migrant background?

    The observation is clear: Belgium has the lowest employment rate in Europe for people born outside the European Union. This figure calls into question the inclusive nature of the Belgian labour market, and of our society in general.

    However, one fifth of the Belgian population is of foreign origin. Will we be able to manage this diversity and reap the benefits it could bring?

    Thanks to its intergenerational and intercultural mentoring program, DUO for a JOB has been able to gather the testimonies of nearly 1300 young people with a migrant background over the past 5 years. We met young people full of skills, potential and experience with the desire to use them to participate fully in Belgian social and economic life. Through their stories and the follow-up of their duos, we learned to know their individual realities but also saw common barriers that make it difficult for them to access employment. The first objective of this report is therefore to give the floor to these young people, to testify to their reality and to draw attention to their difficulties.

    Being part of the journey of all these young people has above all made it possible to confirm that if they benefit from the right springboard, young people with a migrant background can find their way. The second objective of the report is very concretely to highlight the possible solutions: the contributions of individualised support such as mentoring but also the good practices already implemented by other actors.

    Accompanying these young people has finally enabled us to see that the transition to a truly inclusive Belgian society can only be made by rethinking existing mechanisms. The report proposes 8 concrete priorities based on DUO for a JOB’s experience.

    Read the full report (in french)

    Aussi disponible en français – Ook beschikbaar in Nederlands

    2023 | Chidi brings colour to the picture

    But when recruiting, he often does not come into the picture.

    That is why DUO works for a JOB to give him and other young people with migration roots a chance in the job market.

     

    September 2022 | You tick all the boxes

    Is your most important professional experience very little? When you say your name, are you afraid someone will say no? Your professional network doesn’t extend beyond the neighbourhood? For once, you’ve ticked all the boxes.

    Based on the many testimonies of young people supported by the association, this campaign highlights the difficulties they encounter, so that we can better propose a solution.

     

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    July 2022 | Give Ukrainians time (but don’t waste it)

    Since March 2022, thousands of people have had to take the road to exile. At DUO, we’re convinced that meeting people and sharing experiences are boosts to inclusion. At DUO, we are ready to work hand in hand with associations, the public service and businesses to guide young Ukrainians into the job market.

     

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    2021 | Mentoring: a tool for social revival ?

    Inactive, slow, closed, resistant to change, backward-looking and always ready to complain… The prejudices about people over 50 are in stark contrast to their state of mind. Older people want to participate in social life, want to share their experience and miss the recognition they received during their professional career. Another group, young people with an immigrant background, are eager to participate in professional life, but are held back. Are prejudices preventing us from collectively benefiting from each other’s talents?

     

     

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    See you soon, DUO for a JOB

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