18-04-2023 16:48
"We have seen people who come with two different shoes and people who wear flip flops in the snow. At such moments I say to myself - I have shoes! One of the reasons I love my job is that it grounds me, makes me appreciate the things we take for granted," says Victoria Peneva. Together with Kiril Petrunov, they work with refugees at the Registration and Reception Centre in Sofia - Voenna Rampa. The challenge in their work is its huge amount related to the increased number of people seeking international protection. To communicate with them, a phrasebook has been created with rarely encountered languages such as Dari, Persian, Kurdish, Pashto, Urdu and Arabic. The phrasebook is part of the project "Increasing the administrative capacity of the national authorities in the asylum and migration area" of the State Agency for Refugees at the Council of Ministers, funded by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism.
The State Agency is training 350 people. They will contribute to the acquisition of new knowledge and specific skills related to reception, accommodation, social and cultural adaptation, individual assessment of persons, and procedures for granting international protection. They have also organised foreign language courses and the production of videos to raise awareness about working with persons seeking international protection.
The project partners are the Directorate General of Border Police, the Directorate of Migration, the National Legal Aid Bureau and the National Police Immigration Service of Norway.
Border Police officers working in the district border offices - Elhovo, Smolyan, Dragoman, Ruse and Sofia (Airports) are trained to counter human trafficking and work with unaccompanied persons. The Migration Directorate organizes study visits to Oslo, Norway, as well as training of Norwegian specialists in our country. The focus is on learning about the experience, procedures and challenges of the Norwegian authorities in dealing with irregular migration. Within the project, the National Legal Aid Bureau is preparing a legal handbook that will be used in working with unaccompanied children seeking international protection.