HELIOS - Hellenic Integration Support for Beneficiaries of International and Temporary Protection
About this good practice
HELIOS is an Integration Project that aims to support refugees of International Protection and Temporary Protection to integrate into the Greek society.
Resources needed
In almost 5 years of its existence, while serving over 40.000 beneficiaries, the project was funded by DGHome with the amount of EUR 75M and by the Greek national budget with the amount of EUR 62M. The total number of staff (IOM and Implementing partners) was changing from 250 – 400 staff members.
Evidence of success
45.254 beneficiaries enrolled in the HELIOS project from 2019 until January 2024.
Out of them,7.499(aged 16 years and older)received employability support, with the aim to enhance their educational and professional profiles, linking them to job and upskilling opportunities.390 collaborations were established with employers in various sectors throughout Greece and 46 Employability Events and Conferences were implemented with 5.000 attendees in total in multiple sectors of the Greek economy.
Potential for learning or transfer
HELIOS constitutes the only nationwide integration project in Greece,helping create a prosperous society,in alignment with the EU and national integration policies.It's been implemented in a pilot-to-full-scale approach.The factors that enabled its scalability were managed through piloting initiatives on a larger scale,considering the local realities of the areas of implementation,as well as the needs of assisted population.Regarding employability,a full-scale Employability Mechanism has been developed.Includes a Profiling and Job Counselling System,a Job Searching,Private Sector Networking Mechanism and an Internal Platform.Practices and methodology incorporated in both the mechanism and internal platform can be applied and transferred to other contexts as well.Lessons learned from the implementation of the HELIOS can serve as a blueprint for similar initiatives in other European countries,highlighting the efficacy of a multifaceted approach in tackling complex social challenges