What will happen in 2023? We are at the beginning, it could go either way. Our director Wilma Roozenboom looks ahead…

Please note: this article was translated using a translator app

What will happen in 2023? We are at the beginning, it could go either way.

 The omens do not seem favorable.

 Halfway through last year we passed the sad milestone of 100 million people worldwide fleeing war, violence, persecution and human rights abuses – that figure doesn't look likely to drop in 2023. In the Netherlands, the asylum debate is conducted on the basis of tendentious terms (asylum crisis, coercive law) and we are dealing with a government that does everything it can to keep people out: temporarily halting family reunification, trying to limit the influx. The labor market is unprecedentedly tight, diversity & inclusion has been high on the agenda of every MT of every large company since Black Lives Matter - and yet the majority of status holders in the Netherlands do not have a paid job. Seen in this way, the work of Refugee Talent Hub is a drop in the ocean. Time and time again I hear myself say that refugees are professionals who happened to be born somewhere else. When will this really sink in? It makes me despondent sometimes.

 But.

 Mostly not.

 Almost never actually.

 Because almost every day there is something or someone who shows that it is worth it. Like Ali , Ilham and Ayoub who found work and tell us in the most beautiful words how much that means to them. Such as colleagues Pegy ,Samina and Jan-Simon and the other team members, who have each consciously chosen to work at Refugee Talent Hub for their own reasons. New partners such as Shell and Ochtendmensen who immediately give full throttle from the start of the collaboration and old stalwarts such as Accenture , ABNAmro , and Arcadis with whom we continue to develop great programs. Messages on our socials from enthusiastic fans, emails from candidates that they are finally (finally!) in their place and are being appreciated. And what that does to them. Partners who spontaneously report with ideas, opportunities, energy, desire to participate and to do more.

300 people

 More than 300 people who found a job through Refugee Talent Hub in 2022; that's more than 300 lives that have been permanently changed. Organizing 145 activities for more than 1,500 refugees and more than 2,000 employees from 53 corporate partners: you can call that a drop in the ocean. But a few more of those drops and the record no longer glows. Organizations such as BOOST, UAF, NewBees, Open Embassy, ​​VluchtelingenWerk, Tent Partnership for Refugees, Mano Foundation do the same as us, but differently. Different drops, same plate. Together with them – and together with all our corporate partners – we make a difference. Let's see that it can be done differently.

 Then, zooming out a little further: the Council for Refugees successfully filed lawsuits against the state about the quality of reception of asylum seekers and the temporary stop on family reunification. Refugee Connect will soon conduct one to enforce that asylum seekers are allowed to work more than (the currently applicable) 24 weeks per year while they are still awaiting their asylum procedure. The social attention and legislation and regulations for Ukrainian refugees have left some relevant doors ajar here and there to make it easier for other nationalities to find work soon after arrival in the Netherlands. Diversity & inclusion is here to stay and the labor market will remain tight for a while . That offers opportunities, you might say.

 What remains: the rising numbers of people on the run. That is and remains a sad fact. Over which we have no influence. But there is more than enough that we can do: see that small part of the people who flee their homes worldwide and eventually end up in the Netherlands for who they are and for what they can do - and offer them a job where possible. And thus ensure that they can fully participate in society.

 We look forward to what 2023 will bring. The signs are favorable. And we're looking forward to it.