Oumar is a young Ivorian boy of just 20-year-old who came to know the Work is Progress Program during the lockdown due to COVID pandemic, thanks to the listening center that was following him.
He has lost his job in the restoration sector and would like to find an alternative in another field.
Given his good Italian and his strong motivation, we select him for a training course in sanitization, a sector in strong growth at that time.
From the very first session, however, we see that Oumar has difficulties in attending constantly. We discovered he was sleeping in a sort of shed for agricultural equipment, he didn’t have heating, running water or bathroom and, since he didn’t have an income, he spent the day looking for small jobs and little help to go on.
Together with the operators of the listening center, we agreed to support him on two sides: on one hand, the Work is Progress would accompany him along his training path, motivating him and making sure that he does not give up; on the other hand, the listening center would look for a more suitable housing solution for the winter.
Oumar resumed training, but in the meantime the Covid situation worsened and the course was converted to distance learning. As a result, the young man could complete the course and attended a training on active job search and career counselling interviews with Randstad aimed at finding placement opportunities. In the meantime, the cold emergency ended, and the young man returned to live in the shed.
In the meantime, the cold emergency ended, and the young man returned to live in the shed.
In March we identify an internship opportunity: Oumar passes the selection interview, but then he faced a problem with the residence permit. Oumar passes the selection interview, but then he faced a problem with the residence permit. The company, in these conditions, hesitated and didn’t want to activate the internship. Only the intervention of our lawyer could unlock the situation.
In May Oumar finally began working, but there was a new difficulty: until he received the first allowance for the internship, Oumar could not afford the cost of transportation to the workplace. We solved this obstacle as well, by giving him in advance the amount for the transportation for the first two months. The work finally unlocked the housing issue: the boy was offered a room in a social housing.
Oumar currently continues to live peacefully in the social housing, sharing the house with a peer, and his internship has been renewed. Work is Progress periodically contacts him to check on the situation and everything seems to go well.
The next goal will be professional stabilization, through a contract, and moving into an apartment rented on the open market.
