Kodiko: Promoting employee-refugee co-mentoring programs

Kodiko promotes co-mentoring programs between employees in companies and refugee job seekers.

Kodiko: Promoting employee-refugee co-mentoring programs

Kodiko promotes co-mentoring programs between employees in companies and refugee job seekers.

The project in brief

Implemented by

Kodiko

Country

France

Duration

2016 - Present

Kodiko aims to extend the program in one new territory/city per year in order to progressively provide its services to the entire French territory

Description

Kodiko facilitates the access of refugees to the job market and contributes to creating a suitable environment for them for immersive trainings in French companies. It also creates opportunities for French employees to develop soft skills and intercultural skills throughout an innovative co-mentoring program.

Project aims

Kodiko’s mission is two-fold :

Support refugees who wish to further their professional integration through an individual and collective mentoring program
Provide professional and cultural codes to working professionals and refugees who have recently arrived in French territory to help empower them and structure their professional networks.

Resources used

Skills sponsorship program (three days per employee for a six months commitment)
Financial contribution for each company participating in the program

Partners

Institutions: French Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, French Minister of the Interior, Mairie de Paris, DIAIR, OFII, Caisse des Dépots, Conseil Génétal D’Indre & Loire, OFPRA

Companies: Manpower, SANOFI, SNCF, Société Générale, VINCI, Western Union, Canal+, Crédit Agricole Assurances, Total, HAVAS, Club Med, Respublica, EDF, BETC, ARSENE, Utopies, Humando, Sennse, CEFil, CiviTime, Numaterra, Une Image à Part, Lesens, Cegelec, Coach & Road, Experiencis, Finacoop, La Diragencie, La Tortinière, KOEO, Taddeo, Pih-Poh

Others: Alliance Française de Paris Ile-de-France, THOT, Kabubu, Aurore, Action Emploi Réfugiés, Wintegreat, UNIR, JRS, SINGA, L’Oeuvre d’Orient, TECHFUGEES, Maison de la Poésie, France Terre d’Asile, FACE, Secours Catholique, Croix Rouge Française, Passerelles & Compétences, Solidarités Nouvelles pour le Logement

VIDEO: Kodiko - Fatoumata et Catherine

Challenges and how they were overcome

Challenges

Mobilization of the stakeholders (companies, institutions, etc.)
Identification and sourcing of beneficiaries responding to specific criteria
Level of commitment of both employees & beneficiaries in the program
Replication of the program in different regions/cities of intervention

These challenges were overcome through community building (NGOs, companies), external consulting and expert input-forums. This improved the overall engineering of the program and strengthened the methodology and tools that monitor all dimensions of our program's impact.

Results of the Good Practice

50% of our beneficiaries find a concrete professional opportunity by the end of the program
60% have a relevant professional network by the end of the program

Next steps

To develop the program, with the help of the French Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, in three new cities in the east of France (Région Est) from 2019 to 2021.
To improve the teaching, set up and the Kodiko’s impact measurement tool (ongoing).
To develop innovative offers for smaller companies and organizing groundbreaking and impacting events within companies.