‘Quality secondhand’ is the motto of the Sozialkaufhaus thrift shop operated by Diakoniewerk-Duisburg GmbH.  A number of the staff found their regular job there via the state government’s ÖgB NRW (‘Publicly Funded Jobs’) programme.

Sozialkaufhaus opportunity shops sell used and donated consumer goods, household supplies and clothing.  ‘Our thrift shops’, explains Michael Richard-Sommer, Director, Work& Training at Diakoniewerk Duisburg, ‘give those on a low income the chance to participate in the neighbourhood’s shopping scene, so that they do not have to rely on handouts’. Diakoniewerk Duisburg runs five such KadeDi shops.

At the Duisburg Sozialkaufhaus, ten employees are taking part in the programme.  They were selected in cooperation with the local Jobcentre. A number of the participants had not worked in their trade for years, or have never completed a vocational training course altogether. To enable them to do the work they were hired for, they went through three months of coaching, with close support from the experts at the Jobcentre. The programme involves an individualised roadmap for each employee, with is continuously updated.  After all, the key aim of the whole scheme is to integrate people in the conventional labour market.

The action programme, ‘100 extra apprenticeships for teenagers and young adults with disabilities in North Rhine-Westphalia’ is jointly administerd by the state’s Ministry for Work and the Federal Employment Service’s NRW satellite office.  Funded by the State Government and the ESF, the programme assists on-the-job training schemes for disabled youngsters and has a proven track record of delivering inclusion.

The ‘Publicly Funded Jobs’ programme in NRW is co-funded by the ESF and designed to promote and facilitate regular employment, with a focus on the disadvantaged and/or long-term unemployed.  There is also financial contribution from the NRW branch of the Federal Employment Service.