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Description
The project will increase the capacity of the Greek authorities in dealing with extremely vulnerable persons through enhancement of the organizational capacity of the Greek asylum service and through introduction of new IT-tools to improve result-based management. Furthermore, the project will contribute to improved quality in case management, by enhancing the interpretation services towards asylum seekers.
The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) will support the project by providing experiences and expertise.
The project will include the following main activities:
- Establishing and operating regional offices of Asylum Service providing services to asylum seekers and case handling;
- Operation of the IT-system QlickSense in Asylum Service;
- Establishing and operating a teleconference system.
Summary of project results
Greece has remained on the forefront of Europe’s asylum and migration challenges, primarily as a first reception and transit country, and has been placing significant efforts to manage the increasing migration flows causing further stress to the Greek Asylum system. From September 2022 to September 2023, 53.033 refugees applied for Asylum out of which over 5.000 have been given the vulnerable status. The Asylum Service is the only responsible Service for processing asylum and from 2013 onwards over 423.000 asylum applications have been submitted to the Service. During the 10 years of operation, Asylum Service has gained valuable experience in handling asylum applications (in many cases in harsh conditions) and dealing with asylum seekers with vulnerability status. It should be stated that over 40% of the vulnerable Asylum seekers are unaccompanied minors during the last 12 months. The precarious conditions that migrants face can face vary from a range of occasional and personal factors that may intersect or coexist simultaneously. This influences youth vulnerability and it is also evolving over time as circumstances change. In this context and in order to tackle the challenge of the increasing refugee flows – and the corresponding increase on the number of Asylum seekers with vulnerability status-, the Greek Asylum Service needed to expand its capacity and decided the operation of two new Asylum Units, in Athens and in Thessaloniki, specialized only on Asylum seekers with vulnerability status . This would effectively guarantee quicker access to asylum process and provide a timely conclusion on the examination of asylum applications of these migrants. Furthermore, Asylum Service also had to be able to easily and accurately have an overview of the case load and case processing durations. The pressure and demand that Asylum Service is under, required a reliable tool to help break down numbers efficiently, accurately and analyze the state of play for reports as well as managerial decisions. Finally, as , the Asylum Service did not own contemporary equipment for the services provided a teleconference device or any other infrastructure for covering its vast teleconference needs for interpretation services to TCNs applying for asylum all over Greece would be very needed.
The Activities carried out in the context of the project include:
a) Establishment and operation of 2 Regional Asylum Offices (RAOs) specialized on asylum seekers with vulnerability status in Athens and Thessaloniki. More specifically, the project financed rental costs, required renovation works in order to become operational, the deployment of 48 fixed-term contract employees who were trained on the Asylum process in Greece and issued 3.013 end-of-process decisions concerning vulnerable asylum seekers and the procurement of office and IT equipment. The two procurements were successful in providing at least 51 fully-equipped working stations to be used on the Asylum Units in question.
b) Furthermore and in order to provide efficient interpretation services to asylum applicants according to European legislation, the project funded the purchase of a tele-interpretation system which was installed on the two asylum units and MoMA headquarters in Nikaia-Athens. In addition standard operation procedure (SOPs) for handling vulnerable migrants’ cases in the two established Asylum Units in place was created by the competent Asylum Service department to support the operation of the Asylum Units.
c) The project also financed the purchase of 34 QlikSense software licenses (26 Analyzer-User edition and 8 Professional User edition) to be used by Asylum Service and the Appeals Authority. The procurement also included the software installation on MoMA servers and the training (5-day workshop) of MoMA personnel on QlikSense software. In addition UDI (through a partnership agreement signed with the Greek Asylum Service which supported field visits) supported the implementation of the project by providing expertise and best practice in the field . A team of 2 UDI experts visited Athens (December 2023) while a team of 6 Asylum Service personnel visited Oslo (April 2024) to exchange know-how on the use of QlikSense software on managing and presenting statistical data on the Asylum process in Greece.
The project activities were carried out according to the project contract and the national legislation. The activities played a vital role in the creation and operation of the two Asylum Units dedicated to asylum applicants with vulnerability status.
Although the two RAOs for asylum applicants with vulnerability status have been established and achieved operational status near the end of the project implementation period, the long term impact for the asylum applicants with vulnerability status is a sound one, leaving the establishment of the two Asylum Units as a legacy to the Asylum process in Greece.
The establishment and the subsequent operation of the two Asylum Units ensures that the asylum applicants will receive a timely and efficient Asylum process in Greece since from a beneficiary point of view the duration between registration and the issuing of the end of process decision will be reduced significantly. The above statement is enhanced by the standard operation procedure for handling vulnerable migrants’ cases in the 2 Asylum Units and the inclusion of specialized professionals (Psychologist, child psychologists, psychologists specialized on sexual and domestic violence, pedagogues, nurses) who will continue to provide them with so needed support during the Asylum Process and ensure the quality of the services provided. Moreover, the operation of the Asylum Units in question is being supported by case workers and other administrative staff who are trained (and will be further trained by EUAA and Asylum Service) on handling and dealing with vulnerable asylum applicants, making the whole process more time efficient.
Another point worth mentioning is that the establishment and operation of the tele-intepretation system which was funded by the project, ensures that the beneficiaries will receive free interpretation services despite weather conditions, required language/dialect or other conditions (i.e. covid etc) that may prevent the physical presence of an interpreter.
On an institutional level, the operation of the two specialized Asylum Units will ensure the Asylum Units’ uninterrupted operation at its full capacity as envisioned, reducing any backlog on end of process decision concerning asylum applicants with vulnerability status (i.e. more than 3.000 end of process decisions were issued during the project’s implementation period). From a medium-term point of view, the successful operation of the two specialized Asylum Units, will provide Asylum Service with operational flexibility during periods of increasing pressure on the Greek Asylum System. Furthermore, the operation of the IT-system QlikSense in Asylum Service, along with the partnership between UDI and Asylum Service that provided further expertise on the QlikSense system, will help Asylum Service, with the use of statistics generated by QlikSense, to track any problems with the Asylum Units and Regional Offices and increase its capacity when needed.
Summary of bilateral results
Asylum Service signed a Partnership Agreement with the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI). The overall objective of the partnership was to continue the already successful collaboration between UDI and Greek Asylum Service regarding Qlik Sense - a system on statistics- as well as to support the implementation of the project by providing expertise and best practice in the field. The partnership was implemented by study visits. The scope of the two visits was to exchange views and expertise on how to use of QlikSense software to produce the desired statistical presentation depending on Asylum Service and Appeals Authority’s needs. Despite the fact that Asylum Service was already using a couple of QlikSense licenses, UDI’s expertise (a long time user of QlikSense) was necessary to gain a broader scope of the software and its capabilities. Before each visit, online meetings took place between the two parties to discuss Asylum Service needs in order to prepare a presentation, organize the five sessions that took place during the two visits and to produce on-spot problem solving examples. All five on-the-spot meetings took place in good faith in all matters and acted in accordance to the general Project scope and interest. Several case studies were carried out to demonstrate the software capability on presenting statistical data that can be used to make the asylum process in Greece even more efficient. Moreover there was a wider exchange of know-how between the two parties on asylum procedures and how they are being carried out on each country. Both parties carried out their respective obligations with efficiency, transparency and diligence while the communication (which is continued) was excellent from both sides. By the end of the partnership, Asylum Service personnel improved their knowledge and understanding on the software’s capabilities and how is being used by other (similar) organizations in other European countries such as Norway.