Empowered Living for Women is an empowerment program for refugee and asylum-seeking women in Hamburg who are experiencing isolation, barriers to employment, or difficulty navigating a new life in Germany. It combines personal development coaching and mentoring with workplace readiness training, practical German-language support, and community-building activities.
A recent meeting between representatives of the Convocation Refugee Grant Program (CRGP) and United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) in London laid the groundwork for potential future partnerships with a shared focus on the same projects, said Guilia Bonoldi, the Convocation’s chief welcoming officer.
“One of the most important aspects of our program is fostering connections, to create a space where migrants and their families feel welcomed, valued, and supported,” said Ruth Frederico, employment and social integration specialist for Frontiers of Hope, a project in the Convocation Refugee Grant Program (CRGP).
The project is part of St. Paul’s parish of the Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelic Church in Lisbon and is one of two CRGP projects in Portugal. “For us, the process of accompaniment seeks not only to respond to immediate needs, but also to create opportunities for each person to develop skills, find work, and rebuild their life with greater stability and hope,” Frederico continued.
The Convocation Refugee Grant Program (CRGP), with support from Episcopal Relief & Development (ER&D), is currently hosting a five-session “Sustainability Training Series” for clergy and lay leaders involved in ministries and community projects across the Convocation.
“For us, the success story is that there are always a couple of people we’ve helped who become community leaders,” said Kenji Sario, a volunteer with Food for Thoughts, Soup for Souls, which is a project of the Filipino Ecumenical Diaspora in Europe (FEDE) in Brussels, Belgium.
The program now offers Portuguese language classes, legal assistance, rent support, and emergency medical funding for refugees while continuing the work with their Portuguese neighbors.