Pfizer Hellas practically supports refugees in Greece on the occasion of World Refugee Day

10 refugees are already working at Pfizer in Athens and Thessaloniki

With a series of activities, Pfizer Hellas celebrated World Refugee Day again this year, with the aim of informing and raising awareness among its employees in Athens and Thessaloniki about key issues concerning refugees and migrants. The activities were implemented by the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion team of Pfizer Hellas in collaboration with the bodies of the City of Athens, specifically the Athens Coordination Center for Migrant and Refugee issues (ACCMR), the Migrants Integration Center (KEM) and the Reception and Solidarity Center of the City of Athens (KYADA).

Initiatives to support refugees are part of Pfizer’s broader global strategy to treat people equally and improve people’s lives. In fact, Pfizer has created the Pfizer’s Refugee Leadership Initiative worldwide, through which it has committed to hiring 100 refugees worldwide. Pfizer Hellas has already hired 10 refugees, who have been working in Athens and Thessaloniki for a year now.

The activities regarding World Refugee Day started with a big event in which representatives of the Athens Coordination Center for Migrant and Refugee issues (ACCMR), the Migrants Integration Center (KEM) and the Reception and Solidarity Center (KYADA) presented the work and the assistance provided by the City of Athens in supporting the social inclusion not only of refugees and migrants but also of vulnerable population groups that experience exclusion and social isolation in Athens.

At the same time, the employees of Pfizer Hellas collected clothes and sports shoes in order to offer practical help to refugee children and teenagers through the network of stakeholders and facilities of ACCMR.

Finally, Pfizer Hellas employees participated in the Multaka Athens – intercultural tours in Athens project designed and implemented by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the City of Athens. This project aims at the meeting of cultures and the promotion of culture as a common means of enriching human coexistence. Intercultural tours are not guided tours but tours of museums and archaeological sites with people with a migrant or refugee background as guides and aim at cultivating intercultural empathy for the harmonious and creative coexistence of residents in the city. The employees of Pfizer Hellas had a guided tour in the area of the Ancient Agora.

“This year, in the wake of the shocking shipwreck in Pylos, we honored World Refugee Day in collaboration with the Department for the Support and Social Integration of Migrants and Refugees of the City of Athens and the Reception and Solidarity Center of the City of Athens (KYADA), which gave us the opportunity to get close to refugees and migrants, understanding more about the difficult situation they are in and their daily struggle for a new, better life. The social integration and the integration of refugees into the labor market concerns us all and that is why we at Pfizer Hellas have made it our priority to offer jobs to refugees who are looking for a better life in our country” said Mrs. Lia Bertsiadou Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and the Inflammation & Immunology department of Pfizer in Greece, Cyprus and Malta.

Private and public sector cooperation can bring significant benefits both for the inclusion of vulnerable groups of the population and for the consolidation of a culture of coexistence in the wider society. We are especially glad that we had the opportunity to inform Pfizer employees about the work of the City of Athens in regard to the integration of refugees and migrants, as well as about the work of KYADA and we thank them for their immediate response to our call by donation clothing to children and teenagers ahead of the new school year. We know that Pfizer is a company that actively seeks the inclusion of refugees and migrants in its workforce, and we hope that the activities we have planned together on the occasion of World Refugee Day will be the trigger for an even more constructive collaboration”, said Melina Daskalaki, Special Advisor to the Mayor of Athens for the Support and Social Integration of Migrants and Refugees and President of the Reception and Solidarity Center of the City of Athens (KYADA).