Who We Are

The Open Doors Initiative provides opportunities to some of the marginalised members of our society. We create pathways to work through training, education, employment and entrepreneurship.
 
Some of the people we work with include refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, people with disabilities and disadvantaged youth, those from a Traveller or Roma background, LGBTIQ+, people with a criminal past, and any intersectionality between the groups.

In Ireland today, these groups face higher barriers to employment than most others. Many are cut out of work, even during the recent times of nearly full employment.

Our Purpose 

Is to enable equitable access to employability for marginalised people.
 
Our Vision

Is of an inclusive Ireland, where diversity in business thrives and equitable measures are adopted to eliminate inequality so that everyone has fair access meaningful employability.

Our Mission

Is to guide those who are facing barriers to employability and to support companies through collaboration and innovation.

Our Values

Collaborative: We leverage our unique position to foster collaborative working relationships among our partner companies, stakeholders and participants to magnify our impact and ensure the best outcomes
Participant Centred: We commit to the rights and needs of our participants in securing pathways to employability, guided by the relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals
Thought Leadership: We work with our business partners and Government to embed Corporate Social Justice thinking and actions in all their organisations to have positive impact on business outcomes
Open and Transparent: We ensure openness and transparency through effective governance and clear communication with all board members and stakeholders
Research Led: We leverage and conduct relevant research to ensure our work is targeted and impact driven
Impact Driven: We focus on high impact work that supports employability of marginalised people and changes the lives of participants and their families; we regularly monitor and evaluate our work to ensure maximum impact
Agile: We continue to be agile to remain relevant in responding to participant needs and company needs and adapt to changes in the market

Did you know?

• The European Commission country Report for Ireland 2019 showed that Ireland had one of the lowest employment rates for people with disabilities in the EU (26.2% compared to 48.1 % in the EU). In Ireland, people with disabilities are more than twice as likely to be unemployed.
• Since the summer of 2018 many of our refugees and asylum seekers have been given the right to work but have been unable to access training and experience.
• The unemployment rate among our long-term unemployed under 25s is twice the national average.

The benefits of what we are doing will be two-fold – we will open up the labour market to some of those who have been unable to access it; and in doing so we will attract and retain our future inclusive workforces. 

In September 2018, 14 Irish employers came together with a plan to address these issues and support people from these groups in Irish society into employment. 

Our numbers continue to grow and if you want to join us on this journey please get in touch.

The Government are fully supportive of the Open Doors Initiative, especially the Tánaiste, Leo Varadkar TD and David Stanton TD along with many government departments.