Donya* came to Germany in 2016. The trained midwife fled from Afghanistan with her 19-year-old son after her husband disappeared and she received death threats.

"On my first night in Germany, I slept better than I had in years. I will never forget that night," she told DW.

While Donya appreciated the security offered by Germany, she continued to be tormented by sporadic fears for her own life and that of her son. Trauma is not quickly overcome and it makes concentrating difficult — a prerequisite for taking up a job.

Despite her traumatic experiences, Donya made it back into employment. She has been working as a care worker for the elderly for two years now after completing an eight-month training program — and German language courses. The 53-year-old says she feels her work is unchallenging, but she cannot cope with switching careers again.

The former midwife has also been helped by Work for Refugees, a project that is run by GIZ / Society for Intercultural Coexistence and other cooperation partners, and funded by the Berlin Senate (SenASGIVA). It is one of a number of publicly funded projects and nonprofit organizations that have been launched to address the diverse challenges facing refugees and help dismantle recruitment obstacles.

After eight years, some 68% of people who fled violence or conflict in their home countries to come to Germany found work, according to a rolling survey launched in 2016. But the representative study from the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Germany's Federal Office for Refugees (BAMF) and the Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP) also shows that female employment levels are much lower than that........

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