We are pleased to invite you to a webinar on the ways in which regions can improve the accessibility of public services for better integration policies and practices with insights from IOM and the Council of Europe.

Regional and local authorities are at the forefront when it comes to addressing integration needs in practice. The Covid-19 pandemic has strongly tested systems in place, revealing tremendous needs but also the resourcefulness which exists at local and regional levels. This shows how essential it is to create opportunities for structured and meaningful mutual learning on integration in order to enable regional and local authorities to share good practices and improve policies and practices.

To facilitate these exchanges, AER and the Council of Europe have launched the Intercultural Regions Network, chaired by Oriol Amorós, Secretary of Equality, Migration and Citizenship for the Government of Catalonia. The network provides support for regions to design, implement and evaluate diversity and inclusion strategies.

During this webinar, Dominik Zenner, Senior Migration Health Advisor, IOM Regional Office for the European Economic Area, the European Union and NATO, will share the experience of IOM on improving the accessibility of public services for third-country nationals. He will highlight the importance of access to health services, an issue which has become particularly salient with the COVID-19 crisis. Irena Guidikova, Head of Division, Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Programmes, Council of Europe will explain how using an intercultural approach to providing public services dramatically changes the quality and efficiency of services. She will share implementation examples from around Europe.

Speakers:

• Oriol Amorós, Chair of the Intercultural Regions Network, Secretary of Equality, Migration and Citizenship for the Government of Catalonia.
• Dominik Zenner, Senior Migration Health Advisor, IOM Regional Office for the European Economic Area, the European Union and NATO
• Irena Guidikova, Head of Division, Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Programmes, Council of Europe
• Nuria Diez Guardia, Policy Officer, European Commission Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, Unit C2 – Legal Pathways and Integration.

Moderator: Johanna Pacevicius, Coordinator Policy & Knowledge Transfer AER

This webinar is organised in the context of Includ-EU, an EU-funded project which contributes to building more inclusive and cohesive European societies by enhancing knowledge, driving innovation and stimulating cooperation between local and regional authorities in the European Union.

This event will be recorded. By registering for this event, you agree to allow the Includ-EU consortium to publish the recording online and to use it for the promotion of the project, for capacity building and mutual learning. Please let us know if you do not agree with the use of the recording.

We look forward to you participating in the discussion.

Includ-EU is funded by the European Union’s Asylum Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF). The project runs from January 2020 to December 2022 and involves the following partners: The International Organization for Migration, the Assembly of European Region, the Associazione Nazionale Comuni Italiani Sez. Reg. Toscana (IT), the City of Tilburg (NL), the Secretariat for Equality, Migrations and Citizenship of Catalonia (ES) and the Region of Crete (GR).