“Migrants are ‘us’, not ‘them’. Everyone has a role to play in making sure our societies are cohesive and prosperous.”
Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson
Within the Includ-EU Project, AER continues its long-standing commitment to making the voice of its member regions heard, in both matters of migration and asylum and otherwise. In this context, we are proud the share their success stories developments and practices, in the upcoming workshop, organised with the involvement of Intercultural Regions Network.
Integration and inclusion of people with a migrant background is a process that involves a whole of society, that includes migrant and local communities, employers, civil society and all levels of government.
Regions, above all, have always had a paramount role to play and extensive experience in implementing innovative ideas and projects. They have the contextual knowledge and resources can be activated quickly.
In light of this, AER’s role in the project is to foster structured regional exchanges, and the dissemination of knowledge and good practices within its wider network. This objective translates in organising of 5 thematic webinars structured around the key priority areas and 5 thematic workshops, envisioned to bring together target beneficiaries, experts, partners, and respectively representatives of interested social communities to exchange and engage in peer-learning exercises.
So far, AER, with the support of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), has organised 3 of the planned webinars and is now preparing the 1st regional workshop, taking place on 30 June and 1 July from 9:00 to 12:30 (CEST).
The pandemic might have exacerbated some of the challenges already in play in regards to integration of migrants but on the other hand, as for many other sectors, it has provided an occasion for shifting paradigm and rethinking our whole society in order to be better prepared for future crises. It can empower us to demand a much-needed transformation of a system in crisis.
As such, the focus of the first day will be on how to rethink services in light of crises and raising awareness on the role of design in shaping better and more sustainable services. Abram El-Sabagh, expert in designing strategic solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals, will facilitate the session, in which participants will immerse in a peer-learning exercise, which will help them to brainstorm collectively and identify challenges and opportunities to apply to the concrete specific needs of each regional/local reality.
The second day keeps looking ahead with the presentation by DG Home of the Commission new Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion (2021-27), which structures among 4 key areas: Education, Employment, Health, Housing.
This is followed by a dynamic market-place exercise, where few regions and municipalities will present their own future strategy for integration, but also good practices and successful projects from the past programming period.
We will hear from Valencia municipality (Spain) to Cluj-Napoca and Timis (Romania), among others.
Registrations for day 1 are open exclusively to Includ-EU consortium partners, while day 2 is open to all interested stakeholders working on migration and interculturality.
This project receives funding from the European Union’s AMIF – Asylum Migration and Integration Fund programme. It aims at bringing together local and regional authorities from Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia and Spain for the purpose of enhancing transnational knowledge and experience sharing cooperation and partnerships.
To read about the results of the 1st workshop, follow AER website. To register, click here.
Contact: Anna Comacchio, Project and Policy Officer
E-mail: [email protected]
