Regions for Migrants and Refugees Integration

ended

Migrant integration has gained prominence in recent years, notably with the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, which calls to “leave no one behind”, including the migrant population. In the EU, discussions have been focused on the integration of migrant populations for many decades. Regional authorities are increasingly active in the field of migrants’ integration. They enjoy the advantage of being close to the population and have first-hand knowledge of the challenges and needs of the local society. Nevertheless, there is lacking an effective structure or mechanism to facilitate, guide and improve their work and efforts. A common framework for migrants’ and refugees’ integration in regions is key to ensure a fruitful use of their proximity to the population and to encourage regional cooperation in this topic. The main objective of REGIN would therefore be to set a common framework for migrants’ and refugees’ integration for regions, and to develop a set of tools to achieve integration. Specifically, the project aims to enable regional policy-makers to use evidence-based, feasibility tested cutting-edge research to underpin policy-making on integration. The project aims to ensure that the communication, capitalization and dissemination activity targeted at a broad audience is organised in a continuous and effective manner throughout the whole project cycle. Four main objectives are addressed in the project: 1) Improving the designing, planning and monitoring of integration actions; 2) Identifying inclusion and integration indicators at regional level; 3) Developing a set of tools able to facilitate regional performance on promoting and strengthening migrants’ and refugees’ integration; 4) Interchange, dialogue and cooperation in practices and initiatives between partners. The aim is to advance robustness, accuracy and reliability of the regional authorities’ capabilities to promote integration, as well as improving cooperation and knowledge-sharing among them.