Sarah
Spencer

The purpose of this guidance is to assist municipal authorities in Europe in providing appropriate access to services for migrants with irregular status. It provides information on municipal policies and practices across a range of service areas, and on governance and administration, as an evidence base upon which municipalities may develop their own approach. The guidance is primarily intended for municipal authorities, whether cities or smaller municipalities, but is also aimed at the public bodies which work with them including police forces, healthcare providers, and housing and education providers. Working arrangements between public bodies and nongovernmental service providers is one of the topics covered.

Governments and cities across Europe are developing strategies to enhance integration. In England, the publication of the government’s Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper has highlighted integration as a policy challenge at national and local levels. This briefing paper sets out a model of integration to provide a systematic basis for the design and evaluation of integration policies and initiatives. The concept of integration refers to processes of interaction, personal and social change among individuals and institutions across inter-related areas of life. The nature, speed and direction of these processes are affected not only by the characteristics of individuals, but also the wider social context. The term ‘integration’ is, however, often used loosely, without a clear understanding of the multiple processes involved. A narrow focus on some important indicators (e.g. gender norms, employment) often obscures the fuller picture. An integration approach needs to move beyond one-way models of assimilation, and a focus on migrants and minorities, to recognise that all members of society engage in participation, interaction and change. In practice, the focus of discussion is often on the characteristics and behaviour of individuals (e.g. migrants) to the neglect of society and policy factors. Recent policy developments, however, demonstrate increasing interest in viewing integration as something in which all members of society are involved and for which there is shared responsibility. Effective policy intervention requires clarity on the complex processes at play. Extensive research on integration has provided insights on integration processes and the factors which impact on them. No single initiative is likely to be able to address all of the processes and factors involved, but a systematic approach to conceptualising integration offers the potential for greater clarity in policy aims, identification of barriers to integration, and evaluation of interventions and their outcomes.

Across Europe and North America, government at all levels is cooperating with civil society organisations in the management of migration and in the resettlement and integration of refugees and migrants. This paper explores some of the issues that are raised by these relationships and are addressed in the academic and policy literature. While cooperation between government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) per se has long been the focus of scholarship, cooperation in the migration field is far less well explored. Yet, notwithstanding significant variation in the extent and forms of cooperation, governments rely on NGOs to fulfil a range of functions in the implementation of migration, resettlement and integration policies and to a certain extent in the policy development process. Collaboration, moreover, can bring significant challenges: working relationships can be harmonious and long standing, but can equally be fragile and carry economic and political costs for both parties. This paper addresses what we know of recent trends in relation to cooperation in the migration field; the tiers of government where it is found and the dimensions of migration that it addresses; setting that in the context of what is known more broadly of recent trends in government-civil society relationships. It explores what motivates governments and civil society to work together, the forms of cooperation, and the challenges that arise in their working relationships.

This paper sets out lessons from an eighteen month learning exchange project involving working groups of city officials coordinated by university based researchers. It is intended as a contribution to knowledge on the efficacy of differing models of learning exchange, to inform future exercises of this kind. Action for Inclusion in Europe was a learning exchange project run by the Global Exchange on Migration and Diversity. The aim of this paper is to assess the value of the particular working-group model used in the project as a means of facilitating reforms in policies or practices at city level. It is based on focused discussions with working group members and research coordinators at the second and final meetings of the projects’ three city working groups; and on their on-line, anonymous responses to a series of questions relating to different aspects of the model. The author was overall responsible for the project and attended all of the meetings of each working group.

The Autumn Academy 2016: Strategic approaches to Migrant Integration in Europe was an opportunity for those responsible for developing and implementing resettlement and integration policies at EU, national and local level to share knowledge, expertise and ideas, to consider the implications of the latest research evidence and reflect on strategic policy options. This report summarises key points noted from presentations and, without attribution, from the discussions which followed. The final session drew together some of the themes that emerged and this is also available separately by clicking on the following link: Summary of Key Themes. Links throughout the report provide access to the text or slides and, in some cases, audio recordings of presentations.