Working group meeting of the Partnership on Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees, 22 November 2017, Brussels

The Partnership on Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees has developed a clear set of actions and recommendations addressing better funding, better knowledge exchange, and better regulation, summarised in the Action Plan. Since the second half of 2017, the implementation of actions is gaining momentum. Appointed action leaders are in charge of one or more action/s. The action “towards more evidence-based integration policies in cities” is led by the Migration Policy Group (MPG), a Brussels-based “think-and-do-tank” dealing with equality, mobility and migration issues, in coordination with the European Commission’s DG HOME.

The stakeholder working group on indicators for migrant integration in cities met for the first time on 22 November in Brussels. Cities represented with their data experts are Amsterdam, Athens, Ghent, Helsinki and Vienna. Next to MPG, it further includes the High Commission on Migration in Portugal (ACM), Eurostat, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the Fundamental Rights Agency of the EU (FRA), the OECD,EUROCITIES, the International Ethnic and Immigrant Minorities’ Survey Data Network as well as DG HOME and DG REGIO.

The MPG set the scene by presenting the scope of the action, focusing on evidence-based integration policies at the local level and on Europe-wide activities and projects on urban/regional immigration data. For instance, the existing EU-wide so-called ‘Zaragoza’ indicators on integration do not yet have a sub-national dimension, mainly due to data acquisition limitations. The aim of the working group, therefore, is to work towards a Europe-wide knowledge base on migrant integration at urban/regional level and a toolbox for evidence-based local integration policies.

Even though cities are increasingly interested in better data to support their efforts on immigrant integration, a great variety exists in the use and availability of integration data on local level. During the meeting, the cities of Amsterdam and Helsinki presented existing integration monitoring systems and how these influence local policy-making.

The topics data availability and comparability/fit emerged as critical. The stakeholders concluded that, as part of the envisaged toolbox, cities may benefit from peer learning and good practice transfer in order to identify

• meaningful indicators and target/reference groups for their context,
• concrete instruments, like proven and easily transferable survey models,
• models for collaborating with local and national stakeholders for data gathering,
• the right audience within their regional/national context (reflecting their aim for monitoring),
• the communication strategy to employ and the format in which to present findings in an accessible manner.

The working group will convene, discuss and follow up according to a structured work plan, to ensure all action outputs are achieved by late 2018.

If you want to learn more, please read the presentations of the meeting:

The meeting report summarises everything in full detail: 

Do you have a question on the Partnership or on any of the actions? Please contact one of the Coordinators, Sabina Kekic (city of Amsterdam,s.kekic@amsterdam.nl), directly or get in touch with the Urban Agenda Communications Team (UA.communication@ecorys.com).