UNITES

What is the project about?
Cities are at the forefront of welcoming and guiding newcomers and making integration policies more effective and impactful. Going even further in its efforts for integration, the local level is working on building a systematic collaboration with partners outside the municipality from a “whole society approach”. Citizens and the local community, social partners, together with migrants themselves, have increasingly become protagonists in co-designing integration measures. By becoming actors rather than passive beneficiaries in this area, migrants are empowered and faster integrated into the local society.
Led by Eurocities, UNITES (UrbaN InTEgration Strategies through co-design) trains and accompanies local authorities to co-design integration strategies with other stakeholders and migrants.
* In a first stage, UNITES will develop training on co-designing integration strategies, incorporating research on best practices across Europe. A pilot version of the training will be conducted with staff from the 8 cities participating in the project. The training will then be developed into an open access online course (MOOC) for integration practitioners outside the project.
* In a second stage, the 8 city partners will receive a 20.000€ grant to set up a new mechanism for stakeholder consultation and develop their local integration strategy through co-design with stakeholders and migrants. In planning and implementing their actions, they will receive guidance from colleagues from other cities and migrant organisations in peer workshops and peer-visits to each city.
Objectives
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improve integration outcomes by co-designing integration strategies with stakeholders, citizens and vulnerable migrants
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train integration practitioners in managing co-design processes through different forms of learning and exchange of good practices
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foster the participation of citizens, including migrants but also vulnerable migrants in the co-design of integration strategy
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raise awareness on the advantages of a “whole of society approach” to integration
NWC in UNITES
Advisory role in the research and training phase as well as the peer support programme. NWC and UNITEE will support our partners Eurocities and MigrationWorks in the creation and implementation of the training and delivery of these sessions on co- design with women and (migrant) businesses.