Successful Migrant Integration in Regions (abbreviated as SMIR; slovensky: Úspešná integrácia migrantov v regiónoch) is the name of a new project focused on innovation support and development which the Human Rights League began implementing under the leadership of the Czech Association for Migration and Integration (SIMI) in September 2020.
In addition to Human Rights League, there are three partners from other EU MS involved in the three-year project within the framework of the Erasmus+ programme, Key Action 2: Strategic Partnerships. These are:
the Czech Association for Migration and Integration (SIMI), as the project leader,
the Belgian City of Mechelen and
AGABY - the working committee of migration and integration advisory councils in Bavaria, Germany.
The project responds to the increasing number of migrants in the partner countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belgium, Germany) and the relatively complex situation of local authorities, which often lack the necessary tools or know-how to work with migrants but, at the same time, realize the importance of integration as well as the emphasis they must place on setting up the right and functional integration measures and mechanisms. The project also reflects the necessity of integration stakeholders to consider the specific needs of vulnerable groups in European territory. In the time full of dramatic changes caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and deviation from established practice, it will be of vital importance, for local authorities in particular, to be able to solve new situations concerning already vulnerable migrants and support long-term needed integration activities at the same time.
Therefore, we will focus on:
(a) creating innovative tools to facilitate integration at the regional and local level and
(b) transfer of innovations between the EU member states and their adaptation to the local needs.
The project is based on several key activities which mostly build on shared European experience with what has worked in working with migrants, how to activate local authorities in the field of integration and how to achieve functioning and smooth coexistence in diverse local societies.
For three years:
a methodology of integration workshops for local authorities will be created and piloted,
a comparative study on the structural dimension of local integration will be made and
the existing manual for local authorities will be extended.
Erasmus+ is the EU's programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe. More details about Erasmus+ can be found HERE.
