The seminar “Migration 2020: Towards a Sustainable Inclusion” was aimed at 30 youth workers and leaders from several EU countries (Italy, Belgium, UK, Ireland, Finland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Portugal and Germany), wishing to improve their work within issues related with migration and youth and willing to share their best practices and challenges in the field.
The seminar was held between the 24th and 30th of October 2017, in Cagliari, Italy. The work was focused on analyzing the current challenges connected with the migrant crisis in Europe, understanding and recognizing the reasons for this phenomenon, and exploring new approaches in contemporary work with young migrants and their new communities in a sustainable way, through sharing experience and ideas. Also, there was a strong focus on methods and techniques to raise the level of awareness in European countries which are affected by the migrant crisis, while searching for possibilities to build a more inclusive society.
The sustainable inclusion of young migrants was approached from different aspects, and comprised of the integration in the local labour market, their linguistic, civic and educational integration, the housing and health challenges which they face, the active interaction between them and the natives and ways to fight against stereotypes and myths that natives have shaped towards immigrants in the host communities.
The main aim of the seminar was to share best practices, increase competences and find paths for youth workers in EU to propose better options to facilitate inclusion of young migrants, working at the same time on more projects concentrating on anti-discrimination themes. During the seminar, basic concepts were explored, such as the reasons and factors that create exclusion or fear towards migrants, as well as formulating an active civil position against a passive one. Also, we discussed topics such as the concept of migration and asylum in EU, the different types of migration depending on the different reasons of migration, labour migration schemes, circular migration, the impact of migration on the immigrants and the host societies, the current anti-immigrant stance in Europe, the concepts of asylum seeker and a refugee, how national and EU institutions deal with migration challenges, and, finally, the action of youth NGOs in the field, how they can cooperate with local and European institutions through building new youth initiatives, ideas and projects in the field.
The seminar was based on methods of non-formal educations and it fostered and provided a comfortable, interesting and effective working and leisure atmosphere, while using methods such as group discussions, roundtables, simulations, and activities stimulating creativity and participation. The plan after the seminar, as an output of our activity, is to build a solid network for future cooperation within the youth work with and for migrants and host societies, a platform for the exchange of ideas and best practices, and a booklet collecting the tools created and shared during the seminar.
We thank Associazione “Studenti per la Città” for the wonderful welcoming and perfect organization, click here to join the debate and to know more about the program!
