Led by Eurocities, the EU-funded project CONSOLIDATE is supporting local authorities to make their integration strategies more effective through three thematic communities of practice (COP):
- Employment: focusing on ‘Measures for the early labour market integration’
- Housing: focusing on ‘Local housing support instruments to help refugees and other newcomers to become autonomous’
- One Stop Shop: focusing on helping cities develop accessible and efficient models for coordinated service provision
Each COP will develop thematic benchmarks (standards of good practice relating to each theme) and participate in ‘peer review visits’ to inform the planning and implementation of an innovative pilot relating to one of those themes in each city.
CONSOLIDATE will also focus on three cross-cutting challenges, identifying good practice through peer review visits and research and delivering three ‘master-classes’ on each:
- Collecting and sharing client data in integration support.
- Developing women-centred approaches to integration.
- Managing the transition from emergency to a strategic approach to integration
MigrationWork is one of two expert partners working alongside Eurocities to deliver CONSOLIDATE, the other being the European Network of Migrant Women (ENoMW). In addition there are 12 city partners, each participating in one of the three COPs: Athens (EL), Cluj-Metropolitan Area (RO), Dortmund (DE), Fuenlabrada (ES), Ghent (BE), Gothenburg (SE), Lublin (PL), Milan (IT), Nantes (FR), Sofia (BG), Vienna (AT), Zagreb (HR).
MigrationWork’s role
MigrationWork is leading on the creation of the thematic benchmarks and on guiding cities through the peer review visit process. This has involved the development of a bespoke peer review methodology for CONSOLIDATE overall, and for each visit involves close work with each city to develop the focus and agenda. MigrationWork is also leading on two of the cross-cutting themes (data in integration support and transition from emergency to strategic response).
MigrationWork will also lead on the development of three ‘How To Guides’ on each theme which will include best practice examples, and will support the training of people from cities who will go on to provide tailored peer support to others outside the project. These will be selected through an open call, to consolidate Eurocities’ Integration Champions Initiative as a unique peer support tool for less experienced cities.
The project is funded by the European Fund for Asylum, Migration, and Integration (AMIF) and runs from March 2024 to February 2027.
