The power of municipalities in the integration of migrant communities is not to be undermined. But how can cities become more inclusive? This week, we are heading to Bologna, Italy, to attend the “11th Integrating Cities Conference: Shaping Our Cities with Migrant and Local Communities” , which is part of the UNITES (Urban Integration Strategies through Co-design) project. Led by Eurocities, UNITES trains and supports local authorities in co-designing integration strategies with other stakeholders and migrants.
Over the past 18 months, UNITES developed training on co-designing integration strategies, incorporating research on best practices across Europe. A pilot version of this training was delivered to staff from the eight cities participating in the project, but will only be officially launched during the conference this week. Under the name “Massive Open Online Course” (MOOC), the course is designed to disseminate insights gained from the UNITES project. The training focuses on co-designing integration strategies with migrant communities and includes both theoretical aspects of participation, practical experiences from cities, and perspectives from migrant-led organizations. The course will be available online for free and will provide participants with a certificate upon completion.
In the second stage of the project, the eight city partners received an implementation grant to establish new mechanisms for stakeholder consultation and develop their local integration strategies through co-design with stakeholders and migrants. In planning and implementing their actions, they are receiving guidance from their peers from other cities and migrant organizations, such as UNITEE, through peer workshops and peer visits to each city.
UNITEE had the opportunity to share our extensive knowledge, gathered from our members’ decades of experience in entrepreneurship, with the eight municipalities involved in the project.
We are excited about the launch of this innovative training program and look forward to the positive impact it will have on fostering more inclusive cities across Europe.