The Mediterranean Migration Network (MMN) organized a meeting to revisit and develop its action plan and future steps, following the renewal of the support it receives from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and the Republic of Cyprus. The MMN meeting took place at the Classic Hotel in Nicosia, 10-11 May 2018 in Nicosia, Cyprus. The MMN is coordinated by the international research centre CARDET in collaboration with consulting firm INNOVADE LI ltd.
The meeting attended representatives of services and authorities from the Republic of Cyprus, International Organisations, and NGOs from other EU-countries, such as Innovade, Hope for Children CRC Policy Centre, the Asylum Service, MiHub, the European Funds Unit of the Ministry of Interior in Cyprus, Caritas, Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies, Youth Board of Cyprus, the University of Nicosia, the Centre for Social Innovation, the Municipality of Agios Dometios, the European University, Sistema Cyprus, Citizens in Power, the Lithuanian Social Research Centre, the Asylum seeker reception programme at Oxfam Italia, the European Public Law Organization in Greece and the Austrian Multicultural Association.
The objectives of the meeting were:
- To introduce the Mediterranean Migration Network to the local stakeholders and to provide insights on how the MMN can support their work
- To provide opportunities of good practices exchange
- To identify practitioners working in migration and integration
- To discuss experiences from other EU countries and develop synergies and networks
- To suggest future MMN activities and design the sustainability plan framework
- Capacity building in decision making and policy development
The meeting took place in two days. During the first day, CARDET presented its work in terms of programs and actions taking place relevant to migration and integration. Next, there was an overview of the MMN activities over the past years. In addition, some of the upcoming activities of the project were presented, along with possibilities for opportunities for funded projects and proposals between the MMN members for the upcoming programming period. What is more an elaboration was made on the contribution of the MMN in local and EU integration initiatives.
Further to the meeting, participants had the opportunity to follow 4 different initiatives form the EU as follows:
- Lithuania – Formation of migration policies
- Italy – Regional policies on migration flows
- Greece – Moving beyond the migrant and refugee crisis: Research on migration policy and technical assistance for effective integration of third country nationals in Greece
- Austria – Back and forth – Integration work for migrants and refugees between cultural borders
Furthermore, during the meeting there was an overview of the investigation of stakeholders’ needs as drafsted by the MMN team and a small exercise with the participants. The first day of the meeting concluded with a presentation of the vision and strategy of the Mediterranean Migration Network for 2018.
The second day of the meeting focused on the presentation of two project; InterCap and Epsilon and its elearning platform. Next, participants had the opportunity to follow a workshop on “Policy development and action planning in the field of migration”.
The meeting concluded with an overview of the programme and the key points from the initiatives presented over the two days.
For more information you can download the minutes of the meeting from the MMN eLibrary (registered users only). If you wish to register to the MMN platform click here.
For all the MMN kick-off meeting presentations click here.
