Embracing intercultural competences in public administrations Erasmus Project

Project Title

Embracing intercultural competences in public administrations

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Integration of refugees; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning

Project Summary

Nowadays, cities are struggling to deal with challenges posed by migration flows. Services and policies activated by cities in the field of migration and integration are often prompted by a sense of emergency and they are not the result of a careful analysis of the situation and the state of the art.
The city workforce is heavily overburdened by new challenges posed by migration: lack of cultural sensitivity, language gaps, scarce knowledge of national and international regulations, are only some of the problems faced by civil servants.
In this context, ECCIPA aims to get out of an emergency logic to upgrade quality of existing pro-migrants’ inclusion local strategies. In fact, the main aim is to contribute to implement more responsive services for the integration of third-country nationals in the cities, through the codesign and delivery of an innovative and comprehensive VET programme empowering civil servants involved in the delivery of services for migrant people in three European territories: County of Offenbach (Germany), City of Ravenna (Italy), City of Cartagena (Spain).
The VET programme will be focused on improving the intercultural sensitivity and awareness of staff, meaning that ideally, trainees will be able to detect, and respond to, the presence of cultural differences, and modulate their approach accordingly, rather than seeking to impose one mode of behaviour upon all situations. But also, the training will deal with more technical aspects, related to local, national and international regulations and practices having a concrete impact on the daily life of migrants, in fields like housing, labour market, social services, health.
Primary target groups of the training programme will be up to 60 civil servants (20 per partner country) who are involved with the planning and delivery of welcome and support services to third country nationals.
ECCIPA project lasts 30 months and it foresees a comprehensive analysis and review of needs and skills of civil servants involved in the integration of migrants and refugees at different levels. On the basis of the Reviews’ results, partners will co-design the training programme, with the support of local stakeholders, including representatives of migrants’ communities. Then, the programme will be currently delivered to the selected civil servants who will be involved in about 120 hours of training (face-to-face and webinar). A selection of them will participate to two transnational learning events where they will exchange their experience and they will deepen specific topics.
Finally, the last months will be dedicated to the development of local integration strategies focused on the upskilling of civil servants, including European policy recommendations for those local authorities interested to develop a similar learning path for their employees.
As main result of the project, partner cities will be better equipped to deal with challenges posed by weak integration and uncontrolled migration flows, thanks to the upgrading of skills of their staff in welcoming and integrating third-country nationals in their communities.
Specific results of the project include:
-3 Reviews in three involved European territories
-1 Training Toolkit targeting local authorities’ staff
-Recruitment of up to 60 trainees working in the local authorities engaged by the project
-120 hours of training at local and international level
-10 days of transnational learning events
-3 Local Integration Strategies and EU policy recommendations for cities and local authorities
-Involvement of up to 100 local public and private stakeholders in the elaboration of the different project activities
Through the actions implemented by the project, local public workforce is expected to enhance their understanding of actors from different backgrounds, institutions, policy areas and contexts on the links between migration and sectoral policies, and to promote an understanding of the mechanisms, opportunities and challenges related to the engagement of migrants in city policy and planning.
Furthermore, public organizations will rely on a more equipped staff in order to better implement local integration strategies for their cities.
At a wider scale, the project will strengthen the network between EU private and public entities working for the integration of migrant people, improving their collaboration so that each party can benefit from the expertise and competence of the other. The desired impact of the project is that this model can be upscaled at European level. It will achieve this impact through the sharing of the ECCIPA Manifesto, a practical guide for European cities to upgrade the competences of their staff in order to advocate respect for diversity and ensuring equal opportunities for all by adapting their governance structures, institutions and services to the needs of a diverse population, without compromising the principles of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 248993 Eur

Project Coordinator

PRO ARBEIT – KREIS OFFENBACH (AOR)- KOMMUNALES JOBCENTER & Country: DE

Project Partners

• COMUNE DI RAVENNA
• AGENCIA DE DESARROLLO LOCAL Y EMPLEO DE CARTAGENA
• ACCEM
• CONSORZIO COMUNITA’ BRIANZA SOCIETA’ COOPERATIVA SOCIALE – IMPRESA SOCIALE