E.g., 06/09/2023
E.g., 06/09/2023
MPI Europe

MPI Europe

A foundation in Poland supports a Ukrainian woman with her small business
Alexey Shivrin/IOM

With millions of Ukrainians seeking safety in Europe, receiving countries are facing considerable pressure and also potential opportunities to benefit from this highly qualified population’s skills. This report explores displaced Ukrainians’ early employment outcomes, common challenges to finding jobs commensurate to their skills, and opportunities to more fully support their labor market integration.

Photo of a teacher from Ukraine organizing activities for refugee children in Moldova
© UNICEF/Vitalie Orehov

One year into the vast Ukrainian displacement crisis sparked by Russia's invasion, European policymakers are having to confront the likelihood of prolonged stay for millions of Ukrainians and the prospect of new displacement. How can they juggle longer-term integration, first-reception services for new arrivals, and prepare Ukrainians for eventual return to rebuild their country? They will have to focus on multipronged policies and services, this commentary suggests.

Doodle drawings of elements of organisational design and strategy
Valentyna Ivashchenko/iStock.com

The smart use of research and data can strengthen all parts of the policymaking cycle and, in the integration field, lead to better outcomes for immigrants and the societies in which they live. This toolkit offers resources and strategies to improve how evidence is used in policy design and implementation, program evaluation, evidence dissemination, funding decisions, and stakeholder engagement.

A flow chart showing the steps of the policy cycle
MPI Europe

While many policy areas have seen a revolution in how information is gathered, shared, and used to inform new policies and improve existing ones, immigrant integration has not kept pace. This policy brief explores why integration policy in Europe has not yet seen the development of a robust evidence culture and offers recommendations for creating an environment in which evidence-informed policymaking can flourish.

Image of women and young children from Ukraine arriving at train station in Bucharest
iStock.com/lcva2

People displaced from Ukraine are finding work more rapidly in European countries than prior refugee cohorts. But uncertainty over how long they will stay, combined with hurdles such as language barriers, has meant many are prioritizing any job over the right job. This commentary examines how policymakers could address this waste of skills as they seek to fill pressing labor needs and facilitate deeper integration of the new arrivals.

JRS Europe volunteers and young refugees wearing face masks visit a site in Luxembourg
Jesuit Refugee Service

The pandemic and its economic fallout have created a perfect storm for immigrant integration, challenging the well-being and livelihoods of many migrants and refugees in Europe and North America while upending governments’ usual policy toolbox. This report looks at how policymakers and civil society have innovated, and what lessons can be gleaned to strengthen immigrant integration governance going forward.

Recent Activity

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Coverthumb_EU CrisisResponse
Reports
June 2018
By  Elizabeth Collett and Camille Le Coz
Coverthumb_BrexpatsDeal
Reports
April 2018
By  Meghan Benton, Aliyyah Ahad, Michaela Benson, Katherine Collins, Helen McCarthy and Karen O’Reilly
Scaling up Refugee Resettlement in Europe
Reports
March 2018
By  Hanne Beirens and Aliyyah Ahad
Coverthumb EduMainstreaming2.0
Reports
February 2018
By  Aliyyah Ahad and Meghan Benton
Designing Civic Education for Diverse Societies
Reports
February 2018
By  Per Mouritsen and Astrid Jaeger

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flickr EUCivilProtectionHumanitarianAidOperations Refugee crisis in the Western Balkans
Video, Audio
July 15, 2019

With thousands migrants potentially traveling through the Western Balkans this year, this MPI Europe webinar explores the implications of the buttressed EU border on the bloc’s neighbors, the migrants transiting these routes, and the local communities.

FLICKR UNMigrationAgencyIOM LearningGeography
Video, Audio
June 12, 2019

This MPI Europe webinar examines innovative ways to better design and implement predeparture orientation programs for resetttling refugees. The discussion features observations from a refugee who went through an orientation program before being resettled in the Netherlands, and a resettlement agency official in Norway.

Imagen en Acción flickr 5
Audio
January 25, 2019

This meeting highlighted lessons from MPI Europe’s flagship Integration Futures initiative, which seeks to develop creative and strategic approaches to addressing today’s most difficult and pressing integration challenges—and to better plan for those around the corner.

LOGO FOR WEB EVENT SIRI  2019 01 2425_si4ri_imi_18_550600x270dynamics
Video, Audio
January 24, 2019

The third Social Innovation for Refugee Inclusion conference in Brussels, co-organized by MPI Europe with the U.S. and Canadian Missions to the European Union and the European Economic and Social Committee, explored how innovations in living situations for refugees can promote community-driven inclusion, overcome divisions, facilitate economic opportunities, and foster a sense of "home."

2018.11.27 EVENT PHOTO ChildMove
Audio
November 27, 2018

A discussion on the vital new research project, ChildMove, that explores the experiences of young refugees and migrants who have traveled across Europe unaccompanied by their families.

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Recent Activity

Expert Q&A, Audio
December 30, 2020

Billions of dollars are being spent on projects to help communities mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, including those at risk of being displaced by environmental events. This episode of our Changing Climate, Changing Migration podcast features Timo Schmidt, from MPI Europe, in a discussion about the growing field of climate finance and its implications for migration management and displacement prevention.

Reports
November 2020

In recent years, the European Union and some of its Member States have taken on a greater role in global refugee resettlement, expanding or launching new programs and experimenting with creative approaches to providing protection to those in need. This report looks ahead to how these efforts, investments, and lessons learned can be built upon, even in the face of the uncertainty brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Video, Audio, Webinars
November 18, 2020

This MPI Europe webinar reflects on the implications of this current moment for European economies and societies and the role of immigration and immigrant integration policy, and highlight research from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre on the fiscal and demographic impacts of migration.

Reports
November 2020

Small towns and rural areas within Europe have become more active in receiving resettled refugees in recent years. How is resettlement to these communities different compared to urban areas? And what can be done to make good on the promise of “rural welcoming”? This report explores these questions, drawing on interviews with resettled refugees and receiving-community members in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

Video, Audio, Webinars
October 22, 2020

This webinar explores how governments’ implementation plans for the Brexit withdrawal agreement have been affected by COVID-19, and the potential implications for citizens’ rights at the end of the transition period and beyond. Among the topics covered: which mobile populations are most at risk at the intersection between Brexit and the pandemic, and what contingency measures might mitigate these vulnerabilities and keep timelines on track.

Commentaries
October 2020

The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum represents a last-gasp effort by European leaders to devise a plan that keeps all 27 countries at the table, at a time when growing numbers are refusing to accept asylum seekers under the existing redistribution mechanism. Can the pact’s concept of solidarity à la carte work? The pact may well be the last step before an abyss in which each country determines the fate of migrants and refugees, practically guaranteeing future conflict.

 

Reports
September 2020

Since COVID-19 hit cities across Europe, many have struggled with how to sustain support for migrant inclusion in a time of social-distancing orders and likely budget cuts. This report explores how municipalities and their partners used social innovation to meet the challenges of the 2015–16 spike in arrivals of asylum seekers and migrants, and how those experiences can help localities weather the pandemic and put communities at the center of recovery efforts.

Policy Briefs
September 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic hit just weeks after the United Kingdom formally left the European Union, delaying plans to implement the withdrawal agreement’s provisions on citizens’ rights. This policy brief assesses the progress countries have made in setting up systems to adjust the status of mobile EU and UK nationals, as well as steps countries can take to make up for lost time.

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