Greece: NIEM 17th coalition meeting:  Aspects of the vacancy and housing integration of refugees and asylum seekers throughout Greece

The 17th coalition meeting of the project 'National Integration and Evaluation Mechanism' (NIEM) funded by the “Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund” (AMIF) of the European Union was successfully implemented on the 24th of June 2021 via zoom platform. The topic of the meeting was "Aspects of the vacancy and housing integration of refugees and asylum seekers throughout Greece”. The meeting gathered approximately 50 participants.

In the first part of the event, Mr. Athanasios Theodoridis, advocacy officer of the NIEM project, welcomed the participants and introduced the meeting. First presentation was delivered by Ms. Vassiliki Karzi, who presented the findings of the NIEM national research, which raised a lot of interest among the participants. Then several talks from relevant stakeholders followed on the topic of vacancy and housing integration of refugees and asylum seekers throughout Greece. 

The talks were as follows:
1) “Actions for the integration of immigrants and refugees in the local community. The example of the Municipality of Larissa" (speaker Mr. George Papanikolaou, Field Coordinator of the Program "ESTIA 2021")
2) "ESTIA and HELIOS: the implementation of the two programs by the Municipality of Levadia" (speakers: Mr. George Kalambokas, Project Manager for the “ESTIA” Program, and Ms. Triantaphyllia Krikou as Project Coordinator for the “HELIOS” Program).
3) "The integration of asylum seekers and refugees in a small Greek provincial town (the example of Tripoli) " (Speaker: Mr. Dimitris Koliniotis, Director of Social Cohesion Policies and Head of the ESTIA Program of "Development Parnonas SA. Development Organization of Local Government)
4) " Documentation in the formulation of integration policies " (Speaker Mr. George Sarelakos, Project Manager in the City Network for Integration / Coordination Center for Immigrant and Refugee Issues)
5) “Refugee employment opportunities in the countryside. The case of Karditsa " (speaker Mr. Vassilis Bellis, General Manager of Development Karditsa - Development Societe Anonyme - AN.KAE)
6) "The bet of integration in Piraeus" (speaker Mr. Nikitas Kanakis, Director of Social Structures of the Public Benefit Municipal Enterprise of Piraeus - KODEP)

The meeting concluded with a fruitful open discussion followed by questions to the speakers and exchanges between relevant stakeholders.