NIEM national conference in Gdańsk

On June 27, the NIEM national conference took place at the European Solidarity Center in Gdańsk, summarising the six-year research project. The representative of UNHCR in Poland, representatives of municipal institutions and social organizations, and members of the NIEM research team participated in the event.

One of the leading topics of the discussion referred to the question of how to create an effective integration policy based on the evidence-based research and evaluation of the previous experience of Poland and other EU countries. Among the challenges that hamper the integration policy reform, researchers and experts mentioned the lack of data and the dispersion and lack of multi-stakeholder cooperation of the actors involved in creating and implementing the integration policy.

During the second part of the meeting, participants shared solutions introduced in Gdańsk and the region regarding multi-level cooperation. Due to the Immigrant Integration Mode, established in 2016, local authorities were better prepared for challenges related to the increased forced migration from Ukraine. The participation of experts with experience in refugee and migration in decisionmaking processes was highlighted as an essential condition to ensure that provided integration support is adequate to the needs of beneficiaries of integration protection. The discussion also concerned systemic approach in the education dimension, including solutions introduced to support migrant children in schools and raise the intercultural competencies of teachers and school administration.