April 2013 – December 2014
The Other Space Foundation (Warsaw) in cooperation with Homo Faber Association (Lublin) and Interkulturalni PL (Kraków) launched the project entitled “Local Cross-Sectoral Policies on Integrating Immigrants”. The first major event held as a part of this project was the working forum taking place in Kraków from 25th till 27th October 2013.
The aim of the project was to draw up recommendations for developing coherent policy on integrating immigrants. These recommendations were based on practical experiences in cross-sectoral cooperation gained by the three major immigration destinations in Poland, namely Warsaw, Kraków and Lublin. Three cross-sectoral working forums were an excellent opportunity to share local experiences. The whole project gained European dimension thanks to foreign experts participating in work and discussions, as well as the recent study visit in Vienna, which took place from 8th till 12th August 2013. The forums were supposed to bring the following measurable results: the development of monitoring tools and the tools for creating cities’ offers for immigrants, the discovery of the ways to meaningfully support local organizations acting for the sake of immigrants’ integration and increasing immigrants’ participation in decision-making processes concerning them directly. Supporting public debate on voting rights for certain immigrants was the vital part of the project. What is more, establishing Warsaw Multicultural Centre was promoted, which could be considered the tangible cross-sectoral tool for the development of foreigners integration policy.
The activities planned were conducted as parts of two projects: “Local Cross-Sectoral Policies on Integrating Immigrants”, co-funded by Switzerland through the Swiss programme of cooperation with the new EU member states, as well as “Local migration policies – exchanging experiences of different states in migration management in the cities”, co-funded by the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals and the Polish state budget.
