“Cities of Welcome – Improving the Participation of Young Migrants at Local Level” 1st transnational project meeting

The Kick-off Meeting of the “Cities of Welcome: Improving the Participation of Young Migrants at Local Level” Project took place in Cologne, Germany on the 12th of May. It was an opportunity to get to know each other, organise administrative work and plan the research process, which will lead the further development of the project in the upcoming months.

“Cities of Welcome – Improving the Participation of Young Migrants at Local Level” is Key Action 2 Project between Migrafrica (Germany), DYPALL Network, Fundació Catalunya Voluntària (Spain) and Citizen Association United Youth (North Macedonia) which aims to improve the conditions, overall integration and participant of young migrants and youngsters of migrant background in their local communities by sharing good practices and examples of integration and collectively trying to find better solutions together with and for this target group.

This project will allow municipalities in partner countries to exchange best practices and models coming from the South, North and East Europe, and compile experiences and integrated ways to facilitate and support the participation of young migrants and youth with migrant backgrounds and thus ease their integration in society. It aims to alleviate some of the challenges that municipalities are facing when it comes to integrating the participation of migrant young people, such as structural and social barriers. Project partners consider that the specific needs of target groups regarding civic and political participation fall between the cracks of existing youth and inclusion policies. This project will also allow local authorities and youth workers to avoid the “tokenization” of young migrants, ensuring that their inclusion in participation is meaningful, which is a requirement for their full integration.