IF 2011-08 Pan-European Conference – Work: A Tool for Inclusion or a Reason for Exclusion?
The project 'Pan-European Conference – Work: A Tool for Inclusion or a Reason for Exclusion?' aimed at supporting Malta in its efforts to develop a concept and relevant implementation measures for a coherent integration policy for Third Country Nationals, through sharing experiences and good practices with other EU Member States by organizing a Pan-European Conference in Malta.
The Conference focused on fostering labour market integration of Third Country Nationals, sharing with Maltese stakeholders existing good practices, lessons learnt and their transferability potential on establishing a national integration policy. Information and results from the project were shared through an interactive website.
Implementation period: 1 July 2012 – 30 April 2013
Project Manager: IOM Malta
Partners: University of Malta and Gzira Local Council
The University of Malta provided expert support throughout the project’s implementation and in particular, in refining the three thematic papers produced in preparation for the Conference.
The Gzira Local Council supported the project by providing first hand experiences on interacting with migrant workers residing on its territory.
Activities: Within the project a two-days Pan-European Conference was organized, focusing on fostering labour market integration of the third-country nationals. It was attended by Maltese stakeholders, and 20 representatives of the local and national EU governments, social partners and the civil society.
Prior to the organization of the conference, three main actions were carried out:
- production of three thematic papers on: a) Pre-departure training programmes and cooperation with countries of origin; b) Combating discrimination in employment – including access to work and workplace discrimination; c) Stakeholder cooperation on various levels of governance;
- Expert’s meeting to analyze the results of the research activities and finalize the plan for the conference organization;
- Continued networking among main stakeholders dealing with Third-country nationals through the online Integration website developed by IOM Malta. All project participants, in particular the University of Malta and Gzira Local council were asked to include the link to the integration website through their portal.
A participatory approach was used throughout the project. An 'assessment questionnaire' was distributed to main stakeholders in Malta – including the Employment and Training Corporation, Central Visa Unit, Directorate for Expatriates and Citizenship, Local councils, Ministry for Home affairs, NGOs and Police Immigration.
