Capacity Building

Many countries are experiencing humanitarian migration on an unprecedented scale. Efforts towards the coherent, long-term and comprehensive strategies that maximize the benefits of migration must be continued. The key to maximizing the benefits of immigration is the successful integration of migrants into their host societies.

To this end, the Greek Fund for the Integration of non-EU immigrants (EIF) has sought to promote European cooperation, with the objective of granting equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities for all.

IOM has a strong history in pre-departure and post-arrival services and works in four areas:
- movement and transportation assistance
- case processing
- health assessments
- overseas language training and/or cultural orientation.
Pre-departure and post-arrival training are integration tools that are increasingly requested by both receiving and sending governments to prepare and facilitate the integration of potential migrants in origin countries.

The Joint Migration and Development Initiative (JMDI) aims to support migration and development actors actors to effectively harness the potential of migration for development. The programme is implemented by UNDP and five agencies - IOM, ILO, UNHCR, UNFPA and UN Women - contribute to the programme with their institutional knowledge, expertise and extensive networks to ensure its success.

In 2014, IOM, in collaboration with the Ministry of Moroccans Residing Abroad and Migration Affairs, organized an international conference in Rabat entitled "The New Migration Policy: Which Integration Strategy for Morocco?”. The two day conference, which brought together over 200 participants representing national institutions, Moroccan civil society and diplomatic corps accredited in Morocco, aimed to facilitate dialogue on and develop optimal policies for the integration of migrants in Morocco, and to develop a National Strategy on Immigration and Asylum.

The Mediterranean City-to-City Migration Project (MC2CM) implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) in partnership with United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and UN Habitat, as well as UNHCR as an associate partner, aims to create a network of 10 European and Southern Mediterranean cities in order to facilitate exchange of experience among and to contribute to improved migration planning and governance in these cities.

IOM helps in building the capacities of media professionals and students to implement good standards in their reporting of migration issues. One example of this is IOM's project 'Migrants in the Spotlight: Training and Capacity Building for Media', which included training seminars in 2011 for journalists and media students from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia to raise awareness about reporting on migration issues.

The overall objective of the action is to contribute to the development of a regional dialogue and consultation on migration, climate change and the environment. The action will achieve this by organising two regional consultations in West Africa as well as a series of national workshops in Benin, Togo and Guinea-Bissau to enhance the knowledge, capacities and cooperation, both at the national level and among West African countries, on the potential migration can play in establishing adaptation measures in countries adversely impacted by the effects of sudden and slow onset climate change.

The Journalists’ Union of Macedonia and Thrace Daily Newspapers in Greece has drafted a proposal for the adoption of the Anti-racism Ethics Code of the Greek journalists called The Charter of Idomeni, in the name of the border control village which thousands of refugees pass through to reach Northern European countries.

A four-year programme on intercultural mediation has been established to assist doctors in providing medical services for migrants in Greece. The introduction of intercultural mediators in hospitals facilitated communication between immigrants and hospital staff, thereby reducing cultural misunderstandings and promoting non discriminatory access to public health services. 

The training programmes aimed to include the value of interculturalism and emphasize capacity building at all levels of public administration (national, regional and local). They addressed public servants employed at all levels of government who deal with third-country nationals or handle issues related to them, in order to help them design and implement comprehensive integration policies.

The project included seminars with educational units regarding: