Diversity, Inclusiveness and Social Cohesion

Norway has recently launched its new integration strategy 2019-2022 "Integration through knowledge", which places great emphasis on investment in education, qualification and skills. 

The aim of the strategy is to increase immigrants’ participation in working life and in society in general, focusing primarily on helping immigrants to access work. The strategy also involves strengthening the effort to prevent segregation and exclusion, instead promoting participation and togetherness.

At the city level, Amsterdam has adopted a program called “Everyone’s Police”, which encourages the reporting of crimes in the interest of more effective policing and community engagement. To reach undocumented residents, the police organizes monthly information sessions. A safe reporting policy based on the Amsterdam model has been rolled out nationwide to encourage people who are undocumented to approach the authorities to report crimes and to promote trust.

Numerous programs encourage links between schools and communities to foster social inclusion of children and their families. For instance, in the Netherlands for second-generation Turks and Moroccans; in Pakistan for Hazara girls; in Canada among African and Caribbean-born immigrants; and in the US for Latin America and Vietnamese communities.

The Migrant and Refugee Orientation Centre is a place both to meet and to receive support, aimed at all groups and communities that make up the multicultural society of the City of Buenos Aires. It seeks to centralize activities of State bodies and civil organizations and promote initiatives, meeting the needs and demands of migrants and refugees. Its activities are divided into 3 main areas: 1) Guidance and support; 2) Job training; and 3) Sport and recreation.

Uruguay has introduced specific measures to minimize administrative irregularity linked with international human mobility and is pursuing legal framework revisions to promote migrants’ rights, bilateral and multilateral social security agreements, visa waiver agreements, and various measures in line with civil society recommendations.

The most significant examples of regularization and access to residence and identity documents are the following:

The Bella Milano initiative in the city of Milan, Italy, has supported migrant volunteers to clean the city and give back to the community, helping to establish a positive rapport in their neighbourhoods. Milan has also organized the ‘Milano Mondo’ media campaign including annual neighborhood festivals.

The city of Montreal in Canada has a pro-active strategy to make the most of diversity through the appointment of diversity managers who support initiatives to increase diversity in public services notably in the police forces and municipal boards. 

Integration is supported in Morocco within the framework the migration projects RECOMIG (‘Strengthening selected municipalities in the management of migration’) / RECOSA (Renforcement des collectivités territoriales marocaines dans l’amélioration des structures d’accueil des migrants), which on the one hand supports state structures at the national level, and on the other hand strengthens selected local actors in the creation of integration measures in the social, economic and cultural area for improvement social cohesion between migrants and the Moroccan population.

Costa Rica has designed a comprehensive National Integration Plan (2018–22) in 2017 that promotes equal opportunities and respect for human rights to improve inclusive social, economic and cultural spaces.

Nearly half of Amman’s population are refugees. Amman’s City Resilience Strategy, launched in 2014 as part of the 100 Resilient Cities project, places particular emphasis on diversity and has incorporated actions to make the city more inclusive for refugees and vulnerable groups. To create more welcoming cities able to offer services for all, Amman and other cities in Jordan have invested heavily in improving public infrastructure and services.