Open Days - 05.12.2011
The event was organized in the local city hall and had over 100 attendants that were gathered with the support in promoting from the city hall. The participants were divided into thematic working groups that addressed each of the main topics of the final recommendations: Intercultural Dialogue; Administrative Procedures; Labor Market; Political Participation; Housing. The results of these working groups were then gathered and presented in front of the local authorities, feedback was gathered and a the recommendations were updated based on these.
Migrants in Europe,Integration as a process of inclusion.Final Workshop of the Project Goal (Bucharest, RO, 12-13 November)
An international workshop concluded the project GOAL, Granting Opportunities for Active Learning, implemented by ALDA, as lead partner. The event tooke place on 12 and 13 November Bucharest.
The EU's population, due to decreased fertility rates and longer life expectancy, is ageing, leading to a likely fall in the working population in the 25 states from 303 million to 297 million by 2020. A smaller labour force means less economic growth: economic migration is therefore necessary for sustained the European economic growth.
But migration flows, affecting all Europe, often disregard the need for labour, and arise from the needs of the populations of third world countries to escape poverty and seek welfare and freedom.
What is the situation that migrants find in the European Countries, and how is possible to improve it?
The debate in Europe on the need for a European policy on migration management is open for years and still has not found a solution shared by all member states.
So each state has to deal daily with the problems that this phenomenon leads to social stability, often being connected to the illegality, now aggravated by the severe economic crisis.
To give answer to these questions, ALDA, the Association of Local Democracy Agencies, has managed the European project, GOAL, that aimed at improving the situation of migrants in Europe by giving them the occasion to discuss their own situation and suggesting ways to get better their life.
During the project, groups of citizens in six EU Member States and accession countries (France, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Italy and Greece) have met and debated about the situation of migrants in their country and how to improve it.
The members of these citizens' panels were themselves migrants. Drawing on the panels' discussions, the partners have drafted recommendations to European policy makers on how to improve the situation of migrants in Europe.
The final workshop of GOAL was the occasion to present the panels' recommendations to the participants - professionals in migration matters and concerned citizens - and policy makers.
All participants debated about the recommendations in particular and migration matters in general in three workshops on the topics of intercultural dialogue, political participation and access to services and the labour market.
6th Citizens panel Meeting - 21.10.2011
The last of the citizens` panel meeting was held in the local high school and gathered 29 persons. The objective of the meeting was the gathering of opinions on the final recommendations that would be presented in the final workshop of the project in Bucharest. The recommendations were greatly expanded upon each of the participants having a contribution to them. Once the debates were finalized the representative of the panel was chosen that would go to Bucharest to present the opinions.
5th Citizens panel meeting - 24.08.2011
The meeting was hosted by the local city hall in one of their meeting room and had 24 participants. The first thing on the agenda was a presentation of the results and concussions presented in the International Meeting of Citizens` panes in Kastoria. The new draft concussions were presented to the participants and the participants debated these new recommendations expanding them.
International meeting of citizens' panels (mid-term) (Kastoria, GR, June 17-19 2011)
The meeting was held in Kastoria Greece and aimed at bringing together representatives from the citizens panels in the partner countries with the purpose of discussing the results gathered so far. In the project GOAL, : Granting Opportunities for Active Learning, groups of citizens from six European countries discuss the issue of migration in Europe from the point of view of those directly concerned: migrants. The first international meeting of these "citizens' panels" took place in a region particularly concerned by migration flows. The representatives of the panels discussed the results of the debates in their groups and current European migration issues. The meeting was concluded by the drafting of recommendations.
Local Citizens Workshop - 06.06.2011
The local citizens workshop was a 2 day workshop organized in collaboration with the local authorities from Amarasti de Jos and gathered locals from the community and the surrounding communities that reunited to discuss on the issue of migration. The first day was focused on presenting the discussions and the draft recommendations to be presented in Kastoria. The local activator held a presentation on the main challenges that Europe is facing in terms of migration and what are the current and future plans for the migration policies at EU level. The second day of the workshop was focused on preparing the draft recommendations and updates them with the opinions and conclusions of the participants in the workshops. These conclusions were prepared by having the participants split into thematic groups that discussed different aspects: immigration, emigration, legislative aspects and cultural aspects.
4th Citizens`panels meeting - 30.05.2011
The meeting was held in the meeting room of the local high school and gathered 27 participants from all ages. The meeting started with discussing the last meeting results and making any modifications based also on the coordinating staff feedback on the results. Then the meeting continued with a presentation of a brochure made specially for information of potential migrants. The brochure contains information that aim at helping those who intend to go abroad to work with the purpose of preventing risks. The last part of the meeting was focused on drafting recommendations for EU level authorities in what concerns migration laws and regulations.
Also in this meeting the participants chose their representatives that will to the international meeting of citizens` panels in Kastoria.
3rd Citizens` panels meeting - 19.05.2011
The meeting was held in the meeting room of the local high school and was centered around the main issues about migration affecting Romania: work restrictions for the Romanian emigrants in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Great Britain, Holland etc, risks when going abroad for a job, what are the procedures required. The meeting was ended with a set of recommendations on these issues.
2nd Citizens` panels meeting - 22.04.2011
The meeting was held in the local high school with the participation of local city hall that sent a representative to keep a speech on their view and strategy regarding the local migration issues. These views were then debated in comparison with the major European challenges ahead and a first set of draft conclusions and recommendations was formed.
1st citizens` panels meeting - 06 .04.2011
On the 6th of April the first citizen's panels meeting was held. The meeting was held in a meeting room provided by the local high school and gathered around 27 participants from the community, most of who had been abroad. The meeting focused around getting to know each other's experience in migration (most of the participants had been emigrants or are in the country temporarily and will return abroad for work). By the end of the meeting everyone agreed on the dates of further meeting and the topic for each of the meetings.
Open Call for participants -01.03.2011 - 20.30.2011
The first activity of the project to be implemented in the community was an Open Call for participants in the forming of Citizens` panels on migration issues. In this period the local initiative team had posters around the community informing of the panel constitutions, the date of the first meeting and general information about the project objectives. The posters were displayed at visible locations in the community and in key institutions such as the City Hall, Schools, Culture House.
First steering Committee meeting of Goal project in (2nd- 4th February)
To promote citizens participation in the construction of a tighter-knit, democratic, world-oriented and united Europe, tackling the challenge of immigration as an "opportunity" to develop active citizenship and sense of ownership of the EU, whilst enhancing tolerance, solidarity and mutual understanding.
These are the objectives which GOAL (Granting Opportunities for Active Learning) - an ALDA project whose Steering Committee Meeting is taking place for the first time in Strasbourg (2nd- 4th of February) - aims to. In these days also a Training Course will take place, addressed to Citizens' Panels Activators, those people who will be in charge of setting up the local citizens' panels on immigration that are the crucial point of the project. Immigration and immigrants' participation represent vivid issues at the EU level and particularly affect citizen's daily life in the addressed countries.
The project presents a set of activities that allow citizens the chance to interact both at the local and at the European level and offers them the occasion to "work" together towards a common aim.
GOAL specific aim is to further improve the methodology of "citizens' panels" adding the "component" of immigration.
It represents an unbiased platform where citizens and other stakeholders gather information (with a bottom-up approach), debate, collect individual and collective opinions, formulate their views (duly guided and supported) and draft them in the form of recommendations for policy makers at the European level in the field of "immigration".
The partners of the project are civil society organizations, local and regional authorities and associations of local authorities coming from 6 different countries, old and new EU Member States and pre-accession countries, where immigration represents one of the most vivid issues on the national and European agenda.
Project overview:
