Cities’ strong commitment to enhancing diversity Anu Riila Coordinator of Immigration Affairs City of Helsinki EC Expert Seminar on European Modules: Strong Commitment by the Host Society, Vienna, 3-4 February Working Group on Migration and Integration • consists of practitioners working in city administration from 25 European cities • common projects for mutual learning, studies etc. • objective: to strenghten the involvement of cities in European policies on migrant integration • political statements on EU-developments • integrating Cities partnership between the European Commission and Eurocities Peer reviews on local integration governance The principles: structured and intensive transnational evaluation through integration practitioners from municipalities = peers based on jointly defined principles (benchmark) facilitated by secretariat + partners Benchmark Cities as buyers of goods and services: INDICATOR BUY/O/1 Migrant‐owned and diverse businesses have an equal chance to bid for municipal tenders EXAMPLE OF EVIDENCE • • • Percentage of migrant‐owned and diverse businesses participating in public calls for tenders Results from surveys and focus groups with local migrant‐ owned businesses Composition of existing pool of suppliers Cities as employers: • EMP/P/1 The municipality promotes itself as employer towards • people with migrant background Incorporation of diversity and equality considerations in the job specifications (e.g. non‐discriminatory language and qualification requirements) Measures in place to pro‐actively recruit staff with migrant background, municipality engages in campaigns such as targeted recruitment fairs organised in cooperation with relevant NGOs, dissemination of job ads via campaigns to targeted media/networks, public statements etc Benchmark Cities as service providers: INDICATOR EXAMPLE OF EVIDENCE • PS/P/2 The municipality has • adapted its housing services to meet the needs of persons with a migrant • background, ‐ With particular attention on newcomers Housing advice and information for newcomers, available in various languages Complaint procedure in place for protection against racial discrimination and/or specific institution designated to deal with such complaints Staff operating in preferred housing managed by the municipality or its contractor receives training in intercultural awareness and understanding Cities as policy-makers: PS/O/1 Equal access and non‐ discrimination policy goals are mainstreamed into municipal policies and services • Explicit political commitment of the municipality on equal access to services for all citizens including those with a migrant background • Explicit municipal anti‐discrimination mission statement valid for all its activities • The municipality monitors and enforces compliance with these mission statements Benchmark Benchmark Benchmark Good practices / Areas for improvement Attention needs to be paid to the complaint procedure for staff experiencing unfair and unequal treatments from work colleagues at the City Council. Although adequate redress measures are now being implemented with the introduction of the new grievance and disciplinary procedures, further work is still needed to address the issue of under reporting. Peers put forward the following recommendations: Recommendations Review complaint procedures to allow for more accurate measuring of number of cases of racial harassment and victimisation Create an environment where victims of discrimination and racial harassment feel confident to submit a complaint Peer reviews on local integration governance The process: joint definition of common principles (benchmark) peer training city self-assessment report based on benchmark peers’ desk review of report peer review visit final city report official presentation of city report by peer joint report on common challenges and transferable policy response monitoring how city acts on recommendations Peer reviews on local integration governance Impact: transnational learning deeper insight into the range of policy options comprehensive perspective on city performance agreeing on common goals in a benchmark inspiration recommendations Outcomes of the project … city Municipality local policy development based on external expert validation stimulation of debate in municipalities (civil society, politicians) peers reflect own practice through European city comparison cities benefit from identification of good practice that is relatively detached from locally specific success factors through the benchmark (city) network defines and tests common principles in integration governance partnerships on knowledge transfer beyond the project: active dissemination and discussion of outcomes of (temporary) project with the working group = community of experts Integrating Cities Charter Charter signing ceremony, London 2010 Next steps • MIXITIES project • Integrating Cities Conference V, Amsterdam 2012 • Evaluation Further info: www.integratingcities.eu Thank you for your attention. EUROCITIES 1, Square de Meeûs B-1000 Brussels, Belgium Phone: +32 (0)2 552 08 88 Fax: +32 (0)2 552 0889 www.eurocities.eu Anu Riila [email protected] www.hel.fi/heke/maahanmuutto
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