The Secretariat brought to a table of local stakeholders and experts the cases and learnings of Tanger and Barcelona in relation to their one-stop-shop services targeting migrants.

Invited by the ICMPD, MedCities Secretariat participated actively in the experts’ mission organised in the framework of the MIEUX INITIATIVE offering targeted technical assistance to the Greater Irbid Municipality.

The main goal of the mission was to strengthen the capacities of Greater Irbid municipality, and relevant stakeholders, to manage the integration of refugees and delivery of social services in a coordinated manner. More concretely, the idea is to provide the Greater Irbid Municipality with targeted technical assistance to develop a local integration programme based on promising practices in the EU and beyond.

Between the 1st and the 5th of October, the team of experts visited Amman and Irbid, starting off with a round of meetings with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the EU Delegation in Jordan, and the UNDP and ICMPD local offices.

Then the team travelled to Irbid for a two-days workshop where local stakeholders were given the floor to share their expectations and needs for a stronger role of the municipality in the integration of migrants and, more specifically, the creation of socioeconomic opportunities for all. Dr. Nabil Al-Kofhi, Mayor of Greater Irbid Municipality, greeted the participants and highlighted the concern and consensus in the municipality on the need to act for the integration of migrants as an unavoidable issue affecting daily life in the city. The industrial potential of the area, together with the need to address the labor force shortages in the Agricultural sector, were raised as possible fields for action.

Field experiences were presented by Pietro Vulpiani, Advisor at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Italy, and Laia Vinyes, from the MedCities Secretariat, namely from Italy, Barcelona, and Tanger (linked with the implementation of the MedCities-led project TangerAccueil). As a matter of a fact, the participants valued the experiences of the network very positively, and the idea for the future programme for Greater Irbid Municipality may resemble a one-stop-shop specialized in labour market orientation. The experts will develop a proposal for such a programme in the coming months based on the inputs provided by the participants.

MedCities participated in this mission under the invitation by ICMPD in the frame of the MIEUX+ initiative, funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), which strengthens the capacities of public authorities to better manage migration and mobility in all its dimensions through the provision of tailor-made assistance.