• Uphold and defend the European commitment to Universal Human Rights and social justice, to ensure the dignity of all people in the European Union
• Promote a pragmatic approach to European and national policies on migration and integration
• Influence, through a grants programme, EU policies and their national implementation in the three focus areas: asylum seekers; undocumented migrants; and the equality, integration and social Inclusion of vulnerable migrants.

Download the job description here.

The European Programme for Integration and Migration (EPIM) is seeking to support projects by non-governmental organisations and registered charities active on migration and integration issues.

EPIM will provide a limited number of grants for a period of one to three years with budgets ranging from €50,000 to €300,000. In addition, it will promote grantees’ networking and capacity-building efforts.

Successful projects should set out to influence EU policies and their national implementation in one of three defined focus areas:

• Asylum seekers
• Undocumented migrants
• Equality, integration and social inclusion of vulnerable migrants

Please refer to the ‘EPIM 2012 Call for Proposals Information Sheet’, which provides full information concerning eligibility as well as the grant application and selection process.

How to apply

The application and selection process will take place in two steps.

1. Initial Application:

Applicants are invited to send the “EPIM 2012 Call for Proposals – Initial Application Form” and requested supporting documents to the EPIM secretariat by 1 March 2012. This form can be downloaded from here.

2. Final Application

Applicants whose projects have been shortlisted will be invited in early April to submit a full application including additional supporting documents by 18 May 2012. Final decisions will be made known in June 2012 and projects begin operations by September 2012. This form can be downloaded from the EPIM website.

All applications should be sent by email, with “EPIM 2012 Call for proposals – Application” in the subject line of the email, to the following email address: contact@epim.info. Applicants will receive an email acknowledging receipt of their application. While all applicants will be informed of the result of the call, unfortunately EPIM will not be able to provide individualised feedback on the process.

Timeline

Questions?

Please contact the EPIM secretariat (contact@epim.info) with any questions you may have on the grant application and selection process.

The lobbying kit is part of the campaign by the European Network of Migrant Women and the European Women’s Lobby for better, gender-sensitive provisions for migrant women under the current family reunification directive. It contains apart from practical lobby tools, links to three video clips showing the most burning issues for women under current EU law. The clips are in English.

http://youtu.be/7tjDWdoY5LU
http://youtu.be/UcvknZ4GVdk
http://youtu.be/MvFRDCYfIcM

For more information please see:

www.migrantwomennetwork.org and
www.womenlobby.org

What is the EU Immigration Portal?
The Immigration Portal has been built to serve as a first online point of entry to reliable, practical and up-to-date information on national and EU immigration issues. It contains information in English and French covering the following areas:

1. Admission of non-EU citizens to an EU country
2. Risks and rights of an irregular stay
3. EU and national immigration policies and law
4. Stakeholder Directory

What does the EU Immigration Portal provide?
The Portal provides useful basic information on migration to the EU written in user-friendly language and gives rapid and direct access to relevant external websites for further details.

The Portal aims to help prospective migrants to:

1. Get direct and rapid access to practical information
2. Find their way in the complex world of European admission rules and procedures
3. Identify job and study opportunities
4. Find information on the rights of non-EU citizens who are in the EU
5. Find out how the EU protects victims of trafficking
6. Be informed on the risks of entering and staying in the EU without authorisation
7. Be rapidly informed on specific immigration issues
8. Benefit from a vast stakeholder directory

Who is it for?
The Portal is addressed to prospective migrants looking for information on migration to the European Union, as well as:

1. Immigrant intermediary organisations
2. Immigration authorities
3. Immigration law experts
4. Employment services
5. National authorities
6. Civil society
7. The public at large

The Migration Policy Group worked with the European Commission on the design and development of the Portal over a period of three years. They organised stakeholder consultations, designed the information format, gathered all information and presented national immigration law in a comparable way, working closely with MPG’s network of immigration law practitioners.

For more information about the development of the Portal, click here

The hearing will take place from 15:00 – 18:30 on 10 November in the European Parliament, Room ASP 1G3. Due to EP regulations, registrations for the event must be received by Friday 28 October.

Further information on the event (including a comprehensive agenda) will follow. Registrations can be addressed to Markus Sperl (Markus.Sperl@icmpd.org) and should include full name, date of birth and address.

Please see the Programme and Invite for more information

Building on the case studies of 5 grantees in 2010 (Migreurop, PICUM, Stichting Nidos, Immigrant Council of Ireland and Medicin Du Monde), the new additional case studies are European Council for Refugees and Exiles, Greek Council for Refugees, COSPE and European Womens’ Lobby.

Please see the EPIM Case Studies 2011 here

The European Policy Centre and the European Programme for Integration and Migration jointly held a high level conference which explored the rights of migrants- particularly those who are undocumented, and the role of the media in the migration and integration debate.

In this year of austerity and high unemployment in many member states, the debate in Europe on immigration policy is becoming more focused on how to restrict irregular migration and what to do about undocumented migrants. But what impact do restrictive migration policies have on migrants? What can EU policy-makers do to address the complex problems associated with undocumented migration in Member States, be it removing obstacles to fundamental rights, designing new and better policies to protect the borders or providing more support to local authorities working everyday with these issues? And is the media culpable in spreading a view of so-called “illegal” migrants as those who take advantage of public benefits, or does it simply report on real stories?

Marta Cygan, Director for Immigration and Asylum in DG Home Affairs in the European Commission, opened the conference with a keynote speech while Antonio Vitorino, the EU’s first Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs, wrapped up what was a lively day of discussions. In between, a panel of distinguished Members of the European Parliament, each representing one of the main political groupings, was asked to present their views, including Kinga Göncz MEP (S&D), Judith Sargentini MEP (Greens),  and Sajjad Karim (ECR). Media practitioners and civil society representatives also participated, including Don Flynn from Migrant Rights Network and the European Network Against Racism, Marc Janssen of Belgium’s Conseil Superieur de l’Audiovisuel and Anke Schuster (IOM). The conference was moderated by Yves Pascouau, EPC Senior Policy Analyst, and Jacki Davis, EPC Senior Advisor.

See the programme here

Read the report of the event here

The Pathways to Parental Leadership Toolkit

The event marking the launch will be 13th September, please see below for the details.

Guest Speaker (provisionally confirmed):
• Prof Nihad Bunar – Department of Child and Youth Studies, Stockholm University and National Police Academy

Date: September 13th, 2011
Venue: Wood Quay Venue, Dublin City Council Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin 8.
Registration: 09:30

Launch: 10:00 -12.30 followed by light lunch

This event is co-funded by the European Programme for Integration and Migration – an initiative of the Network of European Foundations

This project examined the nature, limits and potentials of the concept of integration as a two-way process of mutual accommodation between migrants and their host societies. It assesses the extent to which this key principle is implemented in practice by investigation of how national integration programmes developed so far with the support of the European Integration Fund (EIF).

The project also explores the obstacles encountered by civil society organizations in accessing and implementing EIF projects.

The final report launched earlier this month at a high level conference in collaboration with European Economic and Social Committee, and the Committee of the Regions was joined by prominent speakers such as Mr. Stefano Signore, Head of Unit Financial Support -Immigration and Asylum in the European Commission DG Justice. Click to download the full report and executive summary as well as the agenda for the launch of the report.

UPDATED: Now it is possible to obtain the report of the high level conference. Access it here

The European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) has recently changed its website to ensure that the user can easily access information on ECRE’s goals and activities related to protection of refugee and asylum-seekers.

Among the new features, the ‘Alliance’ section allows for a greater understanding of ECRE Members and the Secretariat’s strong and vibrant relationship that permeates every area of work. In order to gain better clarity on the issues ECRE is working on, the website includes the ‘Topics’ section which clearly outlines the main areas of focus.

The new style allows for a more innovative design and encourages interaction with the user, ultimately contributing towards becoming an effective advocacy tool

Check it out here!