Rue Belliard 205, Box 1
B-1040 Brussels
Belgium
Tel: +32 2 230 5930
Fax: +32 2 280 0925
Website: www.migpolgroup.org
Migrants’ Voices: Mainstreaming Diversity in Political Parties
The project aims to assess the extent to which migrants’ voices are successfully heard at all levels of possible interaction with political parties – constituents, voters, activists, employees, political candidates – and to formulate benchmarks to help parties “practice what they preach” by mainstreaming diversity into party processes across the political spectrum.
| Project Update March 2011
Research has begun on the comparative analysis of diversity initiatives in political parties, informed by Advisory Council suggestions of (i) major research that has been carried out into diversity in politics in France, Germany and the UK and (ii) examples of government/political party/NGO good practices in boosting diversity in politics. For the purpose of both research and promotion, Katy Kefferpütz participated in the Cities of Migration webinar ‘Ballot Box to the Podium: Mobilizing Immigrant Voters and New Leadership‘held in January 2011, at which she briefly presented the project to participants. In addition to the preparation of the comparative analysis and on the basis of a suggestion from an Advisory Council member, a questionnaire for distribution among the political parties identified as being of interest for the project is being drawn up. The project team is involved in promoting the project among its existing networks and at external events, and has been pleased to see a high level of interest, including from the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) and Professor John Mollenkopf of City University New York, who is due to author an overview article on immigrants and city politics in Western Europe, Canada and the U.S. for the Oxford University Press Handbook on Urban Politics. The team is also actively exploring additional channels for the dissemination and use of the project’s outputs. |
MPG News
Migration Policy Group releases new paper on improving national integration policies
The paper, commissioned to the Migration Policy Group (MPG) by the European Economic and Social Committee, assesses the state of national consultative bodies on integration. The paper that was presented at the 4th European Integration Forum describes the strengths and best practices of these national consultative bodies. It also presents local or regional bodies with different approaches in decentralized or federal countries. Download report from MPG website
-Jan 2011
MPG Recent Publications
Guide to Locating Migration Policies in the European Commission (2nd ed) (2008) This Guide to Locating Migration Policies in the machinery of the European Commission not only maps the European Commission’s policies related to migration, including the relevant cooperation and consultation mechanisms and funding programmes, it also discusses the issue of the evaluation of policies in terms of impact and effectiveness, as well as the use of indicators.
EPIM-MPG- Shaping Integration Agendas in Europe
Migration Policy Group (MPG 2006) There are questions around the way policies are designed: do they really address the concerns of those directly effected and are these persons consulted and taken seriously in the decision-making process? There are concerns about whether policies meet stated objectives: are imaginative long and short term goals defined and are migration’s costs and benefits equally divided? Many debates suffer from a lack of understanding as to why people migrate and there is much confusion about the difference between immigration and asylum. The foreign relations dimension of migration and immigrant integration is gaining more visibility. While migration often represents a drain on human resources for countries of origin, migrants contribute to their development through remittances and knowledge transfer. Social and political developments in countries of origin impact on immigrant communities as do foreign policies on the integration process.
