Good Practice Criteria
Inclusivity & Participation
Does the practice ensure that its services are accessible and responsive to diverse groups?
This project focuses specifically on fathers with ethnic minority background in Denmark, including refugees and migrants. Within this target group, all languages and cultures are welcome. Flyers and two brochures have been produced to inform people about the project and recruit new participants. Equality, diversity, diversity and participant feedback are all integrated parts of the project concept. Only a basic level of understanding of the Danish language is necessary for participation in the project, and participants often help each other to translate words or expressions they are not familiar with.
Good practice checklist
✓ Adopt a participatory, gender mainstreaming, age sensitive, inclusive approach and secure equal opportunities for beneficiaries.
✓ Make sure to provide precise and accessible information on how to access services in different languages, formats and through different communication channels
✓ Ensure that equality and diversity are an essential part of how services are delivered, taking into consideration different needs and capacities.
✓ Make reasonable adjustments to service delivery in order to take into account particular needs of the target group.
Does the practice involve the active participation of the receiving society?
The receiving society plays an important role in the project, including employees of local administrations as well as other relevant local actors. The project concept relies on peer-to-peer support and volunteers, forming local participant groups of fathers with minority background. The relevant municipality or housing company usually pays for the course and start-up of a local group, and meetings at the local level are an important part of the project. These meetings promote better understanding between participating fathers and social authorities, which in turn can affect relevant policies and administrative decisions.
Good practice checklist
✓ Consider integration as a two-way process, and aim for change on the side of the receiving society.
✓ Foresee an active role for the receiving society in the design and implementation stages of the practice, and involve actions that encourage native communities and beneficiaries to work together.
Does the practice consult its beneficiaries and involve them in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the action?
The Baba programme was developed following a large number of interviews with fathers from a minority background. The coordinators play a key role in the programme, providing regular input on its design and development. Beneficiaries are constantly involved in all activities, and their feedback is seen as important to the programme’s evolution.
Good practice checklist
✓ Organise consultation activities with migrant beneficiaries in order to co-create actions where possible and secure their feedback on the design and evaluation of the action.
✓ Provide appropriate feedback mechanisms by which beneficiaries can safely express their opinions on service quality.
✓ Use flexible and interculturally-adapted formats and compensate participants for their contribution.
Relevance & Complementarity
Are the objectives of the practice relevant to the needs of the migrants?
The programme focuses on the three issues of education, crime and well-being. In these three focus areas, children are found to fare better if their father is engaged and active in their lives. The three areas and related objectives were decided upon following interviews with potential participants, who expressed related needs for support. Most of the gaps identified during the interview and design stages need to be resolved through national policy development, but those which can be tackled at the local level are often discussed at project meetings.
Good practice checklist
✓ Identify and analyse the needs of the relevant migrants and prioritise methods which directly ask them about their needs.
✓ Identify and analyse gaps in integration support and design actions to fill these gaps.
✓ Aim for systemic improvement, satisfying the needs of the majority of target groups in the target area.
Is the practice relevant to the empowerment of migrants, the strengthening of their autonomy and the support of their long-term integration?
Evaluations have shown that participating fathers benefit from improved relationships with their children and from the building of a network of other fathers, as well as from better mutual understanding with local community professionals. This promotes their longer term integration and serves to improve their children’s lives in a sustainable way.
Good practice checklist
✓ Devise actions with the overarching goal of providing positive feedback and making migrants more confident, autonomous and independent.
✓ Contribute to migrants’ engagement with the community for the common good.
✓ Ensure that services contribute to the strengthening of the capacities of migrants/migrant communities.
✓ Include (or create the preconditions for) actions that facilitate long-term integration.
✓ Address discrimination and information gaps as obstacles to long-term integration.
Effectiveness
Does the practice regularly monitor implementation and evaluate its results?
The project started in 2014 and was evaluated in 2017 and 2021. Overall, assessments have been very positive. Coordinators have a key role in the programme, which was found to be both a strength and a weakness, and efforts are being made to ensure that they can provide the necessary information while allowing participating fathers to define their own roles.
Good practice checklist
✓ Ensure regular monitoring of action implementation and compare actual performance to goals set during the design phase.
✓ Anticipate obstacles that might occur and plan alternative scenarios during the design phase of the action.
✓ Ensure achievement of intended outputs / outcomes.
✓ Determine whether practice outcomes are considered successful by beneficiaries, the host and practitioner communities, funders, and policymakers.
− Assess whether interventions contribute to long-term sustainable change.
Sustainability
Is the practice prepared to sustain its positive effects after completion?
The project is ongoing with no end date anticipated. At the individual level, though, fathers are able to sustain the positive effects of their participation – including through continued coordination of their own social networks – after they have completed the project
Good practice checklist
✓ During the design phase, anticipate opportunities to continue the intervention after completion.
✓ Prepare and apply a well-defined sustainability plan to ensure the continuation of positive effects / outcomes.
✓ Devote resources to building capacities during the implementation phase, in order to ensure that the necessary human resources, expertise and infrastructure are in place to sustain the services upon completion of the action.
Does the practice attract structural funding and support from new sponsors and individuals, or have the potential to develop a business model to generate its own resources?
Project funding is stable, with the secretariat supported by the state and the courses paid for by local municipalities or social housing companies. There are no immediate options for generating resources from the project. Close relations with local municipalities have been established since the beginning of the project, as one of its goals is to facilitate dialogue and improved understanding between participating fathers and relevant authorities. The project does not currently seek funding from outside Denmark, but would be interested in the development of a ‘sister project’ in another EU country.
Good practice checklist
✓ Develop partnerships and relations with relevant stakeholders at the early stage of the action to ensure that the practice has strong support and potential partners for after the primary funding terminates.
Partnership & Collaboration
Does the practice establish communication and coordination with other relevant actors to foster the integration of migrants? (e.g., migrants, civil society, public authorities, businesses)
One of the three main focus points of the project is to build trust between participating fathers and the local authorities through its meetings method. Project courses are often financed by the municipality or local housing company.
Good practice checklist
✓ Ensure the involvement and participation of key stakeholders in the development phase and create strategies to involve them in the action.
✓ Include multi-stakeholder consultation with professionals, institutions, and citizens, in order to promote the meaningful participation of refuges and migrants and support a joint sense of ownership of decisions and actions.
Does the practice contribute to discussion on the improvement of integration support policies?
The project does not focus on changing integration policies, but on creating better mutual understanding between local authorities and migrant families and on strengthening participants’ networks and their roles as fathers. An important part of the project is collaboration and meetings between local authorities, local civil society and the participants. Review, feedback and evaluation of relevant policies is part of this.
Good practice checklist
✓ Seize opportunities to contribute to the development of comprehensive integration strategies involving EU-level/national/regional/local authorities, service providers and civil society.
✓ Work with relevant partners to jointly review operations, practices, services, and integration outcomes.