Temporary labour migrants

Good Practice Criteria

Inclusivity & Participation

Does the practice ensure that its services are accessible and responsive to diverse groups?

Sirius School is an inclusive, personalised practice that is designed to be adaptive and responsive to the needs of a diverse public, regardless of gender, age, language spoken, nationality, migration status, or ethnicity. Information on the practice is available in multiple languages, both online and onsite. Training services are adapted to the personal characteristics and needs of participants. Participation is free, and travel costs are fully reimbursed.

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?

Sirius School was created by the receiving society; by several trainees and volunteers previously involved in projects with operating partner Le Monde Des Possibles, who saw an opportunity for a new practice.

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 practice operates within a cooperative social economy. Beneficiaries are involved in its design and implementation, and its final aim is to create a stable, long-term training cooperative that employs migrants. Evaluation templates are distributed to participants at the end of their training.

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?

Sirius School is particularly relevant to the socio-professional integration of participants. It conducts constant monitoring of the local and national integration system, using and adapting its services to solve identified gaps and problems.

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?

Participant empowerment is a key operating principle of the practice: the stable, long-term training cooperative it has created will ideally be ultimately run by migrants themselves. The fostering of participants’ confidence and autonomy is another key focus, as well as the specific improvement of their employability skills, which serves to promote their integration in the long run. Some successful migrant participants will have the chance to participate in future activity as facilitators or trainers.

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.

Does the practice align with the priorities, strategic goals and policies of other relevant stakeholders, and contribute to the wider integration framework?

The practice is broadly aligned with an aspect of integration that has been historically embedded in Belgium’s French-speaking community: the provision of adult education and training. Those stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of the practice are reliable and experienced, and operate within all relevant human rights guidelines. The project is embedded in a dense network of actors and practices in the integration of migrant newcomers, allowing for efficient communication with local authorities and stakeholders

Good practice checklist

✓ Ensure that all actions are in line with international and European human rights standards.

✓ Employ regional/local, national and EU/international level integration-related guidelines and tools.

– Make sure that the services offered contribute to the strengthening of the capacities of relevant institutions to support future development.

Effectiveness

Is the practice adequately planned and based on a comprehensive design?

Sirius School relies on consistent planning of training activities and specific evaluation mechanisms. Objectives and planned results are clear, and continually adapted according to each beneficiary’s needs. As it is a training platform, indicators and monitoring mechanisms are embedded within its various processes. The project’s main operating partner uses an innovative, established methodology for identifying people with the right skills to work with beneficiaries, including the direct recruitment of immigrants and de-facto refugees.

Good practice checklist

✓ Aim for actions that achieve observable outcomes among the target group or contribute to changes during the implementation of the action.

✓ Make sure that the objectives and planned results of the activity are feasible and clear.

✓ Develop a communications strategy during the design phase of the action and pay attention to communication with host communities and local authorities.

✓ Ensure the practice is based on indicators that are measurable, achievable, and relevant.

✓ Develop a staff management plan to identify team members with the right skills to work with beneficiaries, and their needs for training and further qualification.

Does the practice regularly monitor implementation and evaluate its results?

Conceived of and implemented as a training programme, the practice relies on several monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. Direct results (e.g., the increased employability of participants) are only assessable in the longer term, but there is potential for long-lasting, positive effects.

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

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?

As a project made to be freely accessible, it is unlikely that it will develop a business model to generate its own resources. However, it is adept at establishing partnerships with new sponsors – such as training centres and schools – to attract funding. The project has strong partnerships with established local actors in the field of integration, and many of these partners have substantial experience in fundraising at the local, national and EU level.

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.

✓ Identify new EU and national funding opportunities for long-term integration (e.g., shifting from project-based initiatives that are limited in time or dependent on one (external) donor to a comprehensive, multi-year strategy based on secured funding or diverse funding opportunities).

– Diversify funding opportunities and identify options for self-financing through business activities or social entrepreneurship.

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)

The project relies on collaboration with a political partner (Digital Belgium) and a civil society partner (Le Monde Des Possibles). The latter has an established local role as a hub for several migrant organisations and civil society actors involved in the migration, diversity and integration agenda. Consultation with key stakeholders is an established practice activity, and refugee/migrant organisations and individuals play a key role in the design and implementation of all its activities.

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 outcomes can inform discussion on integration practices and policies in the local and international context, particularly on such matters as the personal and professional development of newcomer refugees.

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.

Good Practice Criteria

Inclusivity & Participation

Relevance & Complementarity

Effectiveness

Sustainability

Partnership & Collaboration

Inclusivity & Participation

Does the practice ensure that its services are accessible and responsive to diverse groups?

Undok works to be accessible for all workers, especially for the underrepresented and most vulnerable, including through outreach activities. Information is available online in various languages (including via informative YouTube videos and podcasts), and leaflets are distributed to NGOs, trade union offices, migrant community spaces, and student associations.

Inspiring tools:

Undok podcast: ‘Working without papers’

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?

Undok’s objective is to promote migrants’ free access to the labour market as well as equal rights and working conditions for all migrants. It offers workshops for multipliers, and fosters cooperation between stakeholders, migrant communities and local activists. It also works to keep the public informed of relevant issues.

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?

Undok is actively reaching out to migrant communities and associations with a view to receive input and feedback. In certain cases, participants are compensated for sharing their stories to the public/press. Peers are compensated when they assume an active role in workshops. Input/feedback is given by migrant communities and migrant associations.

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?

Undok was created to close the gap in support for undocumented workers, taking the need for support for undocumented migrants as its starting point. Its services and objectives are designed around their needs.

Inspiring tools:

Undok Poitical demands.

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?

Undok supports migrants in securing the entitlements that are withheld from them as a result of their undocumented employment relationships, promoting their confidence and autonomy in asserting their rights. Undok was designed to close the information gap that exists for un- and under-documented migrants.

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.

Does the practice align with the priorities, strategic goals and policies of other relevant stakeholders, and contribute to the wider integration framework?

Undok facilitates networking between relevant stakeholders and promotes policy change for undocumented migrants.

Ensuring access to human rights for undocumented migrant workers is the core idea of the project. Undok’s work is based on EU DIRECTIVE 2009/52/EC, providing for minimum standards on sanctions and measures against employers of illegally staying third-country nationals. Undok furthermore employs workers’ protection guidelines.

Good practice checklist

✓ Ensure that all actions are in line with international and European human rights standards.

✓ Employ regional/local, national and EU/international level integration-related guidelines and tools.

✓ Make sure that the services offered contribute to the strengthening of the capacities of relevant institutions to support future development.

Effectiveness

Is the practice adequately planned and based on a comprehensive design?

Undok facilitates networking between relevant stakeholders and promotes policy change for undocumented migrants.

Good practice checklist

✓ Aim for actions that achieve observable outcomes among the target group or contribute to changes during the implementation of the action.

✓ Make sure that the objectives and planned results of the activity are feasible and clear.

✓ Develop a communications strategy during the design phase of the action and pay attention to communication with host communities and local authorities.

✓ Ensure the practice is based on indicators that are measurable, achievable, and relevant.

✓ Develop a staff management plan to identify team members with the right skills to work with beneficiaries, and their needs for training and further qualification.

Does the practice regularly monitor implementation and evaluate its results?

Evaluation of the project takes place regularly, and is published both on the website and in the annual social report alongside relevant financial data. Achievement of intended outcomes is measured via both a survey distributed among teachers and participant feedback. Proof of its success can also be found in its securing of new funders and supporters.

Good practice checklist

Inspiring tools:

A handbook for self-organising.

✓ 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 long-term objective is the continuation of the drop-in centre for undocumented migrants. There are internal documents devoted to the sustainability of the practice’s human resources, expertise and infrastructure.

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?

Undok attracts funding from various stakeholders, including trade unions, the Chamber of Labour and the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs. The drop-in centre for undocumented migrants could be integrated into counseling services provided by the trade unions.

Good practice checklist

✓ Diversify funding opportunities and identify options for self-financing through business activities or social entrepreneurship.

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)

The Undok association is an initiative by the Chamber of Labour, trade unions, NGOs, migrant organisations and activists, and representatives of all of these groups were active in the design phase.

Good practice checklist

✓ Ensure the involvement and participation of key stakeholders in the development phase and create strategies to involve them in the action.

Does the practice contribute to discussion on the improvement of integration support policies?

Undok is an active promoter of policies for undocumented migrants and the sanctions directive. The Undok association itself is a joint initiative of the Chamber of Labour, trade unions, NGOs, migrant organisations, and activists.

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.

Good Practice Criteria

Inclusivity & Participation

Relevance & Complementarity

Effectiveness

Sustainability

Partnership & Collaboration

Inclusivity & Participation

Does the practice ensure that its services are accessible and responsive to diverse groups?

Startup Refugees adjusts its service delivery according to the needs of participants, and actively builds up networks to ensure it is responding to diverse groups. Services are flexible and multilingual, further ensuring accessibility, and offered in a range of locations.

Inspiring tools:

Toolkit for pop-up restaurateurs.

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 practice has an extensive, active network of more than 1 500 members, including several actors able to promote participants’ access to the labour market in Finland. These actors offer asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants support with employment and entrepreneurship.

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 practice was built around the needs of participants, and regularly consults them as part of an ongoing feedback process.

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 main objective of Startup Refugees is to ensure the speedy integration of newcomers into the labour market. Staff actively identify and analyse migrants’ needs in all parts of the country in which activities are run, ensuring that services are relevant to the local context.

Inspiring tools:

Report on the employment of asylum seekers and refugees in Finland.

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?

Asylum seeker and refugee participants are empowered through the programme thanks to its promotion of their employment and speedy labour market integration in Finland. All activities are delivered in several languages, allowing for inclusivity, and based on active dialogue, thereby promoting participants’ agency.

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.

✓ Include (or create the preconditions for) actions that facilitate long-term integration.

✓ Address discrimination and information gaps as obstacles to long-term integration.

Does the practice align with the priorities, strategic goals and policies of other relevant stakeholders, and contribute to the wider integration framework?

Startup Refugees was founded in 2015 when a large number of asylum seekers arrived in Finland. The idea was to promote their speedy integration into the labour market, together with a network of actors from different fields. The organisation is regularly involved in public discussion on changing negative narratives around newcomers. Its approach is built on the belief that once one newcomer is hired by a company others will be too, and that other companies are then likely to follow suit. Further, it works to inspire participants themselves through promotion of examples of successful newcomer entrepreneurship.

Good practice checklist

✓ Ensure that all actions are in line with international and European human rights standards.

✓ Employ regional/local, national and EU/international level integration-related guidelines and tools.

✓ Make sure that the services offered contribute to the strengthening of the capacities of relevant institutions to support future development.

Effectiveness

Is the practice adequately planned and based on a comprehensive design?

Actions have clear and comprehensive plans, and their implementation is well-managed with regular assessment.

Good practice checklist

✓ Aim for actions that achieve observable outcomes among the target group or contribute to changes during the implementation of the action.

✓ Make sure that the objectives and planned results of the activity are feasible and clear.

✓ Develop a communications strategy during the design phase of the action and pay attention to communication with host communities and local authorities.

✓ Ensure the practice is based on indicators that are measurable, achievable, and relevant.

✓ Develop a staff management plan to identify team members with the right skills to work with beneficiaries, and their needs for training and further qualification.

Does the practice regularly monitor implementation and evaluate its results?

Activities are monitored on an ongoing basis, and regularly evaluated according to participant feedback.

Inspiring tools:

The project developed a toolkit on developing the future prospects of participants.

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?

Startup Refugees is built around the active partnership of various actors. These include companies, communities and individuals that work together towards the common goal of ensuring the speedy integration of asylum seekers and refugees through employment and entrepreneurship. The large number of actors ensures the sustainability of the practice.

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.

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?

Since the very beginning, its wide network of actors has been key to the running of Startup Refugees. Sponsorship is another key element, from a diverse range of funders – many of whom are secured via the network. The practice is also increasingly focusing on fundraising.

Good practice checklist

✓ Diversify funding opportunities and identify options for self-financing through business activities or social entrepreneurship.

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)

The practice’s wide, trans-sectoral network facilitates regular, active communication and coordination with relevant integration actors and stakeholders.

Good practice checklist

✓ Ensure the involvement and participation of key stakeholders in the development phase and create strategies to involve them in the action.

Does the practice contribute to discussion on the improvement of integration support policies?

The main aim of the practice is to contribute to the improvement and development of comprehensive integration strategies at local, regional and national level in Finland.

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.