What are the integration barriers that practitioners face?

Preliminary results of the co-design trajectory

Last month (June 2022) we kicked off Phase 1 of our co-design trajectory, involving 32 stakeholders from many world regions around information, knowledge gaps, labour market integration, collaboration and much more. Our goal was to come up with a common problem definition in order to create shared solutions later on as part of Phase 2.

The key principle of co-design is that together you can come up with better solutions than an outsider who is not involved in the day-to-day struggles of frontline workers.

Phase 1 has highlighted three main barriers practitioners face in the area of migrant integration:

Discrimination. Migrants are confronted by negative views and public opinions, which feed policy frameworks and the decisions based on those frameworks

Policy. Contemporary policies lack a proper long-term vision on how to deal with integration issues. This has much to do with the unilateral approach of “migrants”, as well as (racist) political and societal influences

Organizational (in)capacity. Due to the lack of proper funding, bureaucratic procedures and lack of a clear organisational structure, practitioners often miss the resources to adequately address the challenges that migrants face