SIforREF addresses at least two main territorial challenges identified in the cooperation Programme: globalisation, economic development and social cohesion. Refugee and migration issues in fact Impacts the economic equilibrium and the social cohesion of our society. The refugee crisis of 2015 inevitably gave more evidence to strengths and weaknesses related to the challenges mentioned. Certain best practices revealed the existence of connected top-down and bottom up experiences, which contained participatory Elements. However, at the same time the crisis dramatically revealed weaknesses that can be contributed to a lack of skills and services as well as to the hostile socio-political climate. The project will develop tools for evaluating and designing social innovative practices and for improving the social innovation capacity of policies. It will also implement seven pilot actions to test these tools and design regional and transnational strategies.
To do so, the partnership will investigate and build on best practices and initiate a mutual learning process among central European regions, especially neighbourhood regions involved in the project.
Main objectives of the project:
- Enhance existing refugee integration policies on the regional and local level.
- To advocate for social innovative and inclusive measures becoming mainstream components in the policy-making process.
- The creation of tools for the evaluation and design of social innovative practices and pilots that result in inclusive and sustainable practices.
