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First, civil society’s often frequent and direct contact with
migrants makes it a useful source of information and experience
on migrants’ day-to-day realities, challenges and needs. Partnering
with civil society can therefore result in valuable input for policy
formulation. This is recognized by the city of Berlin, whose State
Advisory Board for Integration and Migration actively involves,
consults and supports migrant organizations.
Several remarks made at the workshop indicated that NGOs
are efficient at providing social services to migrants and defending
their rights. Ecuador and the Philippines deliberately incorporate
the network of migrant associations as well as church communities
and NGOs in the provision of services to their nationals abroad.
Similarly, the Portuguese National Immigration Support Centres
make a point of connecting their clients to existing migrant
associations.
In addition, NGOs and other civil society groups are well placed
to devise and implement projects at the grassroots level that further
integration. In Australia, for example, community organizations
can propose projects responding to needs on the ground and
receive government grants for their execution. The “living in
Harmony” programme in particular provides financial assistance
to community groups for the purpose of promoting communal
cohesion and tolerance and countering racism, targeting for
instance schools, scout groups and sports associations.
NGOs can also become involved in more broad-based
partnerships among themselves and with other actors. The
planned European Integration Fund and the Common Agenda for
Integration are both examples of NGOs pooling their experiences
and partnering with European governments to devise more
effective integration strategies. likewise, the UK Red Cross
connected authorities in liverpool with youth in lagos, Nigeria
via the Internet. This allowed UK officials to improve their insight
into the cultural background and socio-economic circumstances
of Nigerian migrants to the UK and helped to deepen their
understanding of some of the cultural differences and conflicts
experienced with Nigerian youth in liverpool. A similar exercise
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