Supporting & funding grassroots pilot projects: a promising approach for better, bottom-up & innovative integration of newcomers
In the framework of the rural integration programme, the Share Network has supported and funded 10 innovative and grassroots pilot actions located in rural regions in France, Greece, Poland and Spain in 2021 and 2022. Following an external evaluation, we share the results of this successful experience and reflections on the future of integration in small and rural areas.
Why test and fund bottom-up approaches?
Across Europe, successful bottom-up practices and multi-stakeholder partnerships for the integration of newcomers emerge, complementing government-funded service provision. Local communities developing such initiatives play a key role in supporting the reception and facilitating the inclusion of refugees and migrants. Rural territories are also increasingly contributing to European reception efforts through resettlement, community-sponsorship or national dispersal policies. These territories are the testing ground for innovative and inclusive approaches, responding to the needs of both newcomers and residents, adapting to a changing migratory landscape.
The Share Network is dedicated to giving visibility and support to community-led initiatives, as well as to promoting innovation, peer learning and new partnerships. One of our latest actions, carried out in collaboration with our SIRA partners, has been to support 10 grassroots social orientation pilot actions to foster the inclusion of newcomers in several small and rural areas.
Monitoring, evaluating and making accurate data accessible, as well as highlighting experiences and good practices developed on the ground, is a cornerstone of the Share Network’s work. It is also fundamental to building a more evidence-based culture that can inform policy-making at local, national and European level and help shape local narratives and attitudes on migration. Moreover, understanding needs, responding to gaps and testing solutions with potential for scaling up can pave the way for more communities to welcome newcomers and enable better design of future integration interventions.
The Share Network pilot actions
From January 2021 to February 2023, the Share Network led the implementation of the SIRA project co-funded by AMIF, in partnership with the International Organization for Migration, Entraide Pierre Valdo, Fundacion Cepaim and the Development Agency of Karditsa, in 10 rural regions in France, Greece, Poland and Spain.
Over 10 months, Share SIRA supported 10 innovative pilot actions that strengthened the integration of newcomers in small and rural areas, through seed funding and capacity building. The pilot projects, firmly rooted in their local contexts, used bottom-up and participatory approaches to promote language acquisition, job integration, entrepreneurship, mentoring, as well as access to services such as mental and reproductive health or banking.
Engaging with the private sector: One of the seed funded pilot actions was led by the Karditsa Cooperative Bank, in Greece. The Bank has a social inclusion component and works with vulnerable groups such as Roma people, refugees, migrants, and young people. Through the pilot action, the Bank has generated a more user-friendly browsing environment and more accessible online banking services for refugees and migrants in different languages (Arabic, French, English). Accessing banking services and having a bank account is vital for accessing the labour market and a first step towards social integration.
Introducing our approach
Our overarching aim has been to incubate social innovation, to foster new approaches to integration and explore their potential for scaling up, and to facilitate access to EU funding for grassroots entities that do not normally have a chance to. This is based on the observation confirmed by our research, that there is a shortfall in access to European funding for integration actions, notably in small and rural territories, due to a lack of information, expertise and significant technical barriers.
Against this background, we defined objectives and parameters of a call for applications offering successful applicants seed funding of 12,000 EUR (as a lump sum) to implement 10-month projects in key areas of social integration. We carried out a thorough selection and subcontracting procedure that included: wide dissemination of the call at regional level, assessment and selection of the proposals by the members of the Consortium, and signature of the subcontracting agreements by SIRA partners and the selected entities.
As subcontractors of the pilot actions, the SIRA partners also played a key role in monitoring implementation and providing advice and technical support. To ensure the sustainability of the projects after the end of SIRA seed fund, the Consortium exploited synergies with other SIRA activities to facilitate training, networking and transnational exchange opportunities for the subcontracted entities. For instance, they participated in training sessions and transnational Look & Learn visits, and presented their initiatives during regional roundtables and national workshops organised throughout the project.
External consultants carried out continuous monitoring and evaluation of the 10 pilot actions. They conducted field visits and online semi-structured interviews, and producted a report with key conclusions.
Significant outputs & positive wider implications
The results of the evaluation carried out by external experts indicate that the SIRA pilot actions successfully strengthened the integration of newcomers in their respective localities and achieved a high level of participation and co-creation of the local community including refugees and immigrants.
Although the implementation time was relatively short, the evaluators found that the pilot actions contributed to reinforcing positive local dynamics towards integration. Also, one of the great successes of the pilot actions was their great adaptability to new situations: many of them had to change their ongoing activities in order, for example, to include groups of displaced people and Ukrainian refugees.
This incubation demonstrated that funding and piloting new actions, combined with opportunities for learning and peer support, are key elements in making social innovation and local partnerships for inclusion flourish. The SIRA seed fund had a ripple effect: by the end of implementation, most of the organisation had found other sources of funding to continue the action, had identified and developed new partnerships, and had generated additional ideas for expanding the project or develop new actions.
Making integration work in small and rural areas
From this experience, the Share Network draws lessons beyond pilot actions to guide the integration work in small and rural areas:
Long-term, flexible and sufficient funding enables more structured, innovative and impactful actions in time, which can be consolidated and scaled-up.
Multistakeholder partnerships between civil society organisations, public authorities, volunteers, private sector and specialised service providers allow for the mutualisation of resources and costs, while strengthening the effectiveness, comprehensiveness and sustainability of interventions.
Local authorities and civil society organisations play a key role as facilitators of integration processes, particularly in small and rural towns. On the ground, they identify relevant interventions, they coordinate activities, establish effective partnerships, provide services and resources. More importantly, they raise awareness at the community level, mobilise new members from the host community to be involved in integration efforts and create the conditions for interaction between this and newcomers.
Ensuring the participation of newcomers and the host community in the decision-making, implementation and evaluation processes improves the relevance of projects, helps increase ownership and ensures their longer-term commitment. The Share Network pilot actions have shown that there are many ways to involve migrants, refugees and volunteers, such as in general assemblies, board of directors and consultations to co-design activities.
Providing opportunities for exchange, networking and capacity-building is a fundamental condition for meaningful participation.
Building bonds and trust between beneficiaries, staff, volunteers and local community members requires time and safe spaces conducive to informal exchanges. Such spaces allow beneficiaries to feel listened to and included, to gain self-confidence, and to share their ideas, projects and experience. They are fertile grounds for social innovation.
The Share Network has also found that volunteers are at the heart welcoming and integration, especially in small and rural areas. When they do not receive sufficient support, they often experience feelings of frustration, abandonment and even isolation. Therefore, it is important to dedicate sufficient resources to the coordination and training of these groups, which must be sustained by a coherent mobilisation strategy with dedicated staff and budget, clearly defined responsibilities and a clear focus on the needs of volunteers.
Place-based approaches are the most effective tool to make sure that integration actions will respond to the needs and overcome local challenges. Thanks to tailored interventions, our pilot actions reached beneficiaries in very remote areas. However, it is also interesting to exploit rural-urban synergies by combining activities in small and large urban centres, which have the advantage of offering more services. Over time, place-based approaches can be further systematised and scaled up, and for this it is essential to continue to promote exchanges and peer learning.