The Share Network publishes its third policy brief on strengthening access to funding for migrant and refugee integration and inclusion in rural areas
Share’s new policy brief builds on the research and work carried out within the Share SIRA project, which piloted place-based, innovative integration actions in small and rural areas. It provides an overview of existing EU funding mechanisms, challenges to accessing these, and advocates for improved access to funding for better integration of migrants and refugees in rural areas.
For many small and rural territories, accessing critical funding and capacity opportunities to implement place-based approaches, develop forward-looking policies, and enhance structured multistakeholder local integration systems remains a challenge. This Share policy brief:
reflects the discussions, reflections and resources shared at the third meeting of the Share SIRA Expert Group on Orientation and Integration in Rural Areas held on 29 March 2022 and refers to the results of the Share Network online survey on access to EU funds for integration actions in rural areas conducted in February 2022;
provides an overview of existing EU funding mechanisms that can be further leveraged to support rural territories’ integration efforts;
explores some prevalent challenges for local actors to access available EU funding mechanisms; and
identifies recommendations to enhance EU rural territories’ position as critical integration stakeholders and support access to funding to foster integration and inclusion in rural areas
This policy brief is the result of the collaboration between the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Regional Office for the European Economic Area, the European Union and NATO, and the Share Network and is the third published under the Share SIRA project. More specifically, our first Share policy brief presented our Share Inclusive Territories approach, which provides a vision and a framework that guides the engagement of all populations as integration actors, while our second Share policy brief takes a look at the role of participation in migrant and refugee integration in rural areas.