Share projects: SIRA
Strengthening and Expanding Social Orientation & Integration for Newcomers in Rural Areas
January 2021 - February 2023
Co-funded by AMIF, SIRA used multi-stakeholder and participatory approaches, and piloted bottom-up actions, involving local communities and newcomers, to improve and strengthen the social orientation and integration of migrants and refugees in 10 rural regions in France, Greece, Poland and Spain.
Objectives
Create and facilitate regional multi-stakeholder cooperation partnerships to assess, coordinate and strengthen inclusive territorial approaches for integration
Pilot and evaluate new approaches to support the social orientation of newly arrived migrants and refugees, involving local communities and the participation of newcomers
Local, regional, national and European stakeholders share experiences and best practices on integration, along with tools, resources and capacity building activities.
Meet our partners with whom we are working to improve rural social orientation and integration practices for newcomers across Europe:
SIRA’s partners
Choose a SIRA locationFind out more about the activities underway in a chosen region
Spain
France
Poland
Greece
Pilot Actions
Within the framework of the SIRA project, we have supported, funded and monitored 10 promising innovative grassroots pilot actions in 9 rural regions in France, Greece, Poland and Spain. From January 2021 to February 2023 and over 10 months, these pilot actions tested participatory and bottom-up approaches and fostered the social orientation and inclusion of newcomers in small and rural areas, through seed funding and capacity building.
The actions have been evaluated and their inspiring results and lessons learned pave the way for supporting and funding grassroots pilot projects for better, bottom-up & innovative integration of newcomers.
Orientation and Integration in Rural Areas: Expert Group Meetings and Policy Briefs
As part of the SIRA project, we have set up an Expert Group composed of European, national, regional and local stakeholders active in the field of reception and integration. Building upon the work previously carried out by the Share Network on inclusive territories and multi-stakeholder engagement, Expert Group participants convened in three meetings to exchange on practices and make recommendations on specific topics. The discussions and conclusions from these meetings informed the production of three policy briefs.
Topic 1: Territorial approaches to organising orientation and integration for newcomers in rural areas as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
Topic 2: Participation of refugees and migrants in integration actions and governance in rural areas
Topic 3: Improving access to EU funding for integration in rural areas
Look & Learn visits
We organised two transnational Look & Learn visits to showcase innovative and inclusive territorial approaches to rural integration.
The first took place in the rural town of Sigüenza (Spain) and focused on the nexus between migration and rural revitalisation, while the second was held in Grenoble and Notre-Dame de l'Osier (France) and was the occasion to explore urban-rural synergies.
Each visit highlighted best practices practices of social orientation and inclusion of newcomers in a rural area, as well as fostering peer learning and exchange among European participants.
Regional Trainings for Capacity Building of Integration Actors in Rural Areas
From October 2021 to February 2022, Share SIRA project partners organised online and offline training sessions, enabling more than 400 local and regional actors local and regional actors to benefit from capacity building on intercultural communication, local community engagement, as well as in migrant/refugee participation.
During the first months of the Share SIRA project we carried out a thorough needs assessment so that the trainings, based on Share’s “Welcoming Communities” and IOM’s “Admin4All” training curricula, would respond specifically to the needs of stakeholders in each region.
Click on the buttons below for more information on the content of each training session.
Series of Thematic Webinars
Together with the members of our regional multi-stakeholder platforms, we organised a series of webinars to to deepen the exchange of good practices. The webinars addressed issues relevant to each regional context.
Cycle of webinars in Spain (available in Spanish)
“ExpresArte: Art and mental health in migration”, 13 May 2022
“Territorial identity and feeling of belonging”, 20 May 2022
“Needs and resources for migrants”, 27 May 2022
Webinar in France (available in French)
“Rural integration: exploring promising pratices for the future”, 17 September 2022
Share SIRA Transnational Conference:
Strengthening and Expanding Social Orientation & Integration for Newcomers in Rural Areas
In November 2022, the Share Network and the International Organisation from Migration (IOM) organised the Share SIRA transnational conference at the Committee of the Regions in Brussels. The conference explored the conditions for successful inclusion and integration in small and rural communities in the EU and presented inspiring frameworks and bottom-up practices. The hybrid event was addressed to EU institutions, national, regional and local authorities, networks, civil society and migrant/refugee-led organisations, academia and grassroot rural stakeholders.
Latest SIRA News & Resources
Keen to learn more about our work?
Contact Anna Coulibaly