The secretariat of Mediterranean Migration Network organized an International Meeting for the Network’s members on Thursday, June 19th 2014 at the University of Nicosia.
Participants to the meeting were professionals from diverse civil society organizations, universities and international organizations working in the areas of migration and integration, such as the KOPIN Malta, CSV Marche Italy, Samaritans Association Bulgaria, Media Diversity Institute U.K., ASED Network France, Hellenic Migration Policy Institute, Centre for Ethnic Studies Lithuania, Foundation for Shelter and Support to Migrants Malta, International Organization of Migration, the European University of Cyprus and the Open University of Cyprus.
The Mediterranean Migration Network (MMN), with the coordination of the International Research Centre CARDET, organized its annual International Conference, on Friday June 20th,2014, at the University of Nicosia, under the general title “Migration and Integration: the role of social services”.
Human rights NGOs aditus foundation, Integra Foundation, JRS Malta, KOPIN, Malta Emigrants Commission, Migrant’s Network for Equality, Organisation for Friendship in Diversity, People for Change Foundation, and SOS Malta have called on the government to translate words into action on World Refugee Day by taking concrete steps to ensure that no child ever again sets foot in a detention centre.
On Freedom Day the Prime Minister pledged to end the detention of children.
"We welcome this commitment, but children arriving in Malta are still being detained. We also reiterate our concern that unaccompanied minors are often detained with adults pending the outcome of age assessment," the NGOs said.
The project MEET - Meeting the health literacy needs of immigrant populations was launched in October 2013 and it is expected to be completed by the end of September 2015. It involves partners from different starting-points on health promotion and different immigration contexts to introduce the Community Health Educator Model (CHE) awarded in 2000 by the British Ministry of Health and adopted by many health districts in the UK. The CHE is an empowering health promotion model in which members of migrant and minority ethnic communities are recruited and trained to participate in the delivery of health promotion initiatives. The main aim is to propose actions aimed at reducing inequities including targeted health promotion and best practice exchange.
Workshop: Social Entrepreneurship and Migration – Analysis and discussion on actions for development
The Mediterranean Migration Network (MMN) organized a workshop on “Social Entrepreneurship and migration – Analysis and discussion on actions for development” on Thursday 29 May at Hilton Park, Nicosia. The workshop focused on social entrepreneurship as a good practice for migrants’ integration in the local societies and the market. Participants to the workshop were professionals and practitioners from different organizations, both public and private, working in the area of migration.
A presentation on the basic values of social entrepreneurship was delivered and discussed by participants. The general idea of social entrepreneurship is the formation of a company that follows a number of standards by providing the opportunity for less advantaged groups – in this case migrants groups. Basic objective of this type of companies is, to be able to socially contribute and at the same time have revenues to ensure sustainability. Good examples showed that this type of entrepreneurship can be both sustainable and innovative, providing at the same time the opportunity for social benefit to the society.
During the workshop, good practices were presented as guides for future implementation in the Cyprus context. Participants then worked in groups to identify the main challenges of migration today and present different types of social enterprises that could address some of the challenges migrants face. Interesting ideas were presented focusing on vulnerable migrants groups that need financial and social assistance.
Within the workings of the Mediterranean Migration Network, a local stakeholders meeting took place on Friday, 30th May at the CARDET offices in Nicosia.
CARDET invites you to the MMN International Conference titled "Migration and Integration: the role of social services". The conference will take place on June 20, between 9:00 - 13:30 at the UNESCO Amphitheatre, University of Nicosia.
CARDET after an invitation from the Ministry of Education and Culture, on Wednesday 30th of April, attended a presentation on development on Education and Sustainable Development, where it presented the following projects:
- “Intercultural Joint Awareness Raising – In.J.Awa.Ra” is a EuropeAid project which promotes the intercultural dialogue among the Global Youth
- “Make the Link”, a EuropeAid funded project, which envisions integrating issues around Technology Justice and Sustainable Development into the Design and Technology, Physics and Home Economics curricula of the formal education in Cyprus
- “Global Campus”, a EuropeAid project taking a non-formal, global learning, experiential approach that aims to increase the awareness, critical understanding and informed, constructive action for development of University students and other key stakeholders in the EU.
CARDET, after an invitation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday 13th May, attended a meeting on the National Program for the European Year of Development 2015, where it presented the following projects:
- “Intercultural Joint Awareness Raising – In.J.Awa.Ra” is a EuropeAid project which promotes the intercultural dialogue among the Global Youth
- “Make the Link”, a EuropeAid funded project, which envisions integrating issues around Technology Justice and Sustainable Development into the Design and Technology, Physics and Home Economics curricula of the formal education in Cyprus
- “Global Campus”, a EuropeAid project taking a non-formal, global learning, experiential approach that aims to increase the awareness, critical understanding and informed, constructive action for development of University students and other key stakeholders in the EU.
During February-March 2014, each Mothers and Children in L2 (L2M) partner conducted national research and completed a national research report, all of which were compiled in April by CARDET into a collective research report. The purpose of the national reports was to provide information on the current situation in each partner country regarding migration trends and the needs, challenges of migrant mothers of children aged 2-6.