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Figure 6. Areas of programmatic action for integration and social cohesion
Source

EMM2.0

Note: The areas of action shown correspond to the discussion in this chapter. They are not exhaustive for the cross-sectoral work needed for integration and social cohesion.

Integration does not necessarily imply permanent residence. It does, however, imply that the rights and obligations of migrants and societies are considered. For instance, how do norms and laws, the labour market, the education system, public administrations and media operate to include newcomers in, or exclude newcomers from, the receiving society?

After reception and early integration support, coherent long-term policies are needed to support effective integration across sectors such as health and social protection, labour market integration, education and language, and housing and urban planning.

Two main policy goals to enable integration are:

  • Protecting the human rights of all migrant populations, paying special attention to the most vulnerable groups (such as children, people with disabilities, the various gender groups and migrants in an irregular situation). (Read more about rights in Human rights of migrants: An overview; about issues affecting children in  Child migration; and about issues affecting the various gender groups in Gender and migration.)
  • Promoting the equal access to services for migrant permanent residents and locals. This involves ensuring the rights and obligations of all residents alike, and combatting discrimination. In some countries, in spite of equal access to public services on paper, discrimination is a barrier for migrants. Effective integration policies include migrants in the receiving community in such a way that their profiles and opportunities are comparable to those of native-born individuals.

Some considerations are important across all sectors of socioeconomic inclusion.

Policy Approaches
Cross-sectoral measures to promote inclusion
  • Involve different stakeholders from within and beyond government, through a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach. This will maximize the possibility, effectiveness and sustainability of policies, as civil society organizations can provide or complement services and private sector entities can facilitate migrants’ economic activities (see examples below in Health services, Labour market integration, and Language learning and education).
  • Ensure diversity in staff, especially those working on the front line, such as social workers, teachers, health professionals, police. This will improve the cultural and linguistic skills and experience of the workers and will foster identification from migrant populations who see themselves represented in public services. A diverse workforce can also help to identify the main challenges in providing inclusive public services.
  • Train public officials in intercultural competencies, to manage diversity and avoid discrimination.
  • Periodically reassess the markers of policies’ success and make objectives and indicators flexible.
Source

OECD, 2020b; IOM and United Kingdom, Home Office, 2020.

Example
The capacity-building project ADMin4ALL

Supporting Active Inclusion of Disadvantaged Migrants in Europe (ADMin4All) aims to enhance the capacity of local governments to develop sustainable strategies and inclusive services for the successful social and economic integration of migrants from disadvantaged backgrounds. It aims to address the gap that exists between initial reception and orientation services and longer-term support for integration through offering capacity-building activities to frontline staff, enhancing coordination at the local level and organizing study visits.

Source

ADMin4ALL, n.d.

To Go Further
Health services

Access to health care is both an individual right and a public health issue. It is also central to successful integration. Physical and psychological ailments prevent migrants from participating fully in society or the labour market. Also, untreated prolonged illnesses may contribute to migrants’ exclusion.

The access of migrants to quality, essential and affordable health services is very important to public efforts aimed at creating inclusive societies. Migrants are often psychologically vulnerable because of distance from family and support networks, having to adjust to new and challenging environments and being targets of discrimination. Lack of access to health support may worsen this vulnerability.

Yet many migrants often lack access to health services and financial protection for health. Some countries grant access to health care to all foreigners on an equal footing with nationals. However, others restrict access to health care according to the (regular or irregular) status of migrants and according to whether their residency is temporary or permanent. Some countries provide only basic emergency health care in the event of serious illness or accident.

To enable migrants to fully access health support, cultural sensitivity and language are important issues. Respect for and responsiveness to different cultural rules helps to enable access for migrants whose cultural background restricts the contact different genders can have. As well, in terms of understanding and diagnosing patients, doctors and especially counsellors providing psychosocial support may struggle with communication challenges (Allen et al., 2020).

Read more in Health and migration.

Example
Civil society supporting access to health care

Norway’s community health workers

Volunteers from migrant communities assist newcomers and long-term migrants who have little knowledge of the local language, especially older migrants who arrived as guest workers and are now retiring. They accompany the whole process of accessing health services and translating interactions.

Clinic Finder

Doctors of the World is an organization dedicated to increasing access to health services for those in need. The United Kingdom chapter has been working with migrants and developed Clinic Finder, an online tool to help migrants and refugees locate and access free health care and medical services.

Source

OECD, 2020a; Clinic Finder.

Policy Approaches
Ensuring migrants’ access to health care
  • Grant access to all types of health care to migrants with both temporary and permanent residency. Consider also providing access to migrants with irregular status.
  • Ensure that conditions are in place for migrants to access health care. Such conditions include culturally appropriate doctor–patient relationships and translation support. Training health workers and partnering with civil society can be avenues to create these conditions.
  • Use new technologies where appropriate (see also Health and migration).
Labour market integration

The cornerstone of migrants’ integration is their fair and successful integration in the labour market. Labour market participation enables migrants to contribute positively to the economy and is central for migrants to find their place as active members of the receiving communities.

As discussed in Labour migration, in Access to the national labour market, participation in the labour market requires that migrants learn the language, get their educational and professional skills recognized and receive adequate training, if necessary. These can be difficult issues, particularly for migrants coming from contexts of protracted conflict and from contexts where women’s and girls’ education is not valued (read more about gendered barriers to accessing the labour market in Gender and labour migration in Gender and migration). Pre-departure and post-arrival measures can provide valuable information for labour integration programmes that focus on job matching, employability or skills development (read more in Alignment between pre-departure and post-arrival support for integration in this chapter).

For inclusion in the workplace, respect for fundamental rights and non-discrimination are crucial. Labour market discrimination against immigrants exists when migrants are awarded lower wages, less favourable working conditions, or less upward mobility than native workers. Migrant women, as well as members of specific minorities, often face additional types of discrimination, such as sexual harassment and other forms of abuse and violence, as well as lower pay (read more on Gender and labour migration in Gender and migration).

To Go Further
Policy Approaches
Supporting labour market integration and inclusion in the workplace
  • Support approaches to place migrants in the labour market and develop their skills as needed. Build on information from pre-departure actions, if such information is available.
  • Work with non-governmental actors, such as trade unions and employers, to counter discrimination and promote diversity and migrants’ full inclusion at the workplace.
  • Ensure rights and decent working conditions by granting migrants the same protections at work as nationals, including job security, coverage for accidents and professional illness, parental benefits, mental health support, unemployment support and social security.
Language learning and education

Being able to speak, read and write in the language(s) of the destination country is perhaps one of the most important factors that facilitates integration into a new society. It is instrumental to successfully navigate the society and its systems. It is a need and, often, a challenge for adult migrants. Younger migrants face additional challenges related to learning and participating in the education system.

Language and adult learning

To incentivize language acquisition, some countries have – since 1990 – started requiring language and culture tests as part of the process of integration. Tests may be a pre-entry requirement in some countries, and are often required for acquiring and renewing a permanent visa or nationality (OECD and EU, 2018; Bauloz, Vathi and Acosta, 2019). To support migrants in passing the tests, language and civic and social orientation courses are often provided free of charge (OECD and EU, 2018).

Requiring language skills as a condition of entry or stay has been widely criticized. Such a requirement has been found to deter migrants from applying for a visa or permit, instead of encouraging them to master the language. It is also seen as negatively impacting migrants who are unable to pass tests and who are often already vulnerable (Bauloz, Vathi and Acosta, 2019; Bonjour and Kraler, 2015). Migrants have found it challenging to learn about opportunities to take courses and tests, as was shown by the Immigrant Citizens Survey (see Migration Policy Group, and a summary of the survey findings in Bauloz, Vathi and Acosta, 2019). For migrant parents, taking classes often depends on the availability of support services, affordable childcare and sufficient time away from household chores.

“Second chance programmes” are measures that target groups with greater learning challenges, such as migrants with lower education levels or who are for some reason at a disadvantage. These programmes can focus on language training as well as vocational training or social orientation. As the name indicates, migrants who fail to complete a training within the established time period are given a “second chance”. These programmes can offer valuable assistance for migrants who are trying to adapt and transit to a new society, especially as they may require skills for their new careers that are different from the skills that they used in their countries of origin. In Norway, such programmes compensate for gender inequalities, something that mainstream policies do not always address (see the discussion on targeted vs mainstream policies and other policy regimes to manage integration and social cohesion in this chapter).

Example
Norway’s second chance work qualification centre for migrants

Launched in 2005, this initiative is currently run by the welfare office of Bergen. Psychologists, health-care professionals, teachers and information technology experts provide support for integration in the job market, language courses and training on topics to help navigate life in Norway, such as financial training to assist participants who find a job and need to pay taxes on the benefits they are entitled to.

Of 150 participants that enrol every year, 80 per cent are women with caregiving responsibilities. In 2017, 55 per cent of the participants integrated the job market.

Source

Council of Europe, n.d.

Policy Approaches
Language learning and social orientation for migrants
  • Include language and civic knowledge courses in early integration support.
  • Increase the effectiveness and quality of language courses, for instance by:
  • Providing courses free of charge;
  • Focusing more on the spoken form of the language;
  • Differentiating classes and learning groups according to the educational levels of the participants.
  • Provide appropriate childcare support for migrants taking adult learning classes (including on the premises where language courses are held, or by scheduling classes at times that are compatible with caregiving duties).
  • Support “second chance programmes” for migrants’ continued needs for support.
Good Practice
Supporting Migrant Inclusion in Lifelong Learning and Education

The main objective of Supporting Migrant Inclusion in Lifelong Leaning and Education (SMILE) is to promote migrant inclusion through offering support to those involved in adult learning. The programme targets teachers, migrant communities, learning support staff and adult education institutes, as well as policymakers. The project is developing training and educational resources that will be used to train migrant educators and teachers to work in cooperation and promote the inclusion of migrants in educational systems. Outputs include:

  • A blended, accredited study unit for teachers of further education, on migrant inclusion in lifelong learning;
  • A non-formal training course to train migrant communities and peers in confidence building, mentoring and cultural mediation;
  • A support handbook for developing the capacity of learning support staff to mentor and support migrants in lifelong learning institutes;
  • A project website including project results;
  • A set of guidelines or recommendations for education policymakers, institutes, municipalities and administrators of education programmes;
  • A research document analysing challenges and best practices in four partner countries (Malta, Slovenia, Cyprus and Sweden).
Source

SMILE, n.d.

Example
Settlement Workers in Schools programme. Reaching and supporting adult and parent migrants through schools

This Canadian programme provides support to students and their families to foster settlement and student achievement. Programme workers collaborate closely with schools to receive referrals and provide culturally sensitive guidance and support to recently arrived youth and families. In addition to one-on-one assistance, they organize group activities which can introduce families and students to various options for better incorporation in Canadian society. These can include summer activities; information sessions (for example, about a school’s code of conduct); orientation sessions; language training; or non-therapeutical counselling (for example, on parenting, youth and family issues). Information is provided in different languages. The programme is implemented in partnership with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), school boards and non-governmental organizations across different parts of Canada.

Source

Culturelink, n.d.; Mosaic, n.d.; Vancouver School Board: Newcomer Welcome Centre, n.d.

Education systems and young migrants

Enrolment in education systems is central to young migrants’ settling in new countries. However, migrant children and youth face education-related challenges that ultimately impact on their integration process. For instance:

  • Accessing education remains difficult, especially beyond compulsory education. For example, parents’ concerns regarding adolescent girls’ safety and sexual behaviour or a stronger emphasis on boys’ education may limit girls’ access to education.
  • Inclusion in school environments also impacts migrant youth integration, especially if diversity is not fostered and segregation happens.
  • Persistent gaps between the performance of students with migrant backgrounds and the performance of students without migrant backgrounds (Bauloz, Vathi and Acosta, 2019) put migrant students at greater risk of dropping out before having obtained a qualification. This can pose serious drawbacks, as certificates are needed to enrol in higher education or vocational training courses (Informationsverbund Asyl und Migration, 2017; Huddleston et al., 2015). It adds to a risk of exclusion that is already high (see details on Youth and integration inYouth and migration).

There are also gendered barriers hampering young migrants’ access to education and posing obstacles to integration overall. These can be expectations that girls will assume caregiving roles in the household (read more in the Interlinkage Youth, migration and gender), or perceptions associating young men with criminality and violence (read more in Youth and integration in Chapter 2.6 Youth and migration). These issues do not only relate to young migrants; migrant descendants can face similar issues (read more in Youth and integration in Chapter 2.6 Youth and migration).

Experiences and challenges faced by young people who move on their own to study are quite distinct (read more on Youth migration for education purposes in  Youth and migration).

Policy Approaches
Supporting young migrants’ integration in the educational system
  • Facilitate migrant children’s access to education, and combat factors that prevent access. For instance, awareness-raising campaigns can be useful.
  • Provide additional resources to schools so that they can better support students with an immigrant background. Targeted support (such as language and extra classes) during an initial settlement period is especially important.
  • Ensure schools develop their own anti-discrimination and anti-segregation policies.
  • Finance teacher-training programmes focused on working with diverse classrooms and students with migrant backgrounds.
  • Introduce initiatives to encourage migrant families to develop social ties with the educational system and that support them in accompanying their children’s education.
Source

Note: Some of these measures are drawn from OECD, 2017.

Example
Promoting the education of migrant children

United States Migrant Education Program

The goal of the Migrant Education Program is to ensure that migrant children have appropriate opportunities to meet the same high academic achievement standards of their counterparts. States use funds to identify eligible children, to whom they then provide assistance. Support includes academic tutoring, remedial and compensatory instruction, bilingual and multicultural teaching, vocational instruction, career education services, special guidance, counselling and testing services, and health services.

Source

United States Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), 2021.

To Go Further
Housing

Housing structurally impacts migrants’ integration. The area of the city where migrants live positions them both geographically and socially in the receiving community. The conditions of the housing that migrants can afford also shapes the level of comfort and privacy they can enjoy. This impacts how they cope with challenges that may come at work, school, or when accessing services.

Part of the challenge with accessing housing is price. Migrants tend to congregate in specific neighbourhoods where housing is more affordable. These are often removed from urban centres, which makes migrants’ daily commutes strenuous. Labour migrants frequently live in dormitories that have been provided by their employers and that are not family friendly (Huang and Tao, 2015). In extreme cases, migrants may resort to makeshift housing in informal settlements around the city. Slums often lack access to basic services, are poorly served by transport and may be exposed to violence. Sharing accommodation, which sometimes families must do, entails less privacy and can have mental health impacts on the entire family (Mubi Brighenti and Pavoni, 2019; Li and Liu, 2018).

Another issue is discrimination in rental practices. For instance, once a landlord hears the accent of a migrant calling over the phone, the landlord may say an apartment is unavailable when that is not the case (De Vroome, Hooghe and Marien, 2013). Other challenges may relate to urban renewal plans, whereby migrants’ housing ends up being demolished to make space for new, high-value apartment buildings.

Policies to address these situations can valuably combine mainstream and targeted approaches. Issues around social housing involve inequalities more broadly and affect the local population as well. At the same time, fighting discrimination in the rental market towards migrants is important.

Example
Migrant support hotline

The Portugal High Commission for Migration established a hotline to support migrants’ integration. The main goal of this telephone line is to answer the most frequently asked questions, provide all other information they may need and forward calls to the relevant departments. Additionally, to help ensure effective equality of rights and duties in access to housing, work, health, education and so on, the line helps detect situations that require an effective response and provides advice on how to proceed.

Source

Portugal, High Commission for Migration, n.d.

Policy Approaches
Address the accommodation needs of migrants

Work with local authorities to:

  • Ensure access to appropriate accommodation for migrants;
  • Create programmes focused on targeted housing planning and assistance to migrant families with children. Provide social housing that is affordable, of appropriate size, good quality, secure, in safe neighbourhoods and with adequate outdoor recreational facilities;
  • Ensure urban plans avoid the emergence of segregated neighbourhoods and slums, for instance by ensuring good transport connectivity infrastructure;
  • Avoid urban renewal plans that require the eviction of migrants;
  • Establish measures for identifying and redressing instances of discrimination against migrants in the rental market;
  • Impose penalties for discrimination against migrants in the rental market.
Key messages
  • Integration measures require a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach. Coordination among different sectors of government is crucial, as is the involvement of subnational authorities that are directly responsible for addressing migrants’ presence and needs. The involvement of the private sector and civil society, as well as of migrants themselves, is central to inform and implement policies in an effective and sustainable way.
  • Different actors play a role in promoting cohesive and diverse societies by protecting rights, providing services and fighting against discrimination. National governments, regional actors and local authorities (in both origin and destination countries) along with NGOs and social stakeholders are key players in facilitating migrants’ integration and strengthening social cohesion.
  • Unhealthy migrants who face barriers to accessing health care cannot fully participate in society and risk becoming excluded. Measures related to cultural sensitivity and translation of patient–doctor interactions can be important to enable migrants to access services.
  • Labour market participation is key to ensuring migrants’ effective integration into the receiving communities and their positive impact on the receiving country’s economy. Early labour market integration measures that ensure inclusion at the workplace (such as non-discrimination) will facilitate and boost foreign workers’ incorporation into labour markets.
  • Education and language learning play a crucial role in helping migrants settle in new countries. A certain level of familiarity with the language and culture of the country can also be a requirement for visa renewal or naturalization. Support for language learning and inclusion of migrant children and youth in education systems is necessary for their successful integration.
  • Housing influences the integration process of migrants, especially if they do not have access to comfortable housing that doesn’t need to be shared with other migrants. Ensuring equal access to appropriate housing requires considering urban plans, subsidizing housing solutions and putting anti-discrimination measures in place.
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