MIICT Second Policy briefing

09 Jun MIICT Second Policy briefing

On 15 January 2021 a two-hour virtual meeting (due to COVID-19 restrictions on physical meetings) among MIICT consortium partners with the participation of the MIICT project Officer took place, having as its main aim to thoroughly discuss the final outcomes of proposed policies depicted in the Joint Migration Policy Whitepaper and to establish their relevance with the MIICT project. The discussion had been coordinated around the 3 main common pillars identified during the Joint Migration Policy Roundtable (co-creation and participatory design, multi-stakeholder collaboration and ICT tools and digital services for supporting integration), as the same were also applicable to MIICT. All participants had been given the chance to express their opinion on the proposed policies, identifying direct and indirect relevance with MIICT aims and objectives, prioritising them according to the reality of pilot MIICT countries (Cyprus, Italy, and Spain) as well as underlining the main challenges that needed to be taken into consideration for a smooth and accurate policy application. The main outcomes of this fruitful discussion can be summarised to the following seven MIICT-specific recommendations:

1. Capitalise on a Change Management Component, thus adopting certain change management processes parallel to the developed ICT solutions so as to bridge the gap among the identified stakeholders’ needs and the way they can be applicable during their daily reality, ensuring their long-term implementation.
2. Capitalise on cooperation and coordination among stakeholders, focusing on organisational engagement rather than on individual participation, thus facilitating the better engagement, support, and acceptance of the proposed initiatives.
3. Encourage active participation through introducing certain incentives for all possible stakeholders, both in the short and in the long-term, taking also in consideration all the possible legal and ethical implications.
4. Bring forward the active participation of migrant representatives and local communities and citizens from diverse backgrounds to better influence decision-making, minimising the risk of under-representation which can result in certain biases.
5. Focus on the way existing technological solutions (e.g., translation services etc.) could evolve to support multi-faceted ICT solutions that respect cultural diversity among end users, enhancing in that way user-friendliness and well-rounded comprehensiveness of proposed ICT solutions.
6. Capitalise on the momentum of digitisation of public services related to COVID-19 pandemic and invest further in digital transformation and relevant targeted training to certain stakeholders with a governmental background.
7. Capitalise on funding and sustainability issues related to ICT proposed solutions, where EC can play a pivotal role of support.

All the outcomes have been reported to the MIICT Second Policy Brief, which has been also translated in Greek, Italian and Spanish and is foreseen to be disseminated across MIICT consortium countries and beyond to all the relevant stakeholders and interested parties.