What is MILE about?

MILE stands for Migrant Integration through Locally designed Experiences and is about empowering the local community as a whole, including migrant communities. MILE is two-year project co-funded through the European Union’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and involves partners in six European countries: Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Spain, the Netherlands, and the UK.

MILE is based on the idea that policy-making - especially at the local level - should be a co-creation process that reflects the diverse population of cities and gives migrants a say. By involving municipalities, migrant groups, and research teams across Europe, MILE aims to empower migrants and refugees and help to build lasting connections between migrant groups and local governments in Europe.

For this, MILE will produce research-based and locally-tailored responses that can address the current needs and priorities of municipalities and migrant communities. The participation tools developed by partnering research teams, municipalities, and migrant-led organisations aim to serve as a springboard for deeper social, economic, and political inclusion and longterm.

MILE’s actions

● Achieve a better understanding of the needs of municipalities and migrant and refugee communities in their local context in different areas of society;

● Boost the political participation and leadership of migrants and refugees through trainings;

● Promote the management of inclusive policy-making in municipalities through trainings;

● Turn the experiences into recommendations for better integration policies;

● Set up consultative bodies in each partnering municipality for migrants and refugees to be part of local policy- and decision-making in a structured way

● Create a Network of Exchange and Collaboration among municipalities and set up a Peer-to-Peer Exchange Platform for migrant-led organisations that will constitute the backbone of future collaborations.

MILE’s approach and tools

MILE aims to create a sustainable ecosystem of exchange between municipalities and migrant groups to promote the engagement of migrants and refugees in local policy-making in different areas, including housing, education, health, and entrepreneurship. MILE’s main actions, - the training, the consultative bodies, and the exchange platforms - are supported by a science for policy approach, that takes into account the local context and uses an intersectional lens when assessing the needs and priorities of migrant groups. Local and European events and campaigns will raise awareness around the issues and the project’s activities.