On 6 June 2017, EMN National Contact Point for Lithuania organised the EMN National Conference entitled “Private and community based initiatives to support integration of refugees”. Among the speakers of the conference were experts from state administration, local and international projects and initiatives, as well as international organisations.
In her welcoming speech Dr Audra Sipavičienė, the Head of the IOM Office in Vilnius introduced the migration situation in Lithuania, especially when it comes to the national composition of asylum seekers. Prior to 2016, most asylum seekers in Lithuania were mostly from Russia and Ukraine, only later it started to receive the first asylum seekers from countries e.g. Syria or Iraq, etc. Subsequently, Mantas Jeršovas, Programme Coordinator from IOM Vilnius gave a brief overview of refugee admission and integration challenges based on the EMN survey “Experience of resettled and relocated persons to Lithuania”. Asylum seekers remain in the accommodation centre from 3 to 6 months, then they are moved to municipalities. Based on the study it can be said that Lithuania encounters similar challenges as Slovakia, e.g. education of illiterate persons, the need to include municipalities (being considered a key player) into the process, secondary movement of relocated persons to the Western Europe countries, etc.
In the first session which was topically focused on the initiatives to support accommodation, Project Coordinator of the German Flüchtlinge Willkommen/Refugees Welcome, Sophie Mirow and Bart van den Bergh, Project Coordinator of the Startblock introduced their initiatives. Project Refugees Welcome is a digital platform that allows Germans to offer a room in their home to refugees who would pay the rent for about a year and would get in return some help with communication and breaking down the intercultural barriers with their new cohabitants and elsewhere. On the other hand, Dutch Startblok is a housing project for young refugees who live together with Dutch youngsters in a 50/50 ratio which supports faster and more effective integration.
Camilla Nurmi, Executive Director of Startup Refugees in Finland, Domas Burkauskas - Founder of the Facebook platform Jie pasirinko Lietuva/They chose Lithuania and Frédéric Simonart, Founder and Director of the mentoring programme DUO for a JOB shared their experience in the session related to initiatives on employment and income generating activities. Project Startup Refugees helps refugees to start their own business or get involved in the job market in Finland. The project has a network of 34 established partnerships and so far 39 workshops for beginning entrepreneurs, mentoring programs as well as special projects for women have been organised. As its title suggests, Belgian project DUO for a JOB connects the pairs of young refugees and experienced professionals who accompany them throughout the process of job search up until settling down in a job. The mentoring program usually lasts 6 months and it offers help with the job market inclusion to refugees on one hand and the possibility of active aging to the Belgians on the other hand. Facebook platform They chose Lithuania on the contrary connects job seeking refugees with potential employers. Despite many success stories Domas Burkauskas also mentioned a common phenomenon, when beneficiaries of international protection leave Lithuania mostly to join their families in other countries, regardless of the interestingly paid job offer they get in Lithuania.
In the third session focused on the initiatives to support language learning and education, Liam Carey, manager of the Irish community project Fáilte Isteach presented how (mostly) the elderly volunteers participate on welcoming migrants through conversational English classes. The second presenter, Petra Šarin, a volunteer from Croatian Centre for Peace Studies, spoke about the language training and motivational techniques in intercultural and cross-cultural education.
In the fourth and last session, Eero Janson, Project Manager from the Estonian Refugee Council presented his experience with the volunteer integration support initiatives. In case of relocations to Estonia, asylum seekers are granted asylum directly at the airport in Tallin, as the asylum process is carried out already in Greece/Italy. Thus they do not live in reception centres. There are 2 volunteering coordinators for one relocated family. He sees a space for improvement in supporting the diversification of provided services.
To conclude, conference provided a fruitful ground for knowledge and practice exchange that proved to be especially useful for countries with lesser experience with the private and community based initiatives.
The article was prepared based on the available materials and reports.