Sustainable PRactices of INteGration

Project Information

SPRING

Grant agreement ID: 101004635

DOI

10.3030/101004635

Project closed

EC signature date 28 October 2020

Start date 1 March 2021

End date 28 February 2023

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Europe In A Changing World - Inclusive, Innovative And Reflective Societies

Total cost

€ 2 108 434,39

EU contribution

€ 1 999 536,25

Coordinated by

FONDAZIONE INIZIATIVE E STUDIO SULLA MULTIETNICITA ENTE DEL TERZO SETTORE
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SPRING (Sustainable PRactices of INteGration)

Reporting period: 2022-03-01 to 2023-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

SPRING aimed to develop a toolbox relevant for diverse communities of practices working on integration and supporting these in identifying and accessing validated information on sustainable practices of integration. More specifically, the toolbox aimed to improve the innovation, effectiveness and sustainability of the work done by Europe’s integration stakeholders at national, regional and local levels.

By summarising this evidence and practical materials SPRING collected, created and disseminated usable and practical materials (examples of good practices, handbooks, pieces of training, templates, databases, contact lists). This work was co-created with and benefited stakeholders mapped and engaged in the project through participatory techniques. The SPRING online portal and repository, combined with the consortium’s communications task force, social media strategies and videos, made this evidence more accessible by curating the content and match the specific profile and needs of these communities of practice.

Most analyses of integration and migration policies only focus on effectiveness by either assessing good practice or questioning the intentions or measurement of these practices. SPRING went further to provide a unique overview not only of the available effective national and local policies and practices in different areas of life, but also of what practitioners have been able to transfer, adapt and upscale across Europe as well as how policymakers and practitioners can better evaluate their work together in the future. Trends and obstacles to innovation were a major focus of the whole project through outreach to communities of practice (WP1), synthesis of research and evaluations funded over the past years (WP2), analysis of transferability, upscaling and sustainability (WP3) and new methods for evaluation (WP4).

The SPRING consortium brought together some of Europe’s most well-connected integration researchers, think-tanks and stakeholder networks. Mobilizing their significant research, networks and communications capacities, the SPRING partners identified and engaged with the main researchers and communities of practice on integration: national and local policymakers and public sector, NGOs, business and grassroots initiatives (i.e. local volunteers, migrant leaders, and religious groups). These communities shaped the project’s activities through piloted participatory techniques for needs assessments, co-designing activities and the identification of solutions and policy implications.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

SPRING engaged communities of practice by mapping 1,468 stakeholders & 125 Communities of Practice from 38 countries, including 24 EU Member states. Through a validation workshop, it presented and collected feedback on mid-term project results from practitioners and relevant communities of practice. It organized 4 webinars on selected spheres of integration and 2 thematic workshops to disseminate results and foster networking. Finally, it organized 4 co-design trajectories with 24 practitioner participants, leading to the joint identification of challenges to effective integration practices and to the joint identification of different pathways to ideal situations.

SPRING collected evidence on sustainable and effective integration policy practices through a review. Overall, 11 chapters described available evidence for each area of integration summarizing content in a practitioner-friendly way under briefs. Three infographics on cross-cutting themes highligh the complexity and interconnectedness of integration. They were complemented with practical notes and additional analyses to form the Evidence Repository on the SPRING Platform – a dynamic evidence hub for integration practitioners with external and featured content – and a Handbook on Integration Policy Practices for Newly Arrived Migrants, translated in German, Spanish, Italian, Polish ad French to scale-up the impact.

SPRING developed and applied a Validation Grid to identify 43 practices and 24 collections of EU-wide integration practices that are deemed ‘good’ by integration practitioners, stakeholders, and policymakers. It also developed a Good Practice Adaptation Toolkit that aimed to assess the emergence and transfer of practices within countries and across border. Finally, it developed a Practitioners Toolkit.

SPRING promoted an evidence culture in integration policy by organizing a roundtable with 20 high-level experts from 9 European countries, to discuss innovative practices to measure success, improve the quality of evidence, and strengthen the way that evidence is used across the policy cycle. It then produced a policy brief summarizing the state of the field and evidence gaps that was launched through a webinar. A policy-research-practice event gathered 36 participants to discuss how to best integrate evidence in their work in the future.

Finally, SPRING created innovative knowledge exchange tools on sustainable practices by developing an interactive online Platform featuring all project results. It engaged online through 3 social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn) and organised a Final Conference. It also produced 4 videos presenting the project and its results and fed into the wider policy, social & broader debate on integration by participating in several opportunities targeting researchers, policymakers and researchers (with workshops at International Metropolis Conference and a seminar at the European Commission).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

In the long term, SPRING will provide stakeholders with the best available evidence on integration policies and practices and other migration policies, innovating and expanding their practices in terms of transferability, co-design, effectiveness and practical evaluation. Over the two-year implementation SPRING cemented its potential impact by engaging with practitioners on shared solutions in migrant integration (WP1) and, in parallel, systematizing knowledge (WP2), collecting practices and developing practice-enhancing tools for practitioners (WP3), and producing tools for policymakers and stakeholders to approach policies and practices in an evidence-based way (WP4). Stakeholders can now access a set of tools adapted to their needs and easily applied to their daily work.

By engaging stakeholders around knowledge gaps, needs and solutions in the co-design process SPRING strengthened connections between complementary stakeholders while creating additional ones. SPRING created transnational social capital that lasts beyond the end of the project, providing members of the community of practice with opportunities to compare different professional approaches to common challenges and develop key skills to address them across different contexts.

Outreach and dissemination of mid-term and final results were possible thanks to the coordinated action of all partners from a Consortium that was strongly connected to stakeholder, research and policymaker communities. Coordination around communication allowed for the highest degree of accessibility of the emerging evidence base through several venues – including the SPRING Platform – that ensured access to broader audience groups well beyond initial outreach potential of the Consortium, e.g. the International Metropolis Conference and the Refugee Entrepreneurship Network Summit.

logo of the project