The project
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 – including at the local level – should be a process of co-creation and collaboration that reflects the diverse population of cities and gives migrants, newcomers, refugees and asylum-seekers a say. By connecting municipalities, migrant communities 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 has been producing locally-tailored responses to address the current needs and priorities of municipalities and local migrant communities. The participation tools developed and co-created by partnering research teams, municipalities, and migrant-led organisations aim to serve as a springboard for deeper social, economic, and political inclusion.
Download our flyer: MILE in a nutshell
In 2023, the four MILE municipalities (Riga, Birmingham, Ripollet and Ioannina) piloted consultative mechanisms to foster the participation of migrants in local policymaking. You can find our report here.
Our goals
- • Achieve a better understanding of the needs of municipalities and migrant and refugees communities in their local context;
- • Facilitate the political participation and leadership of migrants and refugees;
- • Promote the management of inclusive policy-making in municipalities;
- • Turn concrete and unique migration experiences into recommendations for better inclusion and participation policies at the local and European level;
- • 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
- • Set up a Europe-wide network for municipalities to exchange and collaborate on migration, inclusion, diversity, and participation issues;
- • Set up a peer-to-peer exchange platform for migrant-led organisations that will constitute the backbone of future collaborations.
