Where are the displaced Ukrainians now?

By Jofelle P. Tesorio

This blog is the first of the series that the author is writing about the Ukrainian diaspora at the onset of the Russia’s war against Ukraine. This provides a general overview where the Ukrainians have ended up in Europe, particularly those who have landed in The Netherlands after fleeing Ukraine; how some of them receded in cities and others in peripheral areas, and the existing conditions at their housing locations. This output is collated based on information and publicly available documents and from interviews with Ukrainian refugees and the people involved with reception and integration in selected areas.

In this first blog, the following question is discussed: Displaced Ukrainians have been given a free will to go anywhere in the EU, and if we track their mobilities, what does this tell us?

Entering its second year, Russia’s war against Ukraine is not abating and more Ukrainians are staying in host countries rather than returning. Since February 24, 2022, UNHCR has recorded almost 6 million individual refugees from Ukraine across Europe and almost 25 million recorded crossings from Ukraine and back through border countries. These mobility flows show one of the most complex and enormous  movements of people from one country within a short span of time. More than 6.5 million people are estimated to be internally displaced.

Ukrainian women preparing dumplings during neighbors’ day in Groningen Province, the Netherlands. Photo: Jofelle Tesorio/Welcoming Spaces

Poland has received the greatest number of displaced Ukrainians based on applications under the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) – approximately 1.6 million refugees as of November 2023, followed by Germany (1,1 million), Czech Republic (574,550), United Kingdom (246,760 ), Spain (185,870 ), Italy (168,725), Bulgaria (171,805 ), Romania (147,695), Slovakia (131,745), Netherlands (136,470), Moldova (113,130 , Austria (106,215), France (69,495), Belgium (73,095), Switzerland (66,505), and Turkey (42,875), based on November 2023 data. According to UNHCR, Russia, has approximately 1.2 millionUkrainian refugees recorded. Interestingly, France Turkey and Switzerland in October 2022 had about 118,994; 95,874; and 80,324 registered Ukrainians respectively. By October 2023, the number of those who applied under the TPD, or similar temporary protection measures (for non-EU countries) has significantly decreased. One explanation would be because the TPD allows Ukrainian refugees to freely move to another country (for new opportunities, better wages, social and family network, and other factors) or as reports also show, many have returned home.

The infographic below shows the representative flows of Ukrainian refugees to (other) European countries, with Germany and Poland being the biggest host countries. For updated and real-time figures and infographics, follow the EU and Eurostat websites.

Infographic 1. European countries where Ukrainian refugees are hosted. Source: EU/Eurostat

In the context of migration within Europe before 2022, there had been a substantial number of Ukrainians living in Europe with resident permits (see the map below). Poland had 651,221 followed by Italy (230,336) and Czech Republic (193,547). In relation to the size of their population, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, and Slovakia were the EU-member states with the largest number of Ukrainian citizens holding valid residence permits at the end of 2021, according to Eurostat.

Infographic 2. Ukrainian citizens with valid resident permit in the EU before February 2022. Source: Eurostat

The data on the Ukrainian diaspora before 2022 by the European Commission revealed that 57.3% were given resident permits because of work, 20% because of family, 2.5% for education reasons, and only 0.6% because of protection status. The picture turned completely different by spring of 2022.

While most Ukrainian refugees had free-willingly chosen their destinations by virtue of the TPD, some have ended in places like a lottery because of shortage of accommodations in almost all cities and urban areas across Europe.

 Spontaneous flow (or not)

Did the displaced Ukrainians go to areas where Ukrainian communities and network were already in place, randomly, or consciously weighing level of opportunities, higher wages, benefits, and quality of life?

The assumption was that the new flow of Ukrainian refugees will follow the same route. However, the TPD, which has allowed a free flow of people fleeing from Ukraine and seek protection in any country of their choosing, has disrupted this pattern. In my research, I call this ‘spontaneous process of dispersion’ where in a very short amount of time millions of Ukrainians have ended up in different parts of Europe and elsewhere in the world where similar protection mechanisms are in place.

The flow of Ukrainian refugees suggests a few patterns that can be useful in tracking settlement practices, by circumstances or by choice. The choice of settlement was influenced both by the temporary protection status in the European countries and the willingness and capacities of the countries, cities, and municipalities. Also, the attitudes of locals and welcoming initiatives available played a role in the short-term and long term reception and settlement.

The statistics suggest that Ukrainian refugees often navigate to urban places (but not necessarily in capital cities) and to places where there is already an existing diaspora, like in the case of Italy where the four regions with the highest number of Ukrainian refugees are Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Campania, and Lazio. These are all areas with a significant presence of Ukrainian communities before 2022. In Campania, for example, they represent a large share of the total number of non-EU citizens living in the region.

In the Netherlands, before 2022, people of Ukrainian origin were mostly found in and around Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam, and other cities like Eindhoven, Groningen, Maastricht and Enschede. Most of these cities already had a Ukrainian diaspora.

While it is yet premature to draw conclusions, statistics do show that urban areas are often attractive because of opportunities, and provide important networks, and therefore Ukrainian refugees flock to that direction.

On the other hand, it is also interesting to see the presence of Ukrainian refugees in smaller villages and places that are experiencing depopulation like Lomza in Poland and Het Hogeland and Pekela in the Netherlands. Most Ukrainians who ended up  in smaller cities or villages do not have a network. In these places , the Ukrainian diaspora is small or was even non-existent before 2022.

Outflows of Ukrainian refugees from Poland, France, Sweden and Czech Republic are also noticeable. Statistics show that the number of registered Ukrainians in these countries has decreased compared last year. The total picture where the Ukrainians from these countries moved or whether they have come back to Ukraine and for what reasons is worth investigating.

On the other hand, Germany has recorded an uptick in registration. The Netherlands has also recorded an increase, from approximately 85,000 in November 2022, it is now approximately at 136,000.

Lastly, the distribution of Ukrainian refugees in Europe is lopsided. Germany has been echoing the sentiments of countries like Poland, Czech Republic, and other countries bordering Ukraine – Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Moldova – say they cannot longer cope with the wave of Ukrainian refugees. Non-border countries like Italy and Spain have less than 200,000 each, but had almost the same number of Ukrainian diaspora before 2022. Across Europe, there are both local and national discussions about equitable allocation of Ukrainians as a shared burden and responsibility. This is something to follow.

For the next blog, while numbers have shown that there is a sort of stabilisation in mobility flows of Ukrainians, some countries witness a decrease, either because Ukrainians moved to other countries or went back to Ukraine. Based on initial empirical data collected within the Welcoming Spaces and other research, job opportunities, housing situation, education for children, language, and social benefits are some factors that make Ukrainians stay, move elsewhere or go back to Ukraine.  I will look at the early job uptake for Ukrainians and how this affects their mobilities.

Takeaways from the roundtable “Welcoming Spaces Forum: Policy challenges for migrant emplacement in rural areas” in Santiago de Compostela

By Leticia Santaballa Santos

On Oct. 6, 2023 at the Consello da Cultura Galega (Santiago de Compostela), the public session of the “Welcoming Spaces Forum: Policy challenges for migrant emplacement in rural areas” took place. Our aim was to initiate the debate on the arrival of migrants in rural areas from different perspectives: with representatives from municipalities, third sector entities, and policymakers from different administrations at European, national and regional level.

The first of the roundtables included representatives of the municipalities of Celanova, Burela, San Bartolomé de la Torre (Huelva) and Camañas (Teruel). The representatives presented the initiatives they are carrying out for the reception of newcomers and revitalisation purposes, such as the efforts put in place since more than 30 years with the initiative to attract new inhabitants to Camañas, consisting in granting personalized social and economic support for the newcomers on the first months around arrival (before-during-after).  

In the discussion they reflected on how they implemented initiatives in favour of the revitalisation of the territory and the reception of migrants, but also the challenges they perceive on a daily basis, such as the insufficient institutional support from other territorial spheres, the need to strengthen policies for public housing in rural areas and possible suffering of migrants might due to the way in which migration services are managed.

This was followed by a second roundtable of entities with Cepaim Foundation, the NGO Ecos do Sur, the Yaran Foundation, the Cantaclaro Association and a participant from the Neighbourhood Association of Arenillas (Soria), who also spoke as a neighbour and ex-mayor. The discussion focused on the important role of the social sector in rural areas, which consists of the provision of support to people in vulnerable situations, supply of cultural, leisure or participation services, and in some cases a form of community support among people who have lived a migration experience. 

Finally, in the table of policymakers, the Secretary General of Emigration, the Director of the Galician Agency for Rural Development, a technical representative of the Directorate General of Social Inclusion, a representative of the European Rural Pact (European Commission) and the head of cabinet of the Secretary of State for Migration participated. The participants reflected on policies that affect localities at the intersection between development and settlement of newcomers from migrant origin. Important issues that were addressed are social support, economic and technical help for returnees and advice for entrepreneurship.

From this table of policy makers, we can conclude the importance of a multilevel approach to policy making on these issues; and especially the potential to develop policies on rural development and migration jointly. As the same time, it is important to be reflective on how policies can influence the trajectories of people in the host country, depending on the migratory context in which they are circumscribed.

Focusing on migrant emplacement and inclusive development in ‘left behind’ areas (WS Conference in Santiago de Compostela (Spain) 4-6 October 2023)

Between 4 and 6 October 2023, the pre-final conference of the H2020 Welcoming Spaces project was held in Santiago de Compostela, organized by the ESOMI research team (UDC, University of A Coruña) and the CEPAIM Foundation. Many hours of reflection and dialogue to advance knowledge about how initiatives have an impact on the revitalisation of territories and the reception of people on the move.

During the first day, Wednesday the 4th, in the lovely library of the Consello da Cultura Galega (Santiago de Compostela) we were able to meet again among partners and make progress on logistical issues of the project. We were able to understand how Santiago de Compostela is linked to migrations through a walking tour of its history.

Later on, we had the opportunity to explore the exhibition “Visions off Migration. Local Development in European Contexts” with Asmaa Al-Moustapha, one of the artists-participants during the PhotoVoice session in Talayuela, Spain (see the Photobook here: https://www.welcomingspaces.eu/photobook/).

After sharing and discussing about the results of the multiple themes covered by the project, we were able to enjoy another audiovisual product of it: the wonderfull documentary “Si ka badu, ka ta biradu”, followed by a discussion with some of its protagonists, the women of the powerful group Batuko Tabanka. It was a pleasure to meet them, ask about their experience and enjoy their artistic expression.

On Friday 6 October at the Consello da Cultura Galega (Santiago de Compostela), the public session of the “Welcoming Spaces Forum: Policy challenges for migrant Emplacement in rural areas” took place, with the aim of debating the arrival of migrants in rural areas from the municipal perspective, from the third sector entities, and with policymakers from different administrations at European, national and regional level. The first of the round tables, with representatives of the municipalities of Celanova, Burela, San Bartolomé de la Torre (Huelva) and Camañas (Teruel), showed the initiatives they are carrying out for the reception of people and revitalisation, and pointed out the lessons learned and challenges they face on a daily basis. This was followed by a round table of entities, where the Cepaim Foundation, the NGO Ecos do Sur, the Yaran Foundation, the Cantaclaro Association and a participant from the Neighbourhood Association of Arenillas (Soria), who also spoke as a neighbour and ex-mayor, showed us the role of the social sector in rural areas. Finally, the table of policymakers, where we had the participation of the Secretary General of Emigration, the Director of the Galician Agency for Rural Development, a technical representative of the Directorate General of Social Inclusion, a representative of the European Rural Pact (European Commission) and the head of cabinet of the Secretary of State for Migration, who explained the measures that affect the territories at the intersection between development and settlement of new neighbours of migrant origin.

In the afternoon of the same day 6, we experienced first-hand the reception of Sobrado (province of A Coruña), with a visit to the municipality, where we were able to delve into several of the initiatives for the reception of people and/or territorial revitalisation, in which we were able to share reflections with the association A Maristela, with the social workers of the Sobrado Town Council, with the Yaran Foundation, with the Sobrado Business Association, with the Millo e Landras project, with the community of the monastery and also with several long-term and recently incorporated neighbours from different backgrounds. We left very grateful for the wonderful welcome at Sobrado, for all the lessons we took home and for the time that was dedicated to us!

A reflection: What is a newcomer?

By Jofelle P. Tesorio

For someone who has moved places, whether from Utrecht to Harlingen, or from Damascus to Arnhem, perspectives can be different. Are newcomers the only ones who need to adjust to the new cultures, new people, new environment, or should it be a two-way, perhaps a circular process? Newcomers could also mean new inspirations and new ways of thinking.

Sometime in July, in the beautiful city of Nijmegen, our Welcoming Spaces group collaborated with Samenwerkingsverband Burgerkracht Europa (SBE) to organize a symposium unpacking the question ‘who is a newcomer?’ where around 150 professionals and residents from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany came to discuss how, with mutual effort, everyone can shape the embedding of newcomers in the community in a positive way.

As countries with shared borders, the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium are often confronted with similar issues, and in many cases, coordinating, sharing experiences and knowledge help unpack the issues and identify best practices. Like other countries in Europe, dealing with newcomers is one of most pressing issues in the last years. How do newcomers see themselves into our communities? How can they best integrate or is ‘integration’ (‘integreren’ or ‘inburgeren’ in Dutch) the right word to use? As Wahabou Alidou, the coordinator of a citizen-led initiative for newcomers Colourful Het Hogeland, said, community members should ‘outegrate’ (‘uitburgeren’) to also learn from newcomers. The theme collaborating with newcomers is not a new concept but in the wake of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, this is timely to revisit and put into perspective. What can newcomers do to become part of the society, and what can communities do to ensure that they feel welcome? There are many similarities but also significant differences, in which we can learn from each other.

Telling stories and perspectives on once being newcomers and now part of the society. (Photo: Jofelle Tesorio/Welcoming Spaces)

Participants with migrant backgrounds engaged in a conversation wherein they were asked: Are you still a newcomer if you have been living in the country for 20 years? How do you manage to be part of the community? For them, there were no standard answers but common to their experiences was the need to connect with people, the community and to be able to feel that they were welcome.

“I always say to them, you survived, you are safe here and it is also genuinely nice to also show your gratitude by giving something back to the society where  you  are,” said Farisa from Arnhem. She added that while there is talk about conforming, the best way to collaborate with newcomers is not to be in front or behind them but beside them. “They will soon be able to find their own place in the future.”

Farhad, who volunteers at a reception center, said residents need to connect. “I told them you have to work, volunteer, no matter what it is…so you can make contact.”

The bright side

Welcoming spaces and initiatives are the bright side that are often invisible, says Prof. Dr. Zoomers. (Photo: Jofelle Tesorio/Welcoming Spaces)

The bright side, according to Prof. Dr. Zoomers, is that there are existing examples of ‘welcoming spaces’, but often remain invisible and dispersed in various European regions, which play a very important role in the reception of newcomers, but also  in working together with the newcomers.  She stressed that newcomers can really make a difference. “Thanks to the arrival of these migrants, schools  can remain, a hotel  can be reopened, shops  are opened, the industry  is  kept  afloat…” Explaining the outcome of the project, she stressed the harmonious relationship built around citizen and migrants-led welcoming initiatives, which are also often supported by NGOs and mayors. “I am very much convinced that mayors can really make an enormous difference. It is not hard for us to show this, and it is possible.”

While looking at this bright side, Welcoming Spaces is also gradually finding out about the number of restrictions for newcomers, which have to do with policies. Many migrants in general are not in preferred locations. “We can describe in many cases how harmoniously people work in small   locations and seem to keep  small  communities  afloat, but if  you put it from the perspective of newcomers themselves, their development opportunities are often  very limited.” She also posed a question on the distinction of newcomers from the point of view where they come from, which becomes ‘stigmatizing’. “In the end it does not help us build a bridge. If we do not talk about where people come from… If we manage to  fuel the debate  and  ask for more. What are you  going to do here? What contribution do you want to make? Then you get a completely different discussion.”

Newcomer policies: Belgian, Dutch, and German perspectives

While all three countries operate within the European asylum policy, there are also different perspectives, principles and realities.

Mayor Kees van Rooij of Meierijstad notes that we need to be aware it is a balancing act. At community level, people might be receptive of policies on integration and welcoming initiatives but he is also often told “our children also want a roof”, not just newcomers. “In all those discussions, you’re already trying to manage each other, in such a way that  you want to keep  some support, but also at the same time try to give  perhaps even an extra impulse for all those starters and all those young people  who also want  a home…”

In the Netherlands, the discussion is mainly on the shortage of collective places for asylum seekers and some are situated in municipalities where many people are against large shelters being built near them.

For Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Nicole De Moor it is also finding a balance.  “I try every   day  to  work  on a better migration policy, a  fair  migration policy, a  policy  whereby  we can protect people  fleeing from war or persecution… as well as for  people  who may  not  be  fleeing the war, but who want to come to   Europe  to  work or to study.”

According to her, there are many different channels, but there are also  many  challenges  that   come with it. The past few years have been ‘historic’ and particularly challenging year, she said, because of people fleeing from war  and  persecution  from  different  countries, including the Ukrainians.

She is in constant communication and meetings with her counterpart to learn and improve the Belgian system, for example in asylum reception and integration. Now, the federal government is in favor of voluntary asylum centers. They have about a hundred collective centers spread over different municipalities and local shelter initiatives, which are managed by municipalities on a voluntary basis. “These are municipalities that actually take over the task of federal asylum reception and often receive asylum seekers in many small-scale or individual homes.”  She said that they encourage local reception initiatives because those places are important for specific target groups of asylum seekers, people who may find it more difficult to join a collective center and “they are much better for integration”.

Workshops and ways of moving together

After the opening plenary, 14 interactive workshops followed. Based on concrete initiatives by residents, municipalities/governments and civil society organisations in Belgian-German-Dutch rural regions, the participants discussed specific themes in relation to newcomers. During the workshops and during breaks, the participants gathered suggestions for ways to look at collaborating with newcomers differently, creatively and good practices, which were discussed in the closing panel.

Listening and learning from each other. (Photo: Jofelle Tesorio/Welcoming Spaces)

Throughout the panels and breakout workshops, participants listened, shared experiences, and critically analysed various aspects of the theme. The following are the ideas for recommendations from the participants:

A. Collaborating with newcomers

  • Approach the newcomer by not asking where he/she came from
  • Talk to newcomers and not about newcomers; involve them more
  • Make the encounter easier by thinking along about possibilities
  • More newcomers are needed to use their experiences in the inclusion processes at support organisations
  • Have newcomer guides as coordinators and process supervisors
  • Introduce reciprocity for newcomers; think about volunteering
  • Build self-confidence and language skills through the active involvement of newcomers in the activities for and with newcomers
  • Questions about needs – what do newcomers need to find their way when they arrive and settle in. Start from what people themselves say they need or worry about

B. Policy and guidance

  • Treat all newcomers equally: both from Ukraine and from the rest of the unsafe countries
  • Ensure an integrated approach. Not to approach everything from the perspective of target groups of status holders/asylum seekers/family reunifiers
  • Use the Temporary Protection Directive for Ukrainians as a basis for the reception, integration and placement of all newcomers
  • Provide information at the right time and in phases at the pace of the newcomer
  • Subsidy schemes for associations and local foundations that want to go the extra mile
  • Make sure that you are not the only driving force, but along with several people in your organisation to support newcomers
  • Flexible,  structured cooperation so that the newcomer can be integrated into the system

C. Asylum reception

  • Use the potential of everyone who enters the asylum seekers centrum (AZC)
  • Create opportunities to participate and learn equally
  • Provide a larger range of languages at the AZC (e.g. English lessons)
  • Think from the perspective of the local society and see how to realise an ideal reception
  • Connect with employers, sports clubs, educational institutions, etc.
  • For municipalities, provinces and the state (including COA), create opportunities for early involvement of local residents to work towards humane and sustainable shelters that serve both the neighborhood and newcomers
  • Make the shelters smaller; think from the perspective of local communities

D. Inclusion and work

  • In order to participate, giving the newcomer enough information is important
  • Let asylum seekers work without obstacles
  • Learn from projects such in the nursing/care sector where newcomers learn the Dutch language and work. Make this possible for other sectors and professions

E. Other tips and general recommendations

  • View newcomers as a possibility/opportunity and not a burden
  • Kindness helps!
  • Personal attention starts with a smile on an equal basis
  • Use food to connect

Manifesto

At the end of the symposium, the participants signed the Manifesto “Collaborating with Newcomers” that called on all governments, agencies and residents in the (border) regions to look and support opportunities for newcomers. The manifesto also included the above mentioned recommendations that will be passed on to all stakeholders involved with newcomers.

A small village with a big heart: Camini roundtable and field visit

The third of the series of field visits and roundtables of the  ‘Welcoming Spaces’ brought us to a hilly commune of  Camini,  in the Italian region Calabria. Located about 50km south of Catanzaro and about 80 kilometres (50 mi) northeast of Reggio Calabria, Camini borders the municipalities of Riace, Stignano and Stilo.

From November 23-27, 2022, a team of researchers from the University of Bologna (Alice Lomonaco, Elena Giacomelli and Chiara Davino) and the University of Utrecht (Jose Ricardo Martins and Jofelle Tesorio) further investigated the success and critical factors of the case study of Camini and the Eurocoop Jungi Mundu cooperative, a material for reflection and analysis together with the other European case studies of the Welcoming Spaces project. Through interviews and direct observations, the visiting researchers collected data from the experiences of the migrants, the residents, and the people behind the welcoming initiatives, including from the officials of the municipality Camini.

On November 26, a roundtable entitled ‘Leaving, Staying, Returning? The role of the imaginary in the relationship between migrations and territories’ brought together the different actors in making Camini a welcoming space, including the migrants themselves. The roundtable was a result of two research projects carried out by the Department of Sociology and Business Law of the University of Bologna: the Horizon2020 project “Welcoming Spaces” and the project financed by the Emilia-Romagna Region “Towards a tourism of roots in Emilia-Romagna: Memories, imaginary, expectations and desires of the emigrants from Emilia-Romagna in Argentina and Brazil for a hospitable journey to discover their origins’. The main objective of the latter project is to investigate the feeling of belonging of the emigrants from Emilia-Romagna and their descendants residing in Argentina and Brazil to Emilia-Romagna and their expectations or habits when travelling to the places of their origins.

The various experiences and expertise of speakers and the audience in the Camini roundtable valorised the different types of knowledge, from academic to social work and from photographer to migrants, allowing the co-construction of a different and new imaginary, anchored in the time and space of a different Europe.

Held at the municipality’s community hall, the roundtable was also participated online by other project partners and speakers. However, a common case in many ‘shrinking areas’, the real challenge for the roundtable in Camini was the internet connection. But at the end, it was resolved, and the face-to-face interactions with the participants and migrants brought many ideas and cultural exchanges, including a long table of multi-ethnic buffet lunch prepared by the families living in the area (see pictures). This proves the richness and cohesion the welcoming village has created in their area.

The roundtable was attended by policy makers, scholars, local actors and representatives of the institutions (Pierluigi Musarò – Coordinator Welcoming Spaces Italia, University of Bologna, Paola Barretta – Associazione Carta di Roma, Karen Urso – University of Calabria, Giulia Galera – Miledù and Euricse, Melissa Moralli – University of Bologna, Ruggero Marra – Councillor for the Environment, Ecological Transition and Youth Policies of Villa San Giovanni, Giulia Sonzogno – Officina Giovani Aree Interne, Marina Gabrieli – National Coordinator of the Project “Tourism from the Roots” of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rosario Zurzolo – President Jungi Mundu, Elena Giacomelli – University of Bologna, Chiara Davino – University of Bologna, Ricardo Martins – University of Utrecht, Keina Espineira – University of La Coruña, Jofelle Tesorio, University of Utrecht, Alice Lomonaco – University of Bologna) contributing to produce new representations on these territories.  

Photobook launching

During the Camini roundtable, the photographic project “Connections. Collaborative imaginaries of territories in change across Europe’ (free download at https://issuu.com/melmor23/docs/connections._the_itinerant_book) was also launched through an exhibition. The exhibition presented the stories, photographs and emotional maps created directly by those who are living the everyday life in communities in transformation across Europe. The result is the co-construction of a different and new imageries, anchored in the time and space of a different Europe. The images are full of hope for the future, desire for change, complex encounters, and collective utopias. Some participating ‘community photographers’ also talked about their ideas, feelings, and meanings about the photos they took.

One of the many takeaways learned from this experience in organising is to always include and value the involvement of the community (locals and newcomers) and the place where the event is taking place, especially at the “after-covid19” phase. The in-person events are essential to make a dialogue between different types of knowledge (academic and non-academic) and cannot be replaced by online interactions.

The Welcoming Spaces project aims to address two current political challenges in an innovative way: the revitalisation of Europe’s ‘inner areas’ and the creation of welcoming and inclusive spaces. It involves the Netherlands (project leader), Italy, Germany, Spain and Poland.

Acknowledgments: We would like to thank the entire community of Camini for the warm welcome, the support and willingness you showed on this occasion; for the families in the community who prepared the multi-ethnic buffet, a heart-warming example of the richness and cohesion in this small village with a big heart.

Agency, entrepreneurship and employment: Learning from each other, about and from migrants

By José Ricardo Martins

As part of the Welcoming Spaces project of bringing together experts, policy makers, migrants, community leaders and members to talk about the various issues surrounding migration, development and other processes in different municipalities and regions in Europe, a roundtable in  Saalfeld, Thuringia, Germany was held on September 22, 2022. It was an opportunity to gather and talk about policies and experiences related to the emplacement of migrants. It was an enlightening experience, and we want to share some of the highlights with you.

Bringing everyone to the table

  • We brought together migrants, policymakers, practitioners, citizens, and academics to discuss and learn from each other about positive welcoming initiatives and the challenges that migrants, policymakers, and practitioners face
  • We discussed topics such as migrants’ agency, entrepreneurial capacity, and employment hardships
  • It was great to hear about different cases of long-term residents working together in socio-entrepreneurship activities, like in Altenburg and Saalfeld

Sustainability challenges

  • One thing we noticed is that a lot of welcoming initiatives have sustainability issues, not just those run by civil society but also those led by the government
  • In terms of governance and policy, we discussed issues such as discontinuity in funding, difficulties fitting new demands into old systems, and lack of stable structures and financing for integration work
  • Additionally, we talked about challenges related to mobility in rural areas, housing shortages, and labour market integration, including racism and discrimination

Our recommendations

Based on these discussions, we came up with some recommendations for improving the emplacement of migrants:

  • Project funding should be transferred into regular public funding structures and, therefore, new integration laws are needed to rule the money distribution from the top–down
  • There is a need for a participation law to mitigate the top-down ruling
  • Crowdfunding is recommended to avoid the bureaucratic distribution of money
  • Make jobs more attractive to find personal
  • Arrange regular and visible offers for advice (done by local governments and other organizations in place, nearby by the people)
  • Multiply the announcements by majors to all inhabitants (“Bürgerbrief”) in ad-hoc situations
  • Make more use of technical tools, such as video translations
  • Run the welcoming programs with regular public funding, such as the education budget
  • As places for social gatherings are very important for inclusion, these should also be funded on a structural basis too
  • Promote public debates on discrimination in employment and schools
  • Communication does not only function via traditional forms but many other channels can be used, such as art, music, theatre, etc
  • Keep in mind that welcoming spaces are “making creative spaces”

We hope you found this summary of our roundtable event informative and thought-provoking. We believe that by working together and implementing these recommendations, we can create a more inclusive and welcoming society for everyone. To know more about the Saalfeld Roundtable, please access the full report here.

“We at civi kune RLP are thrilled about our partnership with the “Welcoming Spaces” research project. It’s vital that our on-the-ground experiences inform the research and that questions arising from our work are examined in a scientific context. The Saalfeld conference provided a great platform for exchange. Our 15-person delegation, comprising project staff, migrants, and committed individuals from various districts in Rhineland-Palatinate and Thuringia, offered a variety of opportunities for exchange and interesting encounters. This helps improve our work at the state level and on the ground in “welcoming places” such as local initiatives and meeting cafes. Especially the participation of migrants, which is crucial, makes our work sustainable.” – Okka Senst of civi kune RLP from Rheinland-Palatinate (Germany)

Visualising welcoming spaces across Europe: Our digital photo book

What makes the place where you live welcoming and how would you capture this in an image?

People have their own ways of looking at the village or town where they live in. Through the photo workshop, we learned that locals are proud of the places they live – “Everyone should come to live in Bedum”, they enjoy peace and quiet – “Morning in Łomża … I fall in love with every house and every café, avenue and park”, they value nature – “The mountains surrounding Camini make me feel good” and they appreciate the historical sites and buildings – “The buildings around the castle in Altenburg look like the old buildings in my home country, it always feeds me”.  

In a two-day photo workshop in Altenburg (Germany), Bedum (The Netherlands), Camini (Italy), Łomża (Poland) and Talayuela (Spain), together with the locals – both newcomers and long-term residents, we delved into these questions and explored how locals see their village or town. The places are often considered not only peripheral as opposed to the larger urban centres, but also in decline as a result of young people moving away, ageing population, and a decrease in public services such as public transport, local grocery shops or schools. At the same time, these villages and towns turned out favourable locations for the reception of newcomers – due to their peripheral location and available space or the welcoming initiatives enabling newcomers to participate in these communities. A closer look into these places shows that people are getting to know each other, exchange experiences and stories, and together build new communities.  

We are happy to present our digital photo book where the pictures and stories of newcomers and not so newcomers in declining regions across Europe come together.  

FIERI’s annual documentary festival on migration – October 4th – November 16th , 2022

Overheated Connections18th edition of the Crocevia di Sguardi

In 2022, Europe is facing the consequences of global dramas such as the end of the Western presence in Afghanistan and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Borders are being closed, strategies for the inclusion of immigrants and asylum seekers are being abandoned, and continuous erosion of workers’ rights is taking place. We live in an increasingly overheated world in which climate change is only one of several dimensions of crisis at play.

“Overheated Connections” is the title of Crocevia di Sguardi (now in its 18th edition) in a mixed online and in-person format. The documentaries in programme highlight the connections between global forces and local worlds, proposing new ways to cool destructive interconnections: through a radical ecological turn, demilitarization, the political leadership of youth and children of migration, and the power of art, in all its expressions. In addition to the presence of scholars, researchers, and activists, meetings with filmmakers Federico Francioni and Dagmawi Yimer enrich this edition.

All documentaries will be both presented in theaters and made accessible, after registration, on the Festivalscope platform. The seminars will be live streamed on the Crocevia di Sguardi Facebook page.

Check the programme here.

Join our Welcoming Spaces Roundtable in Saalfeld (Germany) 22-23 September 2022

Agency, entrepreneurship and employment: Learning from each other about and from migrants

Welcoming initiatives can contribute to the further development of shrinking areas while also offering space for the successful social inclusion of non-EU migrants in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (‘leaving no one behind’). Often welcoming initiatives are run by cooperating actors from different societal fields, and their actions and impact depend on the local contexts.

Despite a lot of creative energy and good examples of welcoming culture, the welcome initiatives are experiencing growing challenges, but there are also encouraging practical experiences. That is why we bring together actors of the welcoming initiatives in Thuringia and Rhineland-Palatinate, besides sharing international experiences from Italy, Netherlands, Poland and Spain. The roundtable is organised in the framework of the international comparative and EU-funded research project ‘Welcoming Spaces in Europe’ (www.welcomingspaces.eu).

Objectives of the Roundtable
The event aims at bringing together politicians, city councilors, public administrators responsible for migration inclusion, social policy workers and development planners at the local, district and state levels, as well as migrants, international researchers, and practitioners from social organisations/NGOs to share experiences, ideas and receive new insights related to the sustainable (long-term) inclusion of migrants and the development of their territories. The underlying question is:

What entails sustainable migrant inclusion?

The roundtable includes many speakers from the field discussing welcoming initiatives, governance and pathways to social inclusion. Please click on the link to open the entire programme of the Roundtable and its speakers.

Organic Farming in Italy’s Shrinking Areas: what Opportunities for Newcomers?

By Simone Cappati (Master in International Development Studies)

A handful of committed Italian NGOs and small-town mayors believe that organic farming has the potential to tear down cultural and language barriers while revitalizing the local economies and safeguarding the natural landscape. Can organic agriculture truly provide a lifeline for the emplacement of migrant newcomers in Italy’s shrinking spaces? My Master’s Thesis research took me to the hamlets nested in the Camonica Valley or speckled over the rolling hills of Monferrato. There, I met refugees that had traveled over land and sea in search of a better future, and Italian agripreneurs that had returned to the land of their forefathers looking for a new challenge. Their serendipitous encounter is where this story begins.

Off the beaten tracks of Northern Italy, a couple hours’ train ride from the sprawling urban centers of Milan and Turin, lay a multitude of scattered small towns. In these villages, where people know each other by name and families go back generations, time seems to have frozen. And yet, the passing of the years has left a mark – in the peeling plaster of the walls, the empty, dilapidated houses, and the old fences succumbing to shrubs and undergrowth. These are the tell-tale signs of a shrinking space, where economic decline goes together with a decreasing population and landscape degradation. Parts of the Camonica Valley and the Monferrato started shrinking in the 1970s, when the locals abandoned their family farms, once the backbone of the local rural economy, and began flocking to nearby cities looking for a job in the factories. The old wisdom of the farmers faded into oblivion, and traditional practices were slowly forgotten.

“We have paths to clear, woodlands to clean up, we have a lot of things that need to be done, things that we, the local residents, do not want to do. Our young generations do not want to work in agriculture.” (P., agri-preneur)

The two NGOs visited during fieldwork. Adapted from Wikimedia commons.

Despite their socio-economic marginalization, these areas are no stranger to solidarity. Local NGOs such as K-PAX and PIAM have long been working with vulnerable communities, from victims of sex trafficking to migrants and people with disabilities. As the flows of migrant arrivals to the Italian shores increased in the early 2010s, these NGOs embarked on a shared endeavor with their respective local municipalities by joining the Italian System of Reception and Integration. Over the years, more migrant newcomers were being resettled into these towns, slowly bringing a much-needed injection of labor into these lands. The migrants started to get involved in a number of activities, including working as laborers for organic farms owned by Italian agricultural entrepreneurs. Indeed, the migrants were not the only newcomers to these shrinking areas – several young Italian agri-preneurs had also returned to the land of their grandfathers to restore their family farms. These newcomers “by choice,”[1] who moved out of the city and back to rural areas as a lifestyle migration, brought purchasing power and innovation into these shrinking spaces.

Since then, migrant laborers and Italian agri-preneurs have been engaged in an unfolding process of emplacement[2] together with long-time residents: they are creating a new place by building a network of connections and resources within the specific conditions of the shrinking areas. But how is this evolving over time?

Working together on an organic farm in Cerveno (BS) © K-PAX

Agriculture bridging cultures

At first, these two groups of newcomers faced some opposition from the long-time residents, as they embodied a set of values, practices, and cultural identities that somehow clashed with these traditionally conservative areas. How to win over the initial distrust? Organic agriculture offered an opportunity for the Italian agri-preneurs and the migrant laborers to get to know each other, toiling side-by-side in the terraced fields or weeding out mountain paths. They exchanged stories, dreams, and goals and compared agricultural practices, often learning from each other. Agriculture was bridging culture and language gaps while highlighting unexpected commonalities.  

The levels of distrust went down when they realized that working the land in Algeria or Pakistan was the same as doing it here, and actually some experiences they had were very similar. […] Farming could really be a channel that helps people get closer to the ‘Stranger’ (M., former mayor).

The long-time residents, too, began to appreciate the hard work the migrants put into restoring the landscape and revitalizing old farms by taking up manual labor that the younger local generations had moved away from. Slowly, migrants started to be seen as a resource rather than a threat, as the initial opposition gave way to a more welcoming attitude.

Tending the land in the Camonica Valley (BS) © K-PAX

Sharing benefits and burdens

Organic agriculture is hard work for everyone involved, as testified by the long hours that both agri-preneurs and migrants spend working together in the fields. However, there are significant differences when it comes to status and division of labor.

Migrants are only employed as laborers to fill a market gap for low-skilled manual labor. Caught in an endless series of short-term contracts that coincide with production peaks, they enjoy limited financial stability and virtually no upward mobility. On the other hand, Italians are returning to the fields as entrepreneurs – they own the lands and the means of production and are fully in charge of their personal, ‘sustainable’ life project.

The migrants working in organic agriculture are expected to subsume into the lifestyle of the agripreneurs and share their vision – even if they may not fully comprehend it. They may even end up living under the same roof with their employer and their family, especially if the farms are located in remote areas, to cut on commuting time.

“For small organic farms where there is a big human investment, it’s difficult to fit in. The employers are basically telling [the migrants]: ‘This is what I want to do, this is my life project, my dream’ and they are asking them to share it. But maybe a young man who crossed the sea all the way from Africa has a different goal in life.” (M., PIAM)

This set-up speaks of a concrete risk for hyper-exploitation of migrant labor, which is indeed seen as a resource, but a rather disposable one. Migrants are often described as having “less demands” than Italian workers, as they come from “desperate situations.” The lack of long-term investment in the aspirations of the individual migrants is partially mitigated by some educational initiatives launched by the NGOs, which aim to increase the migrants’ knowledge base, their contractual power, and ultimately their agency.

A silver bullet?

Organic farming remains one of the channels that may usher emplacement processes between newcomers and long-time residents in Italy’s shrinking areas. However, left to its own devices, it risks sliding into abusive mechanisms that do not sufficiently protect the best interest of the most vulnerable. NGOs and municipalities must play a guarantor role by vouching for the migrants’ skills while linking them up with ethically oriented employers. Going forward, stronger synergies and partnerships among the various actors of the system (NGOs, municipalities, agri-preneurs, and education institutions) will be crucial to foster a more ‘connected’ space for both newcomers and long-time residents in Italy’s shrinking areas.


[1] Perlik, M. & Membretti, A. (2018). Migration by Necessity and by Force to Mountain Areas: An Opportunity for Social Innovation. Mountain Research and Development. 38(3): 250–264.

[2] Glick Schiller, N. & Çağlar, A. (2013). Locating migrant pathways of economic emplacement: Thinking beyond the ethnic lens. Ethnicities. 13(4): 494–514.