Mentoring pairs

Pair 4

IncluCities aims at improving the integration of Third-country Nationals

Pair 4

MENTOR

Schaerbeek (BE)

133.000 inhabitants

35 % of the city population foreign nationals or foreign origin*

Schaerbeek and Association of the City and the Municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region (BRULOCALIS)

MENTEE

Jelgava (LV)

56.000 inhabitants

43 % national ethnic minorities Russian, Belarussian, Ukrainian, Polish, Roma, a very small part migrants of foreign origin*

City of Jelgava and Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments (LALRG)

NEEDS

(Jelgava)

Education and training; addressing language limitations in accessing basic services for migrants (Latvian language)
Negative public attitude towards migrants/minorities (more work on active participation and inclusion)
Strong stereotypes and prejudice between different groups and the Latvian native speaking language community

STRENGTHS

(Schaerbeek)

Good access to basic services with VIA-BAPA reception programme, including language or literacy courses, individual social support and sixty-hour citizenship-training course.
Incorporating diversity in all policy areas, presenting as "A hospitable commune, where migrants are citizens like any others”
Best practice: CAMIM - Co-creating a better 'Welcome and Integration of Migrants path' with three-life activities set up in co-construction with the newcomers, such as: volunteering, self-confidence training, language learning through an immersion house for the new arrivals.

Theme

Improving formal and informal opportunities for language learning for newcomers and established minorities.

Benchmarks & Key factors

By defining benchmarks (such as migrant children’s access to school) and identifying key factors necessary to achieve them (such as enough financial resources), IncluCities helps cities develop an action plan.