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Valuing diversity: guidance for labour market integration of migrants

disengagement of individuals if it reinforces their feelings of awkwardness and
imposes stereotypes. Terms like compensatory, recovery and even educative
measures can be highly demotivating, by highlighting a deficit logic.

Evidence must be used to select best practices and generate accountability
The establishment of a structured evidence base on guidance practices is a
fundamental step towards an objective, comparative evaluation of practices and
their impacts. This evidence base should include recommendations and
standards for monitoring and evaluation, to guide organisations in the collection
of information and in using it to improve their activities. An evidence base would
also bring objective accountability criteria that would assist the selection of cost-
effective practices and the improvement of guidance status within other policy
frameworks (such as generate visibility of guidance impact in education
contexts).
This evidence base should have a number of harmonised standards shared
across European countries, so that objective information can be exchanged
about different national experiences. The ELGPN was, at the moment this study
was carried out, working on the development and implementation of such a
system. An evidence base would also encourage the reproduction and
improvement of successful past experiences combating the typical loss of
memory of integration practices as well generating greater policy visibility for
guidance in integrating immigrants (among other roles).

Sustainability of practices should be ensured
Integration practices are frequently short-lived, but several strategies exist that
contribute to their continuity and reproduction:
(a) a clear, top-down commitment exists with integration: this starts from public
commitment by national and regional authorities in assigning resources to
integration policy. It may take the form of creating specific, permanent
bodies that develop this activity or of giving permanent financial support to
specific programmes developed by third parties;
(b) the state can monitor and use NGO and private experiences as a laboratory
and internalise best practices, making them permanent. This is normally
easier when there is previous cooperation between the State and other
agents;
(c) there should be marketing of interventions to generate interest and visibility
on behalf of policy-makers and potential financers/supporters of the
practices. Public awareness of the results and relevance generates
engagement of immigrant communities, native communities, potential role
models, public figures, political leaders and opinion-makers. Good use of

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