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Valuing diversity: guidance for labour market integration of migrants

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An independent evaluation ( ) of the OSS project points out that there are
preconditions and potential barriers to implementation. What practice revealed is
that, for the format to be politically feasible, immigration and integration policies
needed to be sufficiently coordinated, coherent, active and based on a principle
of trust-building, with clear concern for clients and their rights. In the most
successful cases this required the goodwill of different institutions and
administrative levels, as well as openness to civil society, engaging NGOs and
migrant associations in the management and operation of the systems.
Legal limitations can exist to a climate of open cooperation and there can be
poor articulation between institutions responsible for core areas. Immigration and
integration policies are frequently not under the same ministries and they might
also be broken into different administrative levels; an example is Spain, where
immigration is a national competence while integration is under the authority of
the regions. There is also variation in cooperating with civil organisations. The
greater the tradition of implementing client-centred approaches, the greater the
likelihood of engaging the community (normally through migrant organisations).
Evaluation of the OSS also suggested that institutional resistance to this
type of project might be stronger in countries which have had higher inflows of
migrants in the past and designed their immigration and integration systems to
reduce or rationalise admission. The fact that current empirical evidence and
documented experience is based on information from new immigration countries,
such as Ireland, Italy and Portugal, does not help older countries to reassess
their institutional and policy heritage. The assessment team sees this as
important element limiting the diffusion of the model (at the moment only
Germany among the old immigration countries is in the group).
Implementation of this simplifying format requires a clear public commitment
to integration policy. Financial, human and physical resources need to be
mobilised to launch the project and sustain its basic running costs. The possibility
of allocating resources depends directly on the capacity to mobilise diverse
stakeholders and on a clear political will to do so. One successful practice
identified for stakeholder engagement was the establishment of advisory
committees with the participation of policy-makers, for distinct agencies, NGOs
and immigrant representatives.
The potential of the OSS is clear, since it simplifies and quickens processes.
It also has enormous potential as the entry door to a successful career path for
immigrants, since it can provide career information, advice and initial counselling

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( )http://www.oss.inti.acidi.gov.pt/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=7
0&Itemid=61&lang=en [accessed 18.3.2014].

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