ELAINE

Objective
The aim of ELAINE (European Local Authorities Integration Network) is to exchange experiences, ideas and best practices as well as to increase knowledge and develop recommendations on the integration process on both a local, national and European level.

Moreover, the project aims to foster a sustainable, long-lasting cooperation between the participating partners as well as the participants themselves.

Activities
The project consists of five international conferences, one in each participating country. Each conference will focus on one specific theme on integration. The primary target group of the conferences is professional officials from public organizations and civil society organizations working with migrants and refugees. There will also be a final conference in Brussels which focuses on disseminating the project results to relevant EU networks and policy makers. The conferences will take place on the following dates:

• April 13-15 2016 (Sweden): Employment and business
• June 23-25 2016 (England): NGO’s/Non-profit organizations/Volunteers
• September 8-10 2016 (Spain): Sports and culture
• October 26-28 2016 (Denmark): Language learning 
• April 12-14 2017 (Holland): Public health and mental health
• October 17-19 2017 (Belgium): Final conference

Partnership
Partners in the project are:

• Hässleholms kommun/EU-kontor Skåne Nordost, Sweden (Coordinator)
• East of England Local Government Association, England
• Ayuntamiento de Catoira, Spain
• Gemeente Maastricht, Holland
• VIFIN, Denmark

VIFIN’s national project partner is the Danish Refugee Council.

Funding
The project is funded by the EU programme Europe for Citizens (Network of Towns). It will be carried out January 2016 – October 2017.

More information
The project has a LinkedIn group that will be a forum for active participation and exchange of experiences in-between the international conferences: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8472094

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