CALL FOR PAPERS: From Europe to local: Migrating solidarity

Background

The European Agenda on Migration, published on 13 May 2015 confirms that “All actors: Member States, EU institutions, International Organisations, civil society, local authorities and third countries need to work together to make a common European migration policy a reality.” Even though the Communication can be heavily criticized for rather setting stopgap measures than offering a comprehensive solution, FEPS and SOLIDAR welcomed the fact that the document puts a stronger emphasise on the role of civil society and local authorities in the process of integration. Indeed, it sets out that “Although the competence lies primarily with Member States, the European Union can support actions by national governments, local authorities and civil society engaged in the complex and long term process of fostering integration and mutual trust.” This follows the twelfth recommendation outlined in the FEPS policy brief, Towards a solidarity-based European Asylum Policy, which advocates for the support of local solidarity-based integration initiatives.

As civil society is required to take a more and more active part in the process of integration, it is essential to foster a better collaboration with local authorities and the sharing of best practices in terms of cooperation models.

Hence, the objectives of the research organized by FEPS and SOLIDAR are to prepare a mapping and analysis of the cooperation models between civil society actors and national, regional and local policymakers, to identify legal and policy shortcomings and to identify discrepancy between various level of decision makers and formulating recommendations. Through a call for papers, we would like to gather information on best practices and positive examples, as well as current challenges on the field.

Selected papers will be gathered in a publication, to be launched in autumn 2016, which will be used as an advocacy document towards European policy makers. Successful candidates will be offered 800 Euro honorarium after the final version of their paper will be accepted for publication.

Requirements

The call is open for independent thinkers, journalists, academics and researchers. Successful candidates will be required to deliver an academic paper answering one of the specific questions listed in the draft table of contents. The paper needs to be between 20.000 – 30.000 characters, written in font Arial, letter size 10 with 1.5 line spacing. The article should be accompanied by a list of references in APA format[1].

In the framework of the research, FEPS and SOLIDAR seeks analysis and policy recommendations on the following points:

• Do civil society organisations providing services to migrants receive any material or financial support for competent national, regional and local authorities (district level, city level) in their area? If yes please detail nature, duration, objectives. 

• Are civil society organisations recognized by relevant national, regional and local authority as providers services to migrants? If yes please detail nature of the cooperation, duration, objectives.

• Are civil society organisations in your context involved as a stakeholder in discussion, consultations, negotiations on the local authority policies on migration & integration? Are these discussions regular?

•  How would you assess the relationship between civil society organisations and local authority? What could be improved in your opinion?

• Do you witness any discrepancy between national and regional framework (law, policy guidelines) and practices at local level regarding the delivery of services to migrants?

Deadlines:

30 October 2015 – Deadline for submitting the abstracts:

Candidates are kindly asked to send an abstract by this date. This abstract should be written on one of the specific questions indentified above and should be not longer than 1500 characters. The abstract should be accompanied by a list of references in APA format. Applications should be accompanied by the candidate’s short biography identifying academic credentials and a large, high resolution photo.

1 March 2016 – Deadline for submitting the first paper drafts

March 2016 – Feedback on the first drafts

1 May 2016 – Deadline for submitting the final version of the papers 

by July 2016 – Finalising the publication

September 2016 – Launching of the publication in the European Parliament

Contact details

Please, send the abstracts by 30 October 2015 to Judit Tánczos, FEPS Policy Advisor at judit.tanczos@feps-europe.eu and Elsa Laino, SOLIDAR Social Services Officer elsa.laino@solidar.org. They can be also contacted with further questions concerning this call.