Integration 2020 brings integration experts together - Event programme out now
The virtual Integration 2020 event will bring together those engaged in advancing immigrant integration and refugee reception on 25–26 November 2020. This major national integration event will be held for the second time and there are hopes to make it a permanent cooperation forum in the field of integration. The event programme has now been published.
The Integration 2020 event will build on the work started during the first event in 2018 by strengthening partnerships between public authorities, the third sector and companies. More than 1,000 participants have already registered for the event.
The event will begin on 25 November with the following five thematic tracks: a receptive and inclusive society; action and participation; health and wellbeing; skills and work; and effective initial stage of integration and multi-sectoral cooperation. The highlights of the programme on Wednesday include peer guidance; the results of MIPEX 2020 (The Migrant Integration Policy Index); the effects of the coronavirus epidemic on the wellbeing and health of immigrants; and labour market integration. Farhia Abdi, the refugee woman of the year, and Kordnejad Ebrahimi, the refugee man of the year, will also present on Wednesday.
The programme continues on Thursday 26 November 2020 with a joint programme Towards an inclusive society. Building an inclusive society through cooperation is the main objective of the Integration Partnership Programme, which will be published in the programme. Participants will also hear how the partnership programme coordinated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has been updated and how they can enrol in the activities. The keynote speech of the event will be presented by the award-winning film producer Max Malka.
The aim is to make the Integration event a regular cooperation forum for the experts in the field
Different regions and organisations do a lot of valuable work to promote integration. However, it is not often that operators in the field get to meet and share best practices in the most efficient way.
There are plans to help the fragmented field of integration by making the integration events more regular. The responsibility for organising the event would rotate.
“The aim is to hold this event every two years and make it both the main event for integration and the main event of the Integration Partnership Programme. We would like to invite municipalities, in particular, to organise Integration events in the future,” says Migration Director Sonja Hämäläinen from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
Organising the Integration 2020 event is a common effort
This year, the organisation of the event was coordinated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior, the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), the Funding Centre for Social Welfare and Health Organisations (STEA), the City of Helsinki and MONIKA – Multicultural Women’s Association, Finland. A large number of other operators, in particular from civic organisations, have participated in the planning and implementation of the programme.
Registration for the event is currently ongoing and will end on 16 November 2020. The programme is subject to change until the start of the event. Any changes will be updated approximately once a week on the event website.
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