Event

Study Tour for Integration Professionals

The study tour for integration professionals was truly an enriching experience. The participants came from 11 different countries; Turkey, Morocco, Lebanon, India, Georgia, Serbia, Ivory Coast, Indonesia, Hungary, Mexico and Malaysia. The country experiences of the participants were very diverse, with common issues, such as integration of refugees communities, as well as unique circumstances. 

The study tour started at Washington DC and then to Denver, Colorado. At Washington DC, we met with professionals who are working on integration issues at the federal level while at Denver we were able to have a more local context of the programmes and policies at the state and municipal level. The main key takeaway of this tour is that integration is not about a minority community or refugee community assimilating into the mainstream society. Integration process is two-way, where all communities need to be open and accepting towards one another. A good analogy from one of the participants on integration is that integration is like playing in a band, every musician is playing a different instrument, and each has its own parts, it is not becoming alike but to embrace the diversity. We need to understand and respect one another so that we could make music together.

At the end of the study tour, all participants came together to discuss on the policies recommendations for integration issues. Policies and programmes in integrating minorities and refugee communities into society has progress significantly. However, much more effort is needed in monitoring and evaluating the impact of the programmes and policies so that we could understand success and what areas could be improved. This is much needed to ensure that the effort that we invest in could be better aligned and targeted.