The 4th workshop of the CONNECTION project in Zagreb

Executives of ANATOLIKI S.A. and Delta’s municipality participated in the last of the four workshops of the first thematic axe (CoP-1) which concerns the "Developing strategies for the integration and interaction of migrants and refugees with the native population". The workshop, that was held in Zagreb, Croatia, from 10 to 12 May 2022, was attended by representatives from all CoP-1 partners, ANATOLIKI S.A., Zagreb, Paris, Prague, Municipalities of the Region of Torino, Piedmont and Development ANCI, the Project Coordinating Partner, Eurocities and experts/technical advisors from the NGO Migration Work.

The workshop and on-site visits that took place, were aimed at helping executives from the participating European cities to understand how the integration policy for refugees and migrants in Zagreb was drafted and how it will be implemented in practice, making Zagreb the first city, city-model in Croatia to develop a specific integration policy.

The three-day work included a detailed presentation of the City of Zagreb's new action plan for refugee integration, dynamic coordination of the individual actors active in the city and field visits to facilities and places of reception and service provision for migrants and asylum seekers. An extensive briefing was made by all partners on discussing developing emergency services for displaced persons from Ukraine and the challenges they are facing. The last day was dedicated to drafting the final text of the policy guidelines of the first thematic axe (CoP-1) "Developing strategies for the integration of refugees and migrants in local communities", as well as planning the on-going actions of each partner while the final project meeting is scheduled for November 2022.

ANATOLIKI S.A., Organization for Local Development, participates as a partner in the European project CONNECTION (CONNEcting Cities Towards Integration actiON), together with 22 other cities from 12 countries and in cooperation with the Municipalities of Thessaloniki and Delta. The project is funded by the EU and especially AMIF (Asylum, Migration, and Integration Fund) and will be completed in December of 2022.