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Over the past several decades, there has been a significant and sizable flow of economic migrants from Eastern Europe to the European Union, seeking better employment opportunities and higher living standards. Many of these migrants are parents who have left their children behind, giving rise to the formation of ‘transnational families’ defined as familial groups wherein members live partially or fully in separation but foster a sense of familyhood, interdependence and collective welfare across borders. The main motive for parental migration has been to increase family income by sending remittances back home.

Transnational families are a stark reality in Moldova and Ukraine. In Moldova, around 21 per cent of children (150,000) have at least one parent living abroad, while approximately 5 per cent of children (35,000) have both parents abroad, according to the latest available data. In Ukraine, 200,000 children are left behind by at least one parent, which concerns up to 25 per cent of all children in certain regions as per the latest research. In 2021, the ‘Children Left Behind by Labour Migration: Supporting Moldovan and Ukrainian Transnational Families in the EU (CASTLE) project was launched to explore the situation of transnational families and children staying behind.

CASTLE is conducting research to explore implications for policy and practice in the area of labour migration and mobility in Moldova, Ukraine and EU destination countries. The project is funded by the European Union through the Migration Partnership Facility (MPF) of ICMPD and is implemented by Babes-Bolyai University in collaboration with Terre des Hommes Romania, Terre des Hommes Moldova, Terre des Hommes Ukraine, the Ukrainian Institute for Social Research after Oleksander Yaremenko and the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova.

The Training Institute on Migration Capacity Partnership for the Mediterranean, held its first Governing Board meeting on the 7th of April, 2022. Chaired by Malta, the event took place online with the presence of representatives from ICMPD, donor and partner countries, observers, and EU agencies.

The Governing Board consisting of Austria, Denmark, the EU (Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs), ICMPD, Jordan, Libya, and Malta was joined by its technical partners, the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) and Frontex, as well as prospective future members from Germany, Greece, Hungary, Lebanon, Switzerland, and Tunisia. Representing Malta as Chair, Mr. Neville Aquilina, the Director-General for Global Issues (International Development & Economic Affairs), from the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs of Malta, opened the event and remarked that the Training Institute ‘takes a new look at an old issue, redefining migration partnerships under the concept of Capacity Partnership – working together to achieve improved results for all.’

HUELVA, SPAIN- ‘Women as Financially Independent Rural Actors’ (WAFIRA), a project funded by the European Union through the Migration Partnership Facility (MPF) was successfully launched in Huelva, Spain on 28 March 2022. 

WAFIRA is implemented by the Secretary of State for Migration (SEM) of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration of Spain in conjunction with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and in collaboration with the Spanish Agri-Food Cooperatives- Andalusia, Spain and the Moroccan Employment Agency–ANAPEC.

WAFIRA (which means abundance in Arabic) seeks to enhance the decades-long GECCO scheme fostered by the Spanish government, enabling circularity between Morocco and Spain to cover seasonal demands in Spain’s agricultural sector. Specifically, the project aims to address the critical policy gap relating to the lack of a comprehensive framework for the reintegration of Moroccan women engaging in seasonal agricultural work harvesting strawberries each year in Huelva, Spain, under GECCO.

On January 25th, the MPF held the LMPN’s Kick-off Meeting. This very first meeting successfully gathered 89 labour mobility practitioners from international organisations, EU institutions, national ministries, recruitment agencies, private sector, think tanks, development agencies, and non-governmental organisations.

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – January 14, 2022 – The EU-funded Migration Partnership Facility (MPF) launched today a new Call for Proposals. The Call for Proposals is intended as a flexible mechanism to support the implementation of the external dimension of EU migration policy and to strengthen dialogue and cooperation on migration and mobility between Member States and priority partner countries outside the EU.

With a total envelope of 15.2 M EUR from AMIF and ISF-Borders and Visa funds, MPF grant funding under this Call will cover projects that:

  • Support the EU’s migration priorities with partner countries
  • Align to the new EU Talent Partnerships (e.g. labour migration projects)The Call will be open to applications from EU Member States public bodies, EU Member State-based organisations, and international organisations and has no specific deadline (i.e., it is a rolling call, with project implementation possible until May 2025).

 Date and Time: 18 January 2022, 15:00-16:45

The Talent Partnerships will provide a comprehensive European Union (EU) policy framework through which a country of destination and origin cooperate with the business community on building their in-demand skills through vocational training, mobility, migration and professional exchange schemes. Early labour mobility pilot projects funded by the European Commission (e.g. those under the MPF) show that European business is interested in investing into countries of origin, following labour mobility schemes that are complemented with confidence building measures such as business to business (B2B) exchange and talent engagement.

MALTA – Dec.15, 2021 - The International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) launched the Training Institute on Migration Capacity Partnership for the Mediterranean (MCP Med TI) on 15 December 2021 in Malta. The launch event took place with the distinguished presence of Hon. Evarist Bartolo, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of Malta, and Michael Spindelegger, Director General of ICMPD, with an online intervention by the Deputy Director-General of the European Commission Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs, Mr. Johannes Luchner.

"Digital Talents for Moldova – Slovakia for Talents (DIGI TALENTS)" is a Slovak-Moldovan labour mobility and career development programme designed for young Moldovan professionals working in the ICT sector. Its main goal is to help Moldovan talents strengthen their professional skills and acquire new knowledge in a stimulating environment of ICT companies in Slovakia, thus improving their employment or business prospects.

Every year, thousands of women and girls fall into the hands of traffickers in their country of origin, on their way to Europe, within the European Union (EU) or during several phases of their migration journey. Given the underground nature of the criminal networks and poor data collection systems, the actual number of victims is difficult to assess and is likely to be underestimated. According to available EU data, the majority of human trafficking victims are still women and girls, with three-quarters of registered victims being female. Women and girls are primarily trafficked for sexual exploitation purposes.

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