News

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.

Over the past months, the Prague Process activities have largely focused on preparing the 4th Ministerial Conference, scheduled for 24-25 October 2022 as an official event of the Czech EU Presidency. The Conference shall result in the adoption of a new Action Plan and political mandate for the years 2023-2027.

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