News

The research project “Implementation of the Talent Partnerships – What potential role for the diaspora?” includes four country case studies and comprehensive description of diaspora segments, contributions and engagement potential. The report was prepared in partnership with the European Centre for Development Policy management (ECDPM) and the ICMPD sister-project European Union Global Diaspora Facility (EUDIF).

In 2019, fifteen Nigerian software developers, quality assurance specialists and data scientists took up their new positions at various Lithuanian companies. They were the first “explorers” to enter the labour mobility scheme Digital Explorers which brings young ICT (Information and communications technology) specialists from Nigeria to Lithuania for a career advancement programme. Funded by the European Union (EU) through ICMPD’s Mobility Partnership Facility (MPF), the initiative aimed to enhance the young specialists’ skills and competencies while contributing to the development of relevant business networks in both countries.

In February, the ICMPD and the Directorate-General Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) co-hosted the workshop “From Pilot Projects to Talent Partnerships – Exploring the future of legal migration to the European Union (EU)” bringing together EU actors, member state and partner country representatives, and labour mobility project practitioners. The workshop was organised to share and reflect on stakeholders’ hands-on experience of implementing pilot projects on labour migration as the EU is gearing up to launch a new policy framework for cooperation on legal migration.

The launch of this new capacity building initiative was recently formalised through a grant contract signed by ICMPD, through the MPF, and the University of Maastricht in September 2020. The action is funded with a total budget of € 723,740.50 (94.60% from AMIF).

The MMDP aims to create a shared understanding of multifaceted migration issues and contribute to more comprehensive and better informed migration policies among partner countries and EU Member States, by implementing a training programme for partner country-government officials.

One of the innovative tools proposed by the EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum (published on 23 September 2020) is the Talent Partnerships conceived as a single framework aiming to “offer cooperation with partner countries and help boost mutually-beneficial international mobility”.

ICMPD today launches a series of blog articles on how the Talent Partnerships could be shaped, put in motion and brought to fruition by sharing experience, research findings and practices.

The Digital Explorers project team has started sharing their reflections and learnings on the first round of mobility in a series of online discussions that took place in October 2020.

This article highlights key insights shared in the context of these webinars. Recordings of all sessions are cross-referenced and available here.

The new MPF policy brief explores the preliminary lessons learnt from 18 months of implementation of projects that exemplify important approaches and principles at the heart of the proposed Talent Partnerships. While form and scope of mobility, and targeted stakeholders differ from one Pilot Project to another, all of them have sought to test different methodologies addressing the forming of partnerships, skills and labour market research, candidate search and selection, matching between candidates and employment or educational offers, as well as the organisation of placements and reintegration activities.

The intention of the EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum is to offer a “fresh start” for a system that manages and “normalises” migration.  In the introduction, migration is framed as a “feature of human history” that brings growth, innovation and social dynamism, a vision fully embraced and promoted by the Global Initiatives Programme at ICMPD.