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BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – 10 March, 2023 – The EU-funded Migration Partnership Facility (MPF) launched a new Call for Proposals addressing the external dimension to the EU’s border and security priorities in the migration domain. The overall indicative amount made available under the Call is EUR 13,900,000. 

Highlights of eligible activities under Borders (BMVI) funding framework (please see longer list in Call):

• Integrated border management enhancing the cooperation in border management between EU MS and partner countries;
• Investing in systems and services, training, exchange of experts, deployment of immigration liaison officers, innovative solutions and new technologies, studies;
• Strengthening the security of identity and travel documents in non-EU countries;
• Support to dialogue on visa issues with non-EU countries;
• Review and development of legislation, policy documents/strategies, action plans, policy tools and instruments, standard operating procedures;

Highlights of eligible activities under the Security (ISF) funding framework (please see longer list in Call):

• Support to thematic or cross-theme networks to improve mutual confidence, exchange and dissemination of know-how, information, experiences and best practices, pooling of resources and expertise in joint centres of excellence;
• Capacity building of relevant law enforcement, judicial authorities and administrative agencies based on expressed needs in the partner country;
• Support to joint operations in countries of origin, transit and destination, simulations and other exercises involving EU MS and partner country security actors (e.g. law enforcement, borders, judicial actors, NGOs, etc.);
• Capacity building to combat criminal networks and organisations active in migrant smuggling into the EU, to ensure effective law enforcement cooperation in this regard;
• Initiatives targeting trafficking in human beings including sexual and labour exploitation of illegally staying non-EU nationals and child trafficking;

Re-thinking Approaches to Labour Migration - Potentials and Gaps in four EU Member States’ Migration Infrastructures

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Europe’s working-age population is declining. Employers in EU member states face large and persistent skill and labour shortages in a range of high- and mid-skill professions and in diverse sectors ranging from construction over care to information technology. Against a background of growing economic needs, the recruitment of foreign workers to the EU has increased in importance as one of the strategies to fill labour market shortages. At the same time, migration remains a sensitive political topic and levels of socio-political acceptance for an increase in labour immigration varies across member states.

The EU has developed the framework for Talent Partnerships (TPs) to respond to these dynamics. TPs are presented as a policy tool that can help member states to benefit from international mobility and to better match labour market needs with foreign skills. How to utilise and advance the TPs within the context of national migration systems is however not always obvious. It requires not only legal migration systems that can provide for efficient and effective access to legal migration routes but also a link between labour market assessments and the identification of current and future migration needs as well as information on skill profiles of partner countries.

The MPF and ECDPM have been mapping labour market needs and analysed national migration systems of four EU member states (Estonia, the Netherlands, Poland and Portugal) with the aim to investigate how prepared the respective infrastructures are to respond to growing needs for workers. We were interested in understanding how existing modalities and labour migration pathways could be utilised pragmatically in the context of establishing Talent Partnerships as well as where gaps and possibilities for adaptations lie.

In November 2022 the MPF is launching its latest service offering in the area of legal and labour migration, the Labour Mobility Partner Country Dashboard. Check out the tool on the MPF website here!

What is the dashboard?

The Labour Mobility Dashboard is an online tool that gathers and visualises key labour and migration data of EU priority partner countries. It covers the most relevant elements pertinent to labour migration initiatives, including employment, labour stock, migration, education, economy and demography. 

The tool aims to improve the ease of finding and using reliable and credible data for labour migration purposes. By offering comparable data across countries, the tool seeks to inform policymakers in designing and setting up labour mobility schemes, cross-border vocational training initiatives or skills partnerships.

The headlines are filled with news of labour shortages, as employers report needs in nearly all industries and at various skill levels. The global ‘race for talent’ is set to heat up, with employers and countries increasingly vying for international workers as one way to meet labour needs. Why not include refugees in the search for needed talent?

 This is the premise of an EU-funded MPF project that launched earlier this year, Making refugee talent visible and accessible to EU labour markets – tapping into the potential of skills-based complementary pathways. Complementary pathways provide an opportunity for displaced persons to utilise their skills through migration channels for work, matching the skills of displaced persons with the needs of employers in other countries. This project is examining how complementary labour pathways can be expanded, for the benefit of displaced persons, EU labour markets, and host countries alike – a ‘triple win’.

Over the last year, a truly innovative project redefining migration capacity development has been taking place in Malta - the Training Institute on Migration Capacity Partnership for the Mediterranean (MCP Med TI).

What is it?

Simply put, it is an answer to that deceptively straightforward question, “How can we make training better?”

Thanks to the visionary support of the EU through the Migration Partnership Facility (MPF), along with Malta, Austria and Denmark, the Training Institute was established with an initial external dimension focus on Southern Partner Countries, specifically Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. However, after only one year of operation, its impact is already going far beyond that, redefining and professionalising the capacity training sector.

The project’s overall objective of becoming “… a permanent and accredited regional training institute offering quality-assured, bespoke learning and coaching experiences that result in certification for migration actors” was always ambitious, requiring completely new ways of thinking and working. Fortunately, with its emphasis on continuous innovation, ICMPD has proved to be the ideal organisation to do that.

The MPF project entitled "Strengthening of the Migration Management System in the Republic of Moldova" - implemented by the European Project Implementation Centre of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration in Poland (EPIC MoIA) in cooperation with the General Inspectorate of Border Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Moldova (GIBP) - seeks to strengthen Moldovan border management and migration services in line with EU standards and best practices.

The project is closely aligned with one of the key principles of the European Agenda on Migration: working in partnership with third countries to tackle and prevent irregular migration. This objective is to be achieved by strengthening Moldova's migration management system, making it more proximate to EU standards.

In this article, we speak to Tatiana Ciumas from the Bureau of Migration and Asylum of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Moldova. With her 18 years of migration management experience and after participating in a series of workshops under the MPF project, Tatiana will become a trainer. The MPF team had the opportunity to meet with her while participating in a workshop on "International protection of foreigners", which took place in Warsaw (Poland) at the beginning of October of this year.

Franceline's bond with Cabo Verde began when she married her late husband, a Caboverdian who had emigrated for 40 years but was eager to return to his homeland with his family. Franceline moved to Cabo Verde in 2017 with her husband and three children. As an immigrant of Burkinabe origin, Franceline had to start her life from scratch: moving to a new country with her family, without any support or acquaintances, was a difficult ordeal, but she soon grasped the value of Cabo Verde's warm welcome and the beauty of a country that remains a little-known to Burkinabe citizens.

Franceline worked for many years as a cook in Burkina Faso and Mali and specialised in a mix of French and African cuisine. When she arrived to Cabo Verde, she continued in this profession, infusing Cape Verdean culinary influences into her dishes, which became popular with customers. But personal and economic difficulties related to the Covid-19 crisis led her to change jobs and seek the support of Cabo Verde's Ministry of Family and Social Inclusion, which referred her to the services of the High Authority for Migration (Alta Autoridade para a Imigração - AAI). Franceline was able to access comprehensive support from the High Authority for Migration which offered administrative, training, logistics and social integration services.

 Inspired by the support provided in her time of need, Franceline founded an association bringing together the Burkinabe community residing in Cabo Verde to promote socio-economic integration, the development of social links with the host community, and the promotion of intercultural interactions between the Burkinabe community and the Cabo Verde population, thereby raising awareness of Burkinabe culture, national customs, and values. She now sees a bright future for her family in Cabo Verde and hopes that her children will both navigate and be proud of their Burkinabe and Cabo Verdean heritage.

On the 18^th of October 2022, the Migration Partnership Facility (MPF) organized an event convening former and current grantees, EU Member States, and EU services to provide an opportunity to discuss lessons learned, successes, and challenges in implementing borders and security projects under the framework of the MPF. The event, entitled ‘MPF Borders and Security Information Session – Sharing Experience and Forging Partnerships’ was held in Brussels, Belgium, and was the first of its kind focusing on the external dimension of borders and security in the context of the MPF.