This year’s Vienna Migration Conference (VMC2022) will take place on 11-12 October. A select group of decision-makers, thought leaders and frontrunners in the migration sphere will gather in Vienna’s historic city centre for two days of lively debates on the top issues of the day.
On May 9th, members of the Labour Mobility Practitioners’ Network (LMPN) convened to discuss ways to facilitate safe and legal migration to the EU. Johann Daniel Harnoss volunteered to share his experience working with the Imagine Foundation as its Co-founder and CEO.
About the Imagine Foundation
Imagine Foundation is a volunteer-run NGO based in Germany that supports young talents from non-European countries to find jobs in the EU. They do this through services such as online and in-person mentoring and coaching for CV writing and interview skills. By leveraging a network of volunteer fellows, Imagine can support individuals one-on-one, provide personalised feedback, and most importantly, inspiration. More than 300 candidates have found a job after completing their core programme, and the interest in their initiative is rising.
The MPF’s first cohort of pilot projects on legal migration have completed implementation. The final reports and project deliverables reached the MPF team in May 2022, and the last administrative steps for grant closures are being taken at the time of this article. It is an opportune moment to take stock of what remains of the pioneering work conducted by the MPF’s very first labour mobility initiatives.
Serghei Dziuba always dreamed of becoming an airplane pilot, but with no academy offering aircraft pilot studies in Moldova at the time, his dream was never realized. Instead, Serghei joined the Moldovan Border Police after his stint with the military, serving 21 years in what is largely considered a popular choice for young recruits. During this time, Serghei was able to climb the career ladder, becoming a Senior Officer of the Operational Management General Directorate of the General Inspectorate of the Border Police (GIBP) of the Republic of Moldova.
Through the project entitled ‘Novel concept of relocatable aerial surveillance for border security’, funded by the EU and contracted through the MPF, Serghei is the closest he has ever been to his dream, although instead of being onboard an aircraft, he is instead operating a remotely piloted aircraft system.
“I am glad to be able to gain this experience through this project. I have worked for the Border Police of the Republic of Moldova for 21 years.” It’s been a long-held dream of mine to become an air pilot. Thanks to the project, I have the opportunity to achieve my dream of becoming a pilot, but in this case, as a pilot of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV),” said Serghei.
The ‘Novel concept of relocatable aerial surveillance for border security’ project is implemented by the Lithuanian Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (Vilnius Tech) in cooperation with the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences (EASS). The project aims to strengthen Moldova’s aerial border surveillance capability to counter irregular border crossings and associated risks. In the framework of the project, Vilnius Tech and EASS are conducting training sessions for the GIBP on the use of new pilot solutions for re-locatable mobile systems with aerial surveillance of border security. Serghei is one among 20 trainees from the GIBP who are being trained to become pilots of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), or in other words, drones.
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 this article, we speak to Viorela Telegdi-Csetri and Aron Telegdi-Csetri, researchers at Babes-Bolyai University in Romania, about their work on transnational families and children left behind. Viorela and Aron are, respectively, the Project and Research Managers of the project entitled ‘Children Left Behind by Labour Migration: Supporting Moldovan and Ukrainian Transnational Families in the EU’ funded by the European Union and contracted by the MPF. Viorela and Aron have had extensive careers researching and publishing widely on transnational families and children left behind. The following is a transcript of the MPF’s conversation with the Telegdi-Csetris.
Complementary pathways to protection have been gaining increasing interest from policymakers and civil society as a way to enhance international responses to rising, and in many cases long-lasting, displacement. Complementary pathways to protection provide alternative routes for refugees to access protection, alongside the three traditional durable solutions (repatriation, local integration, and resettlement). Despite their considerable promise, complementary pathways remain small in scale.
In a new Migration Partnership Facility project, funded by DG HOME, ICMPD will examine how the potential of complementary pathways can be further tapped, for the benefit of refugees and EU labour markets alike. Under this project, ICMPD will support the EU and its Member States in understanding the intricacies of complementary pathways, map current initiatives, gauge interest in new and expanded programmes, and identify good practices.
Date and Time: 23 June 2022, 12:00-13:00 (CEST)
A Business Case for the Private Sector in the New EU Talent Partnerships
The Talent Partnerships announced by the European Commission will see investment in skills for the benefit of the labour market in Europe and for the benefit of the labour market in partner countries, with more skilled workers being made available to both.
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.’
