SIforREF addresses at least two main territorial challenges identified in the cooperation Programme: globalisation, economic development and social cohesion. Refugee and migration issues in fact Impacts the economic equilibrium and the social cohesion of our society. The refugee crisis of 2015 inevitably gave more evidence to strengths and weaknesses related to the challenges mentioned. Certain best practices revealed the existence of connected top-down and bottom up experiences, which contained participatory Elements. However, at the same time the crisis dramatically revealed weaknesses

that can be contributed to a lack of skills and services as well as to the hostile socio-political climate. The project will develop tools for evaluating and designing social innovative practices and for improving the social innovation capacity of policies. It will also implement seven pilot actions to test these tools and design regional and transnational strategies. To do so, the partnership will investigate and build on best practices and initiate a mutual learning process among central European regions, especially neighbourhood regions involved in the project.

Learning from partners!

Hello,

My name is Katarina Niewiedzial and I am the commissioner for integration and migration of the Berlin senate in Germany. I am delighted to be part of this European project SIforRef – especially for two reasons:

Firstly, I clearly stand for a strong common European policy, because this is the only way to tackle global issues. We can see this mainly by the topic of migration. I like the term: “Think global, act local”. I think it is important to involve the local level into the decision-making process. A good example for this is Interreg Central Europe, but also the European movement of Solidarity Cities.

Secondly, the project stands for direct cooperation of the administration with NGOs and the academia.

Berlin is a diverse city with a very clear political message: we are very much committed to the participation and integration of all migrants from day one. I want the Berlin expertise to contribute to a liberal European migration policy. But, I also want to learn from other European countries and initiatives – with a common and positive spirit!