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Working Together for Local Integration of Migrants and Refugees in Barcelona

image of Working Together for Local Integration of Migrants and Refugees in Barcelona

In Barcelona, the rate of foreign residents has quintupled since 2000, and in 2017, 23% of the population was foreign-born. From the late 1990s until today, the municipality has followed an intercultural strategy to implement inclusive measures for local migrant integration. These measures have been recently reinforced to welcome asylum seekers who tripled between 2015 and 2017. For this group, the municipality set up targeted housing and reception policies that complement the national reception system. Migrants have access to municipal measures in key sectors such as housing, minimum living allowances and labour market integration - by the employment service Barcelona Activa - on the same basis as the other residents. Further, Barcelona has developed sensitization initiatives to curb discrimination and improve service delivery in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The municipality has developed local coordination mechanisms with migrant associations and non-governmental organisations that aim to share information, avoid duplication and maximise the access to services such as language classes for migrants. Yet, migrants are particularly affected by socio-economic inequalities particularly following the economic crisis. This report sheds light on how the municipality and non-state partners work together with the other levels of government for sustainable migrant and refugee integration.

English

Division of competences for integration relevant matters across levels of government

Spain is a decentralised country with three tiers of sub-national governments each of them with specific competences. Along with the national government (1) Autonomous Communities (CA), (2) Provinces and (3) Municipalities hold specific administrative competences as well as decision and management autonomy. The Government delegations are territorialised representations of the central government in autonomous regions and within them, the Government Sub-delegations are territorialised representations of the central government in provinces.

English

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