Orient8 Final Conference 

Buddies for Inclusive Cities and Municipalities: Lessons Learned from Local & European Projects

On Thursday 15 December 2022, the VVSG, the city of Mechelen, Beyond the Horizon and HIVA-KU LEUVEN and all their partners will organise the inspiration day "Buddies for inclusive cities and municipalities: lessons learned from local & European projects." We invite local governments and civil society organisations to reflect on lessons learned from European projects with other cities and municipalities. These include experiences with 'mentoring' between (European) cities and municipalities as well as social mentoring in Flanders better known as buddying.

Be inspired by Flemish and European experts and colleagues about buddy cooperation and mentoring of and by municipalities. Learn how to set up a buddy programme in a small municipality or how to set up an intermunicipal collaboration. Exchange experiences about buddy matching and learn about online tools for buddies. Get to know the welcome application of the city of Mechelen.

IN COOPERATION WITH
This inspiration day is an initiative of the VVSG, the city of Mechelen, Beyond the Horizon and HIVA-KULEUVEN and is part of the European Inclusive Cities and Orient8 projects. 

VENUE: 

📍Lamot, Van Beethovenstraat, Mechelen, België

Van Beethovenstraat 8
2800 Mechelen Vlaams Gewest
België

PROGRAMME:

9.00: Registration & welcoming coffee

9.30: Welcome
• by Gabriella de Francesco, City Councellor for Diversity and Equal Opportunities of the City of Mechelen

9.35: Introduction
  - by Mr. George Ioakimidis, Mayor of Nikaia-Rentis (Greece)
  - by Mr. Pietro Puccio, Mayor of Capaci (Italy)

9.50: A framework for buddy working and mentoring municipalities
Session in English with translation (NL)

  - Buddy work for newcomers: context and lessons from the Orient8 project
Keynote by Peter De Cuyper (KU Leuven)

This talk first sketches the context of the rise of social mentoring programs for migrant newcomers. Then lessons will be shared about how to set up a social mentoring project, drawing lessons from both Orient8 as other research on social mentoring programs. Guidelines were developed based on these lessons and will be introduced.

  - City-to-city mentoring: A methodological guide
Keynote by Ceri Hutton (Migration Work CIC)
Mentoring is a powerful method to provide personalised, informal support to students, job seekers, young entrepreneurs or migrants. Mentoring has also been used in peer support of staff working for city administrations – it embodies the idea of inter-municipal solidarity, city networking and mutual learning between cities. As a legacy of the IncluCities project, Migration Work developed a guide to disseminate the practice of peer mentoring between cities and city networks in and beyond the area of integration policy and support its use as a tool for knowledge transfer and learning.


10.30: From practice
Sofa discussion with Corinne Huybers (city of Mechelen), Carla Rey (AICCRE) and Samet Coban (Beyond the Horizon) 
Participants of the Inclusive Cities and Orient 8 projects briefly explain the projects and share their insights and experiences.

11.00: Coffee break

11.30: Choice of 4 workshops - first round

1. City-to-city mentoring
Corinne Huybers (city of Mechelen), Sabine Van Cauwenberge (VVSG) and Bart Vandenbussche (Flemish Agency for Internal Affairs)
How can the Flemish government and VVSG support cities and municipalities in taking up a mentoring role? We discuss the methodological guide developed by Migration Work CIC for the Inclusive Cities project. We will share the experiences and lessons learned of Mechelen and VVSG. Questions we will address: How can cities take on this mentoring role? What support is needed? Which actors can play a (supporting) role? How can we secure and unlock the knowledge and experience? What are the preconditions? How to deal with the great diversity of cities and municipalities in terms of capacity and resources?

2. How to use digital tools in welcoming newcomers?
Sara Lanoye (city of Mechelen), Sofie Iserbyt (Flemish Integration & Civic Integration Agency) and Maria Lee (ENG/NL)
How can digital tools support migrant newcomers in their first steps of their integration process? What advantages do such apps and websites offer? Where are the bottlenecks and what can be improved? In this session we zoom in on the welcome app of the City of Mechelen. With this smartphone app, you can quickly find information about leisure, healthcare, housing, learning and living in Mechelen in different languages. Beyond the Horizon showcases the smart matching tool developed to help buddy programs match buddies more quickly and easily based on commonalities. Integration and Inclusion Agency also explains what digital tools have been or will be developed to support newcomers.

3. Buddying in small municipalities and intermunicipal collaborations: experiences, challenges and recommendations
With testimonies from Bocholt (Hilde Braeken), Hechtel-Heksel, Capaci (I) and the Noordwelzijnsregio (Goele Kerkhof)
Also small municipalities organise mentoring projects for newcomers. They often deal with a lack of capacity. In the Flemish pilots ‘Participation and networking’ small municipalities experimented with intermunicipal cooperation. In this workshop, we explicitly give the floor to municipalities. How do these municipalities tackle three crucial aspects of successful buddying: the needs of the newcomers, the work and support of volunteers and the mutual expectations of the buddies. What kind of support do small municipalities need? Is intermunicipal collaboration a solution to tackle the capacity problem?

4. How to measure the impact of buddy programs?
Peter De Cuyper (KU Leuven) and Jan Van Ongevalle (KU Leuven)
In this workshop, we first propose an evaluation framework to map the impact of buddy programs, taking into account the impact on both mentors and mentees. Next, a number of low-threshold tools will be proposed to evaluate buddy projects. Concrete examples are given from practice. In the last part of the workshop, the opportunity is given to give feedback and discuss the applicability of the tools to your project.

12.30: Lunch & networking opportunity

13.50: Again choice from the 4 workshops above - second round

15.05: Expert reflections - Advice for the future
Sofa discussion with Fatih Yilmaz (director of projects and partnerships, Beyond the Horizon ISSG), Sabine Van Cauwenberge (policy officer integration and civic integration, Flemish Association of Cities and Municipalities (VVSG), Angelique Petrits (policy officer, DG HOME), Gunther Van Neste (Deputy Head of Cabinet for Living Together, Cabinet of Flemish Minister Bart Somers)

15.35: Closing remarks
• by Bart Somers, Flemish minister for integration, civic integration and equal opportunities

15.50: Artistic closure

16.10: Reception  

17.00: End