Doras is one of seven partners working to implement the EU-funded INTEgreat project. As part of this project, Doras is working closely with Limerick City and County Council to implement a pilot project that aims to bring innovative solutions to integration barriers in Limerick in the areas of employment, capacity building and training, health and social cohesion.
The pilot project is informed by the local context, a research evidence base and the development of the Integration Strategy Framework by the University of Bologna in the early phases of the INTEgreat project.
In Limerick, the pilot project aims to overcome the local barriers to integration identified by Doras and Limerick City and County Council (LCCC). The activities were designed and are being implemented collaboratively, with input and support from local stakeholders.
Some of the activities being implemented in Limerick are:
Employment Hub: Each week, Doras facilitates an employment support group known as the Employment Hub, providing informal assistance and peer-support to people around CVs, interview skills and job searching, as well as digital skills and thematic workshops on employability issues. This work is evolving and adapting to participants’ needs on an ongoing basis.
Online information resource: A new online information resource for migrants in Limerick has been developed by Limerick City and County Council, that sign posts people to relevant services and supports in Limerick. This will initially be translated into Ukrainian language with additional language translations planned in the future.
Intercultural awareness training: Doras has designed and delivered six intercultural awareness training sessions for people working in frontline services in Limerick, including staff working in the local authority, with the aim of helping service providers to promote equality, diversity and inclusion.
Health information events: Limerick City and County Council has been collaborating with Healthy Limerick and a range of local service providers to deliver health information events that aim to promote awareness of and access to relevant health support services in Limerick. The first event was targeted at migrant women and was well attended with very positive feedback from all stakeholders.
The Limerick pilot project has a total of nine thematic initiatives planned, with many more actions to come. In October, we are holding another health information event that will be open to people from a local and migrant background. We will also facilitate a series of anti-racism workshops in collaboration with local activists, service providers and migrant communities. In November, we will be hosting an education and employment fair with thematic employability workshops for jobseekers, as well as self-employment workshops for people seeking international protection in Ireland. And we will have our third meeting of the newly established Migrant Integration Forum, which aims to facilitate constructive dialogue between migrant communities and the local authorities in Limerick.
The feedback received to date from participants and stakeholders involved in the project activities has been overwhelmingly positive and we look forward to continuing this work together with our local and EU partners over the coming months.
For more information on the INTEgreat pilot project in Ireland, contact Aideen at a.roche@doras.org
