Launch of the Peer Learning Note 28: Inclusive Local Citizenship & Migration

Launch of the Peer Learning Note 28: Inclusive Local Citizenship & Migration

Key Lessons from the Mediterranean City-to-City Migration (MC2CM) Peer Learning on Inclusive Local Citizenship hosted virtually from 16 to 18 March 2021 by Grenoble, France, together with UCLG’s Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights now available in EnglishSpanish and French.

As hubs of innovation, economic opportunity, sociopolitical and cultural exchange, cities

can greatly benefit from the contributions of all inhabitants, temporary or permanent, regardless of legal status. Municipalities can act, and many are already acting, as facilitators of bolder cooperation and coordination among citizens and stakeholders committed with inclusion and social cohesion, promoting community-driven and intersectional approaches to foster a more inclusive notion of local citizenship across all levels of government.

The Peer Learning Note introduces key learnings from the exchange and debates around local practices tackling inclusion, participation and action to prevent discrimination, fostering migrants’ political participation and recognition in local political spaces. In all these cases, the human rights-based approach plays an important role. First, to uphold a shared vision of dignity and universality, but also to trigger daring processes of local policy innovation with a transformative and participatory emphasis.

The note highlights case studies and policies implemented by cities such as Barcelona, Grenoble, Seine Saint Denis, Sousse and Valencia, that can serve as inspiration for other cities seeking to create welcoming environments for vulnerable migrant and displaced populations, as well as to overcome some of the gaps that they are confronting in enabling a complete enjoyment of inhabitants’ right to the city and municipal services.

The note also includes insights to the methodology of storytelling through virtual facilitation, which allowed participants to explore and reflect on the accessibility of the city from the perspectives of a diverse sample of inhabitants and their personal journeys interacting with public institutions, accessing public services, and using public spaces.

Nine key lessons to develop a shared vision, move from vision to policy and engage multiple stakeholders in the construction of inclusive notions of local citizenship and mechanisms to facilitate its implementation are also introduced.

Read the Peer Learning Note 28 about Local Citizenship and Migration in EnglishSpanish and French.