The H2020-project MIICT explores new approaches for ICT services that facilitate the integration of migrants. For that purpose, a first round of focus groups and co-creation workshops has taken place with local stakeholders in Spain, Italy and Cyprus.
During April 2019, the consortium of the H2020-project MIICT (ICT Enabled Services for Migration) has launched 3 pilots in 3 countries (Spain, Italy and Cyprus), bringing together more than 100 participants, including migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, local officials, law enforcement officers, representatives from the social welfare and national as well as international NGOs (Non-Governmental-Organisations) and subject matter experts. The participants were divided into groups, attending on separate days: 1) Migrants/refugees/asylum seekers; 2) Service providers and subject matter experts; 3) NGOs.
In pre-selected pilot locations, the project conducted a series of co-design and co-creation sessions with these stakeholders to understand the challenges and difficulties associated with accessing services. The series of events was initiated by Sheffield Hallam University as the coordinator and organized by project partners in each location.
During the three days’ workshop, the participants were informed about the scope and the rationale of the project, before they voluntarily shared their experiences, expressed their opinions, and discussed the challenges that they face in their daily activities. The results were collected and prioritized, using a mixed-methods approach, including mind-mapping, storyboarding, questionnaires and facilitator observation. In each location, the methods were identical in order to ensure coherence and comparability. The outputs from the focus groups define the main challenges, which will feed in to in a second round of co-creation workshops in October 2019, with the aim of creating useful and relevant ICT solutions.
The project is implemented with the support of the H2020 Research and Innovation programme of the European Commission under Grant Agreement No 822380.
