Programmes and Operations

European Resettlement Network

European Resettlement Network: First training on resettlement at El Escorial, Spain

From 10 to 15 June 2007, 30 trainees gathered in the beautiful city of El Escorial, Spain to attend a training course on resettlement. During these days, the training participants were submerged in resettlement issues by facilitators from UNHCR, government bodies and NGOs from all over Europe.

The 'European Resettlement Training' programme was organised by the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), Brussels office as part of the ERF funded project 'Practical Cooperation for a European Resettlement Network', aiming at increasing NGOs' operational resettlement capacity through training and promoting field experience of NGO and Government staff members in UNHCR field operations.

The training programme was organised in close collaboration with UNHCR Resettlement Service in Geneva and the candidates were carefully selected from among the project partner countries. Three of which are experienced resettlement countries: Finland, The Netherlands and Sweden, and three are countries which are considering resettlement: Czech Republic, Italy and Spain. Training candidates were linked to NGOs or Government agencies, had hands on experience working with refugees, had expressed interest to consider overseas employment as part of their career development and committed to transfer gained knowledge back to their organisations.

The training curriculum was designed to fit a public with a wide range of backgrounds and levels of knowledge of resettlement, providing a comprehensive overview of the whole resettlement process. UNHCR Resettlement Services (Sean Henderson and Peter Stockholder) kicked off the training with the basics on international protection, and principles of durable solutions and resettlement. Hereafter, UNHCR elaborated in more detail on the resettlement field operation: resettlement criteria, identification of resettlement needs and preparation of cases, and the management of resettlement with issues such as fraud and Standard Operating Procedures. The second day was finalised with a session by an NGO child protection expert on the complex and multi-layered 'Best Interest of the Child Determination (BID)' assessment, which instigated questions and discussion. The third day bridged the phases in the process where UNHCR's job ends and the work of Governments starts. Presentations were provided on several European country resettlement programmes, country selection criteria and selection missions. Day four dealt with integration of resettled refugees. The presentations demonstrated a range of approaches present in Europe with respect to integration including a centralised reception model exclusively for resettled refugees to immediate immersion upon arrival into local community life, through NGO coaching and assistance. Other presentations elaborated on the role of municipalities, the disputed integration potential criteria and a larger role for NGOs and refugees in resettlement. Moreover, the Swedish Integration Board presented findings from a commissioned research on 'introduction programmes'. The Canadian Refugee Sponsorship Programme was presented as 'best practice' from a non-European country. The fifth and final day of the training was devoted to the developments on resettlement at the European level, advocacy for resettlement and a briefing on the UNHCR-ICMC Resettlement Deployment Scheme.

The European Resettlement Network training was a useful and interesting experience for many participants not only due to the knowledge it delivered but also by providing a forum for exchange of best practices and group twinning between experienced and emerging resettlement countries, between NGOs and Government officials. It is hoped that the training brought about networking opportunities which will foster communication afterwards. The next steps are to facilitate sending part of the training participants as ICMC deployees in UNHCR field resettlement operations, the development of a 'European Guide to Resettlement' based on the training and the organisation of a final workshop planned for 23 October 2007 tentatively to discuss widening and maintaining the network and the identification of future training needs.