The University of Dresden visits Roquetas del Mar

On the 21 and 22 of November the Roquetas'  ULG members received the visit of an expert on migrants integration of the University of Dresden. The idea to develop such exchange has come during one of the transnational workshops held in the framework of the Arrival Cities Project, which has seen the collaboration of the representatives of the Municipality of Roquetas del Mar and the University of Dresden in an exchange of experiences and good practices. After having known some of the actions carried out by the City on how to foster the integration process of migrants, Dresden local Coordinator, Mr. Magdi Khalil manifested the interest of visiting personally the City and the ULG members to learn and be able to replicate these actions in German local context.
Among the diverse activates carried on by the Municipality, the ones who interested him the most were the functioning of the Immigration Office and the organization of Spanish language classes carried by the Municipality.
For the ULG members it has been a very good experience, because they could experience the added value of the exchange programme and compare their experience with the one from a German city, that has different context and characteristics but same challenges.
Among the 10 partner countries the Municipality of Roquetas de Mar is the only Spanish member; in the framework of the Project the City Council, responsible of the coordination of the Local Action Group, has managed to draft a plan of action agreed with dozens of collectives and social agents, that contributes to make  of Roquetas a European benchmark in Integration.
Furthermore the participation of Roquetas to the URBACT programme has been in some way the prelude to the funding awarded by the City under the Programme EDUSI (Estrategias de Desarrollo Urbano Sostenible e Integrado) ; that has come to the City precisely because they were part of the Arrival Cities Project, and will allow them to give to continuity to the actions undertaken during the two years transnational exchange.

Original Article in Spanish: "Un experto de la Universidad de Dresde visita Roquetas para intercambiar experiencias en integración", Roquetas Noticias.