“Bridging the Gap“: International Conference on Migration & Development
Monday 23 January 2012, 09.00 – 18.15 hrs
Tuesday 24 January 2012, 09.30 – 13.00 hrs
Venue: Albert-Schweitzer-Haus, Schwarzspanierstrasse 13, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Migration movements are a major global challenge. Nevertheless migration and immigration development policies are often incoherent with development goals. Links between these policy fields on governmental and non-governmental level are very rare. The same applies for cooperation between state actors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Diaspora organizations.
Through the international conference “Bridging the Gap”, the initiative CoMiDe (Connecting Migration and Development) will be introducing the theme of migration and development to a broader audience. Among others, the conference will present contributions and international perspectives by Madjiguène Cissé and Mignane Diouf (Senegal – Co-organizers of the World Social Forum in Dakar), and researchers such as Alex Asiedu (Ghana), Bernardo Venturi (Italy) and Thomas Faist (Germany). Additionally Franziska Keller, Member of European Parliament and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit will be among the experienced institutions participating. The presentation of European good practice examples of migration and development initiatives with a particular focus on Diaspora engagement is another highlight of the conference.
Conference languages on 23 January are English, German and French. We will run the workshops on 24 January in English and English-French – without simultaneous translation into German. The conference is open to everyone and participation is free of charge. Participants from Slovenia are: Blaž Slamič (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Marjan Huč (SLOGA), Max Zimani (Global), Franci Zlatar (Slovene Philanthropy), Barbara Vodopivec (Humanitas), Eyachew Tefera (Institute of African Studies).
The CoMiDe Initiative started in April 2011. The three-year project is funded by the European Commission. Project partners are the Peace Institute – Institute for Contemporary Social and Political Studies (Slovenia), COSPE – Cooperazione per lo Sviluppo dei Paesi Emergenti (Italy), Society Development Institute (Slovakia), and Südwind Agentur (Austria). The Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation (Austria) is the lead agency.
More information: www.comide.org and www.comide.net.
