Workers from vulnerable groups, including migrants, became employed and trained at a vegan bistro in Warsaw, Poland, which has been set up thanks to an ESF co-financed microloan. Migrants in eight Member States receive microloans supported under the EaSI Guarantee and benefit additionally from EU supported business development services (BDS) in form of mentoring, coaching and training, to help them succeed with their business ideas.
In Finland, migrants find employment thanks to the KOTO SIB programme where investors have the opportunity to contribute to solving a social issue in society and the government only pays if pre-agreed outcomes are achieved. These are only some examples of situations where migrants are already benefitting from financial instruments.
The recently published fi-compass factsheet ‘Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) – Financial instruments’ helps managing authorities and other stakeholders involved in programming or implementation of projects for migrants and refugees (third-country nationals) to make an informed decision if and how to implement financial instruments in the area of integration of migrants.
The factsheet explains the link with measures in four sectoral areas: education, employment, health and housing, identified as crucial by the European Commission Action plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021-2027.
Equipped with greater resources, the regulatory framework of the Common Provisions Regulation (CPR, 2021/1060) on financial instruments and the possibility to use fi-compass advisory support such as the targeted coaching, AMIF managing authorities are encouraged to consider implementing financial instruments in the 2021-2027 programming period to foster the integration of migrants. AMIF financial instruments could support a range of different reception and early integration measures tailored to the needs of third-country nationals.
The factsheet describes how financial instruments may be inter alia deployed in the following three key sectors:
The fi-compass factsheet introduces the rationale, main principles and key benefits of financial instruments for the different involved stakeholder groups: managing authorities, final recipients and financial intermediaries.
The factsheet describes the main financial instrument product types and the lifecycle of financial instruments including the design, set-up, implementation and winding-up of financial instruments.
An important message is that financial instruments supporting the integration of migrants can be combined with grants, both in a single financial instrument operation and as separate operations.
Using financial instruments in the area of integration of migrants is also relevant for ESF+ and ERDF managing authorities as these Funds cover interventions aiming at the integration of third-country nationals complementary to the early integration measures under the AMIF.