The focus of the project is to enhance policy-making, reinforcing the capacity of public administrations to understand, anticipate and strategically manage the implications of demographic change for the growth and cohesion of European regions and cities, and for the overall integration of the SEE area. Local and regional authorities are at the forefront in facing the effects of current demographic, economic and social changes, and their mutual implications in terms of overall cohesion and competitiveness of their territories. They are confronted with the need to actively govern such processes, regaining their full planning and strategic capacity, instead of limiting their action to managing their ultimate effects. Demographic change is a complex process, that includes different trends of transformation in the population structure. The project MMWD is aware that migration flows have become the major force of population change, and that at the same time the knowledge gap is particularly evident when it comes to migration and, even more, to the effects migration flows produce on the economic and social development prospects for specific territories. MMWD takes into account the multifaceted realm of migration processes, which include movements occurring within the same region/country (i.e. from rural to urban areas) as well as across regions placed in different countries (i.e. intra-EU and between EU and non EU regions). MMWD will offer concrete knowledge-based tools to policy-makers and test policy-making processes that make appropriate use of such tools, at both sub-national and trans-national level.
Type of service
The main project outputs will be:
1. A SEE Knowledge (Information) Platform, widely accessible across and outside the SEE area, containing an inventory of data, information, methodologies that will be capitalised across the region. The IP will also serve as a tool for transnational dialogue and learning.
2. Needs analysis and action plans for those territories where the data infrastructure does not allow for developing demographic forecast and policy impact scenarios.
3. Survey of demographic forecast models and methods for constructing policy scenarios in use and deemed relevant to anticipate the impacts of migration-related demographic change, distinguishing between native and migrant populations.
4. A reference methodology for constructing population forecast models, to ensure appropriate project capitalisation to the benefit of the SEE region and to support national and transnational policy dialogue and cooperation
5. A reference methodology for deriving policy impact scenarios in key sectors for the growth and competitiveness of SEE regions. Policy scenarios will support inter-sector approaches and overall coherence in regional development strategies, thus enhancing their overall effectiveness.
6. Comparative methodology for the identification of common needs and challenges deriving from forecasts and policy impact scenarios, which will substantially support transnational policy dialogue and cooperation
7. Maps on the current demographic and migratory flows and their presence in the labour markets, with regional detail, will be made available to the Platform working groups
8. An established transnational framework for multilevel governance of complex policy challenges related to transnational migration movements across the SEE area.
9. Trained administrative staff with improved skills and competences to base policy decisions on concrete knowledge
10. Capacity-building package, used during the knowledge transfer activities of the project and made widely available through the KP
