+ Policy

Our Approach

Bridging the gap between social entrepreneurship and policymaking

Our community of social entrepreneurs, also known as Hellopreneurs, and their innovations are the main driving force behind our work. We want to build new discussion spaces where our social entrepreneurs can present their innovations to key decision and policy makers and develop concrete policy recommendations to improve refugees and migrants’ social integration in Europe. 

We are connecting our Hellopreneurs with decision and policy makers at the European level in unique ways:

• Giving Hellopreneurs a seat at the table. We guide and accompany our Hellopreneurs to meet key stakeholders and present their solutions highlighting the importance of social innovation for migration. We co-design conferences and events with our social entrepreneurs as speakers or facilitators and act as a natural convener for the migration sector. We have developed strong partnerships and collaborative relationships with other major organisations in the field to amplify our impact and reach of our social innovations.

• Policymaker salons. Through our signature policy salons where we bring together a diverse array of stakeholders involved in migration policymaking, from the public and private sectors, as well as refugee and migrant communities, to address current issues related to migration and co-create policy solutions together. The first policy salon series has evolved around the challenges and pathways for solutions for refugees and migrants during and after COVID-19. In a series of policy essays put down by our Hellopreneurs they reflect on the pandemic from their own area-specific perspectives and draw recommendations for social cohesion and inclusive recovery, the future of legal migration, migrant entrepreneurship and on how to reverse the narrative on migration. These articles have been turned into thematic policy salons where our Hellopreneurs have presented their proposals for change to policymakers and other stakeholders.

• Changemaker journeys where high-ranking EU officials engage in a day out of the ordinary across Belgium and other European countries. Officials are given a first-hand dive into an “Everyone a Changemaker” framework with the aim to interact and build bridges with our social entrepreneurs. We’re ready for new journeys as soon as the pandemic is over.
  
  

An integrated multi-stakeholder network

Since Hello Europe set foot in Brussels, we have mapped the main actors in the migration field, build long-term relationships with policymakers and created policy champions who advocate for our solutions.

We have established good working relationships with MEPs across the political spectrum and engaged with high-ranking officials from the European Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the Committee of the Regions (CoR). We have become members of some of their working groups, like the study group on migration and integration (IMI) at the EESC and CoR’s Cities and Regions for Integration. These connections are complemented with contacts at governmental institutions in the Member States, like the High Commissioner for Migration in Portugal and the Secretariat of State for Migration in Spain, which have been involved in the co-creation of the Hello Festivals[1] in their respective countries, and a number of diplomatic missions in Brussels.

Hello Europe has also partnered with major international organizations and UN agencies, like IOM or UNHCR, in different countries. Together with IOM we launched Hola Argentina in 2020 in order to map and support innovative practices seeking to solve migrants’ challenges in Argentina and we are exploring opportunities to launch accelerators in other Latin American countries together. We also maintain a fluid contact with NGOs and think tanks working on the ground to support refugee communities.

Formulating and shaping policy

Our Hellopreneurs are leading projects for the integration of migrants and refugees across Europe at the local and national levels. They have created welcoming environments for immigrants in their country of arrival, provided them with various forms of assistance and mentoring to improve their skills and facilitating their transition into the labor market as well as accompanying them in the process of setting up their new business. In doing so they have contributed to demystify the stigmas associated with being a refugee or a migrant. They have proved the positive impact they can have in our societies instead of being only seen solely as costly threats.

Our portfolio of solutions features over 100 individual social innovations. With these solutions we want to illustrate a new framework for migration and integration policies and enable collaborative thinking. Cooperating with local municipalities, governments and national and supranational public authorities has become an essential part of their efforts to make change effective. Making governments and the public administration aware of the existing social innovations and involving them in the process of co-creation is key to achieving systemic change. For this reason, we have started a conversation at the EU level aimed at producing policy recommendations created by citizen sector leaders, policymakers and experts together. 

From our policy unit in Brussels we help our Hellopreneurs translate their social innovations into concrete and tangible proposals to shape policy. We monitor policy and legislative developments in the field of migration and integration and provide guidance to our Hellopreneurs in order to navigate the complexities of the EU decision-making process.

Changing the narrative and empowering migrant leadership

Predominant narratives shaping migration are short-sided and fail to acknowledge the bigger picture. They tend to overlook the positive aspects of migration and, most importantly, they disregard the voices of refugees and migrants themselves.

At Hello Europe we are developing strategies to identify, connect, support, and lift up change leaders with a migrant perspective who can seat at the conversation table and contribute to change the narrative around migration. 

We have launched Changemakers for Migration, a project that aims to identify leading changemakers with a migrant background across Europe whose stories can shape the discourse around migration. We also involve these leaders in the policy conversations we are creating in Brussels to also influence migration decision-making. Three of these leaders have been selected to be part of the Commission expert group on the views of migrants, which provides advice and expertise on policies in the field of migration, asylum and integration of migrants.

[1] A national innovation conference with the most relevant scaling partners, migration experts, decision makers and sector representatives.