With global demographics unequivocally pointing towards a future where we have more, not less, international migration, the need for experience and expertise on migration and integration will only grow. Global demographic and economic trends will have inexorable effects on international migration with shifts in countries of origin and destination, with integration patterns moving from those associated with permanent stays to those characterized by transnational activities, and with a growing international competition for skilled immigrants challenging both the traditional countries of immigration and countries that are new to immigration and integration.
Metropolis Professional Development offers exclusive training sessions with a strong focus on offering practical tips to better manage migration and integration. MPD’s added value resides on the longstanding expertise and reputation of the International Metropolis Project, the thorough work of its Experts Advisory Committee, and the excellence of its team of speakers and facilitators. MPD trainings are:
- A unique opportunity to learn about the latest trends in international migration.
- A tool to learn about new policy instruments and best practices.An exclusive chance to meet and exchange with worldwide renowned scholars and senior government officials and policy makers.
- A platform to expand your professional network.
- An investment in your organization as you achieve better professional outcomes and increase your productivity and that of your employees.
- An investment in developing your career prospects.
Metropolis Professional Development (MPD) offers intensive high level trainings to both Canadian and international audiences. The trainings are open to participants from various sectors. However, they have been especially designed to address the issues confronted by:
- High ranking to mid-level officials from international organizations.
- High ranking to mid-level officials from all levels of government (national, regional and local).
- Members of Boards, CEOs and Senior Managers from service providing organizations.
- Business Sector.
MPD also offers training sessions customized to a particular group, and with a specific focus. We can deliver the training in any city worldwide. For customized training rates, please contact us.
The main objective of the training is to enhance participants’ understanding of the phenomena associated with international migration and its effect on the outcomes of society together with the understanding of how policy and programs influence these outcomes to the advantage of the host societies, the migrants, and their countries of origin. In addition, specific objectives include:
- Participants acquire a conceptual framework and a knowledge base from which to implement effective migration and integration policies and programs in their jurisdictions;
- Participants develop new ways to think through the challenges of managing migration and integration by understanding the various considerations regardless of the jurisdiction and by asking themselves questions that each jurisdiction will need to answer;
- Participants increase their awareness about the importance of administration; data collection; and monitoring and evaluation in managing migration and integration efficiently and effectively;
- Participants learn how to develop solutions that are appropriate to their jurisdiction;
- The capacity of participants’ organizations is enhanced to effectively manage migrant integration through analysis of case studies, describing their degree of success and its reasons; and by understanding pitfalls to avoid;
- Participants receive tools to help raise awareness among government officials of the value of applying research to their policy development work;
- Service providers acquire knowledge on current trends in integration, on best practices of service delivery, and on evaluation methodologies.
Metropolis Professional Development (MPD) recognizes that participants come to its trainings with varied degrees of knowledge, experience and skills in the topics of migration and integration management. Furthermore, it recognizes that participants have different professional backgrounds and focus of work. With these differences in mind, the training sessions seek to develop, strengthen and/or complement each participant’s skills and knowledge through a series of interactive sessions led by professional facilitators, as well as engaging participants to share and contribute to their own learning. In this process, participants also count with the knowledge and expertise of renowned scholars, senior policy makers and practitioners. Indeed, each day, high level lectures will set the tone of the discussions and the personal and small-group work.
The guiding approaches to the training are based on Paulo Freire’s popular education and critical pedagogy and participatory adult education pedagogy. Both critical and participatory pedagogy are learner-centered approaches that emphasize the engagement of the learners as key factors in their own learning. Participants are “actors in the learning process.” To underscore this, the MPD training sessions, therefore, are not prescriptive of any particular solutions to improving migration and integration management. In fact, facilitators mentor and guide participants in coming up with their own approaches and solutions. In doing so, they make use of facilitation techniques such as Appreciative Inquiry process, Role Playing, Pro Action Café or Open Spaces.
To ensure the dynamism of the sessions as well as a good balance of backgrounds, the MPD trainings gathers between 20 and 25 participants.
The emphasis of the curriculum is focused on management over research. Although MPD trainings are rooted in empirical research, they are not academic in nature and are designed for those who are charged with managing these phenomena, either as officials of government, NGOs in the service provision sector, business, or otherwise. The training sessions not only enable participants to share their experiences and knowledge but facilitators assist participants in analyzing and building on their professional experiences to find commonalities and differences, to plan for action (implementation), and to reflect on the action. Sessions expose participants to information, best practices, tools and strategies, and invite participants to develop understandings through discussions and hands-on exercises. Sessions rely heavily on audio-visual materials, discussion and small-group work.
