In many EU countries, the communication on migrants is often misleading and do not truly represent the positive contribution that migrants have made in their respective EU societies.

The project was born from the need to train European local authorities on the implementation of successful communication campaigns that focus on migration, with the long-term aim of achieving the better integration of migrants in their local communities. 

CLARINET aims to:

• Identify and promote the good practices of local authorities in public communication campaigns on migration and integration at EU level;
• Empower local border authorities to implement successful, evidence-based public communication campaigns on migration and integration through on-the-job training and support;
• Communicate real facts about migration thanks to evidence-based news (facts and figures).

The project is led by the Municipality of Lampedusa and Linosa in Italy, in collaborates with a multi-stakeholder partnership composed of seven other local authorities located in border areas, ten civil society organisations (CSOs) based in eight EU countries, and two international networks.

The main results of CLARINET are:

• Development of the European Award for Local Authorities’ Public Communication Campaigns on Migration and Integration. All submissions can be found here;
• Production of the Positive Storytelling Kit on Migration and Integration for Local Authorities, available in all partner languages here;
• Implementation of eight training programmes for local authorities, looking at how to talk about migration and integration in their local territories;
• Eight residences for artists within the territories involved;
• Design and promotion of eight communication campaigns on migration, carried out by the local authorities involved.

All participants of the online training were required to fill out an evaluation survey via a Google form upon completion. Through this survey partners could gather feedback, suggestions, comments and a general assessment of the successes and challenges of each of the trainings. This helped the consortium in better understanding how to improve future trainings.

So far, feedback received from participants indicates that the trainings have been successful: many local authority officers became more aware of issues of migration and how to incorporate them within their communication campaigns. In January 2020 CLARINET was presented at a high political level, in the Global Forum on Migration and Development - GFMD in Quito, Ecuador, by the mayor of Lampedusa and Linosa, Totò Martello.

The project targets local authorities in border regions and their residents (EU citizens and TCNs) as short-term beneficiaries; other EU local authorities as medium beneficiaries; residents of other EU local authorities as long-term beneficiaries.

CLARINET is funded by the EU's Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), with project number 821562.