On 1–2 October 2026, a meeting entitled ‘Designing Integration Strategies in Theory and Practice’ was held in Gdańsk, focusing on the development of integration and migration policies at national, regional and local levels. The event, organised as part of the ‘Active Cohesion Laboratory – supporting social inclusion in the regions’ project, was attended by representatives of the Migration Observatory at the Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Gdańsk.
Immediately prior to the start of the event, a meeting of the Pomeranian Council for Regional Migration Policy took place at the Marshal’s Office of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. During the meeting, Bartosz Kozicki, coordinator of the Programming Team in the Department of Regional and Spatial Development at the Marshal’s Office of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, presented the draft ‘Pomeranian Voivodeship Development Strategy 2035’.
The first day of the meeting, entitled ‘Designing integration strategies in theory and practice’, also took place at the Marshal’s Office of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. The event was opened by Marianna Wartecka, a member of the Board of the Ocalenie Foundation, and Agnieszka Zabłocka, Director of the Marshal’s Office. An introductory lecture entitled ‘Creating Solidarity-Based Public Policies’ was delivered by Dr hab. Bohdan Skrzypczak from the University of Warsaw, president of the Centre for Supporting Local Activity (CAL).
The programme for the first day also included a presentation on the role of local authorities in fostering integration and a panel discussion entitled “Developing integration policies at national, regional and local levels”. Dr Rafał Raczyński, coordinator of the Migration Observatory at the Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Gdańsk, took part in the discussion. The next item on the agenda was a session devoted to participatory public policy-making, in which Dr Barbara Kijewska, prof. UG, coordinator of the CZRUG Internship Programme, took part.
The second day of the event took the form of a series of workshops. The session entitled ‘From diagnosis to strategy. How to develop local and regional migration policies?”, led by Dr Rafał Raczyński, built on the issues raised on the first day. The aim was to present participants with proven models for developing local and regional migration policies, as well as to jointly work out the basic principles of the policy-design process using participatory methods.
The meeting was organised as part of the nationwide project “Active Cohesion Laboratory – supporting social inclusion in the regions”, implemented by the Association for the Centre for Supporting Local Activity (CAL) (project leader), the National Audit Union of Social Cooperatives and the Ocalenie Foundation. The aim of the project is to strengthen the system of support for social inclusion, including the integration of people with a migration background, through the development of skills, the creation of spaces for the exchange of experiences, and the building of partnerships between the public and voluntary sectors.