The paper presents the intermediary findings of two projects investigating issues
related to the integration of asylum seekers and refugees in French-speaking
(Wallonian) regional and provincial environments in Belgium.
Belgium is a federal country in which decision-making powers are divided between
three autonomous levels: the federal state, three language communities and three
regions. Therefore, the institutional actors involved in the reception and
accommodation of refugees and asylum seekers operate at multiple governmental
levels and also include CSOs.
The first project is concerned with the perception of asylum seekers and refugees
and local public opinion as well as migrants’ perceptions of Belgian reception
policies. The interactions between these representations and perceptions, and the
policy agenda of asylum and migration, is also under study. The second project takes
a transnational approach, focusing on regions in the Meuse-Rhine (including
Wallonia), to develop a training program for those who support refugees in their
integration. The targeted workers are mainly interpreters, many of whom were once
refugees themselves.
The dialogue between findings from both projects will be explored through case
studies that highlight how regional institutional actors, such as the Red Cross, and
regional non-institutional actors (CSOs) manage integration and serve as
interlocutors between the state level of governance and grassroots agencies.
Regional governance is thus explored in horizontal relationships, between
intermediate institutional actors, and in vertical relationships, between CSO’s and
local organisations. By bringing findings from these two projects into dialogue, we will
illuminate practices of multi-level governance in regional integration practices and
policy-making.
