Project background

Redesign Belonging project (ReBel) aimed to address the solidarity related challenges of our society through service design and co-creative methods. Project engaged migrant women to work alongside professional designers to create solutions to challenges of belonging and solidarity. The created models and solutions were designed within different contexts in the project countries, with input from a wide range of stakeholder groups, thus allowing for new concepts that can be utilized within different arenas in the European Union, including municipalities, national authorities, local communities, NGOs and other actors developing integration of migrants.

Project objectives

The objectives included providing a model for co-creation that fosters migrants’ belonging. The project’s significance lay in its approach to engaging migrant women who have been in the host countries for over 5 years, addressing the gap in integration efforts for this group. Through participatory co-creation activities, the project created meaningful outputs that were widely disseminated and implemented, contributing to the exchange of best practices. Using an intersectional approach, the project explored barriers and resilience strategies migrant women face in relation to belonging and integration. The project sought to provide concrete solutions and recommendations that can influence policy strategies on local and international levels.

Project’s main impact was seen in empowering migrant women, enhancing their sense of belonging, and fostering positive narratives. Project also contributed to broader societal understanding, informs more inclusive immigration policies, and provides practical tools to promote solidarity. Through its comprehensive approach, the project aligned with Sustainable Development Goals, including reducing inequalities and promoting inclusive societies. The project’s work plan details a multifaceted approach which involves various research dialogues, co-creation workshops, and policy engagements to achieve these goals.

Project actions

Project was built upon multiple different events, and the events themselves formed a co-creative design process that produced innovative models and ideas on how to increase belonging and remove barriers related to it.

At the start of the project, multiple co-creation workshops were organised in order to map challenges and increase understanding of the issues that migrant women face when migrating into a new country. As an outcome of these events, the participants co-created solutions on how to improve existing services and a research brief was compiled based on the topics mapped in the workshops.

In the next phase, the project organised a Redesign Belonging Creative Collective Challendge, which invited all interested, whether a professional designer, design enthusiasts, or an interested citizen, to apply with their own idea to improve the feeling of belonging in the society.

The outcome of this challenge presents five winning initiatives from the challenge, each offering bold, imaginative ways to create a sense of home, especially for migrant women navigating new environments. From storytelling to shared meals, craft to digital platforms, these projects highlight how small, human-centered interventions can make a lasting impact. These initiatives were further developed through co-creation events and piloted through project events organised in three project countries, Finland, Spain, and the Netherlands, to offer the winning initiatives a chance to test their solutions and ideas in different European communities.

After the design challenge, project involved policy makers, other professionals and stakeholders in the discussion on project results and compiled policy recommendations promoting inclusivity and belonging into policy briefs to inform further developed in the European region and communities.