On 16 July 2021, we tested Destination Europe with the staff of the National Reception Office (Office national de l’accueil / ONA) in Luxembourg. This administration is responsible for organising the reception of applicants for international protection and creating and managing facilities reserved for their temporary accommodation. The participants included social workers who work directly with asylum seekers, people who manage the day-to-day running of the accommodation facilities and human resources staff responsible for training and further education of ONA employees.
We completed the graphic design and production of the first prototype of the Destination Europe learning tool at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This session in Luxembourg was the first time that the actual cards and the voting chips could be put on the table. As opposed to many online sessions that we organised during the past year, this face-to-face interaction was clearly more engaging. There was no need to encourage participants to discuss, challenge each other and creatively explore different positions and perspectives on migration and integration decision making. The overall feedback from the participants and the organisers of this meeting was that Destination Europe is a useful training tool that could be used for the induction of their new staff and possibly also with asylum seekers. Having had this direct experience with the tool, the HR staff are now in a good position to train others to use it in the future.
