The Slovak local YOUMIG kick-off was held in the Town Hall of Rača municipality, on May 22nd 2017. The meeting was organised by Rača municipality in close cooperation with INFOSTAT, the Institute of Informatics and Statistics, both participating in the YOUMIG project as partners.

Rača is a beautiful city zone located between Little Carpathians and Danube Lowland on an area of 2,360 hectares and with 23,165 inhabitants. Rača is famous for its rich vineyards and vine-producing traditions, beginning in the Roman era. The vineyards of Rača are located on the southern hillsides of the Little Carpathians which are 150 – 300 metres high. The oldest evidence of settlements in this area comes from the end of the 8th century.

City zone Bratislava-Rača is located 8km from the city centre. The first written document mentioning Rača is from 1226.  Historically Rača was an independent community, known as Račišdorf. It included 3 sections: original Rača, Východné and one of the oldest neighbourhood town units – Krasňany. The earliest archaeological discovery found in this area is a stone axe used in the 3rd – 2nd century B. C.

Contemporary migratory movements in Rača are not very dramatic, but the number of valid stays within the territory indicates an increasing tendency.  By participating in the YOUMIG project Rača municipality expects to contribute to better standards in the registration of population migration. The communication, exchange of experience and finding common solutions in the field of migration with national and foreign partners should contribute to better opportunities in influencing migration processes in line with the interests of the municipality.

Opening the event, Peter Pilinský, the Mayor of Bratislava-Rača and the local partner project manager of YOUMIG, highlighted that migration is currently among the very relevant topics in Slovakia and the municipalities and local stakeholders should take an active part in dealing with all challenges migration brings. Branislav Šprocha, Head of the Demographic Research Center at INFOSTAT, presented the project in context, more specifically its aim, methodology, already existing data on youth migration and motivations for engagement.

The press conference was an important part of Rača’s kick-off meeting, where YOUMIG was introduced mostly to local media including TV Bratislava, where a spot was broadcast. The participation of young students from the Secondary School of Mass Media and Information Studies in Bratislava was encouraging and students were actively interested in the issue of youth migration.

This was followed by a discussion by various experts on local and national level (INFOSTAT, Institute of Ethnology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Prognostic institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Department of Human Geography and Demo-geography of Comenius University, the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, employees of the municipal office, etc.) focussed on the objects of YOUMIG research, for example the types of migration and migrants. For the quantitative part of the research, discussants recommended sources of data that might be suitable for research, such as data collected by the police (mainly in asylum-seeker cases etc.) or social insurance data. The issue has many policy and administrative implications. One idea is considering setting up the first contact place for an immigrant seeking a residence permit in Rača, offering information and recommendations all in one place. Another possibility is publishing announcements, up-to-date information on current events in the national language of immigrants on Rača’s  official website.

Leaders of the Slovak YOUMIG team on national level:

Branislav Šprocha project manager

RNDr. Branislav Šprocha, Ph.D. is researcher in demography dealing with population development, family behaviour, Roma population, population projections and migration. In YOUMIG he will work on an analysis of population development at municipalities in connection with migration and especially youth migration. Results will be linked on aspects like education, labour market and social care. “We believe that information about the  future development of children, students, workforce and seniors with an emphasis on the impact of youth migration will be very useful for local stakeholders for their future plans in local development. We try to tell something meaningful for their purposes and get some information with targeted meaning,” he said about the project.

Branislav Bleha expert

Branislav Bleha was involved in the SEEMIG project as a thematic expert. With regard to migration, he has mainly aided forecasts both on the national and sub-national levels. He is the author of studies discussing the push and pull factors and spatial patterns of migration. In YOUMIG, his main concern is predictions and geographical determinants that affect youth migration.

Boris Vaňo, expert, has a lot of experience with demographic research focused mainly on population analyses and projections and population-related policies. In YOUMIG he is focusing on analyses of migratory trends on national, regional and local levels and assessment of their impact on society, local population forecasts, and youth migration strategies.

Martina Lubyová works at the Slovak Academy of Sciences. She has had an interest in migration since 1995 when she joined the OECD’s SOPEMI network dealing with a continuous monitoring system on migration.  With a view to demographic and geopolitical developments becoming more important and influential in Europe, Asia and Africa in the coming decades, her focus is on integrating forecasting and foresight into migration research. This means taking into consideration both the quantitative aspects of migration, such as immigration flows, as well as qualitative aspects such as labour market position, education structure and integration prospects for migrants.

Jan Buček is working at the intersection of human geography, political geography and demography. He meets the rising impact of migration in his research, as his interests lie in local policy, planning, budgeting and governance. He is also interested in local development and social policy at the local level. His aim is to understand how local capacities can help to cope with youth migration – how local governments and communities are able to manage incoming and outgoing flows of people.

Leaders of the Slovak YOUMIG team on local level:

Peter Pilinský project manager

He has lived his whole life in Rača and since December 2010 he is the mayor of Rača municipality. He is actively interested in current events at both local and national level. This is the first time that Rača has been involved in a transnational project and the municipality intends to use the project results, experiences, national and foreign contacts for the improvement of the population register, for the preparation of migration strategies, as well as raising awareness to the issues among local municipal workers.

Lucia Kováčová, expert

Having worked with public policies, Ms. Kováčová focuses on the inclusion of disadvantaged social groups, particularly ethnic minorities and people with migration backgrounds, especially in a labour market or education context. As a local thematic expert for YOUMIG she will be focusing on the perspectives of local stakeholders and the migrants themselves in relation to policies at the local level. Using interviewing, her tasks will include making statements about the migration situation, local attitudes towards migration and inclusion policies in the municipality of Rača.

Danuša Jurčová, expert

She has worked for INFOSTAT since 1993 in the field of demography and has participated in many international projects: 2002 OSI LGI Research Project “Impact of EU Enlargement and Implementation of Schengen in the CEE Region”, PROMINSTAT, SEEMIG, Comparative Population Projections for France, Hungary and Slovakia. Her main focus areas are migration, the demographic aspects of regional development and demographic terminology. Coming back during her retirement to work, she is giving her rich experience to the YOUMIG project.