This set of management standards describes procedures for interested local governments. Their administrations are advised to follow them in order to meet objectives in promoting migrant entrepreneurship and integration. It can be used as a guide for improving the quality and effectiveness of policies and practices. It can also help to ensure that all entrepreneurs are treated equally and that tailor-made services are provided to a diverse population of entrepreneurs.
The standards take their source from exchanges with different partners of the project “Diversity in the Economy and Local Integration” (DELI) and the collection of good practice from DELI partner cities and other cities in Europe.
The qualification of “standards” draws inspiration from the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and, in particular, from its publications on quality management standards. Moreover, the standards underline the political will of partners to recognise the central role of local governments as a policy-maker, service-provider, facilitator and economic actor and to put in place a comprehensive set of policy principles:
Principle 1: Promote policies that link migrant entrepreneurship and social integration
Principle 2: Support migrant entrepreneurs in developing their entrepreneurial skills
Principle 3: Facilitate the inclusions of migrant entrepreneurs in mainstream networks
Principle 4: Promote equal access to finance for all entrepreneurs
Principle 5: Use purchasing (procurement) power of local governments to achieve social and integration goals
Additionally to management standards, an on-line assessment tool was designed within the project to enable local governments to take stock of existing policies and practice and to establish how close or far away these policies and practices are from the management standards. It can be found at http://deli.migpolgroup.com/_old.
