The Support to Frontline Workers (SFW) project, implemented under ICMPD/RRF, strengthened peer-to-peer learning among practitioners working directly with migrants in irregular or vulnerable situations.
Building on the Reaching Undocumented Migrants (RUM) project, SFW responded to partners’ interest in practical exchange on outreach, counselling, Assisted Voluntary Return (AVR) and multi-level collaboration. Through exchange visits to Bilbao, Malta and Milan, the project explored how different governance models shape frontline access, case management and counselling in practice.
The visits highlighted three contrasting approaches:
- Bilbao’s network-of-networks governance, anchored in local access and regional coordination;
- Milan’s institutionalised co-design model, bringing municipal, civil society and national actors into shared planning and implementation; and
- Malta’s centralised operational coordination, where strategic and frontline functions are largely internalised within national institutions.
Together, these cases show that outreach, counselling and AVR-related support work best when they are embedded in coordinated service ecosystems. Migrants need accessible entry points into support systems, while frontline workers need clear roles, feedback channels and practical links between basic support, counselling and case resolution.
The SFW findings underline that effective outreach and AVR counselling depend not only on procedures, but also on governance design: clear roles across levels, stable access points, trusted intermediaries, protected support-seeking channels and feedback loops from frontline practice into national policy.
SFW also engaged a wider European professional audience through online forums and follow-up discussions. The project’s findings have been consolidated in public event takeaway reports, repository resources and the policy brief Beyond Procedures: How Multi-Level Governance Shapes Outreach and Assisted Voluntary Return Counselling at the Local Level.