SEMIGRA Final Conference
Members of the parliament, policy makers and scientists contributed to the success of the final conference of SEMIGRA – Selective Migration and Unbalanced Sex Ratio in Rural Regions
The SEMIGRA final conference “Leaving? Staying? Making a difference! Perspectives for young women in Europe’s rural regions” took place on 9 Mai 2012 in Wittenberg, Germany. More than 60 participants took part in this event among them policy makers, members of the state parliament and scientists.
As speakers participated Dr. Klaus Klang (State Secretary, Ministry for Regional Development and Transport Saxony-Anhalt), Dr. Eberhard Schmidt-Elsaeßer (State Secretary, Ministry of Justice and Equal Opportunities Saxony-Anhalt), Eva Feußner (Member of the State Parliament Saxony-Anhalt), Eckhard Naumann (Mayor of the City of Lutherstadt Wittenberg) und Dietmar Brettschneider (Mayor of the city of Jessen) contributing with key note speeches and their participation in a panel discussion to this successful event. Policy relevant results of the SEMIGRA project, presented by the research team were supported by the involvement of young women, telling about their personal experiences of living conditions in rural regions and migration of friends and family members.
The SEMIGRA case studies of Saxony-Anhalt (Germany), Västernorrland (Sweden), Kainuu (Finland), Észak Alföld (Hungary) and Észak-Magyarország (Hungary) were presented identifying among others the labour market conditions and the internal perception of inhabitants on their home regions as an important field for policy advice. Also the importance of strategies taking into account the varieties of migration decisions of different age groups were highlighted. Besides the challenges within the case study regions due to demographic changes, some signs of hope could be identified, as for example in Saxony-Anhalt the quality and supply of child care facilities.
