Migration Policy Scotland hosts a flourishing Migrant Community of Practice in Scotland. We deliver a capacity building and leadership development programme for migrants and migrant community organisations across Scotland. We involve migrants into our way of working in a variety of ways including as lived experience panel members, peer research, policy lab partners, project partners and advisors and project co-development and co-delivery. This strengthens our work through broadened perspectives and wider networks. It benefits provides everyone involved with opportunities to learn, collaborate and build relationships.
We want to support migrant’s ability to navigate often unfamiliar civil society and political infrastructure, to build confidence and awareness of their skills, experience, and insight, to strengthen their efforts to overcome disadvantage and exclusion.
Our targeted capacity building training and leadership development offer for migrants begins in September 2026. Designed with input from over 70 migrants and community organisations the capacity building training sessions aim to strengthen existing knowledge and expertise in order to increase migrant’s potential as effective advocates, leaders, partners and collaborators. You can sign up to training sessions here
Our Migrant Lived Experience panel continues to be at the heart our community of practice. Together with our Lived Experience Panel members we continue to explore ways of integrating lived experience into research informed policy influencing work. We have been innovating on ways of combining learning and lived experience since MPS formed its first Migrant Lived Experience Panel Development Group in 2022, trialling new ways of working together that span co-development and co-design as well as involving panel members in MPS projects as peer researchers and advisory group members. An independent strategic review in 2026 assessed our approach as ‘leading edge’. Our current LEx Panel members are working on taking forward the migrant-led training they co-developed to found an independnt initiative.
Who is taking part?
Our Lived Experience Panel members come through an open recruitment process. They are migrants from different countries, arriving through a variety of routes. They work with migrant clients and migrant communities across Scotland in a range of capacities. Together they offer MPS more direct insight into the diversity of migrant experiences. Our panel members bring skills, energy, commitment, and passion to our common efforts to build a better migration future.
Our capacity building and leadership development programme is intended for migrant leaders and migrant community organisations across the whole of Scotland. We are deliberate in reaching out to smaller groups and welcome everyone who wants to connect and exchange, to learn and grow.
What are the expected outcomes?
MPS migrant community of practice and capacity building and leadership development work seeks to build stronger, better-connected work on migration across Scotland. We want to support migrant communities to be more confident and better equipped; to ensure their voices, needs, aspirations, and contributions are properly seen and understood.
As migrant communities grow and change rapidly across Scotland, we want everyone to be part of building a future with inclusive, resilient and well-connected communities.
Find out more
If you are a migrant organisation or work on migrant-related matters and would like to know more about this aspect of our work, please reach out to info@migrationpolicyscotland.org.uk