Exploring the impact of EU funding on the local governance of migrant integration: the rise of project-driven governance

This article explores the consequences of project-based EU funding schemes for the local governance of migrant integration. In doing so, it also sheds light on some under-researched aspects of local integration governance, such as its financial and temporal dimensions and the importance of actors’ ability to develop shared action plans and attract resources to implement them. With these aims, the article bridges migration studies and the literature on the projectification of public policies, and offers fresh empirical insights into the local governance of unaccompanied minor integration in two Italian localities. To account for the observed processes, it proposes a specific type of governance, ‘project-driven governance’, which is characterised by three features: dependence on funding opportunities; a key role of ‘project entrepreneurs’, namely actors who are able to exploit these opportunities by turning their ideas into viable projects; and instability over time.