About the TMDD Summit
The Transatlantic Migrant Democracy Dialogue (TMDD) is a transatlantic network of diverse migrant and refugee leaders. We work to strengthen democracies by collectively building powerful movements and communities.
The International Democracy Summit is TMDD’s main annual activity, bringing together dozens of leaders living in Europe and the US, but coming from around the world to facilitate mutual learning between leaders about innovative, successful, and sustainable methods and to design and support joint actions. This year, the summit will take place on the 14th and 15th of November.
Why a Summit?
The Transatlantic Migrant Democracy Dialogue (TMDD) is a transatlantic network of diverse migrant and refugee leaders. We work to strengthen democracies by collectively building powerful movements and communities. As members of TMDD, refugee and migrant leaders across the Atlantic connect and support each other by sharing resources and skills, building coalitions, developing strategies and using the platform of established organizations to bring their cause forward.
The European Democracy Summit is TMDD’s main annual activity, bringing together dozens of leaders living in Europe and the US but coming from around the world to facilitate mutual learning between leaders about innovative, successful and sustainable methods and to design and support joint actions. Since 2017, more than 170 migrant and refugee leaders have joined the TMDD network after participating in our annual Summit, hosted each year by one of our TMDD national members: 2017 Germany, 2018 Ireland, 2019 Greece and 2020 Finland (online). These Democracy Summits enable TMDD to fulfill its goal for operating as a migrant-led network founded on the conviction that migrants must be able to organize themselves and to learn from each other in order to actively participate in US and European democracies.
Based on the experience of our 2020 online summit, TMDD’s migrant leadership team are proposing a hybrid model for the 2021 Summit, with 100 migrant leaders (40 new leaders in Sweden, 30 new leaders online and 30 alumni and facilitators) meeting together over four days during the week of 15 November.
Why Sweden?
The 2021 Summit would allow the migrant leadership team to expand the TMDD network to a new major destination country, Sweden. Support Group Network (SGN) applied and succeeded to join TMDD and host this year’s Summit, thanks to the initiative of a 2017 TMDD Summit participant, its Founder Adnan Abdul Ghani. In line with TMDD’s vision and mission, SGN is a non-profit NGO initiated by refugees to collaborate with local societies. SGN empowers and encourages its membership of migrant and refugee leaders to self-organize their own needs-based initiatives and partnerships that challenge and change the traditional refugee reception and perception. Since 2014, SGN has grown to 5000+ members and 13 projects benefiting 24,000 migrants in 13 cities and 16 refugee camps. SGN confirmed that their members have never been able to participate in something like a TMDD Summit in Sweden—an international, strategic retreat organized by and for migrant and refugee leaders. Now that SGN has grown and confirmed its role in the sector, SGN is ready to join TMDD to develop its national umbrella structure and develop 2
new campaigns and communications specifically to counter the rise in disinformation and far-right mobilization. The TMDD migrant leadership team is also interested in Sweden to join the network to learn from their extensive practices on community-based service-provision, political participation and partnership. The Swedish Summit will take place an SGN -led retreat center in Vänersborg, home to the largest refugee camp in Sweden where SGN is most active. SGN confirmed that Vänersborg, near Gothenburg, is easily accessible by public transport for leaders from its members and other umbrella organizations.