International Alliance for Integration & Sustainability - IAIS

The International Alliance for Integration and Sustainability (IAIS) is a Malta-based, non-profit, non-governmental organisation. It began in 2018 as an informal group of young people and was formally registered as an NGO in July 2019. In 2022, it expanded its branch to the UK to do more grassroots migrant communities projects. IAIS was founded to advance two closely connected priorities: enabling people, particularly minorities and young people, to participate fully in society, and promoting development that creates lasting social, economic and environmental value.

IAIS works with young people, youth workers, educators, migrants, cultural minorities, civil-society organisations, local coouncil and other community stakeholders. Particular attention is given to people experiencing inequality, discrimination, exclusion or barriers to participation.

Its work focuses on integration, diversity and inclusion; youth empowerment and democratic participation; intercultural and interreligious dialogue; peacebuilding and conflict transformation; migrant inclusion; sustainability and climate action; social entrepreneurship; and capacity-building.

The organisation is governed by a management board comprising a Chairperson and Legal Representative, an Executive Director and Treasurer, and a Board Secretary and Director for External Affairs. Board members take a hands-on role in strategic planning, project development, facilitation, implementation and oversight. IAIS combines this local presence in Malta with a cooperation network of more than 100 non-governmental organisations across Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as professional links in the Caucasus.

IAIS designs and implements educational, community-based and international cooperation activities relating to integration, inclusion, youth participation, peacebuilding and sustainable development. Its work includes youth exchanges, mobility activities for youth workers, training courses, youth participation projects, small-scale adult education cooperation, workshops, institutional visits, stakeholder dialogue and community initiatives.

The organisation uses participatory and non-formal education methods that encourage participants to share their experiences, learn across cultural differences and translate learning into practical action. Its methods include intercultural learning, digital storytelling, dialogue and reflection, experiential learning, group work, peer exchange, non-violent communication and YouthPass-oriented learning recognition.

IAIS has experience both as a project partner and as a Malta-based applicant and coordinator. Since 2018, it has contributed to or coordinated Erasmus+ projects addressing intercultural learning, radicalisation and hate speech, violent extremism, humanitarian action, conflict resolution, sustainable lifestyles, social entrepreneurship, equity, diversity and inclusion, digital storytelling, displacement and democratic participation.

Recent examples include Economic Inclusion Through Social Entrepreneurship; Equity, Diversity & Inclusion as a CSR; Narratives of Peace; Promoting Peace Through Intercultural Competencies; Greenwashing for Youth Work; Diversity & Inclusion in Displacement; and the youth participation project You(th), Me & EU.

In delivering these activities, IAIS undertakes needs-informed project development, proposal writing, partnership coordination, participant outreach and preparation, learning-programme design, facilitation, local logistics, stakeholder engagement, dissemination and evaluation. It works particularly with young people, youth workers, educators, migrants, cultural minorities and people whose voices are often under-represented.

This sustained programme experience has contributed to IAIS becoming an Erasmus+ Youth accredited organisation and a holder of the European Solidarity Corps Quality Label. It has also strengthened the organisation’s capacity to coordinate culturally diverse partnerships and deliver inclusive international learning activities in Malta and across Europe.