Interview with Göran Larsson

Name, title and country:

Göran Larsson from Sweden is Assistant Project Manager and founder of the EAC and also the founder of the Söderköping process.

What is the background to the founding of the EAC? 

I was working with capacity building for almost ten years and among other things I founded the Söderköping process in 2001 together with the UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) representative in Kiev. During this time I saw a clear need of an international common training tool for the handling of Asylum matters and I started to plan for a creation of a mobile training academy.

After having failed to get the idea financed through the Söderköping process I started cooperation with our Dutch colleagues. The Commission decided to finance the project after having changed the target group for the project from third country to EU member states.

You also founded the Söderköping process. Are these projects related and if so, how?

The main principles for the projects are the same – to raise the quality in the field of asylum and to start practical cooperation between countries. While the EAC is a project for developing a common training tool for asylum officers and thus will be a tool for practical cooperation and harmonization within EU, - the Söderköping process was during the first three years more focused on practical cooperation among the three main target countries and as well cross border cooperation among countries along the new EU borders. However, training in asylum matters became an important part in this work and it is our hope that EAC will be used by the Söderköping process in the near future, and thus fulfil the original ideas.

What are the main benefits for a country to use EAC-training?

EAC is the only complete tool for asylum officers that provides a basic training that is not only based on the international refugee law, but also on the EU Acquis. EAC is also a tool with a practical approach, in which case studies are combined with interactive exercises. Above all, the project is a tool for increasing the quality in the asylum process as well as an increased harmonization between different countries.

The EAC training is cost efficient and free of charge. There is no need to develop own training material in for every country. What's also important to remember is that we have used not only competencies from our own asylum experts but as well from the academic side and from different NGO:s. Through our reference group with UNHCR, ECRE (European Council on Refugees and Exiles), IARL (International Association of Refugee Law Judges) and the European Commission, we have managed to get a broad consensus for the training material.

What are the challenges of working with the EAC project? 

The challenges are of course many. There has been a major challenge to find good experts who can manage to unite all the different opinions out there and find a common view.

Another challenge has been to succeed in continuing the project without too much interference and to avoid the bureaucracy and slowness. There will also be a major challenge to handover the project in agreement with the concept that exists today, maintaining focus and the content it was built for. But for the project in itself the main challenges is to find a way as soon as possible to translate the modules into different languages in order to allow for all countries to start using it - and of course the establishment of a trainer pool.

How has the project evolved from the beginning to today, and has EAC kept the visionary line you started the project with?

There has obviously been a great development from the concept we started to discuss, me, Philippe De Bruycker, Oskar Ekblad and our Dutch colleagues. But so far we have within the project maintained the vision we started with. Now we also begin to move towards the overall vision.

Has the European asylum management changed or improved since the EAC was implemented in different European countries?

In the current situation, it is still early to determine. The process occurs gradually and the work is long but the fact that we have trained more than 1,000 officers is a very good start for the conditions to improve. I also think that the big change will be seen more clearly when the trainings have been translated into national languages.

The communication between countries that comes with the training does also help to a better understanding and a common approach to our struggle for a common European asylum system. If we have the same tools we can achieve the same results.

What are your thoughts on the structure of the EAC concept such as the Face to face meetings combined with e-learning?

It is a unique concept that is completely optimized. If you only have a computer, you can learn what you want and need, whenever it suits you. The fact that you can then try your theoretical knowledge in practical contexts during the face to face sessions makes the education concept optimally.

Where is EAC in five years?

With the right guidance from EASO (European Asylum Support office) and with the influence of the Member States, we have a common training for everyone who has a role in the asylum process in Europe, and thus a common asylum process and related asylum praxis. And EAC is also used by other actors in the asylum procedure, like lawyers and judges and of course in several other countries outside Europe.

Do you have any concluding words?

After 37 years at the Swedish Migration Board, and all the time in different positions within the asylum field, it is time for me to leave the board after EAC has been finally handed over to EASO. I'm very proud of what I have accomplished within the field of international cooperation during my time at the Migration Board, especially the start-ups of the Söderköping process and EAC. I am very grateful and pleased by the praise that colleagues outside of Sweden have given me and I feel a great satisfaction seeing the fruitful developments of the projects I once started.

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