(02 December 2016) – The integration of refugees is now underway in Germany. Márta Márczis, the president of AEIDL, reports on a recent workshop in Berlin, organised by the Robert Bosch Foundation, which explored the integration process. An interesting innovation is the Sprint model, which has been replicated throughout the country. Other examples of practical actions taken at local level are presented in a series of BBC reports from Oberhausen.
The “Robert Bosch Academy On Tour” workshop was an opportunity to look at the methods and practices being deployed in Germany, including approaches to integrating refugees into the German social security system and labour market.
The Sprint cooperative in Wuppertal was the first organisation in Germany to train and provide professional language and integration agents to facilitate communication between migrants, public authorities and social service providers. This model has now been transferred to about 20 cities and regions across the country.
More than 2,500 refugees, many fleeing conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, have recently been settled in Oberhausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia. Since November 2015, a BBC News team has visited the city several times to report on the evolving relationship between the refugees and their host community.