Integreat Visits the Bertelsmann Foundation

How do you reach the people seeking protection from Ukraine with the right information and offers? How do you communicate with the host society? What possibilities do internet platforms, social media and websites offer?

For all these important questions, exemplary answers were to be given at the online exchange for municipalities in relation to the reception of refugees from Ukraine. Our project coordinator Daniel Kehne was a guest at the Bertelsmann Stiftung together with Alexander Handschuh, spokesperson for the German Association of Towns and Municipalities.

“How can we maintain a good culture of arrival and welcome locally?”

Alexander Handschuh took this question as the basis for his presentation. The answer, he said, is transparent, proactive and open communication for different target groups that need to be informed. A mix of all known media from print, internet and social media is needed. Of course, the refugees and those people who support refugees on a full-time or voluntary basis must be reached, but also the people from the host society. The “we-feeling” should be placed more in the centre and one can also look back proudly on what has been achieved so far.

Integreat enables multilingual information provision in already more than 90 municipalities

In the meantime, more than 90 cities and districts are already using Integreat to provide multilingual information for refugees and migrants. The information is created and updated by the municipal administrations and other institutions and experts directly on site. With translations into Ukrainian and Russian, we were also able to support refugees from Ukraine in arriving in Germany at lightning speed last year. Current surveys show that many people from Ukraine also want to stay longer in Germany. Integreat remains a central first point of contact with the available information on the right of residence, language courses and offers for social participation.

Not only immigrants, but also volunteers obviously use Integreat to keep up to date when accompanying those seeking protection. Thanks to the digital processing, many people can also be involved in the process of creating the information.

The Bertelsmann Stiftung as a networking organisation

For the Bertelsmann Stiftung, this online exchange was already a small anniversary. For the 25th time, there were current insights into the work of municipalities for refugees from Ukraine. The issue with Daniel Kehne and Alexander Handschuh can be viewed on the Bertelsmann Stiftung website.