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Municipal 
foreign policy

Migrants are calling for new answers from municipalities – some are found through intensive German-Canadian dialog.

Kerstin Schneider, 18.04.2016

In Munich the City author­ities support migrants’ companies and award a prize to successfully founded firms. In Gothenburg in Sweden the initiative Mitt Liv puts young female migrants in contact with potential employers. In Toronto the team at Refugee Career Jumpstart Pro­jects mediates between author­ities and refugees by creating profiles for new arrivals from Syria so that they can quickly get a place on an English course, a scholarship or a job. These pro­jects from the three cities are just examples of many international, trailblazing ideas for successful integration that are now presented on the website of the Can­adian initiative Cities of Migration. More than 200 profiles of outstanding examples from 80 cities have been compiled thus far, are continually updated, and can be read in English, Spanish, French and German. The aim is to promote the exchange of knowledge and experience via international networking.

Indeed, major cities, towns and municipalities are laboratories for migration and integration; it is there that decisions are made as to whether new residents find jobs and housing, learn the local language and can feel at home with their families. The representatives and practitioners from cities and municipalities as well as initiatives and foundations who convened in early March 2016 to discuss ideas at the third 
International Conference of the Cities of 
Migration in Toronto have long been aware of this role – even if it has gained considerable momentum in recent months owing 
to Syrian civil war refugees. At the conference municipal representatives discussed ideas with, among others, Canadian Minister of Immigration John McCallum and with industry representatives such as Robert Hardt, President of Siemens Canada.

This is precisely the approach pursued by Cities of Migration and the aim of the conference: focusing on innovative and practice-oriented projects that have proven their worth and are able to serve as models 
for local authorities in other countries. In 
Toronto, County Commissioner Wolfgang Spelthahn presented the integration modules for migrants and refugees in the county of Düren in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. For ten years now the administration, business community and civil society have been working together to specifically support immigrants and place them in jobs using precise skills screening and offering help in learning the language. A culture of self-employment is also promoted: 1,500 companies managed by immigrants got off the ground in the county in recent years. For Wolfgang Spelthahn, international dialog is important to successfully manage integration: “It is good to meet people facing the same integration-related challenges and to get to know other approaches,” says the County Commissioner, who also discussed the issues with Nisha Agarwal from the New York Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, among others, in Toronto.

The Toronto-based Cities of Migration initiative, which was founded by the Canadian Maytree Foundation, enjoys the support of many international institutions. Germany has likewise been a partner for many years. In 2014 the second International Conference was held in Berlin at the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

The initiative is particularly closely linked to the German Bertelsmann Stiftung, which has been supporting Cities of Migration since 2008. Project Manager Claudia Walther knows the challenges facing cities: “The local authorities knew early on that integration 
requires a holistic approach.” Cities of Migration offers value added, “because we Germans learn from other countries, but also because good examples from Germany become known worldwide.”

Canadian Sima Gatea demonstrated at 
the latest conference how to create urban networks and fill them with life. She presented the social startup SINGA Deutschland, which she founded in Germany and which brings together people with and without a refugee background and offers them a vocational mentor program. The 
international SINGA network was established in 2012 in Paris; today it networks 
organizations in France, Morocco, Canada and Germany to bring together new arrivals and locals in diverse projects.

The Cities of Migration network is continu­ally growing; another partner is the ini­tiative Welcoming America, in which American cities particularly affected by migration can swap ideas and experiences. Here too there is a link to Germany: the 
new German-American exchange program Welcoming Communities Transatlantic Exchange, which is organized by Cultural Vistas, Welcoming America and Heinrich Böll Foundation North America, invites smaller municipalities to join a network and send ideas around the globe. ▪