The National Integration Plan: Driver of Integration Policy. The The National Integration Plan: Plan:

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1 The National Integration Plan: Driver of Integration Policy The The National Integration Plan: Plan: Driver Driver of of Integration Policy Policy The National Integration Plan: Driver of Integration Policy Stand März 2007

2 THE NATIONAL INTEGRATION PLAN: DRIVER OF INTEGRATION POLICY Integration is a key task crucial for our country's future. Today some 15 million people of migrant origin live in Germany, of whom around half are German nationals. Integration is thus not something of concern only to a minority, it is an ongoing challenge both for policy makers and society as a whole. The Federal Government is meeting this challenge head on. It has initiated a rethinking of integration policy, a process that has culminated in the National Integration Plan, a milestone in the development of a new holistic approach to integration. On 14 July 2006 Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel hosted at the Chancellery the first ever Integration Summit. Over the months that followed common parameters for a nationwide integration policy were drawn up in a joint exercise involving the Federal Government, the Länder (state) governments and local government as well as a range of civil society actors keen to advance integration. Dialogue with the migrant community organizations was central to the whole exercise. Overall coordination was undertaken by Maria Böhmer, the Minister of State in the Federal Chancellery responsible for integration. The National Integration Plan was unveiled by the Federal Chancellor at the second Integration Summit on 12 July All stakeholders recognize their responsibility for ensuring that integration succeeds. The around 400 voluntary commitments set out in the Plan spell out exactly how this can be done. This is an important feature of the Plan: concrete commitments whose implementation can be verified. The first National Integration Plan progress report takes stock of implementation as of November What has been accomplished so far is quite impressive. Action on a host of commitments has already been taken, more is in the pipeline. It is clear, moreover quite apart from any specific commitments that the National Integration Plan has generated enormous momentum. It is based on principles that make it a template for a forward looking integration policy:

3 Dialogue and recognition The integration of people from migrant backgrounds is not some kind of technical process. Successful integration requires mutual respect, recognition of the achievements of the migrants living in our midst, openness to others and a desire to work together to shape our common future. Civil society vital for successful integration Welfare organizations, the churches, migrant community organizations, sports, educational, cultural and youth bodies, women's groups, neighbourhood projects, smallscale initiatives and large associations as well as a whole host of voluntary workers are daily involved in promoting integration at local level on a person to person basis. This is how friendships are forged and new opportunities created, this is how support is given where needed and problems are solved. Civic commitment makes a major contribution to advancing integration at the local level. Strong migrant community organizations Successful integration calls for dialogue and that means talking with migrants, not about them. In all areas of public life the organizations representing our migrant communities have assumed new responsibility for fostering integration. Particularly in promoting education and training they play an absolutely crucial role. These organizations need to be strong not only to serve the interests of the migrant communities themselves but also as a channel of communication between policy makers and society at large. Welfare organizations and foundations key integration actors Our welfare organizations have decades of experience in the field of integration. They have been closely involved in the work on the National Integration Plan and made a whole series of commitments in this connection. In response to the ideas set out in the Plan, non statutory welfare providers will step up their efforts to make greater intercultural openness a cross cutting theme of their work. 2

4 Foundations have been particularly active as integration trailblazers. They have shown they can react quickly to new challenges, they have launched innovative integration projects and fed important new ideas into the policy making process. Public private partnerships are increasingly seen as a successful model in this area. From pilot project to standard practice Since integration actors across the board have only limited financial and human resources, it makes sense to test the effectiveness of new integration initiatives in pilot projects. If they prove ineffective, no further funding should be provided. But if they prove successful, it is important to move from the "prototype stage to serial production". What started as a pilot project must then become standard practice. A better life through education and work The integration prospects of people from migrant backgrounds very largely depend on access to and success in education, training and employment. That is why the National Integration Plan gives these areas priority. In the current stocktake the Federal Government and the Länder governments give a detailed account of the situation in these key areas. In a variety of ways the National Integration Plan has helped shape policy in the field of education and employment: At the Education Summit convened by the Federal Chancellor on 22 October 2008 the Federal Government and the Länder governments agreed on a package that includes a range of concrete measures designed to help migrants in particular. Under the Training Pact concluded between the Federal Government and the top organizations of German industry, a series of concrete steps have been agreed with the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education of the Länder aimed at helping migrants get into and achieve greater long term success in training and employment. More and more companies recognize that employees from migrant backgrounds have valuable language and cultural skills. In a new initiative spearheaded by German industry, some 500 companies and public institutions with over 4 million 3

5 employees in total have now signed up to a "Charter of Diversity" committing the signatories to an inclusive corporate culture. Integration in Europe The National Integration Plan must be seen in the context of European Union efforts to promote integration. A number of EU countries have drawn up their own integration plans or are developing policies in the light of German experience. We of course can also learn from other countries' experience. Indicators: shaping, measuring and steering integration In summer 2008 the Federal Government decided to introduce a new form of integration monitoring. Some 14 different indicators will be used to analyze the general circumstances of people with a migrant background and assess their degree of integration. If we can identify where progress is being made and where challenges still remain, we can ensure our integration policy targets the problem areas spot on. The data base for this new monitoring system will be official statistics on people of migrant origin, in so far as such data exist. Data relating only to foreigners resident in Germany are inadequate, since it has long been the case that most people of migrant origin have German passports. Integration monitoring conducted over a period of years will yield important results that will feed into the National Integration Plan as it evolves. The way forward Integration is and will remain a challenge that is key to our future. The aim of integration policy is empowerment: in the economic, political, social and cultural sphere, we want people in Germany from migrant backgrounds to have the same opportunities as everyone else. This is not something that can be achieved in the short term, let alone in a single parliamentary term. The Länder ministers responsible for integration have recently agreed to hold regular meetings. Since the start of the current parliamentary term integration policy at federal level has been driven forward from the Federal Chancellery itself, a change that gives the needed powerful impetus to efforts to advance integration and underlines its importance as a key, cross cutting challenge. It will be essential here to maintain and wherever this serves a useful purpose to institutionalize the dialogue between governmental and non governmental actors at all levels. The full and equal 4

6 participation of the organizations representing the migrant communities is a core feature of this dialogue. As we move on to the next stage the task will be to formulate integration goals in a variety of areas and, wherever feasible, define a series of measurable benchmarks and target dates for their progressive achievement. The basis for this will be the new indicator based monitoring system currently in the pilot phase. Integration is a task of the whole community. It will be successful only if everyone joins forces and works for its success. With the National Integration Plan Germany has made significant progress towards this goal. 5