Local Integration Management in Germany and Europe - Structures, Processes, Good Practice

"Ankommen auf Schwedisch": What is the everyday working life of a case manager in Sweden like? The report in the AufRuhr magazine draws on research results from the current project "Local Integration Management in Germany and Europe", which is funded by the Foundation Mercator and headed by Prof. Kuhlmann (in cooperation with the Ruhr University Bochum). The article provides interesting insights into the broad field of activities of a case manager and shows what successes she achieves and what hurdles she encounters.

Project overview

Project title: Local Integration Management in Germany and Europe – Structures, Processes, Good Practice

Research object/goal: The project analyses structures, processes and actors as well as coordination and performance of local integration management in Germany, Sweden and France. In addition to an empirical inventory of local activities in integration management, the focus is on identifying challenges and good practices in the three countries.

Heads of project: Prof. Dr. Sabine Kuhlmann (Chair for Political Science, Public Administration and Organization) and Prof. Dr. Jörg Bogumil (Chair for Public Administration, Local and Regional Politics, Ruhr University Bochum)

Project team: University of Potsdam: Franziska Oehlert and Marie Catherine Reusch, Ruhr University Bochum: Jonas Hafner and André Kastilan

Cooperation partners: Ruhr University Bochum, Chair for Public Administration, Local and Regional Politics

Duration of project: 09/2020 to 10/2022

Funded by: Foundation Mercator

In this project funded by the German Foundation Mercator, Prof. Dr. Kuhlmann (University of Potsdam) and Prof. Dr. Bogumil (Ruhr University Bochum) and their teams study local integration administration and management in Germany, Sweden, and France. Besides an empirical mapping of local activities in integration management in each country, the teams identify differences and commonalities between the countries and present good practices. A particular focus lies on measures for coordinating different actors and service provisions as well as migrant counselling (e.g., case management).

Hence, the following questions guide the project:

• What role do the municipalities play as integration actors?
• How are the multiple services and actors coordinated?
• What general hurdles and obstacles exist in migrant integration at the local level, and how can these be overcome?
• Which institutionalization variants of local integration management prove particularly effective (good practice)?

For Germany, the sample consists of 15 municipalities in five federal states (Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Thuringia). In Sweden and France, two municipalities each will be examined more closely, whereby the focus in Sweden is on the ‘kommuner’ as the lower level of local government with primary responsibility for integration tasks. In France, too, the focus will be on the municipal level (‘communes’), but in view of the fragmented structures of competencies, supplemented by intergovernmental insights into the interaction between cities, state actors and associations involved in implementation.