INTRODUCTION 23

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Introduction

The municipality of Altena located in the south of the German Land (state) North Rhine Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen, NRW) is a smaller industrial town, whose population has declined significantly within recent decades (from 2000 to 2015 by -20.8 %). Population decline has influenced the availability of tax revenues of the local administration. A lack of financial resources of the city administration led to partly higher tax rates in NRW (property taxes) as well as austerity measures of the city in staff and infrastructural measures. The realisation of many local projects as well as the implementation of tasks delegated from the NRW Länder to the municipal level has thus traditionally built on the early and vivid participation of its citizens. During interviews with the OECD in Altena, several civil servants and volunteers expressed that civic engagement is one of the most important pillars of the town hall’s work. In 2008, the diversified approaches and projects of volunteer work for all citizens throughout the city were centralised in the foundation of a local community organisation called Stellwerk founded by the city. The entity is also very active in the context of integration, in particular within recent years as a response to increasing numbers of arrivals of asylum seekers and refugees in the city. The city council of Altena decided in late 2015 to welcome 100 additional refugees more than allocated to it by the NRW government in the city (for an explanation of the allocation mechanism, see Section 2.3). The city has no formal integration framework. Yet, the city government’s shared understanding of the response to the influx of asylum seekers and refugees can be summarised as “From Refugees to Citizens”. This approach is realised through flexible structures, facilitated by the small size of the municipality, short ways of communication and approachability of all stakeholders as well as in particular on the civic engagement of a large number of citizens and a strong network of volunteers. In May 2017, the city received the National Integration Prize by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government for its work in integration. A national jury composed of five independent national experts active in integration policy selected the municipality out of 33 nominated social actors. This case study is structured in two parts. The first part outlines migration snapshots of the Federal Republic and to Altena in a historical context as well as key laws related to migrant integration. Further, the city’s challenges and expectations towards migrant integration are described. In the second part of the study, responses to these challenges are analysed according to the objectives identified in the OECD Checklist for Public Action to Migrant Integration at the Local Level. The first block describes the multi-level governance framework and local stakeholder co-operation as well as the financial setting. Subsequently, city responses in creating social and special interaction and continued service provision over time are highlighted. In the following block on capacity building, co-operation with non-state actors and monitoring solutions regarding integration are mapped out. The last block presents Altena’s responses in sectoral policies relating to migration including the labour market, education, housing and social services.

WORKING TOGETHER FOR LOCAL INTEGRATION OF MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES: THE CASE OF ALTENA © OECD 2018

24 INTRODUCTION │

The OECD delegation mission to Altena (10-11 July 2017) was accompanied by a peer reviewer from the region of Sozialsprengel, area Bludenz located in the state Vorarlberg, Austria. In her hometown, the peer reviewer is in charge of local integration concepts and strategy in the region, which includes 20 small-sized municipalities. Experience sharing in terms of challenges, opportunities and practices helped to understand similarities and shed light on good practices as well as shortcomings of the two places. Some of the outcomes of the peer exchange are also included in this report, as they emphasise peculiarities about the Altena experience. For further close comparative purposes, the report makes reference to German municipalities’ responses to the OECD questionnaire, including for instance Düsseldorf, a bigger and capital city of the Land NRW, alongside the following German cities: Amberg-Sulzbach, Augsburg, Bad Hofgastein, Fürth, Großrosseln, Klingenstadt Solingen, Landkreis Günzburg, Landkreis Ludwigsburg, Landratsamt Neumarkt, Munich, Regensburg, Rhön-Grabfeld and Rosenheim.

WORKING TOGETHER FOR LOCAL INTEGRATION OF MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES IN ALTENA © OECD 2018

From: Working Together for Local Integration of Migrants and Refugees in Altena

Access the complete publication at: https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264299320-en

Please cite this chapter as:

OECD (2018), “Introduction”, in Working Together for Local Integration of Migrants and Refugees in Altena, OECD Publishing, Paris.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264299320-5-en

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