Dresden Action Plan on Integration

The Action Plan is aimed at the city administration, organisations in the city and immigrants.

The Action Plan was adopted on 23 June 2022. Before that, there were various integration concepts.

The Integration and Foreigners' Commissioner, her team, various offices of the city administration, people in working groups, and participants in the three public discussion events.

Yes. The goals and tasks are very current. Integration is an important societal issue.

By order of the city council, the Action Plan is binding for the entire city administration.

Yes, there is a coordination group in the city administration and three topic-related working groups. They have clearly defined tasks and responsibilities. In addition to employees from the city administration, the working groups also include representatives from migrant organizations, district networks, counseling centers and other authorities.

Here you can find the working paper on which the Coordination Group and Working Groups work. 

• For the city administration, integration is a cross-sectional task. This means that integration is taken into account in all areas. The city administration actively shapes integration work. It creates all the necessary conditions and is an equal player.
• The city administration ensures that people with a migration background have access to all the city's facilities and services.
• The city administration fosters an environment in which all Dresdeners have a sense of solidarity with one another and stand together. It is committed to the following:
  • diversity,
  • democracy,
  • respect
  • equal participation.

The city administration is committed to combating discrimination and hostility toward particular groups. It works actively to dismantle these.

1. We recognise human rights, the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Saxon Constitution. These form the basis for our communal life and for integration.

2. All people living in Dresden contribute to integration. It is important in all areas of municipal politics and in the city administration.

3. What's important for integration:
   
   • all people in the city are cosmopolitan and embrace integration and
   • immigrants participate actively.
4. What's necessary for integration:
   
   • all people in the city respect and value each other and
   • the different abilities of people from diverse backgrounds are taken into account.
5. What brings about integration:
   
   • everyone participates in society on an equal footing,
   • everyone has the same opportunities,
   • everyone has an impact and plays a part,
   • everyone exercises their democratic rights and
   • bears political responsibility.
6. Understanding is important for integration. Requisites for that: learning and mastering the German language,
   • multilingualism and
   • preservation of the various languages of origin.
7. Integration takes into account different lifestyles and realities. This applies to:
   
   • men and women,
   • girls and boys,
   • people with and without a migration background and
   • people who describe themselves as 'diverse'.

8. Migrant associations and migrant groups are important partners for integration. They offer help and represent the interests of migrants. They support politics, the city administration and society in becoming interculturally inclusive.

9. All institutions, companies, facilities and services should be interculturally inclusive. This promotes participation and prevents discrimination. 

Yes, there will be a file in easy-to-understand (barrier-free) German. It will be online from autumn 2022.

In autumn 2022, the action plan will be published as an accessible brochure with the original text and as a file in English. There is also a file in easily understandable German, which is also barrier-free (see above). Orders can be sent to the e-mail address auslaenderbeauftragte@dresden.de. Copies will also be available for pickup at the office of the Commissioner for Integration and Foreigners.

Attached you will find the barrier-free brochure with the original German text for download.

Despite sunny weekend weather, around 70 committed and interested people met on June 27 and July 3 2021 for the participation events "Gemeinsam. Verantwortung. Leben.“ to update the (previous) Dresden Integration Concept. Among them were numerous people from Dresden - whether born here or immigrants - as well as various institutions and local political actors.

In the future, the new Dresden Integration Concept will consist of an "Analysis of Municipal Spheres of Activity" and the "Dresden Action Plan on Integration 2021 to 2026“. All committed people were welcomed by Ms. Winkler at the beginning and introduced to the topic. We were very pleased about the greetings of the board of the Dachverband Sächsischer migrantenorganisationen e. V. The Dachverband has actively participated in the update of the integration concept, through the creation of its own position paper. Finally, in the first part of the events, the Analysis was discussed in three different working groups, each with a speaker, and comments could be made.

During the lunch break, in addition to delicious soups from the catering company "Zafran", there were information displays and pin boards for all participants to contribute further ideas and comments. Afterwards, proposals for goals and measures of the new Action Plan were developed and discussed in the three working groups. After a short conclusion and outlook in the plenum, the participation events ended at 4 pm.

The event on the update of the (previous) Dresden Integration Concept was a complete success in terms of content. Proposals regarding the increase of diversity among the employees of the city administration, the stronger consideration of homeless EU citizens in the integration work and the improvement of parental work in daycare centers and schools for immigrant children and adolescents and their families, and other numerous ideas for the Analysis and the Action Plan could be formulated.

We would like to take this opportunity to once again thank everyone who was actively involved in the participation events, the speakers, helpers from Besht Yeshiva, "Zafran" Catering Dresden and the staff of the Office of the Commissioner for Integration and Foreigners.

To get an impression of the events, you can find some pictures as well as presentations of the participation events here.