Development of an Integration Concept for the city of Dietzenbach

The city of Dietzenbach decided to give new impulses to the municipal integration activities and to further develop these activities systematically on the basis of an integration concept that is specifically tailored to local conditions. For this purpose, the efms was assigned to elaborate a comprehensive integration concept for the city of Dietzenbach.

The development of this municipal integration concept was conceived as a participative process that was coordinated by the efms. The process aimed at a practice-oriented and realisable integration concept that met the specific local conditions of Dietzenbach. The constructive and productive devolution of working processes as well as the quality of the final product were guaranteed by (a) the active participation of the local political boards, actors, relevant civic societal institutions and networks as well as by (b) the longstanding experiences of the efms with scientific analysis of municipal integration processes and experiences in practical consulting of cities in Germany and Europe.

The project consisted of two stages: in a first step, the efms conducted expert interviews with representatives of the city administration, educational institutions, mosques and civil society organisations as well as with politicians. Based on the results gained in the first step, the second step concentrated on the participative development of the integration concept. This project stage aimed to strengthen established network structures and establish cooperation between different actors as well as to involve the local public.