With the “Comprehensive Program for Participation and Integration of Refugees“, the Berlin Senate has already taken the involvement of migrant perspectives on to a next level, making it part of administrative decisions. The program, coordinated by the Commissioner for Integration and Migration and approved by the Senate in 2018, has become the basis of Berlin’s refugee policy: Besides offering policy solutions, it focuses on incorporating migrant perspectives into administrative actions on a daily, regular basis. In principle, the participation of migrants in Berlin is regulated by the “law of the open door” (officially: “Law for the Promotion of Participation in the Migration Society of the State of Berlin”). Within this legal framework, participation of Berlin’s migrant population is carried out by the “state advisory council of participation“, in which migrants, the administration and civil society groups are represented. As Yvonne Franz states, “other cities could learn a lot from this exemplary case of good governance!“ In discussions with employees of the Berlin Senat and with GEtCoheSive advisory board member Prof. Felicitas Hillmann, we discussed in more details the effort needed in order to include vulnerable groups on a broader basis. Again, Berlin is making exemplary steps, e.g. using less bureaucratic language in job postings, in order to outreach more successfully to people with migrant biographies and enhance their chances on the labor market. https://www.berlin.de/lb/intmig/themen/partizipation-in-der-migrationsgesellschaft/
