Migration

The Integrators

The program is giving five German municipalities the chance to implement digitally and socially innovative integration projects. We provide them with trained people from business and civil society to work on solutions for local challenges.

About the project

The Integrators program strengthens integration work in municipalities by developing, testing, and sustainably anchoring solutions directly on the ground. The program is built on three pillars:

Project work in municipalities: Our partner organization Lokalprojekte brings “makers” – people with professional experience from the private sector or other fields – into a total of nine municipal administrations across Germany. Together with local staff, they develop and pilot concrete projects that improve integration work on site. This includes, for example, improving newcomers’ access to administrative services, reducing bureaucratic barriers, or using digital tools more effectively in integration processes.
Targeted training for professionals and leadership: The Changemaker Program is part of the initiative and is aimed at committed professionals and leaders working in municipal integration. Participants come together in nationwide cohorts and are equipped by experienced trainers with methods and tools to structure and implement innovation and transformation processes in everyday administrative work. The program creates a network that strengthens individual competencies and fosters collective learning.
Scaling successful approaches: In the third pillar, the solutions developed in the municipalities are systematically prepared and strategically communicated to decision-makers at the municipal, state, and federal levels.

Through this combination of practical projects, targeted training, and strategic dissemination, the program helps make integration in municipalities simpler, more digital, and more effective. This strengthens trust in municipal administrations and promotes social cohesion.

The municipal administration is one of the central places where government action becomes tangible for people in their everyday lives. Yet municipalities have been under significant pressure for years: migration and demographic change coincide with strained administrative structures, a shortage of skilled workers, and growing expectations regarding the state’s ability to perform. Integration is largely determined at the municipal level, as it is here that the first contact between newcomers and state institutions takes place, and where participation is either enabled or hindered. The Integrationsmacher:innen project creates experimental spaces in which new forms of collaboration, digital solutions, and participatory approaches can be tested.

The goal of the project is to make municipal integration work more efficient, more resilient, and better equipped for the future. Integration improves where it is directly experienced in everyday life: in the processes, services, and interactions between municipal administrations, newcomers, and the local community.

In the participating municipalities, concrete and practice-oriented solutions are being developed that address the challenges of integration work. All project activities are created from practice, for practice, and are designed in such a way that they can be continued beyond the project period and transferred to other municipalities.

The funding covers two sequential project cohorts as well as a Changemaker Program.

Municipalities across Germany can apply for the project cohorts by submitting the integration-related challenges they aim to address. A targeted matching process then pairs a project team within the respective municipality with an external “maker” whose skills align with the specific task. During the implementation phase, the teams take part in a support program designed by our partner organization Lokalprojekte. The entire process is systematically evaluated to ensure learning, impact, and transferability.

In parallel to the project cohorts, a Changemaker Program is implemented for committed public administration professionals. The program consists of three in‑person sessions complemented by online-based, transformative learning circles. This combination enables both intensive personal exchange and ongoing learning and reflection processes integrated into everyday administrative work.