20 September 2023
78 Ukrainian asylum seekers over the last few months about our Innovative matching process be relocated. Our work is now being continued in the participating municipalities: Düsseldorf, for example, has organised the course with financial support from Re:Match. HISPI 4 U which aims to make it easier for people seeking protection to settle in Germany.
In August, the Re:Match team received a special email from a Ukrainian family who were matched and relocated to Germany in the second group. They wrote: "After the first few months in Germany, we can really appreciate how important Re:Match has been for us! We look forward to sharing our experiences with new families coming to our city and of course recommending Re:Match to our friends!". Feedback like this already gives us a feeling that we are on the right track with Re:Match.
Of course, the project will also be further developed in the coming months. comprehensively evaluatedto identify findings and potential for further development. With the support of our Canadian partner Pairity, Surveys of people seeking protection and municipalities through, evaluate the potential of Re:Match together with municipal employees and take a critical look at the internal processes.
With 78 Ukrainian participants and six German municipalities, Re:Match is the first project worldwide to carry out such an algorithm-supported and needs-orientated matching of people seeking protection and municipalities. We will categorise the valuable data obtained in this way in international research and compare it with available data on the distribution and reception of asylum seekers in municipalities in order to create a scientific basis for our pilot project.
Our Results and findings we will not keep to ourselves, but make publicly accessible. In an advocacy report, we want to demonstrate the potential of matching as a sensible alternative for the distribution and reception of people seeking protection.
We place the report in the relevant migration policy actors at federal and European level. We also want to use the report to enter into dialogue with the science, civil society, the media and other non-governmental organisations to join forces for an innovative migration policy.
At this point, we would like to welcome the Report "Reforming EU Asylum Law: The final stage" of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), which has identified the most important unresolved issues in the reform of the Common European Asylum System (GEAS) and makes recommendations to policy makers. ECRE, like us, welcomes the Idea of an EU-wide solidarity mechanismwhich authorises the relocation of protection seekers to countries with which there is a "significant connection" (for example from family or cultural reasons) must be ensured. The report also argues in favour of a Comprehensive information and consultation of persons seeking protection in the relocation process. Re:Match puts precisely these requirements into practice.
In addition, we participated in a roundtable called "Matching in Refugee Sponsorship and Complementary Pathways: Innovations for Enhancing Outcomes and Strengthening Communities" with other strong matching players, which reinforced our conviction that we have a Idea with great potential track.
We are delighted that these milestones and findings have confirmed Re:Match's success in October. the Deputy Director-General for Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission, Beate Gminderin Brussels.
The distribution and reception of people seeking protection via matching also builds bridges between states / the EU and municipalities. We are therefore also looking forward to our upcoming event on 26 October with Rasha Nasr (SPD), Member of the Bundestag, and Saxon municipalitiesin which we discuss the potential of Re:Match as an opportunity for the latter.
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