Urban versus Rural Areas: How Can Integration Work?

As far as Germany goes, it doesn’t get any more rural. Ludwigslust-Parchim is one of the most sparsely populated counties in Germany and comprised of almost exclusively rural communities: Of the 145 communities in the county, many have only 100 or 200 inhabitants as well as very different, sometimes extremely small-scale structures. In addition, there are five small towns with between 5,000 and 20,000 people, and in between, lots of huge fields, meadows, and lakes. Ludwigslust-Parchim is the second largest county in Germany, measuring 118 kilometers east-west and 75 kilometers north-south.

One of the greatest challenges in the county is mobility. The distances between the individual communities and towns are long. There is a bus system that serves the most important routes in the county on a regular basis, as well as an on-call bus system that takes people to the next main route. But if people have to travel 40 kilometers to get to a language class, most will consider this too far. Due to the long distances and great dispersion, it is a major challenge in Ludwigslust-Parchim County to find easily accessible places for group integration offerings where a sufficient number of participants can meet.

The lion’s share of integration activities is managed by the county and run by full-time staff. “Many communities are so small that there is no possibility to establish a structure for full-time integration staff,” explains Heidrun Dräger, head of the department for equality, generations, and diversity in Ludwigslust-Parchim County. In recent years, a decentralized integration and participation network has been developed. An important element is the counseling service. “Everyone who comes to live here has a right to free counseling for two years. We fund this service from our county budget.” In order to reach migrants who live in different places across the county, there are seven full-time counselors in Ludwigslust-Parchim who visit households and families.

In addition, some larger places also offer their own local services, such as integration and language courses. “These are a huge challenge for us because the courses require a certain minimum number of participants to run. In our county, however, it’s often difficult to get the necessary number of people together in one location,” explains Heidrun Dräger.

Since most migrants hardly know anything about the county when they move there, integration activities start with an extensive introduction: How big is the county, where are the towns, which offers are available in the communities. “Migrants who come here do not move to the very small places, let’s be honest,” says Ms. Dräger. Most of these new inhabitants opt for the somewhat bigger towns, which have at least a day care center and a school. 

Another unique feature in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is the network of language course providers. “We have a collaboration agreement with fourteen different language schools, which are actually all competitors – and which we try to coordinate.” The network was created because although the county has numerous employers willing to pay for language training for their non-German-speaking staff, they are not able to organize classes due to a lack of offers in the vicinity. “So the county has offered to cluster the offer and demand. In other words, we try to establish where and when which employees can take part in a language course.” This way, the county regularly manages to get enough participants together who can then learn German close to where they live. “This works amazingly well, also in the longer term, and we are really proud of it.”

Firstly, the county will continue to support efforts to create sustainable structures in the local communities, such as the integration advisory boards, which represent the interests of non-German residents to the outside and also inform and support the community. There are already five integration advisory boards in the county. “If we can no longer maintain decentralized counseling in its current form because it requires too much small-scale effort, we want to divide the county into regions and offer counseling services through permanent contact points,” according to Ms. Dräger and her team. 

“This is exactly what we are championing at the state level – because we need individual solutions and greater leeway.” Heidrun Dräger would welcome it if federal and state governments passed on the bulk of integration activities to the counties and communities, provided the appropriate funding would be made available as well.