Projects

Research topic: Implementation of a stakeholder dialogue for the qualification-appropriate employment of Ukrainian refugees in Sinsheim.

Methodological approach: Data-based analysis, qualitative interviews and focus groups, collaborative dialogue formats, training and a toolbox.

The project "Bridge to Adequate Employment (BRIDGE-AB)" is being carried out in close collaboration with the city of Sinsheim. The project's primary objective is to develop and implement strategies for the skills-based employment of Ukrainian refugees in Sinsheim through a cross-sectoral stakeholder dialogue. The dialogue aims to facilitate structural changes through collaboration between private enterprises, municipal authorities, refugees and local non-governmental organizations. The initial phase of the project involves a comprehensive research and analysis of the labour market situation in Sinsheim for Ukrainian refugees to identify existing structure, key actors, and support needs. Based on these insights, a comprehensive range of consulting and facilitation services will be provided for the development and implementation of the stakeholder dialogue, taking into account ISOG’s prior experience. Additionally, a specific toolkit will be created to facilitate the implementation of future stakeholder dialogues, making the skills and insights gained applicable across topics and municipalities. Furthermore, a training concept for municipal staff will be developed to optimise the future implementation of such dialogues. The integration of the experiences and insights gained into local policies and practices will be carried out sustainably to ensure long-term improvements and the effective use of the developed methods.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine until August 2024, approximately 1.2 million1 people have sought refuge in Germany, 70 percent of whom are women. The educational level of the refugees is remarkable: 72%2 of them have a university degree, with most having an academic background. In their home country, a considerable number of refugees were employed in occupations that are experiencing a shortage of labour in Germany. For instance, 43%3 were engaged in commercial services, with a particular focus on sales and business organisation activities. Another 24%3 was employed in health, social services, teaching and education. The integration of this well-educated and experienced individuals into the German labour market presents both a challenge and opportunity. It offers a way to alleviate labor shortages in various sectors while providing refugees with prospects and stability.

Despite the progress, the integration of Ukrainian refugees into the labour market in Sinsheim remains a significant challenge. This is due to several factors, including the recognition of qualifications, lack of professional experience, language barriers, and childcare needs. Sinsheim’s case management team already provides individual support to strengthen language skills and trust. However, it is essential to address structural impediments and identify cross-sector solutions. This is the purpose of the joint project, which is currently being implemented step-by-step.

The project's current outcomes include: 1) the stakeholder dialogue in Sinsheim on the skills-based employment of Ukrainian refugees 2) tested training materials and 3) a toolset of materials to facilitate successful implementation.

 

References:

  1. Statista Research Department (22. August, 2024). Kriegsflüchtlinge aus der Ukraine in Deutschland bis August 2024 [Graph]. In Statista. Zugriff am 09. September 2024, von https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1294820/umfrage/kriegsfluechtlinge-aus-der-ukraine-in-deutschland/
  2. OECD 2023. What we know about the skills and early labour market outcomes of refugees from Ukraine, von https://www.oecd.org/ukraine-hub/policy-responses/what-we-know-about-the-skills-and-early-labour-market-outcomes-of-refugees-from-ukraine-c7e694aa/
  3. Brücker, Herbert/Ette, Andreas/Grabka, Markus M./Kosyakova, Yuliya/Niehues, Wenke/Rother, Nina/Spieß, C. Katharina/Zinn, Sabine/Bujard, Martin/Cardozo, Adriana/Décieux, Jean Philippe/Maddox, Amrei/Milewski, Nadja/Naderi, Robert/Sauer, Lenore/Schmitz, Sophia/Schwanhäuser, Silvia/Siegert, Manuel/Tanis, Kerstin/ Steinhauer, Hans Walter (2022): Geflüchtete aus der Ukraine in Deutschland: Ergebnisse der ersten Welle der IAB-BiB/FReDA-BAMF-SOEP-Befragung. Forschungsbericht 41 des Forschungszentrums des Bundesamtes, Nürnberg: Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge. https://doi.org/10.48570/bamf.fz.fb.41.d.2023.ukrlangbericht.1.0

In today's scientific discourse, there is an increasing demand for scientists not only to communicate their findings in an understandable way, but also to actively contribute to societal change. In this context, action-oriented research approaches and scientific consultancy are becoming increasingly important. On the one hand, these approaches challenge traditional scientific methods and perceptions; on the other hand, they need to be distinguished from conventional consultancy. But how?

The project is being carried out jointly by the Design Impact Transition Platform, the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT) and the Intersectoral School of Governance Baden-Württemberg (ISoG BW) and addresses the following key questions:


Project Objectives:
 

  1. Identifying New Roles and Functions:
    The project investigates the various roles that emerge in the transdisciplinary spectrum between scientific research, consulting and action-oriented research. The goal is to describe these roles in relation to the field and understand their form and function within the scientific context.

  2. Reflecting on the Benefits of Transdisciplinary Approaches: 
    The project reflects on the necessity of scientific consulting and transdisciplinary work to drive societal change.


Methodology:

The project employs creative approaches to collect qualitative data:
 

  • Case: 
    The data collection will take place at DRIFT, where staff members are already deeply engaged in activities along the transdisciplinary spectrum. Their extensive experience in this field provides a rich foundation for exploring and addressing the questions raised by this project.

  • Interviews and Creative Methods: 
    Going beyond a classical interview study, this project employs art-based research methods to delve deeper into the reflection on roles within this spectrum. These creative methods encourage participants to explore their roles from new perspectives. Participants are invited to express their experiences and reflections through artistic mediums such as drawing, collage, or other forms of visual art. 

Through these methods, the research seeks to move beyond conventional narratives and tap into the experiential and emotional dimensions of the roles, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the complexities involved in the transdisciplinary work of scientific consulting and action-oriented research.


Involved Partners:
 

  • Dr. Julia Wittmayer, Associate Professor at ESSB & Senior Researcher at DRIFT, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  • Dr. Verena Schmid, Postdoctoral Researcher at Intersectoral School of Governance Baden-Württemberg (ISoG BW)
  • Prof. Dr. Monika Gonser, Professor and Head of the Intersectoral School of Governance Baden-Württemberg (ISoG BW)

Research subject: Negotiation and governance in local climate policy.
Methodological approach: Document research, interviews with experts*

The "Local Climate Governance" project is still in the pilot stage and is being implemented in cooperation with the Centre for Social Investment and Innovation (CSI) at the University of Heidelberg.

The focus of the study has been placed on the local level, which thereby plays a key role in climate protection. On the one hand, specific climate protection measures are to be negotiated and implemented locally by the local administration and political parties in conjunction with the local population, as those people who will be affected by the measures. On the other hand, a large part of the commitment to climate protection also takes place at the local level. Many of the large environmental organisations such as NABU and BUND have local groups who are involved in these levels and newer initiatives, such as Fridays for Future, also organise themselves locally. In this area, they are involved in specific, defined projects, they seek dialogue with politicians and administrators and participate in committees and meetings. At the local level, the direct negotiation for climate protection takes place with the affected and committed participants. Due to the multitude of involved bodies, people and participants, who are supposed to deal with this subject and want to implement certain aspects, this therefore means that the understanding of effective and future-oriented forms of intersectoral governance, a corresponding culture of politics and administrative action is particularly important in this case - especially when one assumes that the field of local climate governance is currently in something like a so-called start-up phase. That is why we are investigating the question: To what extent have new forms of action, measures and regulations developed in the field of climate policy and which can thereby be summarised under the term intersectoral governance?

As far as the current study is concerned, we will focus on seven large towns in Baden-Württemberg. We hereby assume that the challenges which can also be observed in smaller towns or villages, albeit in less diversity, are reflected there in condensed form.

In an evaluation of documents which are freely available on the Internet and in interviews which have been conducted by ourselves with key people, common characteristics, although also local particularities in two areas are to be recorded and clarified. On the one hand, we would like to look at the development of the participants who are active in local networks, especially within politics and administration and among the organisations and other participants from urban society. On the other hand, the study focuses on forms of cooperation, initially commencing with traditional forms of participation, through various forms of public participation and up to, and including, new forms of stakeholder participation.

You can see the initial findings and developments of the project here.

Research subject: Conditions required for success and obstacles to intersectoral cooperation
Methodological approach: Participant observation and expert interviews

The so-called Amendment Dialogue sets itself the goal of "creating a basis for a new, improved collaboration for the participants and interested parties who come from the fields of agriculture, nature conservation and food retailing in Baden-Württemberg, thereby oriented towards common goals" (https://veraenderungsdialog.de/). ISoG BW accompanies thereby this process from an intersectoral perspective with the objective for researching the design and the process of the amendment dialogue in its different forms and therfore reflecting on it with the participants.

The research question underlying the case study work is: What are the conditions required for success and which obstacles exist regarding intersectoral cooperation? The following dimensions of intersectoral cooperation are of interest: Process steps and phases, initiation, aim of the cooperation, structure (organisation, network, etc), management and control, mechanisms for conflicts and conflict resolution, power and resources, communication and decision-making capacity, special features, results, successes, and so on.

The results which will be achieved are intended to provide additional, ongoing insights into the conditions for success and obstacles of intersectoral dialogue formats, but also to provide the participants who will be involved in the dialogue process with the opportunity to reflect and possibly improve their collaboration.

Research topic: Conflict lines, hurdles and solution options in intersectoral dialogue formats.
Methodological approach: Participant observation, interviews

The Automotive Industry Strategy Dialogue BW was launched in 2017 with the objective of successfully shaping the future of the automotive industry in Baden-Württemberg by utilising institutionalised, cross-industry cooperation. The focus is thereby placed on intersectoral cooperation with its potential for innovation and transformation.
Through participant observation, we accompanied several dialogue formats with a focus on cooperation processes, the presentation of potential conflict lines, obstacles and hurdles as well as solution options and possibilities. The data which had been collected by the IFOG Institute and the Fraunhofer IAO were supplemented by our results and subsequently jointly developed into a handout. This was presented at a specialist conference of the strategy dialogue on 17 November 2022 in Brussels. The handout "Pulling together - being successful together with employees" can be downloaded here.

Additional expert interviews with interested parties for the dialogue format will complement our results and contribute to the reflection of the participation process in its design and implementation.