Project Update
Re:Match looks back on an fascinating and fruitful pilot phase in 2023 – because this project by the Berlin Governance Platform has achieved something truly unique so far!
Together with our partners Pairity (Canada) and Salam Lab (Poland), we were able to match 78 Ukrainian protection seekers with six German municipalities using our self-developed algorithm-based mechanism and relocate them from Poland to Germany.
The individual needs and profiles of the asylum seekers and the municipalities were taken into account in order to strengthen their right to have a say and facilitate the reception and integration process from day one.
The pilot phase is currently being comprehensively evaluated. The results will be processed in an evaluation report and an advocacy report and published in early 2024. The findings will also be used to further develop the matching criteria, the questionnaires, the algorithm and the associated processes. Further relocations are to take place in 2024 using the optimized tool.
This website will remain for documentation purposes and for further development at a later date despite the fact that it is currently not possible to register for a relocation round. You can find news about the project here or in our newsletter. The team will be happy to answer your questions at any time and looks forward to any exchange on the subject of matching!
How it works (Pilot Project Implementation 2023):
INTERVIEW
We inform interested Ukrainian refugees in detail about the Re:Match programme. After that, we conduct an in-person interview to take into account individual needs, preferences and further relevant information. Meanwhile, partner cities are vetted as well.
MATCHING
We use the collected information to match refugees from Ukraine to a German city. For the matching we also take into account the capacities and needs of the different participating cities. A preference-matching algorithm helps us to process the information and match in the best possible way.
RELOCATION
Once the refugee agrees to a proposed match, the city gets a notification. Our team then coordinates the relocation and the reception in the new host city.
What We Want To Achieve
Since February 2022, approximately 8 million people (and counting) have fled Ukraine to other European countries as a result of the Russian war of aggression. This remains a major challenge for the European migration system and for the many European cities and towns that are welcoming people from Ukraine.
Distribution and reception of refugees rarely focus on both personal needs and the capacities of the receiving municipalities. Re:Match is an innovative matching model that wants to tackle exactly this problem: it takes into account refugees’ individual profiles and preferences and compares it with what German cities can provide, for instance, housing. Cities´ needs such as the local labour market are also taken into consideration. Re:Match uses a preference-matching algorithm to match both sides in the best possible way.
Re:Match has the goal to allow an informed, individualised and needs-oriented reception of Ukrainian refugees through relocation via matching. This programme opens up better future prospects in Germany for people fleeing from Ukraine and facilitates the reception and integration process from day one. At the same time, it allows for better planning opportunities in municipalities which can put their unique experience to use.
