Integration and Diversity

Diversity is a treasured part of everyday life in Monheim am Rhein. Monheim regards itself as a "City for Everyone", where inclusion and equal opportunities are a daily reality at every level. To make this happen, the City Administration encourages encounter and dialogue between different people and cultures to promote mutual understanding and successful coexistence. This way, Monheim am Rhein can develop into a place where everyone can actively participate and no-one is excluded.

Citizens with an international family background are represented by the Integration Council, which is also the expert body for living together in diversity. Apart from face-to-face encounters, other measures that provide hands-on experiences of diversity and enable contact with other cultures are the lively exchange Monheim maintains with its six twin cities and the free Interrail passes it offers its youngsters.

Photos of the Intercultural Fair Weeks 2020

The first-ever Concept for Integration in Monheim am Rhein was unanimously adopted by the Council in 2012 to serve as the basis for integration activities. Ever since, the City has consistently pursued and expanded the topic. In 2016, the concept was further developed in a participatory process.

The next update of the concept is scheduled for 2021. It is intended as way of ensuring that integration and diversity continue to feature on the town's agenda in future, to set new priorities and give direction. Taking what has already been achieved further, the revised concept shall highlight new approaches for promoting coexistence and reducing structural inequalities and discrimination. In this context, the Concept for Action and Inter-Cultural Education and the updated version of the Concept for Integration should be regarded as elements that build upon and complement each other. The participatory process will be carried out with the support of moderator and communication specialist Prasanna Oommen.

With a ten-point action plan, which it is currently developing, the City of Monheim am Rhein will be joining the European Coalition of Cities Against Racism and start networking at an international level. The ten points of the plan describe greater fields of action to reduce racial discrimination. Specific measures featured in the Concept for Integration and the Concept for Action and Inter-Cultural Education  will be integrated into the ten-point plan. The plan will also highlight areas in which there is an increased need for action.