Unfortunately, not. We are building an intensive experience for the participants we already chose end of September 2021 to be part of a global team of passionate and committed leaders. Our workshops and interventions build upon each other, and we need everyone on board to ensure group dynamics and peer support.

However, we are very interested to stay in touch and connect with global, like-minded leaders motivated in the co-creation of a smart, worldwide network. To stay in touch with us please fill in this little survey (it will only take 2 minutes).

• SINGA Deutschland is part of a global network of SINGA organizations in 17 cities (including Berlin, Stuttgart, Montreal) passionate about migration and about building truly inclusive societies. Our mission is to connect newcomers and locals in meaningful ways, based on shared passions. We see in our daily work that by fostering such connections, innovative, impactful, and effective initiatives thrive and drive change. We work directly with our primary target groups of newcomers and locals in our local context Berlin. We also have extensive experience in collaborating with organizations and people who aim to become more inclusive and impactful in their operations. We have implemented a similar program for organizations in Germany and Morocco. Shaping Inclusive Societies brings together all the lessons learned from our work – and is our coolest program yet! We also work with an extensive network of experts and trainers to complement our skills set.
• The Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH is one of Europe’s largest foundations associated with a private company. It works in the areas of health, education, and global issues. With its charitable activities, it contributes to the development of viable solutions to social challenges. For this purpose, the Foundation implements its own projects, enters alliances with partners, and supports third-party initiatives. Within the Global Issues support area it focuses among other things on building strong immigration societies considering the different needs and potentials of people and fostering the participation of all members of society on equal terms.

• Our program and workshops will focus on the following topics: inclusive program design and language, co-creation methods, social impact planning and theory of change development and collective impact methods. Our experience with past capacity building programs is that in order for people to really understand and engage with these methods and tools, it is necessary to work on mindset: mindset of inclusion, impact and co-creation. In order to develop a mindset that is open to inclusive practices, language, impact planning and co-creation methods, we all need to become aware of and possibly shift some of our assumptions – this is where awareness building and mindfulness come in!
• The workshops are given by a mix of trainers from within SINGA’s team and network across all three countries to ensure a diversity of perspectives and expertise each step of the way.
• We have put together a diverse set of tools from a variety of schools of thought and we do not in any way follow religious teachings. We use these tools only to advance everyone’s training, not to bring the participants in a specific religious direction of any kind. While our participants may or may not follow some form of religious or spiritual practice, our program is strictly neutral with regards to religion or spirituality.

• In this context, the “challenge” refers to the societal problem the ideas/projects are addressing. There are many deeply rooted issues that prevent the creation of a truly inclusive society, in which newcomers and locals can meet, connect and live as equals.
• The “project” is the concrete initiative the teams are running or proposing, to tackle this challenge in their local context and for a specific target group. These projects are either already operational or they plan to start them within the next couple of months.

It is important that they are active and motivated on the topic of migration and inclusion. Leaders often don’t realise the influence and impact they have or can have. A leadership position in the organization, sector or community permits them to make strategic decisions and changes to the way your organization, project or community works. We are interested in working with teams that are also capable of having an impact on their partners and networks so as to increase the reach of our overall impact. This can include people working for organizations or working on freelance basis, activists or volunteers. The definition of everyone’s leadership position is up to them to describe and be aware of!

• The cross-sectoral approach is important for the success of the project. We know from experience and from research that systemic change is greatly advanced if people from different sectors work together on a common impact goal. This can include people working for organizations or working on freelance basis – with and for NGOs, or in areas like business, public administration, media, arts, education, sports, etc. If two partners have the same legal form (for example, are both registered as NGOs) they are active in different fields in order to bring diverse perspectives, expertise and networks to the team.

• Yes, the solutions all SIS-partners have involve both newcomers and locals.
• There are many different terms used officially and unofficially to label people in the context of migration and diversity. There are no perfect terms, and the very concept of labeling people is often problematic. In an effort to be clear about our target groups and to use language that is the least stigmatizing, we use the term ‘’newcomer’’ to refer to people with any political status or lack thereof, living in a different country than where they grew up. As a reference point, in Canada, this term tends to refer to people that moved to Canada less than 3 years ago. We are less concerned with the number of years your newcomer target group has been living in your region, but rather, the extent to which they feel their experience of migration has affected their level of marginalization/access to aspects of everyday life, such as: information, networks, communities, power to decide and (co-)create one’s life as wished and desired. So basically, it’s up to you!
• Of course, the same issues around labeling apply to the word ‘’local’’. At some point, many newcomers may feel like newcomers and locals at the same time. Here, we use the term local to refer to people that have been living in your region for many years and have easy access to local networks, knowledge and opportunities. This can include people that were born in your country or immigrants that have been living there for many years.

• We believe that a truly inclusive society involves active participation and commitment from newcomers and locals. In fact, locals often need even more support in accessing newcomer networks, learning about their own bias and addressing barriers that lead to structural discrimination than vice versa because topics of inclusion are often not on things they have to think about automatically.  
• There are needs and concerns on the sides of both newcomers and locals that prevent societies from being inclusive. If people focus only on the needs and ‘’problems’’ of newcomers, their program may actually reproduce the unequal power dynamics that they are trying to address – like newcomers being only in a receiving role and locals in a giving role.
• Meaningful encounters between locals and newcomers are just as important in enriching the lives and sense of belonging of locals in their society as they are for newcomers.

• Around 6 hours per month (most months) for the core program activities: including workshops, networking and coaching sessions that we schedule in advance.
• The work done on their own time: however, much time they decide and need, depending on the vision/idea and its implementation.
• Intensive onboarding in October 2021 of 16 hours over 4 days: 18, 20, 26, 28 October 2021. 
• One 5-day retreat in spring of 2022 in one of the three countries, plus the travel time to reach the destination.
• One intensive training session of 2 days in your own country (the SINGA team will travel to the teams during the program duration, date to be determined).
• At least one visit (more if it’s necessary) to the other team from each one’s country.