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At the yearly Awards, the municipality of Utrecht was one of the contenders for the category ‘Municipalities’. The municipality has been very involved with refugees for years. is one of their greatest successes. According to VluchtelingenWerk, Plan Einstein is an innovative and inspiring project, that involves Overvecht residents in a great way.

Plan Einstein is a project of the City of Utrecht and partners such as ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ of Utrecht to improve integration and accommodation for asylum seekers. Living and learning together from day one: that’s what makes Plan Einstein innovative. At the property in Overvecht, residents of a refugee center live together with 38 students. The Incubator Space on the ground floor serves as a meeting and activity space for refugees ánd district residents from Overvecht. There’s a wide variety of English language courses, entrepreneurial courses and interactive workshops available as well.

The jury of VluchtelingenWerk pointed out that Utrecht inspires other municipalities to improve integration options for their refugee residents. The organisation is aware that setting up Plan Einstein hasn’t been easy, because of the resistance of Overvecht residents. The solution was to involve these residents by joint use of accommodation and facilities. It’s a successful project that works together closely with COA (Centraal orgaan Opvang Asielzoekers), VluchtelingenWerk and other organisations to make improvements along the way. According to the organization, living and learning together really does improve integration. VluchtelingenWerk has great appreciation for the municipality for setting up this project, despite the experienced resistance.

Vluchtelingenwerk wants to create awareness with their yearly awards for powerful projects and people that contribute to a successful participation of refugees in our society.