Indicator history

The government program of the 24th legislative period (2008-1013) stipulated the introduction of a National Action Plan on Integration (NAP). On the basis of a draft written by the Federal Ministry of Interior a steering group was composed of representatives of the ministries, the federal states, the Association of Towns and Municipialities, social partners and the Federation of Austrian Industry as well as NGOs. Two expert meetings were held with international experts to discuss the paper and a consulting process with NGOs in the field of migration was initiatied. Furthermore an opinion survey on the status quo concerning integration in Austria was carried out. On the basis of this deliberation process a report was written and indicators on and measures to promote integration were developed.

The report contains general guidelines on integration policy including a definition of integration and preliminary considerations and analysis. The major part comprises different areas of operation:

1) Language and education: The main objectives are to develop the language education of children and language teaching at schools, to promote the offer of language courses for women and parents, to develop integration measures concerning recent immigration, to promote education and career orientation for adolescents, to enhance adult education for migrants, to recognize qualifications to a greater extent, to advance the training of teachers, to raise antiracist awareness and democratic participation.

2) Employment and job: The main objectives are to promote the integration of persons with migration background into the labour market, to enhance the integration - especially adolescents with migration background - into vocational training, to promote the independence of migrants and to aim at the harmonisation of right of residence and the right of access to the labour market.

3) Rule of law and values: This field aims at communicating and further developing the laws, developing an intercultural understanding within authorities, ensuring a modern training for teachers of religious education, further developing measures and instruments to protect victims and at integrationg the subject of rule of law and values in school education.

4) Health and social issues: The objectives are to strengthen intercultural competences in the field of health and concerning social issues, to enhance the health literacy of migrants, to provide special measures to promote the health of female migrants, to open up the health sector as a vocational field for migrants and to advance the social situation of migrants.

5) Intercultural dialogue: The aims are to integrate diverse target groups and subjects into an intercultural dialogue, to provide information and establish rules in order to enhance the dialogue, to conceptualise the communication between NGOs and religious communities as being part of the intercultural dialogue and to convey values and rules of equality and non-discrimination.

6) Sports and leisure: The following objectives are included in the report: to promote the potential of organised sports activities in regard to integration, to enhance special measures for girls and women to foster exercise and to publicily address the significance of sport for integration.

7) Housing and regional dimensions of integration: The targets in this field to develop regional economic policies in an integration-oriented way, to counter discrimination in the sector of housing and to actively and preventively face challenges concerning integration in regard to urban planning and housing policies.

Sources: http://www.integration.at/fileadmin/Staatssekretariat/4-Download/NAP_Massnahmenkatalog.pdf; http://www.integration.at/integration_in_oesterreich/nationaler_aktionsplan/