The town of Kamp-Lintfort wants to help refugees settle in quickly and easily after arriving in Germany. To this end, it is launching the multilingual app ‘easyl.kamp-lintfort’, developed by Jonas Hallmann, a student at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences.
Kleve/Kamp-Lintfort, 28 June 2016: How can I enrol on a German course? Is there a sports club I could join? How do I find a nursery place for my child or a doctor if I’m ill? Refugees need a great deal of information in the first few weeks after arriving in Germany so that they can find their way around their new surroundings. They take their questions to staff at the social services office in Kamp-Lintfort or to support organisations, or speak to other refugees or volunteers. The language barrier poses a significant hurdle in this regard. To help refugees find their way around and integrate more effectively into the local community, the town of Kamp-Lintfort, in cooperation with Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences, is now providing a new support tool.
In collaboration with the town of Kamp-Lintfort, Jonas Hallmann developed a support app for refugees as part of his Bachelor’s thesis in Media and Communication Informatics, under the supervision of Prof. Dr Frank Zimmer. Easily accessed via a web browser, this app provides refugees with answers to many of the questions they face in everyday life. The service is currently available in German, English, French, Arabic, Russian, Urdu, Tigrinya, Farsi, Persian and Albanian, thereby reaching a large proportion of refugees.
“Communication is the key to integration. For many refugees, the smartphone is an important tool for finding their way. That is why we, as a city, want to offer them the opportunity to access information that is important to them in a simple and straightforward way,” says Dr Christoph Müllmann, Head of Social Affairs. This intention is also reflected in the app’s name: easyl.kamp-lintfort, a combination of the English word ‘easy’ and the German word for ‘asylum’, Müllmann adds.
The new app has already passed its first practical tests. A number of refugees were able to access it on their smartphones and try it out. The feedback from the refugees was consistently positive. They were delighted at how quickly and comprehensively they could obtain information via the app.
All the data is now being made available to the town of Kamp-Lintfort. It is regularly updated there and can be accessed at www.easyl.kamp-lintfort.net or via the Kamp-Lintfort town website.
“This resource can also be easily implemented in any other local authority. As the framework is now in place, all that is needed is for the information to be updated. We hope that other towns and local authorities will also make use of this resource,” says Hallmann.
