World Refugee Day 2021

IKEA is committed to providing opportunities for the many to gain access to a better life. Through our work with social entrepreneurship, we side with the many not the few by increasing access to better homes and opening pathways to decent employment for people experiencing poverty and social exclusion in local neighbourhoods.

Daniel Kerber, the founder of MTS Social Design along with a team of designers, architects and urban planners, set out to improve the living conditions and opportunities for refugees living in refugee camps and in urban settings.

Daniel participated in our Dela accelerator, a programme co-created with Ashoka, where he looked at how best to scale the work and impact of MTS Social Design.

Disrupting the system

Refugees often live in difficult and challenging conditions, whether that be in camps close to borders or when they arrive in new countries. However, one thing is clear in both situations, the perception in certain sections of society is that they are a burden, coupled with their living conditions, do not help them move forward.

New communities can thrive when refugees are able to use their education, embrace their talents and fulfil their aspirations. However, MTS Social Design noticed that when refugees arrive in European countries, they were trapped in rigid systems and surrounded by false stereotypes, with the ability to design their own future, lost.

 

There are a lot of people who lost their diplomas and when arriving in new communities had to start from scratch. The same goes for people that are informally trained. You might have run a business for 30 years in the country you previously lived in, but now this is not recognised. This is a waste of talent because these people are incredible business leaders.

 

Daniel used a social entrepreneurial approach and looked to change this situation, along with the narrative surrounding the perception of refugees in society. The rule of thumb of social entrepreneurship is that if you want to tackle a problem, and truly establish change, you have to tackle the root cause of the problem.

Daniel and his team, therefore, moved from designing tents to designing the integration of refugees in neighbourhoods, addressing the issue at its core.

The integration Hub approach

MTS Social Design created an ‘Integration Hub’ approach, to facilitate the integration of refugees into communities and society. The goal of the Hub is to reduce the integration time of refugees by focusing on and showcasing the positive contribution that the newcomers can add to their neighbourhoods. It connects refugees to job opportunities, social capital and language acquisition that improves self-development and realisation of goals. Eventually, this will lead to an improved social cohesion between refugees and the local population and have a positive influence on the greater society.
   

In the integration and arrival context, local societies and neighbourhoods were changing. We realised our work is not only valuable for refugees or migrants but can address whole neighbourhoods. We started to work in much larger contexts, as neighbourhood designers with the focus on making integration happening or making arrival easier.

At the Hub, newcomers and locals exchange and collaborate. It creates community spaces that help refugees and locals in cultural, social and economic togetherness through local initiatives. 

(Hub Neighbourhood Festival, Berlin -  local residents and refugees share food from their countries of origin: credit MTS Social Design)

One group of Eritreans with a background in creative disciplines formed a Theater group together with local residents. Another, group with different origins formed a sewing collective to produce face masks for the neighbourhood during COVID times.

(Group of refugees and the community who worked on the neighbourhood mask project: credit MTS Social Design)

Daniel’s participation in the Dela accelerator gave him space to stop, think and get advice on how to develop a scaling strategy for the Integration Hub. It allowed them to strategically reflect on growth in a period where things were changing and decisions had to be made on how to build a strategy for the next years to come. At the end of the process, Daniel received a small grant to support him in establishing a new location for the Integration Hub concept in Berlin. 

The grant from IKEA Social Entrepreneurship has allowed us to get an agreement with the district of Berlin Charlottenburg to, along with other donors, transform a city campus according to our Integration Hub concept.

Partners

Daniel and MTS Social Design are improving refugees opportunities at different stages in their journey. However, they cannot change a system alone. That is why World Refugee Day is important, and especially this year’s theme ‘Every Action Counts.  

”This year, we aim to remind the world that everyone, including refugees, can contribute to society and Every Action Counts in the effort to create a more just, inclusive, and equal world. “ 

IKEA Social Entrepreneurship partners and does business with social entrepreneurs who support refugees, get their talents recognised and introduce them to the labour market. 

Jordan River Foundation is one such business partner whose work has resulted in them receiving a TENT award for ‘Outstanding leadership in integrating refugees into the supply chain’. 

Daniel Kerber participated in the Dela programme, a global accelerator supporting systems changing social entrepreneurs, co-created with Ashoka, the world's leading organization for social entrepreneurship. 

Read here how IKEA is committed to ‘changing the narrative’ of refugees around the world.