How can the needs and preferences of families seeking protection be identified in a non-discriminatory manner and matched with favourable conditions in host municipalities while taking into account the needs of all family members? What could an app that enables age-appropriate and accessible data submission look like? These are the two key issues the second funding phase of the Match’In pilot project concerns itself with. It, therefore, consists of two sub-projects: Sub-project 1 (expansion of the target group to family) is funded by the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry for Family, Women, Culture and Integration, and sub-project 2 (development of an app for independent data entry) is funded by the Hessian Ministry of Labour, Integration, Youth and Social Affairs. Both projects are important in paving the way to incorporating the algorithm-based process into the current system of refugee allocation.
In sub-project 1 (implemented from 07/2025 to 12/2026), the algorithm-based procedure will be extended to families seeking protection which asks for family-specific criteria (e.g. child- and youth-specific health care, leisure activities, childcare services) to be added to the procedure. The aim is to take the needs of as many family members as possible into account when allocating families to municipalities. In addition, the data collection procedure will be adapted to be sensitive to discrimination, age-appropriate and more accessible.
Sub-project 2 (implemented from 09/2025 to 11/2027) involves developing an app for the algorithm-based process of allocation. The app will enable asylum seekers to enter their data and requirements themselves on (mobile) devices. Until now, social workers have been responsible for this. The aim is to offer asylum seekers more privacy when entering data, to make data collection more efficient and to relieve the burden on the staff previously responsible for this task. During the development of the app, special attention will also be paid to creating a discrimination-sensitive and accessible environment that takes into account different digital, personal, and cultural characteristics.
Distributing families is far more complex than assessing the needs of individual asylum seekers. This is due to gender- and age-specific characteristics as well as potential power asymmetries among family members. In order to make the assessment of needs sensitive to discrimination and comprehensible to all, and to ultimately achieve the best possible match with host municipalities, the algorithm will be developed with a participatory approach, as was already the case in Match'In 1.0. This means that various experts are involved at an early stage, including families seeking protection as experts in their own right, experts on special protection needs, and representatives of allocation authorities and municipalities.
In order to include the different needs and preferences of all family members in the allocation process, the existing algorithm and the knowledge model on which the algorithm is based has to be refined on a scientific basis. The model must then be reintegrated into the software to enable data collection and the actual matching.
Research during the first phase showed that the collection and submission of data by people seeking protection needs to be facilitated. The app to be developed in sub-project 2 seeks to enable asylum seekers to enter their data themselves on their devices. The app should be accessible and easy to use, i.e. it should eliminate disadvantages due to differences in access to digital media, whether due to physical and/or language barriers or differences in the ability to use these media.
Since the app that is to be developed will operate with personal data, some of which is highly sensitive, various requirements and special features relating to data protection and security must be ensured during development. At the same time, it must be ensured that those seeking protection understand what happens to the data they enter and how they can subsequently object to the use of their data if necessary.
Although the implementation of the algorithm-based allocation procedure in the current standard system will not be completed within the framework of Match'In 2.0, this phase can pave the way for important changes that can contribute to a reform of the current allocation practice. In order to make the project results accessible to other stakeholders at state and federal level, they will be published in the form of a short policy brief. This will also be used beyond the project period in direct communication with decision makers and in discussions with other relevant stakeholders.
In addition, the team is in contact with other federal states and potential partners to prepare for the future implementation in the current system and to discuss possible scale-up options. This includes IT-supported data transfer to local authorities (partners and funding sources tbd), which would represent a significant improvement for local authorities. Consideration is also being given to further developing the algorithm and developing procedures for algorithm-supported admission from abroad. This would make the Match'In procedure useful for other areas of humanitarian admission.
