UIL researchers receive grant from Handelsbanken
UIL researchers have received a grant from Handelsbanken for the project
"Civil Society and Immigrant Integration".
Mounir Karadja
Mounir Karadja, Olle Hammar, Akib Khan and Svante Strömberg are the researchers driving the project aimed at investigating how civil society works in different ways to integrate foreign-born people.
Mounir Karadja, the project leader, says that more research is needed in this area.
– There are many initiatives in different places to support foreign-born people integration into society, such as language programs, language cafes and various sports clubs. And many are supported by the public sector.
What we want to investigate is how effective these initiatives are.
The project consists of three studies. In the first study, in collaboration with UNHCR, the researchers will use a survey to evaluate individual refugee support. The program has existed internationally for a long time and involves matching a foreign-born person with a family.
– The idea is then to build a relationship where the expatriate can get help with various practical things in everyday life. This can be anything from contacting the authorities to borrowing a car or perhaps buying something online, says Mounir Karadja.
In the second study, the researchers will examine a non-profit organization that offers job training to foreign-born women. After five training sessions, participants will be matched with a mentor who will help them find a suitable job.
The third study focuses on how Ukrainian refugees who came to Sweden during the invasion have been integrated into the labour market after participating in labour market-oriented courses organized by civil society. The researchers will use data from the European Social Fund (ESF), which collects information on which individuals have participated in these courses. This will be combined with data from the Swedish Tax Agency and others on employment and income.
What do you hope to find with these studies?
– We hope that the initiatives have an impact so that more people enter the labor market. Then it would be interesting to know if the private dimension can do something different compared to when state actors are behind it. There is a lot of commitment behind civil society organizations. What effect does this have on the target group? Is this type of initiative financially beneficial to fund from the state?
The project "Civil Society and Immigrant Integration" will run for three years.