NEWCOMER INTEGRATION IN EUROPE: BEST PRACTICES AND .

AGNESE LĀCEINTRODUCTIONtraining and work placement in the food and hospitality sectors.mechanism in cooperation with NGOs and a departure from‘projectization’ of services might provide viable solutions.The case of Antwerp, Belgium, discussed in this collection bySanne van de Pol, highlights the importance of cooperation between civil society actors with other stakeholders, inter alia, public institutions and the academia, in developing an innovative social integration project called CURANT - an initiative that focuseson social integration of young adult refugees though cohousing.This multifaceted cooperation incorporates a truly integrated approach through experience and knowledge-sharing.Žibas and Blažyte provide a detailed description of refugeeintegration in Lithuania and highlight innovation on variouslevels of policy implementation, ranging from state to municipality to NGO/grass-root levels. The authors highlighted thatthe so-called refugee crisis provided an opportunity for manycountries to strengthen their integration infrastructure and tocreate a more welcoming environment for all newcomers.Imke Siefer’s article focuses on temporary reception of unaccompanied minors in Berlin, Germany, detailing the experienceof Malteser Werke gGmbH during the height of the so-calledrefugee crisis. While the emergency situation has simmereddown, the experience gained during their operation of thetemporary shelter was a learning experience for both activityplanning on an institutional level and the coordination of cooperation with other actors.Some countries had to essentially create a comprehensive asylum system from the ground up. This collection contains threesuch examples. The cases of Bulgaria, Latvia and Lithuaniahighlight the importance of policy and project innovation toensure service provision at the earliest moment possible.Bulgaria, as discussed by Iva Lazarova, scrapped its asylumpolicy in 2013. Since then, the country has not had a stablestate-run integration program and no targeted integrationmeasures for refugees are in place. In this void, projects designed by various NGOs highlight the potential of innovationalso in situations where no official infrastructure policies exist.Regional and municipal solutions can take prevalence over national solutions, ensuring speedier policy planning. By analyzing the practices in two localities of Italy – Lucca and Catania –Samuk Caragnani and Fontana conclude that a lack of nationalcoordination might lead to uneven implementation of main integration policy principles, such as two-way integration, as thecapacities of local actors vary across the country.Finally, the Basque case described by Tina Magazzini highlightshow due to the fact that migrants in general, and, refugees inparticular, often belong to the most vulnerable sectors of thehost society, integration policies must be closely linked withinclusive welfare policies that can function as temporary safetynets. Thus, as Magazzini puts it, “practices [of solidarity] neednot necessarily be aimed at the migrant population in orderto benefit migrants”. As a result, embracing the cross-sectoralinterlinkages between policies can provide for more efficientand effective integration practices.We hope that this collection of expert articles, describing amultitude of innovative approaches to assisting newcomers inEurope becomes useful for future policy and program development.1Regarding the case of Latvia, I argue that while several innovative practices were introduced in response to the relocationprocess from Greece and Italy, the lack of medium and longterm policy planning lead to a fragmented refugee integrationpolicy and failed to ensure continuity. A clearer coordination1The articles were submitted in March 2018, therefore some legal and political changes that have taken place since may not be reflected in the analysis.NEWCOMER INTEGRATION IN EUROPE:BEST PRACTICES AND INNOVATIONS SINCE 20151110

THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE INTEGRATION OF NEWLY ARRIVED REFUGEES IN SWEDENTHE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY INTHE INTEGRATION OF NEWLYARRIVED REFUGEES IN SWEDENSAYAKA OSANAMI TÖRNGRENKLARA ÖBERGERICA RIGHARDShort overview of immigration history andcoordination of reception and integrationSweden was a country of emigration in the second half of 1800sup to the first decades of the 1900s. 1930 marked the first yearSweden recorded more people immigrating than emigrating,turning the country into a place for immigrating to. Swedishindustry experienced a golden period and a labour force shortage in the early post-Second World War period, calling for labour migration mainly from other Nordic and European countries. Immigrants came to Sweden to work, until the oil crisis inthe early 1970s. From the 1980s, the predominant categories ofimmigration became asylum seekers and those seeking familyreunification. As the dominant category of migration shiftedfrom labour migration to refugee migration, countries of origins have also shifted from within to outside of Europe (withan exception of asylum seekers from states that had been partof Yugoslavia). The number of asylum seekers arriving in Sweden has steadily grown since the 1980s. However, 2015 was aunique year in that Sweden experienced the arrival of an unparalleled number of asylum seekers and 162 877 people applied for asylum in Sweden.113

SAYAKA OSANAMI TÖRNGREN, KLARA ÖBERG, ERICA RIGHARDIn the mid-1980s, because of increased refugee and family reunification migration, there was a shift in how immigration andintegration was organized,. The Swedish Immigration Agency2, a state authority, became responsible for the reception ofimmigrants including asylum seekers, while the integration ofnewly arrived and their families became the responsibility oflocal authorities, especially the municipalities where the refugees settled.3The focus of the current Swedish integration policies is onareas of education and employment. The Government usesmainstreaming as a method to reach greater integration. Thismeans that the overall integration goal should be realized bygeneral measures, and be designed to benefit the whole population of Sweden. Integration policies should thus cover allareas of social development and be incorporated as part of allpolicy areas.4Recognizing that refugees face specific barriers during theirfirst years in Sweden, the government presented an introduction programme for the first time in 1992. This meant that municipalities could grant an introduction allowance for those following an Individual introduction plan agreed to with the localauthority.5 Since 2010, the Swedish Public Employment Servicehas operated the programme that coordinates and managesthe introduction programme for refugees and their families ona local level.6 The introduction programme includes courses inSwedish for Immigrants (SFI) and employment related training,and lasts for 24 months with financial benefits. The role of themunicipalities is crucial in the implementation of the introduction programme since they provide practical assistance suchas housing, day-care and schooling for children and youth, income support, and other social services. Municipalities are alsoresponsible for organizing courses in SFI and civic orientationto newly arrived refugees. Municipalities receive single payment compensation per refugee and per year from the state,which should cover the costs for SFI, civic orientation, interpreters, and special introductory activities within schools andpreschools. Since March 2016, all municipalities are responsible14NEWCOMER INTEGRATION IN EUROPE:BEST PRACTICES AND INNOVATIONS SINCE 2015THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE INTEGRATION OF NEWLY ARRIVED REFUGEES IN SWEDENfor refugee reception and a certain number of refugees are allocated to each municipality depending on the housing, jobavailability, and employment prospects.7Until recently, integration efforts during the decision waitingperiod for asylum seekers has been weak. It became strongerin 2015, when the government introduced Swedish From DayOne, so that asylum seekers could access Swedish languagetraining. Swedish From Day One is organised by study associations, a form of civil society organizations working withnon-formal adult education. Today, asylum seekers can accessvarious activities for the purpose of integration organised byvarious civil society organizations through the governmentallyfunded Early Activities for Asylum Seekers which is coordinated by the County Administrative Boards.8Role of civil society institutions: practicesand challengesCivil society’s role in integration of newly arrived in SwedenThe role of civil society organisations in reception and integration activities for asylum seekers and newly arrived in Swedenmust be understood in relation to the Swedish welfare statemodel and its political ideology. Sweden has, by tradition, astrong public sector which has taken on an extensive social responsibility and provided its citizens with welfare services. Thereception and integration of asylum seekers and newly arrivedhas been the responsibility of the national, regional and localpublic authorities. While civil society organisations in Sweden have been strong and engaged in recreational activitiessuch as culture, sports, politics, they have been less engagedin the production of social services which were taken care ofby the state.9 However, this has been changing. The governmental policy on integration identified civil society as an actorthat should participate in the introduction and integration programmes.10 Moreover, the government also adopted a policy in2010 explicitly aiming at engaging civil society organization s15

SAYAKA OSANAMI TÖRNGREN, KLARA ÖBERG, ERICA RIGHARDin the production of social services.11 More recently, an agreement between the state, civil society organisations and theSwedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions was alsoestablished12 that further identifies civil society as an importantactor in the integration efforts. These developments entail agrowing emphasis on the engagement of civil society in socialservice production through dialogues and agreements withrelevant public organisations.The Swedish government bill for a new policy on civil society13 says that civil society is different from the state as wellas private households and interests – it is people and groupsthat act out of common interests. Civil society organisations inSweden, however, are dependent on the state, as they receivefunding through the state on a national, region and local level.14A strong civil society can be argued to be crucial for a strongdemocracy but the intensified relationship between the stateand civil society in the 1990s can also be understood as a technique of state governance. As Dahlstedt argues, the individualcarries a moral responsibility towards the society.15 The question of civil society’s dependency on and independence fromthe public authorities is thus far from new, and it is specificallya crucial issue in the field of integration and of production ofsocial services.16THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE INTEGRATION OF NEWLY ARRIVED REFUGEES IN SWEDENorganizations and other relevant actors on the regional level.This state funding aims at engaging civil society organizationsin activities promoting knowledge of Swedish language andsociety, labour market integration, and health.17 Another arenaof involvement is connected to leisure time and adult education activities, which civil society has a long tradition of providing support for.Responses by the civil society during the “refugee crisis” 2015When the government increasingly provides different

The media used powerful images of people crossing seas and borders to depict the crisis that Europe was facing. However, just as a troubling a crisis was the lack of solidarity, cooper-ation and inter-state management, which continues to put a significant strain on European unity and identity. Even though a responsibility sharing mechanism was .