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Roberto Scaramuzzino. Photo: Patrik Hekkala

Roberto Scaramuzzino

Associate Professor | Teacher | PhD in Social Work

Roberto Scaramuzzino. Photo: Patrik Hekkala

Distinctive character and added value of civil society organizations : A collaborative project within the Swedish integration system

Author

  • Anders Jönsson
  • Roberto Scaramuzzino

Summary, in English

Expectations on collaboration between public authorities and civil society organizations (CSOs) have increased in Sweden the past decades, partly due to changes in the organization of welfare services. This article investigates a collaborative project within the migrant integration policy area. It is a collaboration between the employment offices in a region of Sweden and local CSOs with the common goal of easing the integration of migrants. Theories about civil society as service providers emphasize a possible added value of these non-statutory services related to CSOs distinct character. This link has seldom been empirically investigated. This article explores the distinctive character and added value of CSOs as they unfold in a collaborative project. Two previous studies were conducted by the researchers and this study is an extrapolation of the results. The analysis shows that discrepancies between CSOs and public authorities related to both ideology and organizational logics can be linked to an added value for the participants of the project. Paradoxically, the tensions and discrepancies enabled activities revolving around a more personal and informal understanding of integration that departed from the government agencies’ agenda whilst at the same time being enabled through the collaboration with them.

Department/s

  • School of Social Work

Publishing year

2022-07-31

Language

English

Publication/Series

Nordic Social Work Research

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Topic

  • Social Work

Keywords

  • added value
  • distinctive character
  • civil service organizations
  • employment offices
  • civil society
  • migration
  • integration

Status

Epub

Project

  • Evaluation of the Network Activity Participation Method (NAD)

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2156-857X