In the project Healthintro, the aim is to generate scientific knowledge and competency in municipalities that will improve conditions for refugees with health problems in the introduction program, and their chances to succeed in the labour market and society. The project is financed by the Research Council of Norway and led by the Arctic University of Norway (UiT).

This project sets out to study how institutional and social trust develops over time among newly arrived refugees in Norway and Denmark. Our focus is on the role of welfare state institutions: How do different institutions, policies and street-level practices influence refugees’ trust in host country institutions?

Family practices and gender equality among immigrants and immigrant descendants in Norway.

Part-time work among immigrant women in Norway

In this project, we explore the new realities and implications of part-time working. The spotlight focuses particularly on the relationship between ‘good and bad’ part-time working in a national and international perspective.

The project examines how early competence mapping and career guidance, two recently introduced measures, can help recently settled refugees make more targeted qualification and career choices, and help municipalities to better adapt their services to refugees.

Today, there is a great variety in what educational programs meet pupils with short residence time in Norway. The research done so far is not clear on which offers work best.

In 2019, Fafo and Frisch formulated three proposals for the use of financial incentives in the integration work for refugees and immigrants.

Refugee advisors and teachers who work with the introduction program for refugees find that they have a demanding task of keeping teaching volume and, not least, quality, up these days. Municipalities shall ensure that participants in the introductory program receive educational services, and that participants in training in Norwegian and social sciences receive training even if their place of instruction is currently closed, unless it is not possible to offer the training via digital aids or in other ways. Fafo will investigate how municipalities, among other things, use digital tools to achieve this, and how they solve their responsibilities for various participants during the pandemic.

The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) has asked for an analysis of possible political trends up to 2035, and the consequences for public administration. One challenge in the years to come is how to maintain a sustainable welfare state.

According to the new Integration Act, refugees and immigrants have the right and/or obligation to carry out career guidance when they arrive in Norway. In this project, we examine how the offer of career guidance is organised, what strengths and weaknesses exist in the current models and how the offer can be further developed so that it best meets the needs of newly arrived refugees and immigrants.