Measurement_indicators_integration_en

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many years. The Academy of Finland, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the
National Agency for Welfare and Health and the Ministry of Labour have financed
various studies dealing with the reception and welfare of refugees, but monitoring of
the reception of refugees and evaluation of measures was not done by the
authorities. The question of compiling statistics on refugees was also in many
respects unsolved. Therefore, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the
municipal central organizations initiated a planning project in November 1992 in
order to create a system of evaluating the reception of refugees. The study
"Integration or Isolation - Life of Refugees in Finland" was finished in October 1994.
Integration or isolation - a study conducted on refugees� living conditions
The purpose of the integration study was to conduct an overall survey on the
refugees' living conditions and well-being in Finland to serve as the basis for
planning and development. Another goal was to assess how successful the integra-
tion measures have been.
The theoretical starting point for the study was the concept of integration. Integration
was divided into structural integration and internal integration within the ethnic
community. The definition of structural integration is ethnic equality, i.e. that
immigrants could participate in the economic, social and political life of the majority
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community, taking into account their own cultural and ethnic background. Internal
integration focuses on developing and maintaining the ethnic community's own
culture and mutual support.
The integration process has been evaluated by means of the following indicators:
Employment, income, housing standard and internal migration, knowledge of the
mother tongue and Finnish/ Swedish, education level, use of the mass media, voting,
applying for nationality, contacts with Finns: friends and xenophobia towards
refugees, the significance of the ethnic community, culture and religion, ethnic
organization and willingness to repatriate.
The data consisted of statistics on refugees socio-economic status, a postal
questionnaire to municipal refugee workers and interviews with a hundred refugees
(Iranians, Kurds, Somalians and Vietnamese).
The statistics on refugees' socio-economic situation were difficult to come by since in
Finland, as in many other countries, refugee status does not appear in the population
register. The question was solved by tracing the social security numbers of the
refugees in the material of the Central Statistical Office. The procedure was
approved by the Data Protection Ombudsman.
The aim of the questionnaire was to survey the opinions of social workers in daily
contact with refugees'. The purpose was, in addition to obtaining an overall view of
the well-being of refugees, to study the differences between small and big munici-
palities.
The most important information came from the interviews of refugees. One hundred
refugees were contacted with the help of social and employment authorities and
refugees organisations. Refugees of different age, sex and occupational background
were interviewed, both in the metropolitan area and in the small rural municipalities.
The sample was not, however, statistically representative.
An important principle is that studies concerning minorities should not be carried out
without the participation of the target group, both at the planning and the
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implementation stage. This principle was adhered to by arranging a meeting with
representatives of associations of refugees in the beginning of the project. Various
methodological and practical questions were discussed at the meeting. These
included, for example, whether when interviewing refugees, it would be better to use
research assistants recruited from among refugees or a Finn assisted by an
interpreter. Refugees preferred the latter alternative. (The interpreter was actually
present in two thirds of the interviews.) The representatives of refugees' associations
participated also in the planning of the questionnaire.
Results of the survey
Structural integration
Full participation in the economic, social and political life of the Finnish society was
realized only in the case of few refugees. Among the interviewed refugees there
were a couple of real winners and some losers, but the great majority tried to get on
with their lives while waiting for the employment situation to get better. The [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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