Civil Society’s Role in Promoting Integration in Superdiverse Neighbourhoods Facing Socioeconomic Challenges in Sweden

This policy brief draws on findings from ongoing projects exploring the role of civil society in superdiverse neighbourhoods facing socioeconomic challenges in Sweden. While previous research has often assumed a lack of civil society presence in these areas, this research challenges this assumption by documenting a wide range of both formal and informal civil society activities. Some findings are presented here with specific reference to civil society’s integration-work and its methods of working.

This policy brief builds on material from two projects Rethinking Integration: A Comparative Mixed Methods Study of Civil Society Action in Superdiverse Neighbourhoods Facing Socioeconomic Challenges in Sweden funded by the Swedish Research Council and The role of civil society for employability and labour market participation in diverse areas: a comparative study of Sweden and the United Kingdom funded by the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare. Gabriella Elgenius (Professor, University of Gothenburg) is project leader for these projects and Juta Kawalerowicz (Senior Lecturer, Stockholm University) and Jenny Phillimore (Professor, University of Birmingham) are co-applicants.

Key Findings 

Civil society plays a key role in fostering integration through a wide range of needs-based and locally adapted activities by and for residents. Civil society activities tend to develop with identified needs and organisations and can therefore be described as multipurpose organisations as they organise different activities that have evolved over time. Civil society’s integration work is often unrecognised and this research highlights the importance of supporting civil society’s contributions as an important complement to the public sector in neighbourhoods facing socioeconomic challenges. 

Policy Implications 

Civil society’s strategic role for integration and inclusion needs to be acknowledged. There is a need to develop sustainable support mechanisms for funding, capacity-building, and collaborative platforms between different actors such as the municipalities, universities and businesses, to strengthen civil society’s impact. Integration policies need to be informed by a local perspective, leveraging the knowledge and networks of civil society already operating in neighbourhoods and communitites.

Conclusions and Recommendations 

The ongoing research documents a hardworking civil society engaging in significant integration work by contributing to inclusion and participation, even if actors and organisations seldom frame their activities in this way. Civil society’s contribution to integration is primarily done by offering a range of activities, skills development, and networks. However, civil society also faces significant challenges, particularly in ensuring access to necessary resources (Elgenius and Phillimore, 2025).

To fully understand civil society’s contribution to integration, it is important to recognise that non-profit action take place in many different forms. Informal initiatives play a central role in local communities and should not be overlooked. We explore their prevalence in forthcoming publication as they form a central role for the work described above. Successful examples highlight the importance of building supportive and enabling opportunity structures and developing context-sensitive solutions that move beyond one-dimensional views of integration—seeing it instead as a multidimensional process (Phillimore, 2021). 

Civil society's working methods has adapted to local contexts and is based on inclusive organisational forms and with a strong local neighbourhood perspective. By focusing on multidimensional activities and a holistic approach, civil society can address specific needs and contribute to participation and inclusion. 

To enhance the capacity and impact of civil society, the following integrated measures are recommended: 

• Simplify Access to Funding and Support: Simplify and centralize funding processes by assigning a lead agency to provide support for civil society organisations to reduce administrative burdens, especially for smaller organisations. Ensure adequate and sustained financial and organisational support.
• Enhance Opportunities for Evaluation: Resources for impact assessment and reporting would be benefitial for both civil society actors and society at large. This would also increase the visibility of civil society initiatives and their contributions.
• Promote the Local Anchoring of Grassroot organisations and Informal Initiatives: Supporting locally embedded civil society initiatives will contribute towards reaching underrepresenterad groups, addressing unmet needs, fostering community engagement and supporting informal initatives to evolve into sustainable organisations.
• Foster Inclusive Partnerships: Encourage collaboration across civil society, public institutions, universities and the private sector to share resources and co-develop context-sensitive solutions, such as citizen science projects (Pemberton, et al. 2023). In so doing process-oriented partnerships and collaborations would contribute towards sharing different types of resources.
• Support Holistic Programmes: Investing in multidimensional civil society initiatives contribute towards addressing diverse needs and hereby also reaching underrepresented groups.
• Recognise Civil Society’s Contributions: Acknowledge effective practices, best practices and the efforts of both organisations and individuals to inspire continued engagement and innovation.

About the author

Gabriella Elgenius is Professor in Sociology at the Department of Sociology and Work Science, at the University of Gothenburg