Promoting socially sustainable society

Project VINCE and the mobile application we are developing, support migrant integration at the very core of sustainable development in many ways, from a social, economic, cultural and ecological perspective.

International migration is very diverse. The reasons, motives and duration of moving vary, but often the reasons for this are to secure work and livelihood, studies or family reasons. The share of people with a refugee background among migrants is slightly over 10 per cent. Reasons for seeking asylym are often caused by ecological disasters and political crises, wars or persecution.

Pandemic showed that the current integration service offering based on face-to-face meetings is vulnerable.

Through well-being to security and economic sustainability

Supporting migrants in their integration into a new society promotes the well-being and employment of individuals, communities and different population groups. The resulting social sustainability increases the overall security in society.

At best, digital services complement, not replace, face-to-face services.

The Finnish labour market also needs foreign labour, as the record-low birth rate and the growth of the elderly population weaken the dependency ratio and the economic sustainability of society.

Digital services – complementing, not replacing

The coronavirus pandemic showed that the current integration service offering based on face-to-face meetings is vulnerable. Digital services can offer some relief to this.

Digital services

• complement, not replace, face-to-face services.
• are easily accessible to the user, regardless of place and often even time.
• reduce the need to travel to a physical service point and can this way promote ecological sustainability.
• are particularly suitable for people who have good digital and service system literacy skills, especially for many young people who are more than happy to use digital services.
• can mean improved work productivity for organisations and companies that provide integration services.

Diverse needs for information and support  

Immigrants form a very heterogeneous group. The needs for information and support are very different for an international student, a top expert recruited from abroad for a specialist work, or a person who has fled the war and has had to leave everything behind.

In project VINCE we mapped these needs through surveys, interviews and workshops. We interviewed individually 162 migrants and 70 experts in the field. Dozens of migrants and experts participated in workshops where needs and wishes were mapped out in groups.

Needs for support

• Greatest need for information and support is related to learning the language.
• Need for information and support related to work and entrepreneurship was also expressed frequently.
• In terms of cultural sustainability, respondents wanted to know more about the local culture, history and traditions, as well as about free time activities, housing and building social connections.
• Need for information and support related to public services was also expressed quite abundantly, with health services at the top of the list.

The information collected from migrants and professionals serves as a guideline for the content development of the VINCE application.  The application will not be able to meet all the identified needs but it will support integration and, as a result, socially, economically and culturally sustainable development in our country.

Writer: Sirppa Kinos, Principal Lecturer, Social Services and Education, Turku University of Applied Sciences.