PACT - Pathways to Active Citizenship

PACT commits itself to the task of exploring how newly settled refugees navigate within the active citizenship dimensions in the arenas of work, education/qualification, and the voluntary sector. The refugees' own experience, as well the role of services to facilitate desired processes, are the main pillars of the project. PACT consists of three work packages: WP1 focuses on unaccompanied refugee minors, and uses existing registry data, comparative analysis, questionnaire data, and longitudinal qualitative methods to investigate quality of life and educational and working life trajectories among unaccompanied refugee minors. WP2 uses existing registry data to examine the long-term effects of a work rehabilitation intervention for refugees in the introduction program in Bergen, and to identify possible sequential patterns in the study population’s labor market attachment. WP3 uses a mixed methods evaluative trailing research design to construct a program theory for a work-training program for refugees in a voluntary sector organization, and to standardize the program so it can be implemented on a larger scale. Towards the end of the project period, collaborators will work together to synthesize results into a coherent message, and translate the results into their daily practices

Registry Study on Education and Employment among Unaccompanied Minor Refugees

Purpose
The primary aim of this study is to investigate educational attainment and labor market participation among unaccompanied minor refugees, and to examine the extent to which child welfare interventions received after arrival in Norway influence these outcomes.

To achieve this, the project will combine information from several Norwegian administrative registers, including data on refugees, the National Population Register, the Child Welfare Register, the National Education Database, and labor market registers maintained by Statistics Norway (SSB). Using these data sources, the project will compare outcomes for unaccompanied minor refugees with two comparison groups: (1) young refugees who arrived in Norway accompanied by their parents, and (2) a sample of individuals of the same age from the general population.

There is currently limited knowledge about the educational trajectories and employment participation of unaccompanied minor refugees, and about how these outcomes are associated with child welfare measures received after their arrival in Norway. The use of registry data is therefore essential for conducting such analyses.

The study sample of unaccompanied minor refugees includes individuals who arrived in Norway without their parents before the age of 18 during the period 2005–2021. The comparison groups consist of:

• Refugees who arrived in Norway with their parents before the age of 18 during the period 2005–2021; and

• A sample of Norwegian youth and young adults from the general population born between 1983 and 2007 (with a 1:4 ratio relative to the sample of unaccompanied minor refugees).

Categories of Personal Data
The dataset will be obtained from registers held by Statistics Norway (SSB). The linkage key will be securely stored by SSB.

The project will process data on refugee status, age, gender, country of origin, municipality of residence, child welfare measures received, and variables related to education and labor market participation.

Individuals included in the dataset will not be identifiable in any publications resulting from the project.

The data will be processed within the project until 31 December 2028, after which all data will be deleted.

Legal Basis
The processing of personal data in this project is based on the performance of a task carried out in the public interest and for the purpose of scientific research. The legal basis for processing is Article 6(1)(e), cf. Article 6(3)(b), and Article 9(2)(j) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as implemented by Sections 8 and 9 of the Norwegian Personal Data Act.

Information and Rights
For more information about the project or about how to exercise your rights as a data subject, please contact the project manager for the registry study at kras@norceresearch.no, or the Data Protection Officer at NORCE at personvernombud@norceresearch.no.