Local governance of refugee integration in The Hague

During the European refugee crisis, an increased involvement of volunteers and civil society organizations (CSOs) was observed alongside the increased influx of refugees. Many experimental projects using volunteers with the aim to support refugees (and later asylum permit holders) have since then been developed. This multiple-case study researched how local actors perceived the influence of public innovation experiments on aspects of the institutional context in which the local governance of asylum permit holders’ integration takes place in the context of the municipality of The Hague. A combination of the theoretical concepts of governance, the public value triangle and the management of public innovation form the basis of this study. It specifically focused on public innovation experiments in the form of projects that use volunteers and focus on Dutch language acquisition and/or enlarging social networks. The study analyzed three aspects of the institutional context, namely customs, procedures and power balancing. Methods. This study adopted a qualitative multiple-case study design, using data triangulation, consisting of documents and interviews with CSO and municipality representatives. Findings. This study found that an influence on the institutional context was perceived by CSOs and the municipality for the public innovation projects, specifically for projects focusing on language acquisition and finding voluntary work. This influence was perceived both in terms of the acknowledgment of a role (customs) for the CSO by the municipality and the granting of subsidies. In terms of power balancing, a specific network has been identified that was created alongside the rise of civil society involvement. However, the main goal of this network has not been found to be the balancing of power. Conclusions. This study has shown that local actors in The Hague perceive an influence of public innovation experiments from CSOs in the policy field of asylum permit holders’ integration on the institutional context of The Hague. The results have shown insight in the developments in governance processes in this field in this particular context. However, this study also serves as a stepping stone to get more insight in how the call for more government – civil society cooperation in this field is manifested in practice. Recommendations. Although local actors perceive there to be an influence of language/voluntary works buddy projects on the institutional context, there are improvement points in terms of stimulating public innovation experiments. What especially could be improved are the coordination of power balancing through more transparency and vitalizing experiments through improving efficiency of the governance efforts in this specific policy field.