We told you previously that George Soros’ Open Society Foundation is doing a seven-city tour of Europe to report on how Somalis are doing in their new homes. Our earlier report on their recommendations for Helsinki is here.
The seven cities are: Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Malmo, Leicester, London, and Oslo.
And, why they picked Somalis of all the immigrant groups flooding Europe, I don’t know. My guess is that since the Somalis can be fractious, maybe they are worried that Somalis will hurt their one-world goal more than other ethnic groups might due to their trouble assimilating.
Here is some of what the researchers recommend—it all involves Norway spending more money to train Somalis to do some sort of work and to push for their inclusion into the still discriminatory Norwegian society. They also say Norway has to get away from this idea of “formal qualifications” for employment, and they recommend boosting the ethnic based community organizing groups (we have Somali ethnic community organizing groups all over the US largely paid for with taxpayer dollars to organize Somalis for engagement in the political process and to sign them up for the social services they are entitled to! Never heard of it, see our whole category on ECBOs here).
There doesn’t seem to be a word that I see in the summary of the report about Somalis needing to try harder to fit in!
From PRIO Network (emphasis mine):
OSLO— Developing Oslo’s vibrant and dynamic Norwegian-Somali civil society organizations and strengthening their engagement with the city of Oslo is key to Norwegian-Somalis’ full and equal participation as residents of Oslo.
Poverty remains one of the single greatest barriers to Norwegian-Somali inclusion in Oslo. This leads to challenges in education, employment, housing and health and is further exacerbated by negative portrayals of Somalis within the Norwegian media.
The report Somalis in Oslo, launched today by the Open Society Foundations, finds that the emphasis on formal qualifications within the Norwegian labour market together with discrimination in hiring processes are leading to high rates of Somali exclusion from employment in Oslo. To overcome the gap between the demands of the Norwegian labour market and the limited formal qualifications that many Somalis have upon entering Norway, the report recommends better emphasis be placed by employers and employment agencies on making more out of the actual skills and experiences of individuals. [What might those be?—ed]
[…..]
Somalis in Oslo recommends that the city of Oslo, which has developed robust policies for managing inclusion, and others concerned with inclusion such as the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration, the Directorate of Integration and Diversity and the Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion, strengthen their engagement with Somali and other minority communities. The research advises that Norwegian-Somali civil society organizations build their skills and improve collaboration to help better cross-community engagement. To tackle unemployment among Norwegian-Somalis, the research recommends government and civil society organizations address language needs, invest in mentor programs and offer help to Norwegian-Somalis on recruitment and employment practices.
See all of our previous posts on Norway by clicking here.
The photo is from this poorly written undated story, but is seems that the authorities have taken some children out of Somali homes where abuse has been alleged (you know, one of those cultural relevance things we westerners can’t appreciate). While looking around on the subject of how Somalis are doing in Norway, I also found this 2011 post at Tundra Tabloids about welfare fraud among Somalis in Norway where Somali women claim to have no husband in order to receive generous welfare benefits (but continue to produce babies with their “former” hubby).