The purpose of Buddy Sweden is to create meetings between established and new Swedes. Every year about 100,000 people find Sweden as their new home. It is difficult for established and new immigrants to get to know each other on an equal and natural way. The lack of meetings ground leads to segregation and exclusion, with high costs for individuals and society. Buddy Sweden aims to build friendships and prevent exclusion. We want to provide a mutual exchange that broadens perspectives, reduces language barriers and break stereotypes. The new arrivals would like to have a Swedish friend to learn Swedish faster and understand Swedish society. Established Swedes often want to get the opportunity to spend time with a person from a different background and culture. The matching method is based on in-depth interviews conducted with all participants. Hobbys, likes and personality all are important for buddy relationships to run smoothly from the start. The requirement is that buddy pairs will hang out for at least six months, but the hope is to create lasting friendships. Throughout the year we organize activities for the participants, where the aim besides social connectedness and networking is to jointly discover their city and surroundings and improve mobility. A volunteer leader is always the group leader at all activities. Today we organize around one activity a week.
Project Goal
Buddy Sweden works toward four goals:
- Relationships (participants build relationships and expand their network of contacts)
- Exchange (participants get a knowledge of and experience from each other)
- Affiliation (participants feel affinities with each other and the community)
- Language (increasing their knowledge of the Swedish language).
We are currently working with the organization Include Invest to find clearer metrics to ensure the achievement of the goals. Our follow-up call today gives us knowledge about how the matches went and what the participants have gained from the activities in the project, but we want to more clearly understand and measure our results. The challenge today is financing, we believe in municipality collaborations as enablers for spreading Buddy Sweden around the country and are now trying to work to get into long-term partnerships with municipalities. We currently have partnerships with companies which enables us to always offer free activities. In the long term, we want to work with major corporate partnerships.
How it works
Here's how it works:
- A person who wants to be a Buddy can apply via a form at www.kompissverige.se or by emailing: info@kompissverige.se
- Project leaders match together new and established Swedes with each other based on individual interviews whith factors such as common interests, age, family situation and personal preferences.
- The first meeting takes place at the swedish Red Cross, then the new buddies take responsibility of their activities themselves. The project leaders can always be contacted if necessary and will deal with any issues or problems that may arise properly.
- The first month the buddies meet is a trial period to see if they get along. After the trial period, participants choose whether they want to continue to hang out. The contact is voluntary and based on reciprocity, openness and respect.
- It is expected that buddies meet at least six hours a month for six months. During this period, two follow-up calls are made to see how the relationship is getting on. The buddiess also have the opportunity to participate in the free activities Buddy Sweden organizes on a weekly basis. Examples of activities include sports events, outdoor activities, festival celebrations and concerts.
Results
Buddy Sweden has since the start of May 2013 matched 200 buddy pairs (400 individuals). The follow up call we've had shows good results with over 80% of matched participants being satisfied or very satisfied with the match, and more than 50% of the surveyed participants saw each other more than twice a month. Approximately 70% of participants say they plan to continue to see each other after the 6 months they agreed to. The social activities are very much appreciated, since the start about 40 activities have been carried out with an average participation of 12 people per time.
Evaluation
We follow up every couple we match by a phone call six weeks after the match for a first evaluation. On occasions when the match has not worked as desired, the participant is matched with a new friend. After six months, we will call the participants back and carry out a detailed evaluation of the project section where we find out what worked well and less well, and how the relationship with between buddies has evolved.
Who benefits
Buddy Sweden's premise is that integration must occur at the individual level and that it is a two way process where both new and established Swedes must take responsibility and participate actively. Buddy Sweden is a friend intermediation and thus not a mentor or guide operation, but instead creating meetings between people from the two groups. Buddy Relations provides a mutual exchange that broadens perspectives, reducing language barriers and break stereotypes. The new arrivals would many times have a Swedish friend to learn Swedish faster and understand Swedish society. Established Swedes often want the opportunity to spend time with a person from a different background and culture.
Funding and resources
Collaborations with the three Stockholm municipalities Botkyrka, Värmdö, and Tyresö makes it possible for the two project leaders to work with Buddy Sweden full time. The goal is to engage more municipal partnerships and work towards a long-term approach in these activities while also seeking meaningful corporate partnerships and grants from foundations.
About this good practice
- Project dates
- Geographic area
- Sweden
- City
- Stockholm
- Organisation
- The Swedish Red Cross.
- Contact person
- Natassia Fry, Pegah Afsharian.
- Position
- Executive Directors / Promoters
Details
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