Organized to Integrate? On NGOs Bridging and Trust-Building in Local Communities

Abstract

Immigration after the millennium challenged Norwegian NGOs to change their organizations to include refugees and immigrants. This chapter discusses challenges and solutions for the majority represented by the NGOs and minorities when trying to adopt each other’s cultural practices, and the decision-making steps NGOs took to change their organizational culture and structure to build social capital for newcomers. Challenges were to communicate to newcomers what Norwegian voluntary culture was about, to meet newcomers on an equal footing, and to gain trustworthiness. Going out of the comfort zone and co-creating and co-producing activities together with immigrant families was successful. Many NGOs offered activities aiming at reducing loneliness, learning the language, and facilitating network building across cultures. Although organizations to some degree managed to change their traditional structures and ways of communication, bridging people was demanding due to lack of time and resources.