Complexity and Innovation
Complexity and Innovation. BELGIUM'S POLICY LANDSCAPE NAVIGATING COMPLEXITY
In Belgium, migration and integration competences are distributed across federal, regional, and municipal authorities. Explore whose ‘policy gaps’ operate within this complex administrative framework, and how refugee families can (not) navigate them.
THE REFUFAM PROJECT
Discover how ‘policy gaps’ and emergent support structures impact the inclusion pathways of refugee families living in Belgium
INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH DESIGN
Understand how scholars from four different Belgian universities and academic centres have analysed the life trajectories of refugee families by combining very diverse disciplinary perspectives
REFUGEE FAMILIES AT THE CENTRE
Learn about REFUFAM’s innovative research focus on refugee families, to take their everyday lives and experiences at the centre of policy analysis.
Policies
Uncover our policy recommendations to foster the inclusion of refugee families in Belgium, targeting policymakers working at all administrative levels.
PRACTICES
Learn our recommendation targeting practitioners and volunteers involved in the provision of services to refugee families residing in Belgium
Scholarly Debates
Uncover how REFUFAM enhances scholarly debates concerned with refugee (families) so-called “integration”
Public Engagement
Explore REFUFAM's contribution to public debates on the so-called “integration” of refugee families in Belgium.
AN INTER-UNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM
The REFUFAM project uniquely brings together scholars from 4 different academic centres in Belgium:
The Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy, the Migration Law Research Group of the Faculty of Law and Criminology, and the Centre for the Social Study of Migration and Refugees (CESSMIR), of Gent University.
The Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Democracy, Institutions and Subjectivity, and METROLAB, of the Université Catholique de Louvain.
The Centre for Family Studies, of the Odisee University College
The Department of Architecture, of KU Leuven
The team
The REFUFAM Consortium counts on an interdisciplinary research team made of 4 postdoctoral and one doctoral researcher
Team
Alicia
Ruth
Alicia
Emil
Principal investigator
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The Project
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In the world of migration and integration governance, Belgium represents a strikingly complex case. Competences of migration (e.g. asylum and family reunification) and integration (e.g. education, work and housing) are divided between federal, regional and municipal governance levels, while support services are dispersed across a range of civil society organizations and state actors. Compared to neighbouring countries like the Netherlands, Germany or France, Belgium’s lack of central coordination has created substantial ‘policy gaps’. This has created both risks and opportunities: in the interstices between governments’ competences, new support practices often emerge, some of which are then (partially) transformed into formal policies. We know surprisingly little, however, about the effects of Belgium’s complex institutional configuration on the psychosocial well-being and integration trajectories of newcomers. This lack of knowledge is puzzling as integration continues to dominate public debates.
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About Us
This project uniquely brings together academics who are located in 4 different Belgian universities and academic centres. A team of supervisors, advisors and researchers working at:
About Us
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Details of the event
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