Social Innovation for the Socio-Labour Integration of Refugees in New Host Countries: The Spanish Case

Abstract

In recent years, southern European countries have experienced a surge in the arrival of refugees and asylum seekers, which has intensified due to the war in Ukraine. In this scenario, the public sector and non-profit and voluntary organisations (NPVOs) play a leading role by introducing new initiatives to respond to the vast number of applicants and facilitating their socio-labour integra-tion into these new host societies. This article aims to identify and analyse social innovations developed by the public sector and NPVOs while paying particular attention to the new govern-ance regarding the collaboration between these two types of institutions. Having taken Spain as our case study, we focus on the leading organisations of the National Asylum System, com-posed of three NPVOs and one public institution. Our findings show that the oversaturated situation in the new host countries has stimulated social innovation, especially within NPVOs, albeit with close collaboration with the public sector and other local actors.