Facilitating Intercultural Friendship: Buddy Programmes as Tools for Social Integration in Sweden. An anthropological study of the possibilities and challenges of using buddy programmes for intercultural friendship and social belonging
(2025) SANM05 20251Social Anthropology
- Abstract
- Sweden has received a high number of immigrants during the last decade. This has led to an increased ethnic and socioeconomic segregation in Swedish cities, which in turn has led to different integration initiatives to become more frequent. This thesis aims to investigate how a “buddy programme”, a social integration project that matches a newcomer and an established Swede together, can enrich the progress towards a more socially integrated society. The thesis is based on knowledge I gathered during months of working at Kompis Sverige, an organization that carries out a buddy programme, as well as twenty qualitative interviews with participants of the buddy programme. The aim is to answer how intercultural friendship can facilitate social... (More)
- Sweden has received a high number of immigrants during the last decade. This has led to an increased ethnic and socioeconomic segregation in Swedish cities, which in turn has led to different integration initiatives to become more frequent. This thesis aims to investigate how a “buddy programme”, a social integration project that matches a newcomer and an established Swede together, can enrich the progress towards a more socially integrated society. The thesis is based on knowledge I gathered during months of working at Kompis Sverige, an organization that carries out a buddy programme, as well as twenty qualitative interviews with participants of the buddy programme. The aim is to answer how intercultural friendship can facilitate social integration and belonging, what factors influence intercultural friendships to be created through a buddy programme, as well as highlighting the possibilities and challenges of this type of integration project. This research provides insights into the current situation and challenges new and established Swedes have for creating and maintaining intercultural friendships, but also that buddy programmes can work as a facilitator for intercultural friendship to be made. The findings also suggest that a buddy programme can be an asset for newcomers in Sweden to make friends, leading to feeling more socially integrated and a sense of belonging through different parameters. Additionally, the thesis includes a discussion about dilemmas within buddy programmes, for instance the need to evaluate who and for what a buddy programme is suitable for. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9193125
- author
- Widstrand, Emma LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SANM05 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Social anthropology, buddy programmes, social integration, intercultural friendship, reciprocity, belonging.
- language
- English
- id
- 9193125
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-11 14:25:45
- date last changed
- 2025-06-11 14:25:45
@misc{9193125,
abstract = {{Sweden has received a high number of immigrants during the last decade. This has led to an increased ethnic and socioeconomic segregation in Swedish cities, which in turn has led to different integration initiatives to become more frequent. This thesis aims to investigate how a “buddy programme”, a social integration project that matches a newcomer and an established Swede together, can enrich the progress towards a more socially integrated society. The thesis is based on knowledge I gathered during months of working at Kompis Sverige, an organization that carries out a buddy programme, as well as twenty qualitative interviews with participants of the buddy programme. The aim is to answer how intercultural friendship can facilitate social integration and belonging, what factors influence intercultural friendships to be created through a buddy programme, as well as highlighting the possibilities and challenges of this type of integration project. This research provides insights into the current situation and challenges new and established Swedes have for creating and maintaining intercultural friendships, but also that buddy programmes can work as a facilitator for intercultural friendship to be made. The findings also suggest that a buddy programme can be an asset for newcomers in Sweden to make friends, leading to feeling more socially integrated and a sense of belonging through different parameters. Additionally, the thesis includes a discussion about dilemmas within buddy programmes, for instance the need to evaluate who and for what a buddy programme is suitable for.}},
author = {{Widstrand, Emma}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Facilitating Intercultural Friendship: Buddy Programmes as Tools for Social Integration in Sweden. An anthropological study of the possibilities and challenges of using buddy programmes for intercultural friendship and social belonging}},
year = {{2025}},
}