Promising Practice

Data hub on equality and living conditions for Sámi, national minorities and people with immigrant backgrounds

Equality, non-discrimination and racism
Equality, non-discrimination and racism
Samer, nasjonale minoriteter og personer med innvandrerbakgrunn. Statistikk og forskning om likestilling og levekår
The data hub maps existing sources, and provides quality-assured research and statistics on the living conditions of Sámi, national minorities and people with immigrant backgrounds. The data hub aims to provide knowledge for policymakers who focus on these specific groups. The target groups of this data hub are policymakers at both national and local levels, civil society organisations and the media. The data hub is updated when new statistics are available, and it ensures regular and timely data collection.
Land
Norway
Type
Institutional and structural guidelines
Map existing sources
Foster inter-institutional cooperation
Build up data hub
Build institutional capacity
Facilitate effective use
Operational guidelines
Ensure comprehensiveness
Ensure regular and timely data collection
Ensure representativeness
Ground of discrimination
Age
Racial or ethnic origin
Religion or belief
Sex
Includes multiple / intersectional discrimination

 

In this page:

Why was the practice needed?

The key objective of the data hub is to provide national and local policymakers with solid knowledge about ethnic minority groups and people with immigrant backgrounds. The data hub is one of the 50 actions in the Norwegian government’s action plan against racism and discrimination based on ethnicity and religion (2020–2023).

How was it implemented?

This data hub is built using the same online format and work method as the previous data hubs on disability and sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (previously presented in separate documents to the Subgroup on Equality Data). Information related to ethnicity or religion is not collected in Norway’s administrative data and is rarely recorded in research projects. Owing to a lack of information, this data hub primarily uses statistical sources in which individuals’ immigration background is reported. In addition, the data hub refers to research on the health and living conditions of Sámi in Norway. Although there was going to be a seminar to launch this data hub in April 2020, implementation of this halted because of COVID-19. Instead, the data hub was promoted through short films on equality and discrimination, which were shared through the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs’ social media channels, and through Google AdWords.

This practice should be transferable to other countries.

Outputs

  • The output of this practice is a website presenting statistics and research on the equality and living conditions of Sámi, national minorities and people with immigrant backgrounds.
  • Activities include mapping and quality-assuring relevant statistics compiled into articles on various areas of social life, and input meetings with academics, other government bodies and civil society actors.
  • Website of the practice

Key success factors

  • Involving stakeholders: representatives of the resource’s intended users (e.g. civil society, government bodies) were invited to provide input at several stages of the process.
  • Drawing on research and statistics expertise: academics doing research on immigrants, Sámi, national minorities and immigrants were invited to provide their input on the practice. Statistics Norway, Norway’s statistical office, including its equality data coordinator, also provided input on relevant sources and how to present the statistics.
  • Relevance: the hub is regularly updated when new data are available.
  • Publicity: the hub is well known by the target groups and promoted when possible.

Technical information

  • Data sources covered: Administrative data; Household or individual surveys; Attitudinal surveys; Complaints data; Qualitative research
  • Areas of life covered: Employment; Education: Health; Social Protection; Housing and living conditions; Hate crime; Others: General population attitudes, quality of life, politics and participation, hate speech.
  • Target audience: Policymakers, civil society organisations, media
  • Duration: Starting date, 2019. Ending date: published March 2020, updated regularly Duration of the practice and periodicity if applicable: N.A.
  • Geographical scope: National
  • Leading institution: Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs
  • Other organisations involved/consulted:
    • Various academics and research institutions involved in research on the affected groups’ living conditions and equality. o Government bodies: Directorate of Immigration and Diversity; Statistics Norway; Health Directorate; Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud; Norwegian National Human Rights Institution; National Police Directorate; Education Directorate; Norwegian Institute of Public Health; Sámi Parliament.
    • Civil society organisations (in Norwegian where English names are unavailable): Minotenk; Centre for Gender and Equality (University of Agder); KUN Centre for Equality and Diversity; Reform – Resource Center for Men; Utenlandsadoptertes politiske utvalg; Samarbeidsrådet for tros- og livssynssamfunn i Norge; Innvandrernes landsorganisasjon; Centre for Equality; Taternes landsforening; Landsorganisasjonen for romanifolket; OMOD Centre for Social Justice; Abloom; Norwegian Sámi Association; Skogfinske interesser i Norge; Foreningen østsamene i Norge; Islamsk råd Norge; Romsk kultur- og ressurssenter; LIM – Equality, Integration, Diversity.
  • Financial & human resources: Budget: The budget for the development of the hub is estimated to have been NOK 2 million over two years, which includes doing research to provide necessary data.; Source of the budget: State budget; Staff: : 2 full-time equivalents for development, 0.3 full-time equivalents for maintenance

Contacts

Anna.foss@bufdir.no / Erle.inderhaug@bufdir.no