Integration and differentiation in collaboration between services for youth not in employment, education, or training (NEET)

The need for a holistic social work-like approach to labour market inclusion is widely acknowledged. When considering the case of youth not in employment, education, or training (NEETs), services from different public service organisations are often needed. To succeed in providing holistic, integrated services, interagency collaboration is necessary. Drawing on 24 semi-structured interviews with managers and practitioners, this paper aims to investigate how services in different municipalities work to enable integrated service delivery to NEETs with complex problems. The study takes place in six Norwegian municipalities, three of which had higher NEET shares than predicted and three with lower NEET shares. The municipalities are compared to explore whether there are systematic differences and similarities regarding the collaboration between services for young people in vulnerable situations. The findings suggest that the municipalities with lower NEET shares than predicted had more integrated services compared to those with higher NEET shares. The municipalities handled differentiation in collaboration differently. In the municipalities with higher NEET shares, differentiation had caused disconnections between services, while the municipalities with lower NEET shares worked to achieve a common ground through strategies such as more extensive and closer collaboration, clearer communication, and more organised information sharing across services. Behovet for en helhetlig, sosialfaglig tiln AE rming til arbeidsinkludering er bredt anerkjent. Forskning viser at unge som ikke er i arbeid, utdanning eller oppl AE ring (NEET) ofte har utfordringer pa flere omrader i livet, som krever tjenester fra ulike tjenester og organisasjoner. For a lykkes med a tilby helhetlige, integrerte tjenester er samarbeid mellom ulike aktorer nodvendig. Denne artikkelen belyser hvordan tjenester i ulike kommuner jobber for a integrere tjenesteleveringen til NEETs med komplekse utfordringer. Studien er basert pa 24 semistrukturerte intervjuer med ledere og praktikere i seks norske kommuner, hvorav tre kommuner hadde hoyere NEET-andel enn forventet, basert pa deres strukturelle forutsetninger, og tre kommuner hadde lavere NEET-andel enn forventet. Kommunene sammenlignes for a undersoke om det er systematiske forskjeller og likheter nar det gjelder samarbeidet mellom tjenester til unge i utsatte situasjoner. Funnene viser at kommunene med lavere NEET-andel enn forventet hadde en hoyere grad av integrerte tjenester. Kommunene handterte differensiering i samarbeid pa ulike mater. I kommunene med hoy NEET-andel hadde differensieringen fort til fragmenterte tjenester, mens kommunene med lav NEET-andel jobbet for a gjore differensieringen produktiv. Strategiene som ble brukt inkluderte mer omfattende og tettere samarbeid, tydeligere kommunikasjon og mer organisert kunnskapsdeling pa tvers av tjenester.