BELMAS - Boosting Expat spouses Labour Market Access in Sweden

Purpose and goal:

Expat spouses face similar difficulties in the Swedish labor market today as when BELMAS started. The project was intended to explore the conditions for facilitating this group´s access to the labor market with a customised digital service. The target group´s needs and requirements as well as the demand from employers have been investigated.

The design and suitable content of such a service have also been thoroughly analysed and tested. The conclusion is that a digital service can indeed be utilised to achieve an improvement for the target group as outlined in the project´s objective. Expected results and effects:

According to its objectives, BELMAS has created a user-validated MVP for a digital service designed for the target group, acquired a deeper knowledge of needs and evaluated commercial conditions. The service has been shown to potential customers and new contacts have been made. Findings from the project support the initial hypothesis, but desired effects on the target group´s entrance to the labor market and, by extension, strengthened quality of life and emancipation can be demonstrated only when the service is deployed in practical use, which is beyond the scope of the project.

Approach and implementation:

BELMAS has worked on the design of the service, development of a technical platform as well as content according to the original plan. Extensive user tests have been conducted to validate our hypotheses, which has provided valuable input to the project - from basic demonstrators to gradually refined versions. Commercialisation has been evaluated through the project’s industry council and extensive in-depth interviews with private and public employers.

Efforts are now aimed to turn Belmas into a launched service that brings desired benefits to its users.