A Collective Effort to find Durable Solutions for Undocumented People: An ethnographic case-study of the way local stakeholders engage in collaborative governance for the public service delivery to undocumented people in Utrecht.

Abstract

As a response to exclusionary asylum policies and lack of support by the national government, local stakeholders started organising and collaborating for the provision of services to undocumented people locally. This thesis analyses the way local stakeholders engage in collaborative governance for the public service delivery to undocumented people in Utrecht. Through an in-depth study of the experiences of individuals actively involved in the municipality Utrecht and local civil society organisations, it provides insight into the dynamics of collaborative governance at the local level. The research uses the model of collaborative governance of Ansell and Gash (2008) to analyse the different factors that influence the degree of collaboration between the local stakeholders: starting conditions, facilitative leadership, institutional design and collaborative process. In doing so, it also uses the framework of multi-levelness to analyse the relations between the local collaborative network and the recently implemented national pilot concerning undocumented people: the LVV (Landelijke Vreemdelingenvoorzieningen, National Immigration Facilities).