Fafo news archive

New Fafo-report: Industrial bacalao?

18 February 2008
In a new report by Fafo and the Brazilian Instituto Observatõrio Social the researchers Espen Løken and Alexandre de Freitas Barbosa look into industrial relations in Norway and Brazil. The report provides information on the labour markets, the trade unions and employers’ associations, the content and structure of collective bargaining and the relations between the social partners at the national and company level. Read more and download the report

Do Norwegian Companies' Direct Investments in Poland Imply Exports of Labour Relations?

11 February 2008
In an article published by the journal Economic and Industrial Democracy, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2008, the researchers Torunn Kvinge (pictured) and Aleksandra Rezanow Ulrichsen suggest that the Norwegian model of labour relations is not transferred to Poland as a part of direct investments when it comes to representative participation of the workforce and collective bargaining. Read more about the article in Economic and Industrial Democracy

Seeing DDR from Below

1 February 2008
Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programming has become an integral element of national and international programming in countries transitioning from conflict. Yet the extent to which DDR has been an effective tool to achieve security and development goals remains unclear. The impact of DDR on a micro-level – that is, on the lives of individual ex-combatants – is also poorly understood. This New Security Programme Policy Brief, written by Fafo researcher Kathleen M. Jennings, builds on research conducted among DDR participants in Monrovia, Liberia to identify various areas of concern, challenges, and unintended consequences that should be taken into consideration in the design and implementation of future United Nations DDR projects. Its findings and recommendations aim to assist policymakers and practitioners in devising DDR programming that is more attuned to the challenges posed, and faced, by rank-and-file former fighters, as well as the societies of which they are a part. The research for this project was supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Institute of Peace.  Download the report

Seminar: Gender relations and sexualities in Russia

February 2008
Gender relations and sexualities in Russia is the title of a seminar by Fafo, Centre for Gender Research, The Rokkan Centre, and NIKK - Nordic Gender Studies. The speakers are Professor Anna Temkina at the European University in St. Petersburg and Special researcher Anna Rotkirch at the University of Helsinki. The seminar takes place Wednesday 5 March 1215-1600, at STK/NIKK, Sognsvn. 70. Fafo's contact is May-Len Skilbrei (pictured). Find the programme here

Fafo seminar on security in Palestine

February 2008
Events in Gaza threaten international efforts to create a platform for negotiations. The collapse of Gaza’s border with Egypt, the continuation of Israeli incursions and Palestinian rockets, the on-going contest between Fatah and Hamas, and the multiplicity of armed groups, all reinforce the sense that the security situation is deteriorating, not improving. What are the implications of the present dynamics for international efforts to reform the Palestinian security sector? Fafo invites to a seminar on this question Friday 29 February 09-12, in Borggata 2B. Register to info@fafo.no. The seminar is free and will be conducted in English. Find the programme here

Economic impacts of migration on Poland and the Baltic states

31 January 2008
This report on the economic impact of migration on Poland and the Baltic states, written by Pawel Kaczmarczyk and Marek Okolski, Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw, was prepared in conjunction with a project on labour mobility from the new EU member states to the Nordic countries that was commissioned to Fafo by the Nordic Council of Ministers. The report gives a general description of migration of the population of Poland and the Baltic States, and compare basic structural features of those movements in the pre-accession and post-accession period. The report also gives an analysis of the effects of remittance flows upon sending countries’ economies and households, and discuss various consequences that migration might have had on labour markets, both at national and regional level, and on home countries endowment with human capital. Download the report

Seminar on the peace process in Burundi

January 2008
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre, invites to a seminar on the situation in Burundi, the UN Peacebuilding Commission and the cooperation between Norway and Burundi. The speakers are His Royal Highness Haakon Magnus, Minister of Environment and International Development, Mr. Erik Solheim, Minister and special advisor for the President of Burundi, Joseph Ntakirutimana, and Executive Representative of the Secretary General in Burundi, Youssef Mahmoud.

The seminar will be held at NORADs auditorium, 4th floor Ruseløkkveien 26, on Wednesday February 13th from 9.00 to 15.00. Attendance is free of charge. Registration by 11 February to ida.bakke@fafo.no Find more information about the seminar here

Mix of work, credits and social networks keep the Palestinians from starving

24 January 2008
2006 marked a turning point in Palestinian politics. Hamas won the legislative elections and pushed Fatah out of government. The international sanctions of the Hamas government and Israel’s decision to withhold Palestinian tax revenues led to a fiscal crisis in the Palestinian National Authority. A bankrupt Hamas government was unable to pay salaries to public employees. In a new report Against the Odds. How Palestinians Cope through Fiscal Crisis, Closures and Boycott the Fafo researchers Gro Hasselknippe and Marianne Tveit (pictured) depict the efforts made by Palestinians to cushion the effects of the economic crisis. Read more and download the report

Stairway to heaven?

17 January 2008
A new report from Fafo and Work Research Institute contains a collection of articles that present political ICT strategies for disabled, and other different means that governments use in order to increase the labour market participation of disabled people. In this first report from the project, Fafo researcher Inger Lise Skog Hansen has written the chapter on ICT policy in Norway. Read more and download the report from WRI

Change and Stability in Work Commitment in Norway

17 January 2008
Fafo-researcher Christer Hyggen has published the article “Change and Stability in Work Commitment in Norway: from Adolescence to Adulthood” in Journal of Social Policy, no 1/2008. Hyggen looks upon the individual's commitment to work, something that  has occupied a central place in much welfare state research related to beliefs that welfare system design influences the ways in which people come to value employment. If, as believed, generous benefit systems diminish citizens' willingness to work, then these systems undermine both the legitimacy and the performance of the welfare state. This article explores change and stability in work commitment in a Norwegian cohort born between 1965 and 1968. Read more