Social Policy and Social Exclusion in the Baltic Countries

A co-operation project between Tartu University and Fafo Institute for Applied Social Science.

Ten years after the collapse of the Soviet system, the framework of a new social policy is more or less established in the Baltic countries. The move towards integration into the family of European welfare states has happened remarkably fast and EU membership negotiations will probably speed up this process even more. The new situation creates a number of challenges in the sphere of social policy.

The project has three aims:
- To look at the social policy decision making process in a Baltic context
- To describe the actual policy development and the implementation process
- To analyse the impact of social policy on living conditions of individuals and households.

The project is carried out through co-operation between Tartu University (TU) and Fafo. The Tartu team consists of researchers from the Unit of Family Studies and the Unit for Social Work Education. Fafo/TU have hired a Latvian research assistant for co-ordinating the contact with relevant partners in Latvia.

The project started with a broad assessment of the social policy systems of Estonia and Latvia. The methods were semi-structured interviews with politicians, ministry officials, insurance company employees, NGOs, social workers, social scientists and trade union representatives. In addition we looked at laws and public documents. The focus was on the changes that had taken place between 1990 and 1999. The analysis included data from the Norbalt living condition study in 1994 and 1999.

A general assessment of the data indicated that the core problem in the implementation of a new social policy in Estonia and Latvia were implementation of national policies and legislation at the municipal, local or regional level. From the beginning this was the main issue for the team at Tartu University. With this background we chose one county in each of the two countries, and some municipalities in the two counties. We carried out focus group interviews with social workers, and interviews with representatives from municipalities and NGOs. These interviews focused on the relation between the state and the local level in social policy implementation. Reports from this phase of the project will be published in the autumn/winter 2001/2002. In the first quarter of 2001 we will organise a concluding conference in Tartu.

The project has been funded by the Norwegian Research Council and Council of Universities through The Cooperation Programme with Central and Eastern Europe, Research and Higher Education.

Contacts:

Arne Grønningsæter, Fafo
Aadne Aasland

Publications from the project:

Arne Grønningsæter, Social Policy in Transition – Income maintenance in Estonia, compared with Norway. Fafo-paper 1999:21

Arne Grønningsæter, Aadne Aasland and Zane Loza, “We all agree, but noone is grateful”. Developments of the Income Maintenance System in Latvia. Fafo-paper 2001:9

Aadne Aasland and Tone Fløtten, "Ethnicity and Social Exclusion in Estonia and Latvia." Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 53, No. 7, 2001, pp-1023-1049

Avo Trumm, Structural shifts in providing social assistance: Response to changing living conditions in Estonia Fafo-paper 2002:1

Zane Loza and Aadne Aasland, From a Local Perspective: Social Assistance and Social Work in Latvia. Fafo-paper 2002:2

Anette Brunovskis, Opportunities and Choices. Women’s employment and family change in Latvia in the 1990s. Fafo-paper 2002:5

Dagmar Kutsar, Avo Trumm, Provision of social assistance. The case of the two municipalities of Estonia Fafo-paper 2003:1

Arne Grønningsæter, Great Expectations. Social exclusion and social policy in Estonia and Latvia. A summary Fafo-report 410

Student authored articles

Ave Toots-Erelt, The formation of the profession and reputation of social work since Estonia regained its indenpendence

Maris Migul, BA SW, Return of social work education in Estonia

Triin Saarna, Widowing as risk of becoming a clientele for social assistance