NUFU (The Norwegian Programme for Research and Education) Project 2007 - 2011
 
Project title:
Child, Welfare and Gender in Comparative Social Work

Application category: New network project Budget: 6 million NOK

Proposing researcher (project coordinator) UiS
Last name: Ntata, First name:Pierson R.T.
Position: Head of Sociology Department, University of Malawi (UM)
Phone:(0) 9247829 and (0) 1526413
Fax:(0) 1524046
Email: pntata@chanco.unima.mw

Proposing researcher (project coordinator) UiN
Lastname: Oltedal, Firstname:Siv
Position:Associate Professor (PhD), Responsible Gender&Comparative; Master in Social Work,

Address:Department of Social Science
Bodoe University College, 8049 Bodoe, Norway (BUC)
Phone:+47 755 17 337 , +4741237667
Fax:+47 755 17 378
Email: siv.oltedal@hibo.no

Web page: http://www.hibo.no

Partner 1: Guatemala - San Carlos University (SCU), School of Social Work 

Name of researcher: Last name: Dìaz Argueta, First name:Julio Cèsar

Address: Escuela de Trabajo Social
University of San Carlos, Guatemala 

Phone: 56028772 Fax: 24769602 Email: jucedia@gmail.com or jucedia@usac.edu.gt 

Web page: http://www.usac.edu.gt 

Partner 2: South Africa - University of Kwazulu-Natal (UNAT), School of Social Work and Community Development.  Name of researcher: Last name: Sewpaul First name:Vishanthie Address: University of KwaZulu Natal, Howard College Campus, Durban, 4041 South Africa Phone: 27 - 31 - 2601242 Fax: 27 - 31 - 2602700 Email: sewpaul@ukzn.ac.za                  Web page:     http://www.ukzn.ac.za 

Partner 3: Cuba - University of Havana (UH), Department of Sociology, Name of researcher: Last name: Proveyer First name: Clotilde Address: Universidad de la Habana, Habana, Cuba Email: cproveyer@ffh.uh.cu Web page: http://www.uh.cu

Cooperation Agreement
AGREEMENT OF COOPERATION between University of Malawi and Bodø University College, Norway

University of Malawi and Bodø University College form this agreement for the purpose of deepening our friendship and for expanding mutual understanding between the institutions through academic and educational cooperation.
The following forms of cooperation will be pursued to promote contact and understanding between the institutions:

1. Collaboration among faculty and staff members for research, symposia, and other academic pursuits as feasible and mutually agreed;
2. Student and staff exchange when mutually agreed and jointly arranged;
3. Joint research activities when mutually agreed and feasible; and
4. Exchanges of informational materials on education, training, and research matters.

Specific programs or projects developed under the above areas of cooperation will be covered by separate agreements between the institutions. The availability of funds will determine financial arrangements for specific programs or projects.

Both institutions agree that this cooperation agreement is subject to review every three years in order to evaluate ongoing program activities and their effectiveness, and to modify the agreement through mutual consent when needed.

Each partner are to appoint an academic and an administrative contact person.

Either institution may cancel this agreement by presenting a written notification to the other institution six months prior to the date of scheduled expiration. This agreement becomes effective from the date it is signed by authorized representatives of the respective institutions.

Signed by Vice Chancellor Prof. Zimani D. Kadzamira University of Malawi the 10th of May 2006, and by Rector Frode Mellemvik, Bodø University College, the 16th of May 2006

Between Bodø University College and The University of Havana, KwaZulu Natal University  and San Carlos University in Guatemala  there are signed similar agreements as between The University of Malawi and Bodø University College

Project synopsis and discipline area                                                     Synopsis
“Child, Welfare and Gender in Comparative Social Work”
The aim is to develop a sustainable network for cooperation in research and education in comparative social work focusing on children, gender and welfare.
Research: A network of staff and PhD students from Cuba, Guatemala, South-Africa and Malawi (4 scholarships) will form an exciting environment for comparative contextual social work research focusing on joint development of research questions and comparative analysis of interpretations of social problems related to gender, welfare and children.
Master level cooperation: 8 Scholarships for Master Programme in Social Work (Gender and Comparative profile) in Bodø. The network will elaborate a course portfolio with elective courses from different participating universities and develop joint comparative courses and possibly joint degrees focusing on aspects of the research component of the programme.
ICT: In addition to network gatherings at the different universities, the network will base its activity on different forms of ICT contact. The network will provide opportunities for cooperation and learning for university staff, PhD and master students alumni from Malawi (main partner South), Guatemala, Cuba, South-Africa, Russia and Norway and provide an opportunity for contact with different NGOs. We will also explore the possibility of developing joint flexibly delivered courses, which will increase the reach of the programme.
Main discipline area: SOCIAL SCIENCES
Sub-discipline(s): Social work, Sociology, Gender studies, Political science and Organization

Project description:

Background, reasons for the project, importance, originality:
A main vision of social work has always been to engage in the community in the pursuit of enhanced psychosocial functioning and development of individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities, and the promotion of peace, human rights, social justice and equality of all people at local, regional, national and international levels.

Both social work and community development are, through their very nature, rooted in contextual historical, socio-political, economic and cultural realities. Thus they should be informed by and responsive to local realities, whether in the South or the North. Yet, in a rapidly globalizing world social work and community development must be mindful about creating false dichotomies between what is purportedly Eurocentric and what is considered Afrocentric or Latinocentric; we must be able to see the universal in the particular and the particular in the universal. For example African people have developed post-colonial ideas, cultures and life-styles that place them in specific locations in the global “divide” both spatially and ideologically, often occupying simultaneous spaces in the North and the South. With the diversities and inequalities of capital accumulation and consumption much of the North exists in the South, and vice-versa. With new configurations of global power, the North-South divide is giving way to a new international division of labour where the “familiar pyramid of the core-periphery hierarchy is no longer a geographic but a social division of the world economy” (Hoogvelt, 1997: xii), with new hierarchies being formed that cut across all societies and regions. Thus, “North and South, First World and Third World, are no longer `out there’ but nestled together within all the world’s major cities” (Held, McGrew, Goldblatt & Perraton, 1999: 8) .

This process is associated with increasing inequalities between and within states. The failure or limited success of most models of development and strategies to alleviate exclusion and poverty makes the challenge of constructing alternatives and improving social work, a joint responsibility. The clearly dialectical and complex relationship between the global and the local call upon social workers and community development practitioners not only to think globally and act locally, but to think and act both globally and locally, and to understand the interlocking influences of micro, mezzo and macro level (including global) factors on the lives of people that we as social workers engage with.

On this background and based on fruitful experiences of international cooperation (see relevance), the participating universities believe that a network of universities from very diverse contexts will provide a stimulating arena for collaboration in research and education. Local attempts at solving (or not solving) these problems, whether of local origin or “imported” through international organisations, will be associated with specific representations of the problem. The aim is that the inclusion of researchers and students from various countries and contexts in a network can contribute to the deconstruction of the relevant social problems with their concurrent perceived solutions and thereby expand our perspectives. Such a collaborative approach can facilitate more informed evaluations of practices and contribute to new proposals for dealing with social problems in their local and global context.

The focus of this NUFU project is on social problems related to childhood, welfare and gender. In general women possess less power and fare worse on most measures of welfare than men, while at the same time, they take the main responsibility for the care of children. Women are also subjected to double or triple discrimination due to colour, ethnicity, class, disability etc. It is therefore important to understand the effects of gender and to focus on the welfare of women and children so as to promote more equal opportunities, reduce poverty in general and give children an opportunity to make a future.

The need for social workers and for new strategies to tackle social problems is indisputable with the level of poverty and the amounts of social problems experienced in the network countries in the South (and East). Most of the partner institutions have established master level degrees in social work, whereas social work is only just beginning to make its way into academia in Malawi, where the main South partner institution, the University of Malawi (UM) is currently in the process of establishing a Bachelor degree. A collaborative conference (network partners in Malawi, South Africa and Norway) to be held in Malawi in Dec. 06 will be a benchmark for the involvement of academia, government workers, NGOs and private sector individuals in key and contemporary issues in social work.

The importance of higher education in the global economy is reflected in the attempts by WTO to influence the import and export of higher education. According to Albach (2001:3): The greatest negative impact of WTO control over higher education, would occur in the developing countries [which] have the greatest need for academic institutions that can contribute to national development, produce research relevant to local needs, and participate in the strengthening of civil society. It is important that the present NUFU project provides an approach which focuses on strengthening the ability of the institutions in the South to function as such independent and critical institutions. An advantage of a network with several partners from the South is that the tendency to dominate on behalf of the institutions in the North resulting, if not for other reasons, from their access to funding, can be counterbalanced. Through the network the South institution can cooperate to define common research and educational needs avoiding the predominance of institution in the North’s understanding.

However, the institutions providing funding on behalf of the Norwegian state and the universities in the North, also have an agenda to promote in their international involvement. According to Halvorsen (www.nokut.no), the Nordic countries should try to influence the international community with “Scandinavian values”. Such values are e.g. gender equality, democracy, human rights, equal opportunities, solidarity and peaceful conflict resolution. These values are also constitutive of social work internationally. The challenge of the project is to promote these values while allowing for various interpretations of them connected to relevant social problems in different contexts. The partners must therefore strive to secure an open dialogue between the participants in the network so as to get behind the dominance and hierarchy of ideologies and discourses across and within states and regions.

The close relationship with practice makes social work stand apart from other academic disciplines, although there is a close link to sociology. The originality of this project lies in the attempt to build a network for close cooperation in research and education in social work, because professional training in the field has tended to cater for working within national borders. The arguments above should suffice to suggest the need for, and benefits of, a comparative perspective on social work where network partners can all improve educational programmes by learning from each other and bringing in more research on relevant social problems. The involved researchers and Ph.D. candidates will jointly develop fruitful research questions to be analysed comparatively within a joint methodological and theoretical framework.

Objectives
• To improve social work practice by engaging in comparative research that focuses on the representation of social problems related to childhood, welfare and gender and their associated solutions.

• To create a strong network between the participating universities to facilitate focused research collaboration, cooperation in teaching and awarding PhD and master scholarships.

• To explore ways in which to facilitate flexibly delivered ICT based courses between universities with very different levels of infrastructure.

• Contribute to the internationalisation process of the universities, a process which will expand perspectives among the students and contribute to a better quality in education.

Research description
Social workers help people to cope with everyday life and prevent and reduce social problems in society. The research component of this project will focus on the representation of social problems related to childhood, welfare and gender. Our approach is strongly influenced by Carol Lee Bacchi’s: Women, Policy and Politics: The Construction of Policy Problems (2005) where she argues that any description of an issue or problem is a re-presentation and is therefore an interpretation which involves judgement and choices. Malawi, South Africa, Cuba, Guatemala, Russia and Norway represent different contexts related to both the structural and cultural construction of social problems, and the institutional and cultural framework the problems exist and are solved within. By using a comparative perspective, it is possible to illuminate how the same social phenomenon is represented in different ways in these contexts and thereby challenge the doxa of what is taken for granted. Children, welfare and gender should not be regarded as separate areas of research. On the contrary, even though not all studies will highlight the situation of children, most studies will in some way concern welfare, and all studies will have a clear gender perspective. Below are some research questions we envisage that the participants in our network may develop and study in a comparative perspective.

Women in difficult circumstances
Social problems are related to coping with everyday life and therefore families and the cooperation between men and women in families are central issues. In all societies family roles are present, embodying a variety of relations with different ideals and values attached. Conceptions and ideology related to gender and to family life are important in the understanding of constructions of social problems and how they can be solved. Asking question concerning the meaning of gender, obligations and expectations between family members, can help us grasp some variations. The following are possible questions for comparative research within this project:

• What interpretations can be revealed through the stories women tell about living in and breaking out of difficult circumstances?
• How do these stories relate to the stories told by representatives of public services, civil society and the media?
• How do women in difficult life situations cope with issues such as questions of child care, domestic violence and unemployment?
• What do narratives from women and social workers tell us about similarities and differences in the understanding of, effect of, and strategies to overcome poverty, male absence (abandonment/migration), ethnic/racial discrimination and other types of exclusion?

Work with children in vulnerable circumstances
According to UNICEF (2006) millions of children make their way through life impoverished, abandoned, uneducated, malnourished, discriminated against, neglected and vulnerable. Drug abuse, broken families and violence, child labour, loss of family (AIDS), gangs and living on the street cause extreme strain. The UN’s convention on Children’s Rights has contributed to an increased political attention to the suffering of children and to their right to have a voice. There is, however, a great discrepancy between words and action. Possible research question for comparative research within this project:

• What is the relationship between race, class and gender and perceptions of life opportunities amongst youth in the participating countries?
• How can narratives and participatory processes amongst youth living in divided societies be used to offer knowledge and opportunities for reconciliation?
• How are social workers responding to children and youth in difficult circumstances?

Different systems of welfare provisions
How people in different social and national contexts cope with everyday life, is related to historically evolved systems of provision: family, civil society, the market and the state.

Today the belief in solving social problems through the expansion of a rationally planned comprehensive public sector is challenged from two directions. One is inspired by neo-liberalistic ideology advocating a minimised role for the government’s contribution in welfare services. It argues that a strong public sector is economically destructive for society and deprives people of responsibility for their actions. The other, argues that social problems can only be solved through participation in community action, counteracting the individualistic effects of the neo-liberal paradigm of utility-maximisation, while also counteracting the ongoing estrangement that many Western countries are experiencing.

The neo-liberal ideology, to some extent mixed with or in combination with communitarian influences, is making a world wide impact on welfare systems and provisions in states as different as Russia, Malawi and Norway. The network allows us to study the local impacts of such global forces and to illuminate how people in different contexts experience and deal with these challenges. Possible research questions for comparative analysis with a focus on gender and childhood, are:

• What concepts and frameworks will facilitate a meaningful comparative discussion of welfare policy focusing on countries in South, North and East regarding the importance of and changes in different systems of provision?
• How does HIV/AIDS impact on welfare provision networks and survival strategies?
• What characterises the transformation-process of a problem from being a private issue into a public concern and vice versa?
• How are the global discourses of welfare provision translated into local practices?
• How do popular movement knowledge and alternative policy solutions influence state policies?

Community based rehabilitation and cross-sector cooperation
Concerning welfare, a common interest among the countries participating in this project, despite huge contextual differences is the utilisation and organisation of community based initiatives and services. The development of a more cross-sector approach to community based rehabilitation (CBR), as initiated through joint efforts across UN organisations such as WHO, ILO, UNESCO and UNICEF is remarkably parallel to the conceptualization of rehabilitation in Norway and other western countries. Issues such as cross-sector and cross-professional cooperation are interesting areas of comparison, as is the organisation and coordination of specific services and programs targeting social problems in the community.
Interesting questions for comparison:
• To what extent is this reconceptualisation of rehabilitation, evident both in high-income and low-income countries, visible also in local practices?
• What are the commonalities and differences in the organisation of cross-sector and cross-professional cooperation, on administrative as well as community level?
• What are the experiences and challenges faced in different countries concerning the implementation of a cross-sector approach to community based rehabilitation?
• What are the relation between professionalism and voluntarism and how is this tied to representations of gender?

Methodology:
Qualitative comparative research makes up the main approach to the specific research projects to be developed. Comparative research in this project involves the study of research questions always in at least two “network countries”. The universities participating in the network offer a wide range of possibilities for interesting comparison. A regional division will result in more research between: Cuba & Guatemala, South-Africa & Malawi and Norway & Russia. For example the Latin- American group with regional similarities regarding culture, language and history could pave the way for a comparison between states with very different levels of public welfare provisions. Another comparison could be made between countries with a history of comprehensive state involvement in welfare provision such as Russia, Norway and Cuba. Moreover countries like South-Africa and Guatemala are characterised by ethnic divisions, racism and violence, making a more equitable access to social, economic and civil and political rights a major challenge. Studying questions of childhood and gender in such diverse contexts also allows for comparisons with regard to the extent to which gender issue have been put on the political agenda as Cuba and Norway versus Malawi and Guatemala. The states in this project also face diversity of challenges regarding democracy and the liberty of the press.
How we think about social problems is mediated through central discourses in a society as such, and in particular subject fields, such as legal and economic discourses in social work (Healy 2005). These define and create positions and voices relevant to different social phenomenon. According to White (2003), the narrative presentation can be regarded as the solution to one general human problem. It has a general form (Mishler 1986, Riessman 2001) that can be identified in different cultural contexts. The re-presentation of social problems and its solutions are reflected in the narratives of social and political actors such as public, non-governmental (NGO) or private welfare providers. Such narratives must be challenged by stories told by marginalised people although these will also reflect those same hegemonic discourses.
The comparative and qualitative approach requires the researcher to undertake fieldwork in the countries selected for the study. Our research will be based on a variety of narratives ranging from oral narratives, narratives collected within research interviews, written narratives and also grand narratives about discourses in a field like social work or in society at large. It will be an interesting challenge to compare the study of the narratives around a phenomenon in one’s own culture and in foreign contexts. The international research network will facilitate reflection on this and contribute to bring forth different interpretations for analysis.

Theoretical approach:
Feminist critical theory focuses on relations between the production of knowledge and practices of power (Harding 2004:1). Knowledge building should be located in minority positions starting from the perspectives of vulnerable groups. Bacchi’s “What is the problem represented to be?” approach emphasises that focus on some issues or explanations implies that other issues are left out, silenced or overseen. Moreover specific representations always produce certain effects, and some will benefit more from certain representations than others.

Bacchi’s way of looking at social problems is rooted in social constructionalism. According to Berger and Luckmann (1966) we create institutions and roles through language and our interaction with each other. This understanding is in opposition to a positivist perspective which argues that accounts of reality are “simply representations of the world” (Silverman 2001:95). However, social constructionalism has been criticised for giving in to relativism. One feminist stand in this respect has been to emphasize the importance of grasping the situatedness of all forms of knowledge production, in science as well as in everyday life. Donna Haraway (1991:184), writing from a feminist perspective, has strongly opposed forms of constructivist and critical theory alike for not addressing the situatedness of knowledge production. A constructivist ‘God-trick’ is no better than a positivist one.

This separation of the knower from what is known, is aiming at the ethic of objectivity, which can be nothing but an illusion. Arguing along the same lines, Bacchi denounces a listing of interpretations of social problems (dominant, helper, clients etc.) as an evaluation will always be present though the wording, however much neutrality is strived for. Having revealed different representations, she insists: “it is absolutely necessary to evaluate them” (p.10). This is also our theoretical point of departure. The aim of the network strategy is thus not only to provide a forum for deconstructing interpretations of social problems. It will also provide a forum to discuss and evaluate the different interpretations with concurrent policy effects. The participating researchers are situated in different contexts and how this will shape the content of the project, its focus and its design is an open question. However, our position within the field of social work indicates that our evaluation will be based on our desire to improve the lives of people and particularly women and children. We will strive for free debates among equals as advocated by Habermas. Through these we will try to construct new knowledge relevant to social workers preparing to work in different and changing contexts.

Reference to publications and research:
Bacchi, C.(2005) Women, Policy and Politics. The Construction of Policy Problems. London: Sage Publications
Berg, Anne-Jorunn (2003) : ”Kjønnsforskningens utfordringer i dag – en refleksjon rundt tre p’er”, Kvinneforskning, nr.1
Harding, S (ed) (2004) The feminist standpoint theory reader. Routledge New York & London
Healy, Karen (2005) Social Work Theories in Context Creating Framework for Practice. Palgrave Macmillan
Kennet, Patricia (2001): Comparative social policy. Open Univerity Press
Mishler,E (1986) . The analysis of Interview-Narratives. In: Sarbin,T Narrative Pscychology. Praeger, New York
Morales-Gomes, Daniel (1999): Transnational Social Policies. The New Development Challenges of Globalization. Earthscan publication
White, H. (2003) Historie og fortelling. Utvalgte essay. Pax Forlag A/S Oslo

Project design and activities:
• Research Programme.
The researchers from the different universities and the PhD students awarded scholarships will develop their more specific research questions and project design within the common thematic, theoretical and methodological framework. The four Ph.D students financed through the project will be enrolled in the Ph.D. programme in Sociology at BUC. Students from Norway and Russia financed through other sources will also participate. To strengthen the research programme and the research network, travel expenditures and fieldwork support for post-doctoral research will be provided to participating scholars. Each university will host a network gathering where jointly developed Ph.D. courses will be held and students and scholars will meet to develop their projects, present data and results, undertake joint interpretations and construct strategies and implications for policy recommendations and social work education (including master courses). Visitor programmes will also ensure that the participants will become familiar with each other’s provision systems, social problems and strategies to deal with them. Staff and master students at host institutions will benefit from participating in some joint events.

• Cooperation in education at master level.
BUC has since 2004 offered a one-year Master programme in Comparative Social Work. It has been changed into a two-year programme starting up in 2007. This programme seeks closer collaboration with cooperating institution in the South. Through the NUFU-project the participating institutions will develop joint research based courses and possibly joint degrees. This will build on, and strengthen, the comparative component of the master programme, and should moreover benefit all the participating universities through offering opportunities for learning from each others’ strengths and through throwing light on aspects of social work in diverse contexts. The NUFU- project will facilitate student exchanges between the universities as part of their master. Through a combination of course work in Norway and in home-country or at a university within this network, the programme will provide learning between institutions and give a stronger contextualisation than a traditional programme. The design also facilitates a strong connection to practice as it anticipates that the students work part time two semesters.

We envisage an intensive first semester in Bodø, before the students can return to their home country and take flexibly delivered courses developed through the project or choose elective courses in the different participating network universities. For the final writing up, we also propose time in Bodø to allow concentration and foment reflections on their research. We must, however, underline that the proposition of this NUFU-application is to work on establishing a good network programme at master level. The possibility of developing joint degrees between South institution and offering scholarships also to students wanting to undertake a comparative social work degree without coming to Bodø, must therefore be noted.

• ICT-Network in Research and Education
A main idea behind the present project application is that social work practice can be improved by learning through comparative studies. Our aim is to create a network of researchers, PhD and master student alumni who form a part of the social work professional and academic team of their respective countries. It is thus necessary to use a range of suitable ICT tools to facilitate such contact in an appropriate manner. This will facilitate contact between students, researchers and universities while taking courses or doing field work in different countries, so as to maintain a forum for debate and a close link to context. The network will also seek the inclusion of other relevant actors such as NGOs whose participation will contribute to a stronger link to practice. We will also develop flexibly delivered courses or programmes, which could benefit students at network institutions in general

Academic competence and capacity at UiS and UiN:
*(UiS) Staff at the Sociology Department at Chancellor College, University of Malawi:
Paul Kishindo (PhD): Professor of Sociology
Pierson Ntata (PhD): Lecturer in Sociology and head of department
Ms Jubilee Tizifa (MA) Lecturer in Sociology and PhD candidate in the department
Mr Philip Kapulula (MA) Lecturer in Sociology
Mr Bernie Zakeyo (MA): Part-time tutor in Sociology and Masters degree student in the Sociology of Health.

In addition, the department also draws on the following members of staff from the Faculty’s Centre for Social Research, whose current director came from the Sociology department for teaching and supervision of research students

Charles Chilimampunga, (PhD) Director, Peter Mvula (PhD), Alistair Munthali (PhD)

The department runs a two-year Master of Arts degree in Sociology based on research only.

Professor Paul Kishindo, and Dr P. Ntata, as well as colleagues at the Centre for Social Research mentioned above are quite well experienced in supervising research-based degrees, especially at Masters degree level. They have supervised MA programmes since the mid 1990s when the department started offering a Masters programme in Women and Development (WID) which late changed into the Masters in Sociology indicated above. Some of these faculty staff, like Professor Kishindo and Dr Mvula have also supervised PhD research. In addition to supervising students in the Masters degree in Sociology Dr Ntata and Professor Kishindo also supervise students from the Master of Arts in Development Studies (also for two years but with a taught component) which is a programme involving all the five departments in the faculty of social science.


* UiN/BUC, Department of Social Sciences:
Professors:
Johans Sandvin (PhD) Rehabilitation and Disability Research, Comparative
welfare policy, developement studies
Anne-Jorunn Berg (PhD) Feminist theory, Science and technology studies (STS),Gender studies, Information- and communication technologies, Cultural studies of everyday life,Post-colonial studies
Per Måseide (PhD) Discourseanalysis, social interaction, sociology of medicine qualitative methodology.
Jan-Inge Hanssen Rehabilitation, welfare policy

Associate professors (PhD)
Siv Oltedal Discourseanalysis, social interaction, gender, violence against women in close relationship, social work theory, communication, social welfare, comparative social work research
Reidun Follesø Narratives from youth, child protection, empowerment, user organisations
Trude Gjernes Prevention, risk, culture
Willy Lichtwarck Child protection, child welfare, habilitation of children, family-related services
Rolv Lyngstad Public policy, local government, comparative
welfare policy, welfare state, welfare professions.
Asbjørn Røiseland Local communities and public policy implementation
Allan Sande Alcohol and drug, nature, work and vacation
Marit Sundet Network and Culture
Agnete Wiborg Gender, Youth and cultural diversity

Associate Professors:
Øystein Henriksen Alcohol, drugs, prevention, parents and children
Gunn S. Hutchinson Social Work in different context, Social Work Theory
Kate Mevik Child participation, children’s right, families mental illness
Elisabeth Pettersen Organisations and international policy.
Masudur Rahman Network, social capital, institution, civil society.
Audun Sandberg Institutional Analysis, institutional development
regional governance
Håkan Sandersen Community-based resource management, inter-
active governance, coastal zone management, national parks and marine reserves, small island states
Asgeir Solstad Professional development in social work, contextual social work. Household/ household economics.

Administrative competence and capacity at UiS and UiN:
* UiS/Malawi.
The project will be based within the faculty of Social Science. The faculty, which is the largest at the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College, has five departments namely, Sociology, Psychology, History, Economics and Political and Administrative Studies. The dean of the faculty, who is an Associate Professor, is responsible for overseeing all faculty projects. Project funds will be kept in the faculty account with the Dean of Faculty as a signatory. The faculty also has its own accountant. The faculty has along history of administering research projects from the various departments. For example, the faculty is currently administering a research fund for postgraduate students sponsored by the Malawi Social Action Fund, as well as funds from tuition fees paid by undergraduate students in the Parallel degree programme. If necessary, a separate account will be created for the NUFU project for accountability and transparency purposes.

* UiN/BUC:
The project will be administrated at the Faculty of Social Sciences at BUC.
As of spring term 2006 the Faculty of Social Sciences numbers 92 academic and administrative staff members in total, and has 978 students registered.
The administration consists of 9 well-qualified persons possessing competence in the fields of financial management, accounting, information and marketing, project management including reporting, language and other case work. The faculty administration is led by the Faculty Director in co-operation with the dean.

In daily administrative work on projects it is a close cooperation with Bodø University College’s central administration, involving the international office, the university college’s leadership and the other sections of the central administration.

The Faculty has widespread experience with handling medium and large scale international projects. Here we can name as an example the Pomor Projects (Pomor I, Pomor II and Pomor III) with all three projects running for a total of 8 years with a total budget exceeding 20 mill. NOK. This project has been jointly financed by the Norwegian Department of Foreign Affairs, The Barents Secretariat and The Nordic Council of Ministers.

In addition we can mention that The Faculty of Social Sciences handles medium and large scale research projects financed by The Norwegian Research Council, for example the Strategic University College Programme.

The Faculty of Social Sciences has also carried out large scale projects financed by the European Union/Norway, for instance the project “Management of Salmon Rivers”.

In short the Faculty of Social Sciences at Bodø University College is well-versed in international project administration and possesses the necessary expertise to manage the proposed project.

Division of responsibility and labour between UiS and UiN
The network contacts from the University of Malawi and BUC will be the main coordinators of the project and work in close cooperation with a coordinating committee made up of the network contacts from each of the five countries. Work division:

Bodø University College
• PhD programme in sociology BUC, including supervision
• Prepare the programme for participating students and researchers for the network gathering in Bodø.
• Participate in research projects
• Master in Comparative Social Work at BUC
• Coordinate the work with the portfolio of elective Master Courses at the different participating universities.
• Lead the development of one joint master course
• Discussions about joint degrees between participating universities
• Publication of Newsletter: Comparative Social Work
• Joint leadership with South of the coordinating group

University of Malawi
• Be a driving force and coordinator in the network in the development of South relevant research questions.
• Participate in research projects
• Provide supervision to PhD candidates doing comparative research involving the country
• Lead the development of one joint master course
• Prepare the programme for participating students and researchers for the network gathering in Malawi.
• Coordinate the network gathering with the other universities.
• Joint leadership with North of the coordinating group
• Coordinate the evaluation of the NUFU-project to consider its contribution to strengthening research-based higher education in social work and promote national development and poverty reduction.

UiS-network members
• Participate in research projects
• Contribute to development of research questions
• Provide supervision to PhD candidates doing comparative research involving the country
• Contribute to the elective course portfolio (relevant, accessible, facilitate, adjust)
• Contribute to the development of joint courses
• Host one network gathering
• Participate in the coordinating group

Risk factors
This project has quite high ambitions in regard to developing a strong collaborative network across countries on different continents, operating in different time zones and with different languages. Specific challenges foreseen are:
• Difference in and problems with the ICT-infrastructure.
We have to face this challenge with creativity and look for ways to get around the problems. One important point will be to look for simple solutions and not become overenthusiastic about the most advanced opportunities within ICT, which will probably cause more problems than offer solutions.
• Language. English is the academic language in Malawi and South Africa, whereas people in Cuba and Guatemala tend to struggle. It is a limiting factor in regard to the participants from the Spanish speaking countries.
We believe there will be enough people with proficient English to participate efficiently in the network. This is also a qualifying exercise. Some network contact can take place in Spanish between Guatemala, Cuba and Norway and joint courses may be developed in Spanish. If necessary, the use of Spanish for the PhD thesis can be considered, which will not excempt the candidates from using English in joint discussions
• Frustrations with fieldwork and contacts in different and foreign contexts.
The network will provide door openers in the states of the participating countries. It will also provide a forum to discuss problems experienced. We will also all have to be prepared for difficulties in relation to the cross-cultural nature of this work and be patient and persistent while learning with an open mind as we go along.
• Partial scholarships for the master degree and unexpected circumstances can delay the completion of thesis
Close academic supervision and supervisor in both countries are measures to avoid this problem.

Relevance
North
Involvement with comparative social work has developed over time at BUC starting with collaboration with Pomor State University in Russia in 1998 and a comparative National Research Council project; Legitimisation of professional social work 2000-03. For 2003-06 BUC was awarded a project in Comparative Welfare Research through the Strategic University College Project from the NRC leading to research on welfare questions in Cuba, South-Africa, Russia, and Guatemala. Our concern for, interest in, and knowledge about international social work and the major challenges within the social sector in the South and in Russia, has also been strengthened through our Master Programme in Comparative Social Work (Norad Scholarship Programme and Quota Scheme Programme).

BUC has in its strategic document for the establishment of full university status (Handlingsplan for etablering av Universitet i Bodø 2005) emphasised the objective of strengthening the institution’s comparative advantage in social work and business studies.

The NUFU project will facilitate more field work and closer contact with researchers in the South and provide a forum for discussion and joint learning. It will contribute to an interesting academic environment which will strengthen our newly established PhD Programme in sociology and make it more relevant in relation to social work. In an increasingly internationalised world where the South, East and North meet in new ways, the institute of social work has given its full support for increased internationalisation which will also strengthen BUC’s Norwegian language master programme in social work.

BUC is part of an EU network in social work and also one of the institutions constituting the University of the Artic. From 2006 BUC will coordinate the newly established network in social work within this structure, thus opening for possibilities for future synergies. BUC has a cross-faculty network called Gender in focus including Nordland Research Institute and the Northern Feminist University in Steigen. This NUFU project will undertake interesting research on gender issues which will expand our understanding of gender related social problems.

South
Capacity building and skills training are essential components to deal with the enormous problems such as poverty, HIV/AIDS and gender discrimination in countries of the South. By engaging in this collaborative teaching and research project candidates from the South will be exposed to new ways of thinking, practising and researching. Social development and poverty alleviation are not only dependent on material forces and resources – as important as these are – but on innovation and creation especially in the areas of welfare policy. Socialisation plays a crucial role in the kinds of policy options that we envision for our societies.

Most of the states from the South with participating universities are in a transition to democracy. Anecdotal evidence already indicates a lack of understanding of the concept of democracy and the respect of individual human rights. Such misunderstandings are in some cases related to increased incidents of violence against humanity, including violence against girls and women. Most countries in the South, have strong patriarchal systems which do not allow women their freedom and their rightful role in participating in decisions that affect their lives. Discrimination and violence at the individual, household, community and national levels have various impacts on women and girls and negatively impact on their welfare. The NUFU project, through the research component will again provide useful insights from the perspective of women and others involved as a basis of policy formulation and adjustment.

Many people from the South have only known neo-liberal capitalist societies that essentially create class inequalities. These inequalities tend to reflect powerful intersections of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation and ethnicity. Given the hegemony of neo-liberal capitalism, often accompanied by centralist, bureaucratic state apparatus and functioning, individuals more often than not may take for granted the naturalness of such systems. How can one conceive of something different if one does not know of it or if one has never experienced it? Thus opportunities for people from the South to engage with and study at other institutions, especially those in the Nordic region that has an exceptionally well developed welfare system, but also the alternative system built up in Cuba, will provide powerful messages that “other worlds are possible”. Such experience will provide the foundations for the development of critical consciousness among social workers (who can effectively be policy makers).. and such critical consciousness is a prerequisite for critical and constructive engagement in society. Apart from benefits form the collaborative research and exchange of staff and students, the project will contribute to the development of social work programmes in Africa and Latin America. Human resource development is one of the critical objectives of the New Partnerships for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), and also of strategic importance to Guatemala. Through establishing social work programmes the project will also help to enhance objectives in respect of conflict resolution and peace-making and poverty alleviation as these are core components of social work education and training.

Gender
The title of this project "Child, Welfare and Gender in Comparative Social Work" shows that gender is the central subject area, also reflected in our theoretical approach. Among the participating staff, there is relative gender balance with a small female majority.

Social work is a professional field with a female majority, where men should be welcome to offer their perspective, perhaps also in relation to research focusing on gender with a leaning towards female emancipation. Some men will be offered scholarships, but the need to recruit females for leading positions in academia and society as such, and the lesser access to funding often experienced by women, determines that the majority will go to women.

Greater care responsibilities tend to make leaving home to study abroad more difficult for women. Although PhD and master students in this project will have to leave home to do course- and fieldwork in other countries, the absence from home will be of limited time, thus making the programmes more accessible, while also allowing for short time spans of concentration on studies away from family – making completion of thesis easier.

The participating institutions will ensure equal access to equipment, office space, funding and networks and women will be encouraged to engage in the development of flexibly taught courses.

Sustainability and exit strategies
The universities participating in this network plan to undertake joint research activities and collaborate extensively in research and education. To make the achievements of the project sustainable, the most important strategy is to undertake relevant research and connect it to social work practices. I.e. in many cases the poor have to fend for themselves. Because of this many studies in the 1980s and 1990s concentrated on what were called the adaptive or survival strategies of the poor or the vulnerable groups. But even at this stage the concept of vulnerability was not properly understood. It was defined a priori instead of being derived from the poor themselves. The research component of the proposed NUFU project will address the shortfalls of previous research by deriving the concept of vulnerability from the narratives of the poor themselves as well as the perspectives of others who work with them. The aim is to construct new knowledge which can be used to formulate future strategies for social work at all its different levels. The collaborative strategy is designed to reduce the negative effect of researchers’ contextual glasses and provide an environment for joint critical deconstruction of social problems and joint searching for better solutions.

Moreover, the objective of developing joint PhD courses and even more the flexibly delivered master courses based on our joint research will ensure that the knowledge developed through the research component of the project will be systematised and integrated into the teaching of social work. Access to these courses will be ensured for all the participating institutions and local adjustments will be encouraged. To sustain the positive effects we expect, the project will initiate the construction of joint degrees between the network partners and aim to jointly contribute to each others’ educational programmes.

At the main institution in the South, the University of Malawi, the Chancellor College is planning to expand its scope to offer degrees in social work within the sociology department. Currently, the department is very small, with only five established positions. Current staff do not have specific specialisation in social work education although most would have done related issues. The expansion of the department to offer social work education will therefore begin with the establishment of new faculty positions in the department. Students at PhD and master level who receive training through this NUFU project will form the main pool of local expertise from which we can initially draw to recruit for these faculty positions in addition to those who may come from abroad. In time, the department could offer its own Masters programme. Although social work as an academic and degree giving field is more established at the other universities, many departments have staff with an academic career in sociology, rather than training in social work tied to practice. Although the PhD programme in Bodø also is in sociology, the investigations and the network wherein they take place will be relevant to social work and provide the institutions in the South with academics trained to link research, practice and teaching. As a measure to ensure relevance and to avoid brain drain, the PhD candidates and master students will maintain their contact to their home university throughout their educational programmes.

Because of either lack of or underdeveloped systems of welfare in many countries in the South including Malawi, there is a dearth of trained, professional social workers on the ground who are in a position to provide psychosocial as well as physical support to people in need. The Capacity building element of the NUFU project, through providing training at PhD and Masters degree level, is extremely important because it forms an initial important step in producing researchers who can identify the actual needs and recommend areas in which trainings ought to focus.

From the research point of view, information generated from the NUFU project will contribute to the designing of the social work curriculum in the specific area of children, welfare and gender. Published materials will contribute to a catalogue of up to date teaching materials. The research component will also generate further questions that might need further researching thereby providing a basis for continued research in the area of social work. Links established in the NUFU project with other universities in both the North (Bodo) and the South will continue and be harnessed for the purposes of further collaborative research work. The universities will try to contribute to the network collaboration by applying for other funding and seek to integrate other activity as well into some of the network activity. The institutions will also integrate learning from network project activity into their ordinary activities, such as in bachelor programmes.

The current NUFU project seeks to expand on and sustain the work initiated under the Strategic University College Project on Comparative Welfare Project. The partners have successfully arranged PhD courses and joint conferences in Havana 2004 and Durban 2005 and will arrange one in Dec. 2006 in Malawi. Though this we have engaged many faculties at all the institutions and developed research partnerships that we perceive as fruitful and therefore want to build on in the future. This demonstrates that we as academics in social work regard cooperation as beneficial. The NUFU project has included Guatemala as a new partner to strengthen the Latin American contingent. The contact with San Carlos has been established through the PhD research within the Comparative Welfare Project. We believe that the proposed more formal multilateral network across continents will create even more exciting possibilities for countries from the South and the North to learn together.

Researchers in the project
(Researchers/sub-coordinators in the project. Do not register Master and Ph.D. students.)
UiS: Pierson Ntata, PhD, Head of Socioloy department, Malawi, Julio Cècar Dìaz Argueta, PhD, Head of postgraduate programs, Guatemala, Clotilde Proveyer,PhD, Dr. Sociology, Havana University, Vishanthie Sewpaul, PhD, Professor at KwaZulu Natal ,South Africa, Kishindo Paul, PhD, Professor of Sociology at the university of Malawi, Roberto Davalós, PhD, Dr. Sociology, University of Havana, Lily Muñoz, PhD pending, Researcher, Guatemala and Alma Maldonado, MA, Lecturer, Guatemala

UiN: Johans Sandvin, PhD, Professor, Head of PhD program in sociology, Siv Oltedal, PhD, Associate Professor, Reidun Follesø, PhD, Associate Professor, Anne-Jorunn Berg, PhD, Professor, Head of National program on Gender Research, Agnete Wiborg, PhD, Associate Professor, Per Måseide, PhD, Professor, Rolv Lyngstad, PhD, Associate Professor, Marit Sundet, PhD, Associate Professor

Other collaborative activities

* Twice a year on-line publication of "Journal Comparative Social Work" (www.jcsw.no) hosted by BUC including peer-reviewed articles, student essays and book reviews. The advisory board, that reviews articles, consists of a broad international contact net in the field of social work:
Professor Vishanthie Seepaul, Kwa Zulu Natal University, Durban, South Africa
Dr. Karen Healy, Queensland University, Australia
Dr. Pierson R.T. Ntata, Chancellor College, Zomba, Malawi
Dr. Clotilde Proveyer, The University of Havana, Cuba
Professor Elena Iarskaia-Smirnova, Saratov State Technic University, Russia
Associate professor Anne Ryen, Agder University College, Norway
Dr. Hans-Jørgen Wallin Weihe, Lillehammer University College, Norway
Professor Johans Sandvin, Bodoe University College, Norway
Professor Steven Shardlow, Salford University, England
Professor Margareta Hydén, Lindköping University, Sweden
Professor Tarja Pöso, Tampere University, Finland
Professor Pamela A. Brown, Humboldt State University, California, USA
Dr. Marianne Skytte, Aalborg University, Denmark

* BUC is member of a EU network EUSW. The network deals with different activities concerning ”building an international platform of social work”. Within this network there has been established a group of 5 institutions from Rende (Italy), Parma (Italy), Mallorca (Spain), Gøteborg (Sweden) and Bodø. This network get money from the Italian government for the period of 2006/2007/2008 to develop a professional master of 60ects concerning “social work with families”.

* Other partners being interested in collaboration regarding this NUFU project:
Dr. Karen Healy Queensland University, Australia
Professor Pam Brown Humboldt State University, USA:
Professor Steven Shardlow, Salford University, England:
Professor Elena Iarskaia-Smirnova, Saratov State Techical University Russia
Dean Larissa Malik, Pomor State University, Arhangelsk, Russia

Associate professor (PhD) Toril Jenssen, Tromsøe University by
Lecturer Lene Østby, Diakonhjemmets Høgskole Oslo
Associate professor Anne Ryen, Agder University College

Milestones in the project period