Fafo Foundation

The Fafo Research Foundation
Forskningsstiftelsen Fafo
The main offices of the Fafo Foundation in Oslo
The Oslo Accords were the result of negotiations hosted by Fafo

The Fafo Research Foundation, also known as the Fafo Foundation or just Fafo (Norwegian: Forskningsstiftelsen Fafo), is a Norwegian research foundation, owning a research institute: The Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research. The institute conducts social research both in Norway and internationally. Fafo has offices in Oslo and Beijing.

Fafo was founded by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) in 1982 and was reorganised as an independent research foundation in 1993 with contributions from the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees and six major Norwegian companies (Orkla Group, Umoe, Elkem, Coop Norge, Sparebank1 Gruppen and Telenor). The first director of Fafo was Terje Rød Larsen (1982–1993). Under his leadership, Fafo became increasingly involved in international peace research and politics, particularly in the Middle East, from the late 1980s; the institute played a central role in the negotiations that culminated in the Oslo Accords. The origin of the Oslo Accords can be traced back to a research project initiated by Fafo in the Palestinian territories, and the negotiations that led to the accords were hosted by Fafo in Oslo. Terje Rød Larsen would subsequently become a UN Under-Secretary-General responsible for coordinating the Middle East peace process.[1]

In July 2008 the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made a deal with the help of the Norwegian minister of environment and development Erik Solheim with Fafo to use some of its professors and researchers in their school. Praising Fafo as an "internationally very famous research institution", a representative of the school said China wanted to learn from Norwegian approaches to welfare state and environmental protection.[2]

Jon Hippe was director of Fafo from 2005 to 2015. From 2015 Tone Fløtten is managing director for both the foundation and the research institute. As of 2016, Fafo employs 67 researchers.

Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research

In 2015 fafo merged its international research division into the Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research (Norwegian: Fafo Institutt for arbeidslivs- og velferdsforskning). Its scope is industrial relations and labour market policy, social policy and welfare state, and studies of work and enterprise development. Its international approach is mostly based on living condition surveys in areas previously excluded from social science research, such as Haiti, China and Iraq. Fields included are labour relations, welfare policy, and living conditions.

Anne Britt Djuve and Sissel Trygstad are Heads of Research, and Tone Fløtten is the foundation's Managing Director.

See also

Norwegian Institute of International Affairs

References

  1. ↑ Gaza First: the secret Norway channel to peace between Israel and the PLO, Jane Corbin
  2. ↑ Kinas kommunistskole vil lære av Norge - Nyheter - Utenriks - Aftenposten.no


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