Fafo Foundation
Encyclopedia
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
research foundation, consisting of two research institutes: The Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research and the Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies. The two institutes are conducting social research both nationally in Norway and internationally. Fafo has offices in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Jerusalem and Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
.
Fafo was founded by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions
Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions
The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions is a national trade union center, decidedly the largest and probably the most influential umbrella organization of labour unions in Norway. The 21 national unions affiliated to the LO have more than 850,000 members of a Norwegian population of 4.8 million...
(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
Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees
The Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees is a trade union in Norway. It has a membership of 295,000 and is affiliated with the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions ....
and six major Norwegian companies (Orkla Group
Orkla Group
Orkla Group is a Norwegian industrial conglomerate operating in the Nordic region, Eastern Europe, Asia and the US. The company's main divisions are branded consumer goods, aluminium solutions, materials, associates and financial investments.-Operations:...
, Umoe
Umoe
Umoe AS is a privately owned company based in Norway. Jens Ulltveit-Moe founded the company in 1984 and it has since grown into one of the largest, privately owned companies in Norway with a market value of approximately NOK 5 billion....
, Elkem
Elkem
Elkem is one of Norway's largest industrial companies, and one of the world's leading suppliers of metals and materials. The company's main products are aluminium, energy and silicon as well as specialised products such as ferrosilicon to foundries, microsilica and carbon...
, Coop Norge, Sparebank1 Gruppen and Telenor
Telenor
Telenor Group is the incumbent telecommunications company in Norway, with headquarters located at Fornebu, close to Oslo. Today, Telenor Group is mostly an international wireless carrier with operations in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Asia, working predominantly under the Telenor brand...
). 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
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, from the late 1980s, and the institute played a central role in the negotiations that culminated in the Oslo Accords
Oslo Accords
The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles , was an attempt to resolve the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict...
. 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.
In July 08 the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
The Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, also known as the Central Party School, is the highest institution to train new officials for the Communist Party of China. As of October 03, 2007, it has about 1,300 students...
made a deal with the help of the Norwegian minister of environment and development Erik Solheim
Erik Solheim
Erik Solheim is a Norwegian politician for the Socialist Left Party . He holds two posts in the current Norwegian cabinet, and carries the title Minister of the Environment and Minister of Development Cooperation...
with Fafo to use some of its professors and reserchers 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.
Since 2004, Jon Hippe
Jon Hippe
Jon Mathias Hippe is a Norwegian researcher, politician and presenter. He received national media attention when he was made General Manager of the Fafo foundation. He continues to hold that position, however, in 2010 he was elected leader of A-pressen...
has served as the director of Fafo. As of 2008, Fafo had 89 employees.
Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research
The Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research is one of two institutes based in the Fafo Foundation. Its scope is industrial relations and labour market policy, social policy and welfare state and studies of work and enterprise development.The Head of research is Anne Britt Djuve, Managing Director is Tone Fløtten
Fafo Institute for Applied International Science
The Fafo Institute for Applied International Science is one of two institutes based in the Fafo Foundation. Its approach is mostly based on living condition surveys in areas previously excluded from social science research, such as HaitiHaiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. Fields included are labour relations, welfare policy and living conditions.
The Heads of research are Morten Bøås and Jon Pedersen, Managing Director is May-Len Skilbrei