The Nordic Gender Institute (NIKK) will be closed down at the end of 2011 after functioning as a Nordic institution since 1995. The Institute emerged out of cooperation between researchers, politicians and practitioners engaged in gender equality. The Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM) wanted NIKK to produce and disseminate research relevant to Nordic cooperation in the field of gender equality. NIKK was placed under the gender equality sector of the NCM and the overwhelming majority of the Institute’s projects and activities have focused on politically prioritised themes in Nordic cooperation in respect of gender equality issues. The cross-national projects undertaken by NIKK in recent years commissioned by the NCM – Gender and Power, Prostitution in the Nordic Countries, Multi-dimensional Discrimination Policies, and Gender Equality and Minority Youth – are good examples of this interaction between research and policy objectives.
In addition to to this role, NIKK has provided the sole institutional basis for Nordic cooperation in gender research. After the mid-2000s, NIKK’s role in promoting and coordinating research was de-emphasised in accordance with the wishes of the NCM. Its earlier semi-autonomous status in respect to the political apparatus was replaced by the role of knowledge centre and tool for Nordic gender equality cooperation. In its new role NIKK developed a unique competence as a bridgebuilder between research and policy making. The close relationship between the political system, gender equality practitioners and researchers as well as the knowledge-based gender equality policies is a specific Nordic feature which needs nurturing and protecting. If gender equality work is to be result-oriented, efficient and able to renew itself, it needs to be linked to research-based knowledge both on the national and Nordic levels.
The Nordic ministers for gender equality have decided that from January 2012, NIKK (or some of its functions) will be reorganised into a so-called cooperation body that will be anchored at an existing national or Nordic institution. At the time of writing this article, it is not known when or how this decision will be realised. After a long period of insecurity and a process lacking in transparancy and clarity, where the motives for re-organisation have not been clearly laid out to NIKK’s board or management, a number of Nordic and European organisations and institutions have expressed their concern about the risk of a collapse of NIKK’s networks, resources and the knowledge base that has been built up over the years. The downscaling of well-functioning cooperation structures easily results in a loss of competent actors capable of continuously promoting and guiding Nordic cooperation. Thus it is important that the Nordic Council of Ministers rapidly finds a new home or host institution for NIKK. My hope is that the ”new NIKK” will be able to combine project- and information activities and that it will continue to constitute a platform for the interaction between policies and research on gender equality in the Nordic countries.
In Nordic institutions, eight years is the maximum period of office. It is therefore time for me to say goodbye to you all. Thank you so much for good cooperation over the years!
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| Foto: Moment Studio |
Solveig Bergman, Director of NIKK until 31st October 2011
