RIO
RIO is a network that brings together people from the non-profit sector and linked to the Department of Social Work. Since 2006, it is an active platform to give a voice to non-profit organizations and their users or members in social work education.
Voice of the Non-Profit Sector in Social Work Education
The Reference Group for Non-Profit Organizations (RIO) gathers professionals from the non-profit sector to give non-profit organisations and the users or members they represent a voice in social work education.
Individuals from the organisations in RIO participate in teaching various courses in the social work program. Through the RIO network, relevant research questions for the Department of Social Work are identified, and through the exchange, the department disseminates relevant knowledge from our research.
The RIO network also carries out educational development projects about both courses and the social work education program.
Regular network meetings are held 2–3 times per semester.
Ongoing Projects
Paths to Employment In the research study Paths to Employment, interventions conducted by municipal authorities and the non-profit sector in the City of Gothenburg are compared. The non-profit operations included in the study are Bräcke Diakoni, Reningsborg, and Vägen Ut cooperatives. The overarching goal of the study is to understand how the various interventions work in practice and what consequences they have for the participants.
The project group consists of Professor Mikaela Starke (project leader), Associate Professor Tina Olsson, and PhD Katarina Hollertz.
Completed Projects
Pandemic & Change
During 2020/2021, we in RIO devoted much time to exchanging our experiences from the pandemic year. In these joint processes, we shared the vulnerabilities of our specific target groups, how our various organizations have adapted their operations based on different themes, and what it has meant from a staff perspective.
From this work in the network, a project called Pandemic & Change has been initiated, with some of the member organizations participating. In the work, we have identified how these experiences can be documented for the future.
CiviDig
CiviDig is a project that was funded by the Research and Innovation Office at the University of Gothenburg in 2020 to explore the interest and establish collaboration around building a future digital platform. The purpose of the platform is to develop spaces for collaboration between the Department of Social Work and civil society organizations. The project is derived from previous projects including the KUNIS project and is about how digitalization can support the joint knowledge building and knowledge exchange.
KUNIS Project (Knowledge in Collaboration)
The KUNIS Project (2014–2017) was a collaboration project funded by the General Heritage Fund aimed at increasing user participation in social work education and the non-profit sector’s opportunities to influence it. Through the KUNIS Project, the collaboration between the non-profit sector and the education was developed and strengthened in several ways. For example, participants from user organizations took courses alongside social work students.