The consortium’s working groups organize thematic panels at the annual international conference, their own workshops, and comparative publications. All those interested in participating in RISC’s working groups are eligible to apply for workshop/seminar organization grants, seed funding for research and mobility funds. Also, the consortium has a book series for publication of empirical and theoretical research. Finally, the working groups organize the exchange of information and intellectual debates on the consortium’s interactive web portal (www.risc.lu) In order to join this working group, please contact RISC and state your interest in joining this specific group. Your name and e-mail address will be sent to the working group coordinator.

Los grupos de trabajo del consorcio están encargados de organizar un panel en el congreso anual RISC, preparar sus propios seminarios, y sus publicaciones comparativas. Todos aquellos interesados en participar en un grupo de trabajo RISC, serán también elegibles de solicitar fondos RISC para la organización de seminarios, investigación y movilidad académica. También, el consorcio cuenta con una serie de libros orientada a la publicación de investigación teórica y empírica proveniente de los grupos de trabajo. Finalmente, los grupos de trabajo organizarán el intercambio de información y debates intelectuales en el portal interactivo del consorcio (www.risc.lu). Para poder registrarse en este grupo de trabajo, por favor contactan RISC declarando su interés y motivos profesionales. Su nombre y correo electrónico será enviado al coordinador del grupo de trabajo.

Les groupes de travail du consortium organisent des ateliers thématiques lors de la Conférence internationale annuelle, animent leurs propres ateliers et réalisent des publications comparatives. Toute personne désirant participer aux groupes de travail du RISC peut faire la demande d’une bourse pour les ateliers/séminaires, d’un financement de recherche et/ou de l’accès au fonds de mobilité. En outre, le consortium dirige une collection éditoriale permettant la publication de recherches empirique et théorique. Enfin, les groupes de travail organisent l'échange d'informations et des discussions académiques sur le portail internet interactif du consortium (www.risc.lu). Intéressé(e) pour rejoindre ce groupe de travail ? Contactez RISC en signalant votre intérêt pour ce groupe spécifique. Votre nom et email seront transmis au coordinateur.

Working Group on “Civil society, vulnerable populations, and state policies of health and well-being”

Coordinator: Robert VH Dover, INER, Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia. Email contact: rvhdover@gmail.com.

The RISC working group, “Civil society, vulnerable populations, and state policies of health and well-being”, was originally proposed by the research group, Strategic Resources, region and socioenvironmental dynamics (RERDSA), affiliated with the Institute for Regional Studies (INER) at the University of Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia. RERDSA has a recognized research trajectory in public health issues particularly in the context of policy impact on vulnerable populations.

Objectives

The working group seeks to conduct collaborative and comparative research, publications, and faculty and institutional exchanges to analyze the role and incidence of the civil society in regional and state policies of health and well-being. This approximation takes into consideration the social and political maturity of the state, the world context of a supposed democratization and liberalization of access to health and well-being, as well as the recognition of the plurality of concepts which inform these policies and an increase in the expectations and demands citizens manifest before the state. We are interested in real and imagined border areas and themes that challenge prevailing concepts and policies regarding: What is good health and how is it signified? How are alternative or dissident views of health and well-being articulated or not with prevailing ones? To what extent are differentiated notions of citizenship and participation encoded in health and well-being policy? To what extent do state standards of health and well-being disregard local concepts, or are there specific infrastructural and political responses to these emerging concepts?

Selected Themes

We have identified a number of potential areas of collaborative and comparative research and publication, but invite other thematic considerations.

1. Comparative definitions of health and well-being and characterizations of beneficiaries of public policy.
2. Focus of subsidies and assistance related to health, well-being and quality of life.
3. Local health and well-being initiatives vs. health care systems and social protection policy.
4. Socio-cultural appropriateness in health care services and social welfare programs.
5. Citizenship, collective participation, and social mobilization.
6. Regional and state policies of health and well-being and their results in intercultural and vulnerable contexts.
7. Methodologies toward the interpretation and development of healthy cities.

Collaborative Projects

One of the benefits of being part of an international working group is the opportunity for collaborative projects, including research and publications, particularly regarding health and well-being social issues where different international experiences offer the possibility of developing transversal regional and transnational strategies.

For example, one of the results of the 2008 Regional Integration and Social Cohesion Conference, was the start of a comparative research initiative between the University of Cape Town in South Africa and the University of Antioquia in Colombia, that resulted in the development of the joint proposal, “Changing stakeholders and local strategies: social-environmental policy in transition contributes to participation and personal choice in health behavior; a global south comparative perspective for healthy cities”, and subsequent visits between researchers from both countries. Our working group encourages these and other cooperative endeavors.

Membership

We are in the process of consolidating our membership, but invite all individual and institutional participation in the different working group and RISC activities. Although we have identified potential themes of inquiry, we encourage members and participating institutions to identify and direct other research emphases, publication initiatives, and conference and seminar topics, in the context of our working group.

The RISC consortium’s working groups organize thematic panels at the annual international conference, their own workshops, and comparative publications. All those interested in participating in RISC’s working groups are eligible to apply for workshop/seminar organization grants, seed funding for research and mobility funds. Also, the consortium has a book series for publication of empirical and theoretical research. Finally, the working groups organize the exchange of information and intellectual debates on the consortium’s interactive web portal (www.risc.lu).

In order to join this working group, please contact RISC and state your interest in joining this specific group. Your name and e-mail address will be sent to the working group coordinator.

RISC Conference Panels 2008-2010 Organized by the Working Group

2008 Regional Integration and Social Cohesion: Comparative Perspectives on Leadership. Luxembourg, November 13-15. Panel: Civil Society, Vulnerable Populations, and State Policies of Health and Well-being.

• Freddy Marinez Navarro, ITESM: Bienestar como gobernanza.
• Olga L. Gonzalez, GAC (Groupe Actualites Colombie): Les droits sociaux et les strangers en France: entre reconnaissance et discriminations legales.
• Florence Jany-Catrice, Clersé, Université de Lille 1: Un indicateur de sante sociale pour les regions francaises: genése et legitimation.
• Naomi S. Levitt, Krisela Steyn, Estelle V. Lambert, University of Cape Town: The epidemiological transition: co-prevalence of infectious and noncommunicable disease in South Africa: public health implications for prevention and management and models of care.

2009 Regional Integration and Social Cohesion: Regional reconfigurations: local, national, international changes. Medellín, November 3-5. Panel: Initiatives and limitations regarding regional integration in health and well-being policies.

• Arthur Limbach-Reich, Université du Luxembourg: National, Regional, and User-Based Aspects in the Implementation of the United Nations Human Rights Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
• César Ernesto Abadía Barrero, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia – Sede Bogotá: “Salud al derecho”: la lucha por el derecho a la salud en Colombia.
• Jill Eriksson, Université du Luxembourg: ‘African Solutions to African Urban Problems’: Regional Integration and Urban Development in West Africa.
• Ilia Gómez, Universidad de la Guajira: Políticas de salud en Colombia para la población pobre y vulnerable: diferencias regionales.

2010 Regional Integration and Social Cohesion: Development, poverty and global crises: reinforcing governance. Luxembourg, November 10-13. Panel: Global South Public Health and Welfare Policies: Issues of Identity, Autonomy, and Autochthony.

• Tracy Kolbe-Alexander, University of Cape Town: Socio-ecological model for health-seeking behaviour and the epidemiological, nutrition, and demographic transition: a new model from the Global South perspective.
• Solange Ngo Yebga, Université Catholique d’Afrique Centrale: Initiatives locales de la société civile en santé reproductives au Cameroun: étude de cas des structures associatives en milieu urbain.
• Robert VH Dover, Claudia Puerta Silva, Universidad de Antioquia, and Estelle Victoria Lambert, University of Cape Town: Approximations toward an integral perspective of urban environmental justice, health choice, and public policy.
• Maaria Seppanen, University of Helsinki: Gender and Corruption in Public Health Services in Nicaragua: Empirical and Theoretical Conclusions for Governance.

2011 Regional Integration and Social Cohesion: Social cohesion: the missing link in regional integration? Rustenburg, South Africa, 30 November – 3 December. Panel: Public Health Policy at Real and Imagined Borders: Regional Strategies for Public Health Integration.

• Claudia Puerta Silva and Robert VH Dover, Universidad de Antioquia, “Two days in Jeep and five hours walking to make a medical appointment: being indigenous in the social welfare system in Colombia.”
• Warren Smit, African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town, “Cities and health in the Global South.”

Other Events Organized by the Working Group 2011

• Changing Stakeholders and Local Strategies: Urban Social-Environmental Policy in Transition Contributes To Participation And Personal Choice in Health Behavior: “A Workshop on the Global South Comparative Perspective For Healthy Cities”. December 5-6, 2011. This two-day workshop created a platform to share research in urban Global South settings that may affect our interpretation of the current dominant paradigm for factors shaping health and health-seeking behavior in these settings. Through this workshop we sought common ground to develop a multi-country research initiative/proposal related to the interpretation of the social, environmental, policy and epidemiological conditions that contribute to transition toward healthy behavior. Under the sponsorship of RISC, the University of Cape Town, and the Universidad de Antioquia, the workshop included the institutional participation of: Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town; School of Public Health, University of Western Cape; the African Centre for Cities’ Healthy Cities CityLab Programme, University of Cape Town; Poverty Action Lab for Africa (J-PAL Africa); UCT/MRC Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, University of Cape Town; Department of Geography, University of Cape Town; Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Antioquia; and INER, Universidad de Antioquia.