Documents

Diversity Icebreaker applied in a project aimed at aiding low-income families (multiple texts)

In 2018 the Diversity Icebreaker was applied in a project with 5 families facing housing challenges. The tool was used to create a common language as part of a project based on the U-curve theory over a course of 6 months. The results were presented at more than 15 conferences as well as in book and journal publications.

A selection of publications related to the project:

 

1.

Kobro, L.U., Andvig, E.S. & Ekelund, B.Z. 2018: En u-sving til bedre bolig. Et prosjekt for boligsosial innovasjon i kommunal kontekst. Skriftserie nr 14. Universitet Sørøst-Norge.


DOWNLOAD at: https://openarchive.usn.no/usn-xmlui/handle/11250/2581081.

NOTE: This research report is in Norwegian.

 

2.

Ekelund, B.Z., Kobro, L.U. and Andvig, E.S. 2019. Co-creating housing strategies: Hosting five families with housing challenges. In McKergow, M. and Pugliesi, P. The Host Leadership Field Book. London: Solutions Books.

This chapter describes how the Diversity Icebreaker was combined with U-curve in order to host 6 meetings for 5 families in a span of 6 months.

 

DOWNLOAD PDF

 

3.

Andvig, E., Ekelund, B.Z., Kobro, L.U. & Bongaardt, R.: Peer support for housing challenges: Experiences of parents in low-income families in Norway. Nordisk välfärdsforskning/Nordic Welfare Research. To be published autumn 2022.

 

Peer support brings together people with similar concerns and/or experiences, enabling them to explore solutions together and empowering them. In a Norwegian municipal intervention and research project, parents from low-income families participated in a peer support program in order to solve their housing challenges. The aim of the research part of the project was to document how parents in low-income families experience participation in a peer support program that focused on their housing situation as a crucial aspect of their lives. The research approach involved participant observation, a focus group interview, and in-depth personal interviews. The findings describe how participants changed from social isolation to shared experiences of reciprocity and mutuality; and from powerlessness to developing personal strength. They started to act more assertively in everyday life, and they met social service workers with a new mentality. The discussion focuses on how participation in peer support groups may strengthen participants’ development towards being more empowered citizens. It also addresses the relevance of peer support groups for persons using social services and concludes that peer support groups may be a supplementary way to solve challenges of limited resources in the municipal social housing sector.

 

Read the article here: https://www.idunn.no/doi/10.18261/nwr.7.2.2

 

 

 

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