Why should Norwegian researchers in health- and social studies look to Brazil?

In the last months, as I have started my PhD focusing on social work in Brazil, I have more frequently been challenged to answer the above question. Well, to be honest I would rather turn the question around. Why should we not look outside Norway and in particular to Brazil?

First of all I believe that Norwegian researchers within the health- and social sciences will benefit from studying the professional practices of health- and social services outside the Scandinavian social, cultural, political and economic context. In the process of increasing international and intercultural interaction in general, the meanings and pre-established and shared understanding of norms, values and morale are challenged.

On one side we are more frequently meeting people in our societies that view e.g. relationships between the public and the private, between welfare systems and family and different sets of moral universes that are different from the basis of our own juridical and political systems. Understanding these differences (and also maybe reflect slightly on whether we really are as uniform as we like to present ourselves) might lead to better knowledge about the successes and shortcomings of our own health- and social services.

On the other hand, Norway has during the last decades expanded its international activities. Social workers are participating in international programs and we find ourselves conducting health- and social work in societies quite different from our own. In doing this, we need to be aware that we bring with us knowledge, principles and values that are to a large degree developed in our specific social, cultural, economic and political context. This knowledge meets other kinds of knowledge in international health- and social work. Through research, we may make explicit the traditions and values that are inherent in the way we conduct health- and social work, and who knows- maybe we discover better ways of conducting our profession also in Norway?

So why is Brazil in particular interesting?

Brazil has in the last decade risen to become the 6th largest economy of the world and is becoming more and more dominant in international interaction.  It is definitely putting to shame the classical phrase of the French president Charles de Gaulle: Le Brésil n’est pas um pays sérieux (Brazil is not a serious country), and I find it safe to say that the Brazil we are now witnessing, is in economic terms nothing like the Brazils of the past.

So, Brazil is becoming a major actor on the international scene with a growing worldwide influence. But if we look to the public health- and social services in Brazil, there is an enormous gap between the realities in this sector in Norway and Brazil. With high differences in relative spending on health- and social services per capita in the two nations, one is inclined to conclude that Brazil has a lot to learn from Norway. And indeed, there is a lot to support such a stance. However, I fear that one might run the risk of missing important aspects by declaring such a position in the perspective on the relationship between Norway and Brazil.

Brazil has for the last 30-40 years developed their Sanatarian Reform, leading to the constitution of 1988 guaranteeing civic rights related to health and social security. From this they have developed organizational frameworks like the Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde- SUS) and the Unified Social Services (Sistema Único de Assistencia Social- SUAS) and several large scale social programs like the Family Grant (Bolsa da Familia) and the Family Health Program (Programa de Saúde da Família). In this, the Brazilian state has over the decades been developing ambitions to establish a welfare system that in it’s values is recognizable to the principles of the Norwegian welfare system.

We may learn from Brazil in two manners. Firstly, it is the obvious potential of learning from their experiences in multi professional practice. In programs like the Family Health Program, they are working with community health in multi professional teams quite different from experiences in Norway. This could benefit our own knowledge about preventive initiatives and community health in Norway. Secondly, as Norwegian businesses are intensifying their involvement in Brazil, they will also be participating in Corporate Social Responsibility projects of different kinds. By participating in this with our professional competence and being sensitive to the cultural, social, bureaucratic, organizational, economic and/or political foundations of Brazil, we might contribute, if not to success, at least to avoid negative and destructive influences in social engagement.

So- Brazil is important. We need professional reflection and research to be able to learn from this emerging and developing relationship between our two nations, and to be able to influence this process in positive ways. Therefore, we should be interested not only in international research, but in particular international research related to Brazil.