PERFORM – Performing and Responsive Social Sciences

Cooperation and Development Institute has been the PERFORM National Coordination Unit in Albania for the indicated period. PERFORM is a regional project covering Albania and Serbia, and is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation and the University of Fribourg.

PERFORM project focuses its interventions on three outcome areas:

1. Strengthening of the social science community by facilitating the development of stronger organizational structures within the social sciences. Such structure should contribute to knowledge-sharing and improvement of research quality and voice of the community.
2. Developing systemic linkages between social science research and policy-making, civil society, media and private sector. Through pilot interventions, PERFORM facilitates the evolvement of mechanisms and structures, but also trust and confidence that will support the link between social science research with policy-making and other domains of society.
3. Framework conditions and financing mechanisms for social science research. These conditions include modalities of research funding and performance assessment, which will contribute to achieving relevance and excellence of social science research.

The overarching goal of PERFORM is a strong, confident and publicly positioned social science research community that meaningfully contributes to socio-economic and political reform processes. Outcomes of PERFORM are:

Outcome 1: Strengthened social science community

This component aims to improve horizontal structures and cooperation within the social science community as well as to enhance capacities of research.

Outcome 2: Systemic linkages to political reform processes, civil society organizations, private sector and media

Component 2 focuses on facilitating the development of mechanisms and systems for the collaboration between social science and other domains of society.

Outcome 3: Favorable framework conditions and financial mechanisms

PERFORM will work with the respective government institutions to facilitate and contribute to improved conditions in the overall framework for social science and research.