Why a Course on the Millennium Development Goals?

3.9.2014

by Dr. Mikko Perkiö, University Instructor

Why course on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)? As the teacher of the course I name here four reasons.
1) The course links to the mission of the University of Tampere (UTA) that promises to educate “visionaries who understand the world and change it”. The course will discuss the global development, but also importantly participants learn the tools and media on how to make the changes happen! Every week students will lead an interview session with our visiting experts. Beside this, other students will update this blog on the world’s social development weekly.
2) The United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is the major global health and well-being agenda. It hits to the core of the UTA focus which is health and well-being.
3) At the course brings diverse voices to the stage: top-politicians, civil servants, NGO leaders, business leaders in addition to the wide range of researchers. This shows to students that we can enhance global social development through various positions.
4) World is evermore interconnected. Economic or social development cannot be fostered without observing environmental ‘footprint’ of the actions. This course will make us think if global solidary and sharing global wealth are an adequate ways of thought. But sometimes pointing resourses to poor countries, like now to West-Africa for Ebola virus, is a selfish must for rich countries. As the teacher I promise that the course will enlarge our intellectual capacity to face the multifaceted development questions of today and tomorrow.

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Author

Mikko Perkiö

yliopistonlehtori
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta
Tampereen yliopisto
+358503186183
mikko.perkio@tuni.fi

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About me

Dr Mikko Perkiö works as university lecturer and is responsible for the new BA programme on Socially Sustainable Societies. His research interests in social sustainability include various designs on social security, intersectoral wellbeing, platform work, and the informal sector. He co-supervises two PhDs within these thematic (one by Dr. Jairous Miti was defended in May 2024). Dr Perkiö completed as PI the ORIFODY (Occupational Risks of Food Delivery) project which analyzed the perceived risks of food delivery work conducted as platform work (Wolt and Foodora) contrasted with similar activities in salaried or entrepreneurial work within grocery and transportation sectors. See the end report (pdf) of the project, which also published a practical Guidebook for safer and more secure food courier work. The project was funded by The Finnish Work Environment Fund (Työsuojelurahasto).

The exploration of the platform workers' health and safety situation across Europe continues in GIG-OSH consortium led by Karolinska Institute (Dr Lauri Kokkinen as Tampere University PI), where Perkiö participates as a senior expert.

Dr Perkiö’s prior engagement to platform work was the Academy of Finland-funded research project (Prof Meri Koivusalo as the PI) on Uberisation influencing working conditions. RRR Uber project provides comparative analyses between three cities: Helsinki, London, and St Petersburg. The RRR; Rights, regulation, and redistribution applies as the analytical framework. The results are in print.

Dr. Perkiö teaches courses on Social Sustainability and Finnish Culture and Society, in addition to the method studies for BA/MA students in social science. He operates as an adviser at SAFINET, Southern African and Finnish Higher Education Institutions' Network for Health and Well-Being. The network brings together over 130 scholars across Finland's universities aiming to connect them better with Southern colleagues. Dr. Perkiö leads the TFK-funded educational South-North partnership on Young Lives and Inclusion. The project partners with the University of Johannesburg.

See publications

Recent scholarly publications:

Koivusalo, M., Svynarenko, A., Mbare, B., & Perkiö, M. (2024). Disruptive (dis) engagement: platformisation as a global social policy. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11(1), 1-13.

Koivusalo, M., Svynarenko, A., Mbare, B., & Perkiö, M. (2024). Globalization, platform work, and wellbeing—a comparative study of Uber drivers in three cities: London, Helsinki, and St Petersburg. Globalization and Health, 20(1), 18.

Miti, J. J., Perkiö, M., Metteri, A., & Atkins, S. (2023, September). Implementing a Public Policy to Extend Social Security to Informal Economy Workers in Zambia. In Forum for Development Studies (Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 425-443). Routledge.

Perkiö, M. (2021) How Does Women’s Education Influence Infant Survival? A Structural Equation Model Using Aggregate Data from 95 Low- and Middle-Income Countries. International Journal of Educational Development.

Näsi, Ella, Perkiö, Mikko, Kokkinen, Lauri. (2021) The Complexity of Decreased Work Ability: Individuals' Perceptions of Factors That Affect Returning to Work after Sickness Absence. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Dec 23;19(1):113. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19010113.

Miti, J., Perkiö, M., Metteri, A., & Atkins, S. (2021). Pension coverage extension as social innovation in Zambia: Informal economy workers’ perceptions and needs. International Social Security Review.

Miti, J. J., Perkiö, M., Metteri, A., & Atkins, S. (2020). Factors associated with willingness to pay for health insurance and pension scheme among informal economy workers in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL ECONOMICS.

Santalahti, Maija; Sumit, Kumar; Perkiö, Mikko. (2020). Barriers to accessing health care services: a qualitative study of migrant construction workers in a southwestern Indian city. BMC Health Services Research 20 (1), 619.

Evashwick, C; Tao, D; Perkiö, M; Grivna, M; Harrison, R. (2019). A scoping review of studies evaluating the education of health professional students about public health. Public Health 178 (January 2020), 105-111.

Pulkki, Jutta; Perkiö, Mikko; Kokkinen, Lauri. (2019). Kansanterveys ja ekologinen kuorma. Sosiaalilääketieteellinen Aikaka uslehti 56 (4), 291-305.

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Miti, J., Perkiö, M., Metteri, A., & Atkins, S. (2021). The Informal Sector and Social Protection. 26 p. In E. Schüring & M. Loewe (Eds.) The Handbook on Social Protection Systems. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Miti, J., Perkiö, M., Metteri, A., & Atkins, S. (2021). Extension of the Contributory Pension Scheme for Small Scale Farmers. 15 p. In E. Schüring & M. Loewe (Eds.) The Handbook on Social Prot ection Systems. Elgar Publishing.

Koivu, Annariina: Phan, Yen T. H; Näsi, Ella; Abuhamed, Jad; Perry, Brittany L., Atkins, Salla; Perkiö, Mikko ja Koivusalo, Meri. (2020). The babybox. Enhancing the wellbeing of babies and mothers all over the world. Kelan tutkimusjulkaisut.

Popularized articles:

Perkiö, Mikko; Svynarenko, Arseniy; Mbare, Benta; Savi, Victor. (2020). COVID-19 & Delivery Workers : Health Risks and Essential Help in the Same Package. Alusta 19.5.2020.

Svynarenko, Arseniy; Perkiö, Mikko. (2020). Taxi Platforms Respond to COVID-19. Alusta 2.4.2020.

Koivunen, Tuija; Jonker-Hoffrén, Paul; Järvensivu, Anu; Leinonen, Minna; Haapakorpi, Arja; Perkiö, Mikko. (2020). Itsensätyöllistäjät ovat väliinputoajia myös koronakriisin hoidossa. Politiikasta 19.5.2020.

Research news on the Public health and ecological burden paper (uutinen suomeksi):

Videokeskustelu: Seurannassa Korona ja Yhteiskunta: Alustatalous – korona-arjen pelastaja ja riski 17.9.2020