Målfrid Grude Flekkøy
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Målfrid Grude Flekkøy (née Skard) (29 November 1936 – 2 November 2013) was a Norwegian chief psychologist and civil servant. Having worked for several years in different health and educational institutions for children she was appointed as Children's Commissioner in Norway from 1981 to 1989, the first person in the world to hold such a position. She established and developed the role, and after eight years (two terms) the UN Organization for Children
UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to ...
engaged her to assist in spreading the institution to other countries. Målfrid Grude Flekkøy travelled extensively, participated in professional organizations and wrote books and articles on children's rights. At her death in 2013, more the 80 children's commissioners had been set up around the world.


Personal life

Målfrid Grude Skard was born in
Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...
as a daughter of professor Sigmund Skard (1903–1995) and one of the best-known child psychologists in Norway Åse Gruda Skard (1905–1985). She was a sister of Anne, Åsmund and
Halvdan Skard Halvdan Skard (born 1 December 1939) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He was born in Oslo as a son of Åse Gruda Skard and Sigmund Skard, and through Åse the grandson of Halvdan Koht and Karen Grude Koht. He has two sisters Toril ...
and twin sister of Torild Skard Through her mother, she was a granddaughter of historian and minister of foreign affairs
Halvdan Koht Halvdan Koht (7 July 1873 – 12 December 1965) was a Norwegian historian and politician representing the Labour Party. Born in the north of Norway to a fairly distinguished family, he soon became interested in politics and history. Star ...
and women's activist Karen Grude Koht, and through her father she was a granddaughter of superintendent of schools Matias Skard and teacher Gyda Benedikte (born Christensen) and niece of Torfinn, Bjarne, Eiliv, Olav, Vemund and Gunhild Skard and Målfrid Birkeland. She was also a niece of Paul Koht. From 1962 to 1981, she was married to psychologist Kjell Magne Flekkøy (born 1939) and had three children: Eirik, Kjetil and Ingunn. From 1983 to 1995, she had her second marriage to Truls Wilhelm Gedde-Dahl (born 1930).


Career

Målfrid Grude Flekkøy grew up in Norway and USA. When German troops attacked Norway in 1940, the family fled to the US. In 1945 they moved back to Norway and Målfrid finished secondary school at Stabekk near Oslo in 1956. She then took education as a preschool teacher in Århus, Denmark. She took the cand.psychol. degree at the
University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...
in 1967 and became a specialist in clinical psychology in 1973. In 1991 she took the doctor's degree at the
University of Ghent Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the ...
, Belgium. From 1959 to 1960, she was a kindergarten teacher in Oslo. Then she worked as a psychologist at the Emma Hjorth home for mentally handicapped children in 1968-69 and at the Nic Waal child psychiatric institute in the Oslo area in 1969-72. She went to the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Hospital in the US in 1972-73. From 1973 to 1976, she was employed at the child psychiatric ward at the Ullevål hospital in Oslo. From 1976 to 1979, she was a chief psychologist at the health care for mentally handicapped in Akershus, near Oslo, and, from 1979 to 1981, educational and psychological counsellor for pre-school children in the municipality of Bærum, near Oslo. From 1991, she worked as a chief psychologist at the Nic Waal institute until she retired in 2005, only interrupted in 1997 by a trip to the US, where she was a visiting fellow at the Institute for Families in Society at the University of South Carolina. Here she wrote the book "The participation rights of children" together with Natalie H. Kaufman. She was an active leader in the YWCA scouts and a member of the board of SOS Children's Villages in Norway. She was engaged in local politics in 1971-83 and 2007–13, mostly in
Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...
, near Oslo, representing the Labour Party.


Children's Commissioner

From 1981 to 1989, Flekkøy was the Children's Commissioner in Norway; the first commissioner of its kind in the world. She developed a new role based on hard work and professional thoroughness and rooted it both in politics and the children. She contributed to the expansion of research on children in Norway and pioneered the efforts to obtain a total ban on physical punishment, which was adopted in 1987. Many countries followed the example of the Nordic in this area. Afterwards she became a Senior Fellow at
UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to ...
's International Child Development Center in Florence, Italy, to promote the concept of children's commissioner worldwide. She traveled internationally and assisted among others Costa Rica in establishing the commissioner institution. In addition she wrote books and articles, among others "Working for the Rights of Children" (UNICEF, Florence, 1990) and her doctor's thesis, "A Voice for Children" (UNICEF, London, Kingsley, 1991), which she dedicated to her mother. At her death in 2013 the Norwegian government thanked Flekkøy for her efforts for children and youth both in Norway and abroad, the Norwegian Commissioner for Equality, Sunniva Ørstavik, proposed that a parade street in Oslo should be named after Flekkøy, and UNICEF noted that Målfrid Grude Flekkøy had been an example and an advocate for children's rights worldwide. From 1964 to 1971, Flekkøy was secretary and acting secretary general for the World Organization for Early Childhood Education and Care (OMEP). In 1986-89, she was secretary general for the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP). In 1992 she became Vice President Europe in Defence Children International and collaborator in the International Journal of Children's Rights and, in 1998, President of the Children's Rights Publications Foundation in the Netherlands. In 2006 she was designated honorary member of OMEP for her efforts Philip Veerman and Målfrid Grude Flekkøy: "Editorial", ''The International Journal of Children's Rights'', 6: v-vi, 1998, and "Honorary Members", worldomep.org


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flekkoy, Malfrid Grude 1936 births 2013 deaths Children's Ombudsmen in Norway University of Oslo alumni Norwegian psychologists Directors of government agencies of Norway Ombudsmen in Norway Bærum politicians Politicians from Oslo Labour Party (Norway) politicians Norwegian twins