Broad-based Partnerships Research Articles

The Evolution of Indian Foreign Policy Towards Europe

This article traces the development of Europe–India ties through history, highlighting periods which laid down the fundamental structure of the partnership until the present day where the challenges presented by China’s rise and a search for the diversification of partnerships have driven Europe and India closer. The article looks at where Europe, particularly the EU, sits in India’s broader foreign policy and argues that while Europe and India are still not fully aligned on all issues—particularly the extent of threats posed by China—there is finally enough convergence for the actors to build a broad-based partnership beyond just trade and commerce.

A framework to harness effective partnerships for the sustainable development goals

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) offer a broad, holistic framework of interdependent economic, social, and environmental objectives to enable integrated and collaborative approaches to their implementation. A key obstacle for operationalizing such an approach is knowing the right actors to engage on specific challenges. It is acknowledged that linkages across sectors, scales, and actors could provide an evidence base to assess and forge participation in multistakeholder partnerships for implementation. However, technical tools that could help to identify relevant actors and discussions of institutional arrangements to bring these actors on board are notably lacking in the extant literature. To support an evidence-based and systematic approach to coalition building that accounts for synergies and trade-offs across goals and targets, this paper proposes broad-based partnerships and a framework that lead actors can use to help harness collaborative SDG implementation: (1) define the partnership’s scope, (2) identify the main interlinkages, (3) assign responsibilities, (4) select the best available indicators, (5) assess the challenges, and (6) forge a broad-based partnership. After describing key decisions at each step, the article discusses applications of the proposed analytic partnership-building framework to problems that warrant the approach at global, regional, and national levels covering issues such as policy coordination across line ministries, global partnerships for SDG13 implementation in SIDS, energy compacts for SDG7 implementation, and integrated multilateral responses to crises.

Improving Immunization and Health Literacy Through a Community-Based Approach.

This report illustrates the importance of capacity-building to advance immunization literacy through a community-based participatory research (CPBR) approach to decrease child health immunization disparities. The research project utilizes culturally-tailored immunization and technology literacy modalities for dissemination in targeted low-income neighborhoods. The results suggest successful outcomes are dependent upon contributions and engagement of community members in all project processes, ensuring community buy-in and cultural relevance. The latter approach is time-intensive due in part to the need to build broad-based community partnerships, which can result in a promising approach to foster broader population impact.

The Changing Dynamics and New Developments of China–Pakistan Relations

The China–Pakistan relation has historical underpinning. By establishing diplomatic relations in 1951, each passing decade has witnessed that China–Pakistan relations coalesce into a dependable friendship. This relationship has gone beyond the usual diplomatic and political comfortability transcending to a broad-based framework incorporating economics, trade and defence dimensions. In the given context, this paper is an empirical study aiming to examine the historical process in the gradual culmination of China–Pakistan relations into a broad-based partnership. It further evaluates the present nature of relationship between the two countries and the prospects it holds in the wake of changing world scenario. By primarily focusing on the secondary sources of data and interviewing key people from the decision-making circles, this paper argues that the China–Pakistan relation is deep-rooted in the history and the on-going collaboration between China and Pakistan in defence and economy is the natural evolution of their mutual ties.

Community Schools: New Perspectives on the Wraparound Approach

An increasing number of children and youth have mental health disorders. To address this issue, federal and provincial mental health policymakers in Canada have recommended: (a) improving the coordination of services, and (b) increasing the role that schools play in providing supports. One way to operationalize these recommendations is to implement the wraparound approach in the context of a full-service community school. This qualitative, multiple-case study of three community schools in Manitoba, Canada, explores the experiences of stakeholders in community schools as they relate to support for children and youth with mental health disorders and their families. The findings indicate that community schools engage in practices that align with the 10 guiding principles of wraparound. Given the broad-based partnerships in community schools and their focus on collaborative action, they hold promise as sites with the potential to lead the implementation of the wraparound approach.

Building Up Alliances and Breaking Down the State Monopoly: The Rise of Non-Governmental Disaster Relief in China

AbstractThis paper explores the emergence of a highly networked and capable non-governmental organization (NGO) community in disaster relief in China. It provides a review of the growth of non-governmental actors in the relief field since the 2000s and examines the most important platforms and networks in the field, focusing on their strategies of maintaining a broad-based partnership, developing their own capacity, and enhancing overall inter-organizational connectivity. With an in-depth look at a successful joint non-governmental relief operation in Lushan in 2013, the paper also explicates how NGOs can break the state monopoly over disaster information management, public donations and relief operations. This research finds that during crisis times, non-governmental actors carry out relief missions effectively in parallel with state agencies. The rise of non-governmental disaster relief sheds light on one of many trajectories of civil society development in China where social autonomy is earned by innovation, public support and improved capacity.

The Rise of Non-Governmental Disaster Relief in China

This paper explores the emergence of a highly networked and capable non-governmental organization (NGO) community in disaster relief in China. It provides a review of the growth of non-governmental actors in the relief field since the 2000s, and examines the most important platforms and networks in the field, focusing on their strategies of maintaining a broad-based partnership, developing self-capacity, and enhancing the overall interorganizational connectivity. With an in-depth look at one of the most successful joint nongovernmental relief operations in Lushan in 2013, the paper also explicates how NGOs can break down state monopoly over disaster information management, public donation and relief operation. This research finds that during crisis times, non-governmental actors carry out relief missions effectively in parallel with state agencies. The rise of non-governmental disaster relief sheds light on one of many trajectories of civil society development in China where social autonomy is earned by innovation, public support and improved self-capacity.

Public Health Action Model for Cancer Survivorship.

Long-term objectives associated with cancer survivors have been suggested by Healthy People 2020, including increasing the proportion of survivors living beyond 5 years after diagnosis and improving survivors’ mental and physical health-related quality of life. Prior to reaching these objectives, several intermediate steps must be taken to improve the physical, social, emotional, and financial well-being of cancer survivors. Public health has a role in developing strategic, actionable, and measurable approaches to facilitate change at multiple levels to improve the lives of survivors and their families. The social ecological model has been used by the public health community as the foundation of multilevel intervention design and implementation, encouraging researchers and practitioners to explore methods that promote internal and external changes at the individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and policy levels. The survivorship community, including public health professionals, providers, policymakers, survivors, advocates, and caregivers, must work collaboratively to identify, develop, and implement interventions that benefit cancer survivors. The National Action Plan for Cancer Survivorship highlights public health domains and associated strategies that can be the impetus for collaboration between and among the levels in the social ecological model and are integral to improving survivor outcomes. This paper describes the Public Health Action Model for Cancer Survivorship, an integrative framework that combines the National Action Plan for Cancer Survivorship with the social ecological model to demonstrate how interaction among the various levels may promote better outcomes for survivors.

Migrations entre l’Afrique et l’Europe (MAFE) : Comprendre les migrations au-delà de l’immigration

The fact that immigration is just one component of international migration might appear self-evident. Demographers know well that migration flows operate in more than one direction, and that they are reversible. Indeed, this is what makes the study of migration so complex. Yet the most commonly available data are those produced in destination countries, so research tends to focus on immigration rather than emigration. With statistical production limited to the data collected by immigrant receiving countries at their national borders, immigrants' subsequent movements - be they returns to the country of origin or onward migration to a new destination - have received little or no attention. In most cases, they are simply not measured. In fact, very few countries record departures from their territory (emigration flows), and the dispersion of their emigrants (expatriate nationals or departed immigrants) makes the counting of emigrant stocks difficult to say the least.(1) The fact that sources and statistical studies focus so strongly on migration within nation-states has been conceptualized as a form of methodological nationalism (Beauchemin, 2014; Wimmer and Glick Schiller, 2003). This has a knock-on effect on attitudes to international migration, contributing to the general perception that immigration is a one-way process, and that newcomers' sole intention is to settle permanently in the host country. Graeme Hugo denounces what he calls settlement bias in the perception of migration, which consists in neglecting its reversibility (Hugo, 2014).The MAFE project took shape in the mid-2000s, at a time when European public debate was preoccupied by fears of an African invasion (de Haas, 2008 ; Lessault and Beauchemin, 2009). Its initial ambition was to go beyond a one-sided approach to international migration, to study not only migration from Africa to Europe, but above all migration between Africa and Europe. Defined in this way, the project appears truly vast in scope. In fact, it is limited to the study of international migration by people from three countries: Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal. And while emigrants from these countries head for wide-ranging destinations, the project focuses above all on Europe.The aim of studying migration between Africa and Europe more generally, rather than focusing in immigration, called for a multi-sited approach to international migration, and for the collection of new data at both origin and destination. Following the example of comparable surveys conducted elsewhere in the world, notably in North America and Latin America,(2) a large-scale survey was designed by the French Institute for Demographic Studies (INED) in collaboration with partners in Europe and Africa. A wide range of institutions on both continents are involved:* in Belgium, the Universite catholique de Louvain (B. Schoumaker),* in Spain, the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (P. Baizan) and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (A. Gonzalez-Ferrer),* in France, French Institute for Demographic Studies (INED) (C. Beauchemin),* in Ghana, the University of Ghana (P. Quartey),* in the United Kingdom, the University of Sussex (R. Black),* in Italy, the Forum Internazionale ed Europeo di Ricerche sull'Immigrazione (E. Castagnone),* in the Netherlands, Maastricht University (V. Mazzucato),* in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the University of Kinshasa ( J. Mangalu),* and in Senegal, the Universite Cheikh Anta Diop (P. Sakho).Thanks to this broad-based partnership, the same survey protocol could be applied in all the countries involved. The MAFE project thus disposes of data that are comparable (identical questionnaires were used in the various countries), longitudinal (retrospective), and multi-level (data collected from individuals and households are associated with contextual, social, economic and political data at national level). …

Outsourcing a partnership? Assessing ACP–EU cooperation under the Cotonou Partnership Agreement

Since 2000 the cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states has been governed through the Cotonou Partnership Agreement. This article complements existing research that focuses on Brussels-based stakeholders with an analysis drawing on the existing literature and on stakeholders' perceptions of ACP–EU cooperation and ACP institutions gathered via interviews in nine ACP countries. The findings presented observe a social disconnect between, on the one hand, the Cotonou Partnership Agreement's institutions and Brussels-based representatives, and, on the other hand, the broad-based and multistakeholder partnership they are tasked to promote. The article points to low levels of support in ACP countries, particularly in Africa, to continued ACP–EU cooperation in its present form, and stresses the need for an open and participatory process of reviewing and reshaping ACP–EU relations.

Performance Evaluation Of Women Co-Operative Societies In Rural South-East Nigeria

The challenge of disenfranchisement of women by the formal financial system due largely to the undue disadvantages brought on them by socio-cultural and economic institutions in Nigeria is symptomatic of deep rooted structural inequalities. Given such limitations, rural women organize themselves to form co- operatives which are peculiar to their own needs. This study was aimed at evaluating the performance of women co-operative societies based on key indicators- amount of credit disbursed, amount of savings generated and number of clients reached. The study also examined the mode of operation and sustainability of these informal institutions. The data used in this study was collected by means of questionnaire and focus group discussions. A total of 36 randomly selected women co-operatives across the three major agricultural zones in the study area formed the sampled population. The results revealed that factors such as the experience of managers, volume of credit from donor agencies and amount of savings mobilized from members exert a positive influence on the amount of credit disbursed and the number of clients reached while the level of formal education was observed to have no effect on the operations of the co-operatives. The outcome of the focus group discussions revealed that the co-operatives are formed based on the philosophy of mutual interest, self-help through cooperation, and mutual benefit. Based on the findings, the study recommends that a broad-based partnership in which government agencies joins with NGOs and the cooperatives in providing micro-credit and other financial services especially for women be pursued.

Spatial Education: Improving Conservation Delivery Through Space-Structured Decision Making

AbstractAdaptive management is a form of structured decision making designed to guide management of natural resource systems when their behaviors are uncertain. Where decision making can be replicated across units of a landscape, learning can be accelerated, and biological processes can be understood in a larger spatial context. Broad-based partnerships among land management agencies, exemplified by Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (conservation partnerships created through the U.S. Department of the Interior), are potentially ideal environments for implementing spatially structured adaptive management programs.

Understanding and addressing barriers to implementation of environmental and policy interventions to support physical activity and healthy eating in rural communities.

Rural residents are at greater risk of obesity than urban and suburban residents. Failure to meet physical activity and healthy eating recommendations play a role. Emerging evidence shows the effectiveness of environmental and policy interventions to promote physical activity and healthy eating. Yet most of the evidence comes from urban and suburban communities. The objectives of this study were to (1) identify types of environmental and policy interventions being implemented in rural communities to promote physical activity or healthy eating, (2) identify barriers to the implementation of environmental or policy interventions, and (3) identify strategies rural communities have employed to overcome these barriers. Key informant interviews with public health professionals working in rural areas in the United States were conducted in 2010. A purposive sample included 15 practitioners engaged in planning, implementing, or evaluating environmental or policy interventions to promote physical activity or healthy eating. Our findings reveal that barriers in rural communities include cultural differences, population size, limited human capital, and difficulty demonstrating the connection between social and economic policy and health outcomes. Key informants identified a number of strategies to overcome these barriers such as developing broad-based partnerships and building on the existing infrastructure. Recent evidence suggests that environmental and policy interventions have potential to promote physical activity and healthy eating at the population level. To realize positive outcomes, it is important to provide opportunities to implement these types of interventions and document their effectiveness in rural communities.

Abstract B3: The utilization of volunteer community health advisors as research partners to reduce cancer health disparities in African American communities

Abstract The Deep South Network for Cancer Control (DSN), a multistate partnership comprised of academic and community partners used community-based participatory approaches to recruit and train volunteer Community Health Advisors trained as Research Partners (CHARPs) to develop a community action plan to address cancer and other health disparities among African Americans. DSN is 1 of 25 NCI Community Network Programs funded to further reduce cancer health disparities through community-based participatory education, training, and research among racial/ethnic minorities and underserved populations. This presentation discusses the utilization of the Community Health Advisors model for cancer prevention and control; illustrate capacity building of underserved minorities members; and development and implementation of a Community Action Plan (CAP) to improve cancer screening. Also, the presentation illustrates CBPR applied to develop a multi-level (CAP) focusing on individuals, organizational systems, and agents of change to reduce cancer health disparities between African American and white women in targeted counties in Alabama and Mississippi. Principles derived from Community-Based Participatory Approach (CBPA), the Empowerment Model, and the Community Health Advisor Model, were used as guiding frameworks to develop a multilevel CAP in this network. Using a community based participatory approach, Discussion Groups were held in each of the targeted communities comprised of CHARPS, health care providers, educators, members from the faith community and others to assess the assets and needs of the community regarding health and cancer disparities. The Empowerment Model was our conceptual framework; it provided a map for recruiting and maintaining a broad-based partnership of community volunteers, leaders, and other partners who played an instrumental role in the development and implementation of the CAP. Building on DSN's previous community experience, we continued to use the Community Health Advisor (CHA) model as it builds on the strengths of a community by enlisting the assistance of natural helpers. Summary: More than 550 volunteer CHARPs and 250 local Community Network Partners were recruited and trained to assist with the development and implementation of a CAP aimed to address cancer health disparities in African American communities in the Deep South. Working Groups were developed based on 4 major themes from the Discussion Groups that selected 4 major interventions for cancer disparities in the African American communities: 1) nutrition, 2) physical activity, 3) community cancer awareness education for breast, cervix and colorectal cancer; and 4) advocacy/heath policy. Publications are being written regarding the process and outcomes of a CBPRA to developing and implementing a CAP for cancer disparities. Conclusion: the development of a community-academic partnership as an effective means by which to address cancer burden in disparate African American communities. The development of a multi-level CAP demonstrates the ability of the community and academic partners’ ability to work together as “equal partners” addressing health disparities. Citation Information: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2010;19(10 Suppl):B3.

An academic-community outreach partnership: building relationships and capacity to address childhood lead poisoning.

Although academic institutions are rich resources for improving public health, academic partnerships with community organizations can be challenging. We describe a successful academic-community partnership composed of the Dartmouth Toxic Metals Research Program, the Manchester (New Hampshire) Health Department, and the Greater Manchester Partners Against Lead Poisoning (GMPALP). Partners collaborated to translate science and best practices into social action and policy change to address childhood lead poisoning. Using the evolution of a childhood lead poisoning prevention initiative, we discuss how an academic-community relationship can be created and sustained. Our experience demonstrates that broad-based partnerships are enhanced by the attributes of community-based participatory research (CBPR). We observe that engaging in community collaborations that are not driven by research eliminates potential conflicts for academic and community partners. We identify four core values, namely, (1) adaptability, (2) consistency, (3) shared authority, and (4) trust, as being constructive when working in such partnerships.

Community Health Ambassadors

Despite public health efforts to address burden of diseases within communities such as diabetes, health disparities remain. Traditional lay health advisor models help address these issues. Yet, few, if any, have a statewide focus that includes education credit and involves broad-based partnerships. The Community Health Ambassadors Program (CHAP) is a training and education demonstration program designed to engage leaders from diverse communities to help eliminate health disparities in North Carolina. The program's current focus is on improving diabetes awareness, management, and prevention. CHAP involves multiple state and local community and healthcare professional partnerships, the community college system, and tribal, community-, and faith-based organizations. CHAP components include recruitment, training (classroom and interactive instruction, fieldwork, and continuing education credits), monitoring/evaluation, and support/education. Since CHAP's inception in June 2006, 146 community health ambassadors (CHAs) from 17 counties have been trained. Preliminary evaluation of the CHA community activities include one-on-one diabetes self-management tips, diabetes talks, and recruitment of citizens to sign healthy living pledges. CHAP may be a comprehensive and cost-effective model for promoting multilevel involvement of community leaders and diverse organizations to concentrate on diabetes health disparities within the state. CHAP will be implemented in the future to address the state's other prevailing health problems.

Making the Case

Leveraging funds to sustain the efforts of a grant-funded initiative is often an explicit, or implicit, expectation in philanthropy. However, the magnitude of funds leveraged and the factors that facilitate success in leveraging are rarely researched. An example of one of these grant-funded initiatives is the National Turning Point Initiative. Twenty-one states received funding from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of this initiative to establish and implement strategic goals for achieving significant statewide public health system improvement through diverse, cross-sector partnerships. Leaders from 17 of these 21 states participated in a two-phased study regarding the leveraging of additional funds for their public health infrastructure improvement activities. This article reports on the second phase of the study. In this phase, key informant interviews were conducted to examine how leveraging of resources occurred as part of this large national initiative. Findings indicate that the combination of a comprehensive planning process and a broad-based partnership was crucial in securing resources to expand their efforts. The ability to strategically respond to unexpected events and opportunities also helped states use their plans and partnerships to "make the case" for additional resources to improve their public health infrastructure.

INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC GOODS THROUGH INTEGRATED NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT RESEARCH IN CGIAR PARTNERSHIPS

The CGIAR System conducts research to produce international public goods (IPG) that are of wide applicability, creating a scientific base which speeds and broadens local adaptive development. Integrated natural resources management (INRM) research is sometimes seen to be very location specific and consequently does not lend itself readily to the production of IPGs. In this paper we analyse ways in which strategic approaches to INRM research can have broad international applicability and serve as useful foundations for the development of locally adapted technologies. The paper describes the evolution of the IPG concept within the CGIAR and elaborates on five major types of IPGs that have been generated from a varied set of recent INRM research efforts. CGIAR networks have both strengths and weaknesses in INRM research and application, with enormous differences in relative research and development capacities, responsibilities and data access of its partners, making programme process evolution critical to acceptance and participation. Many of the lessons learnt regarding challenges and corresponding IPG research approaches are relevant to designing and managing future multi-scale, multi-locational, co-ordinated INRM programmes involving broad-based partnerships to address complex environmental and livelihood problems for development.

Space technology, sustainable development and community applications: Internet as a facilitator

Among other approaches, space technologies are currently being deployed for disaster management, environmental monitoring, urban planning, health applications, communications, etc. Although space-based applications have tremendous potential for socioeconomic development, they are primarily technology driven and the requirements from the end-users (i.e. the development community) are rarely taken into consideration during the initial development stages. This communication gap between the “space” and “development” communities can be bridged with the help of the web-based knowledge sharing portal focused on space applications for development. This online community uses the development gateway foundation's sophisticated content management system. It is modeled after the development gateway's knowledge sharing portals ( http://topics.developmentgateway.org) and draws from their expertise in knowledge management, partnership building and marketing. These types of portal are known to facilitate broad-based partnerships across sectors, regions and the various stakeholders but also to facilitate North–South and South–South cooperation. This paper describes the initiative “Space for Development” ( http://topics.developmentgateway.org/space) started in 2004 which aims to demonstrate how such a web-based portal can be structured to facilitate knowledge sharing in order to bridge the gap between the “space” and “development” communities in an innovative and global manner.

Woman-Centred Safe Abortion Care in Africa

Unsafe abortion in Africa affects not only women, but also their children, families and communities To counter this extremely costly yet easily preventable problem, African nations must ensure that health systems are trained and equipped to help prevent unwanted pregnancy, to treat women in emergency situations, and to make safe abortion services available to the full extent of the law. One critical component of this process is comprehensive woman-centred care, an approach that emphasises access, choice and quality of services. This article examines this and the obstacles to safe abortion care, as well as how they can be overcome through broad-based partnerships.