Community Buy-in Research Articles

Governing community relocation after major disasters: An analysis of three different approaches and its outcomes in Asia

Over the past decade, post-disaster recovery efforts have increasingly aimed to relocate communities, with the idea that well-designed plans and implementation will lead to increased resilience. While the rationale has been that relocating away from hazards will reduce the risk of future devastation, in practice relocation has long been the least favored policy option. Communities targeted for relocation are often disadvantaged to begin with, and relocation disturbs their social networks and economic well-being, pushing them further into destitution. In light of this, it is important to understand good relocation governance, particularly ways in which local governments carry out relocation with local actors, and especially considering increasing rates of post-disaster relocation efforts.This paper focuses on three recovery cases – earthquake and tsunamis in Tohoku (Japan), storm surge in Leyte (the Philippines), and volcanic eruption in Yogyakarta (Indonesia) – to examine different governmental approaches to community relocation. Specifically, it explores how program design and governance structure impacts implementation and success of community relocation, and how that effects community engagement and the ultimate outcomes of relocation in a long-term.Cross-comparison analysis of governance suggests six findings. First, housing programs that existed pre-disaster are the most likely mechanisms to be used for community relocation post-disaster, as it is difficult to quickly reconfigure relocation programs. Second, governance structure and stability greatly influence the relocation process, which in turn affects social networks and sentiments of those relocating. Third, the way in which incentives are allocated affect the responsibility of recipients toward relocation actions. Fourth, governments' monitoring of community relocation could influence projects' speed, but not the quality of resettlement outcomes. Fifth, the way governments and communities approach relocation are largely a result of their local culture, thus, considering and adapting the local philosophy increases community buy-in. Lastly, actively involving communities in relocation governance is important for their continued investment in the new sites. In sum, a revised model of governance supporting holistic “life rebuilding”, rather than solely “rehousing”, in the societal system is critical, and stresses the importance of governance structured to center communities within the decision-making process.

Community-Based Conversations about Advance Care Planning for Underserved Populations Using Lay Patient Navigators.

Background: Widespread community engagement in advance care planning (ACP) is needed to overcome barriers to ACP implementation. Objective: Develop, implement, and evaluate a model for community-based ACP in rural populations with low English language fluency and health care access using lay patient navigators. Design: A statewide initiative to improve ACP setting/subjects-trained in a group session approach, bilingual patient navigators facilitated 1-hour English and Spanish ACP sessions discussing concerns about choosing a surrogate decision maker and completing an advance directive (AD). Participants received bilingual informational materials, including Frequently Asked Questions, an AD in English or Spanish, and Goal Setting worksheet. Measurement: Participants completed a program evaluation and 4-item ACP Engagement Survey (ACP-4) postsession. Results: For 18 months, 74 ACP sessions engaged 1034 participants in urban, rural, and frontier areas of the state; 39% were ethnically diverse, 69% female. A nurse or physician co-facilitated 49% of sessions. Forty-seven percent of participants completed an ACP-4 with 29% planning to name a decision maker in the next 6 months and 21% in the next 30 days; 31% were ready to complete an AD in the next 6 months and 22% in the next 30 days. Evaluations showed 98% were satisfied with sessions. Thematic analysis of interviews with facilitators highlighted barriers to delivering an ACP community-based initiative, strategies used to build community buy-in and engagement, and ways success was measured. Conclusion: Patient navigators effectively engaged underserved and ethnically diverse rural populations in community-based settings. This model can be adapted to improve ACP in other underserved populations.

Conceptualizing and measuring sustainability of prevention programs, policies, and practices.

A large knowledge gap exists regarding the measurement of sustainability of evidence-based prevention programs for mental and behavioral health. We interviewed 45 representatives of 10 grantees and 9 program officers within 4 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration prevention grant initiatives to identify experiences with implementation and sustainability barriers and facilitators; what "sustainability" means and what it will take to sustain their programs; and which Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) elements are important for sustainability. Lists of sustainability determinants and outcomes were then compiled from each data set and compared with one another. Analysis of themes from interviews and free lists revealed considerable overlap between sustainability determinants and outcomes. Four sustainability elements were identified by all three data sets (ongoing coalitions, collaborations, and networks and partnerships; infrastructure and capacity to support sustainability; community need for program; and ongoing evaluation of performance and outcomes), and 11 elements were identified by two of three data sets (availability of funding; consistency with organizational culture; evidence of positive outcomes; development of a plan for implementation and sustainment; presence of a champion; institutionalization and integration of program; institutional support and commitment; community buy-in and support; program continuity; supportive leadership; and opportunities for staff training). All but one of the CFIR domain elements (pressure from other states, tribes, or communities) were endorsed as important to sustainability by 50% or more of participants. It may be more important to implement a standardized process of eliciting determinants and outcomes of sustainability than to implement a single standardized instrument.

Building bridges between community, primary healthcare and academia for solidarity in health

Abstract Considering Astana declaration on Primary healthcare (PHC) and universal healthcare coverage UN member countries agreed on committing for PHC development. Kazakhstan prepared legal basis for that during ongoing healthcare system reform. Meanwhile, there is no clear mechanism for integration of sectors to address person and community centeredness for health, which has emerged into a need of rethinking engagement between outpatient clinics and their communities. Local NGO “Community health committee” has led the bottom-up initiative in collaboration with Kazakh National Medical University, Outpatient clinic of Almaty State hospital #5, Medeo district mayor’s office and WHO European Center for PHC for creation of an integrated plan to strengthen diseases prevention and health promotion at the district. Project aims to strengthen people centeredness of PHC at Medeo district, through equal integration of all stakeholders into every step of decision-making using community based participatory research framework. Project includes development of teamwork in PHC teams’ through multi-professional training, development of nurses’ competencies for more autonomous work in community, community capacity building and empowerment. After gaining support from all stakeholders, we organized two interactive seminars with community members and PHC teams in order to assess district health needs and build an action plan. Ownership of community members in decision on priority health problem provided community buy-in, high level of engagement and enthusiasm in designing and implementation of the project activities. Voice from empowered community on priority health needs were accounted by local policymakers and led for creation of action plan on identified needs to be implemented in 2019 -2020. One of the main limits of the community engagement is gaining trust and sustainability of the group, we are mitigating it through involvement of academia as an “umbrella”. Key messages Project will create a model for equal partnership in disease prevention and health promotion in Kazakhstan. Engaging all key stakeholders based on equal partnership creates sustainable outcomes for health and solidarity.

Factors Facilitating or Hindering Use of Evidence-Based Diabetes Interventions Among Local Health Departments

Objective:The objective of this study was to assess facilitators, barriers, and capacities to use of evidence-based programs and policies (EBPPs) in local health departments (LHDs).Design:A qualitative study design was used to elicit a contextual understanding of factors. One-hour interviews were conducted among directors and diabetes/chronic disease practitioners from LHDs. A consensus coding approach was used to identify themes.Setting and Participants:Twenty-four participants from 14 Missouri LHDs completed interviews.Results:Themes were identified as facilitators, barriers, or capacities that enhance EBPP use. Facilitators included awareness of EBPPs, leadership and supervisor support of EBPP use, and facilitators to increase capacity to implement EBPPs. Skills development, targeted messaging, and understanding of evidence-based decision-making (EBDM) terminology were needed. Barriers to EBPPs use were described at the individual, organizational, and interorganizational levels and included community buy-in, limited resources, relevance to partners, and time scarcity. Capacities included the ways LHDs learn about EBPPs, methods that influence the use of EBPPs, and resources needed to sustain EBPPs. Top ways to learn about EBPPs were in-person interactions. Staff meetings, meetings with decision makers, and relevant evidence influenced decision making. Resources needed were funding, organizational capacity, and partnerships. Directors' and practitioners' views differed on type of agency culture that promoted EBPP use, preferences for learning about EBPPs, ways to influence decisions, needs, and barriers to EBPPs.Conclusions:These findings can inform future strategies to support uptake of EBPPs in diabetes and chronic disease control in LHDs. LHDs have a good understanding of EBPPs, but subtle differences in perception of EBPPs and needs exist between directors and practitioners. Investment in capacity building and fostering an organizational culture supportive of EBDM were key implications for practice. By investing in employee skill development, LHDs may increase agency capacity. Researchers should use preferred channels and targeted messaging to disseminate findings.

12 years after: lessons from incremental changes in open spaces in a slum-upgrading project

ABSTRACTWhile slum upgrading usually focus on shelter and basic infrastructure, few accounts document how open spaces in upgraded neighbourhoods change over the years, and post occupancy evaluations of whether these open spaces meet community needs are scarce. To address this knowledge gap, the study revisited two areas in a slum-upgrading project in Baseco, a landfill on Manila Bay densely populated by the urban poor. We documented changes in open spaces over 12 years and identified three challenges; 1) a lack of community buy-in to NGO-led initiatives; 2) a mismatch between designed facilities and resident preferences and/or needs; 3) disproportionate allocation of resources to new construction projects vs. maintenance of constructed projects. The findings suggest that better neighbourhood outcomes can be achieved by: 1) better understanding community needs and livelihood patterns; 2) re-examining the appropriateness of design and planning standards for informal contexts; and 3) emphasising resident participation and leadership from the start.

Eskasoni First Nation's transformation of youth mental healthcare: Partnership between a Mi'kmaq community and the ACCESS Open Minds research project in implementing innovative practice and service evaluation.

AimACCESS Open Minds (ACCESS OM) is a pan‐Canadian project aimed at improving youth mental healthcare. This paper describes implementation of the ACCESS OM objectives for youth mental health service transformation within a pre‐existing Fish Net Model of transformative youth mental healthcare service in the First Nation community of Eskasoni, on Canada's east coast.MethodsWe describe an adaptation of the ACCESS OM service transformation objectives through the complementary blending of Indigenous and Western methodologies. This concept of “Two‐Eyed Seeing” is illustrated as central to engaging youth in the community and attending to their mental health needs and wellness.ResultsThe ACCESS OM Eskasoni First Nation Youth Space acts as a central location for the site team and its activities, which expand into the rest of the community to facilitate early identification of youth in need. Rapid access to care is promoted via barrier‐free availability through a central intake crisis and referral centre, and ease of contact through social media and other modalities. Youth are given the choice between standard Western mental health services, or Indigenous methods of improving well‐being, or a combination of the two.ConclusionsThe ACCESS OM framework has shown early results of being a positive addition to the Eskasoni community. Local leadership and community buy‐in are identified as key factors to success. Further exploration, research, and evaluation of this transformation is ongoing. Successful implementation of this model in Eskasoni could act as a model for youth mental health programmes in other First Nations across Canada.

Gardens and Green Spaces: placemaking and Black entrepreneurialism in Cleveland, Ohio

This paper presents a case study of Gardens and Green Spaces (GGS), a resident-driven, grant-funded project in Cleveland, Ohio working toward community change. Through both placemaking and entrepreneurial strategies, the main grant objectives are to effect change at the intersection of food (and agriculture), arts, and culture in Kinsman, a 96% Black Neighborhood on Cleveland’s east side. While community development (CD) projects are often designed by outside ‘experts’ who inform the scope and focus of grant-funded projects, this project is rooted in the hypothesis that a resident-driven approach to CD will lead to increased community buy-in and participation, resulting in more lasting and substantive community change. GGS works across sectors, integrating arts, culture, and food to promote placemaking and community-based entrepreneurial engagement as a path towards greater health, equity, and economic resilience. This paper argues that community-based and resident-driven development—although not without its own challenges—can result in more holistic community transformation across sectors, with the potential for greater resident participation, sustainability, and equity. The case study presented in this paper, including in-depth interviews and neighborhood surveys, is an examination of the pilot phase of GGS, and argues that both placemaking and entrepreneurialism represent a negotiation between market driven community development and a solely philanthropic model. It provides insight into more equitable and sustainable change that has the potential to shift the traditional paradigm of expert driven, or “outside-in” community development.

Using a human-centered design approach for collaborative decision-making in pediatric asthma care

ObjectivesHuman-centered design (HCD) is a qualitative methodology that empathizes with end-users and assists in formulating preferable and practical interventions. We explored the utility of HCD in improving pediatric asthma healthcare outcomes among patient and caregiver populations within an urban academic center. Study designHCD employs a multiphase process that aims to identify the needs of end users and reframe solutions around each stakeholder's preference patterns. MethodsEthnographic-style observations were initiated among pediatric asthma healthcare providers, community environmental activists, local government public health officials, households with a young child (<12 years of age) with asthma, and adolescent asthmatics. Common themes from the observations served as the basis for understanding users' experiences and determining actionable areas of improvement within outpatient asthma care. Multistakeholder brainstorming sessions led to the emergence of three prototypes that underwent low-fidelity field testing. ResultsThe first prototype elucidated caregivers' preferred outpatient asthma support systems using a newly created visual decision-making aid. The second constructed prototype was a child-oriented asthma activity sheet that allowed children to better communicate their understanding and impact of asthma care. The final prototype attempted to improve interactions between providers, caregivers, and children/adolescents using visual prompts to enhance empathetic and clinically-relevant dialogue. ConclusionEngaging a diverse population of relevant stakeholders in disease processes that use design thinking yield relevant solutions with enhanced community buy-in. The prototypes are continuing to undergo iterative field testing in local community and academic asthma care sites.

Perceptions of culturally responsive pedagogy in teaching SEL

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine educators’ beliefs, perceptions and use of culturally responsive practices in implementing a social-emotional learning (SEL) intervention. Design/methodology/approach Focus groups with school personnel in a school with a diverse student population that had sustained success with an SEL intervention were conducted. Grounded theory was used to analyze data. Findings The analyses produced 11 interrelated themes. Practical implications School personnel noted that instruction in culturally responsive practices was foundational and should occur before SEL intervention implementation commences to ensure the use of culturally responsive practices as part of SEL implementation. Moreover, they noted the importance of school community buy-in (administrator, faculty, staff, parent and student) in supporting school-based SEL intervention sustainability. Social implications Within the USA, continued diversification of the student population is predicted, while the teaching force is projected to remain primarily White, middle class and female. Consequently, educators often differ in cultural background from their students, which has implications for SEL instruction. Incorporating the use of culturally responsive pedagogy in teaching SEL skills is one approach to addressing this cultural mismatch. Originality/value There are currently few studies that explore educator perceptions of SEL and no studies that examine the use of culturally responsive pedagogy in teaching SEL.

The use of qualitative comparative analysis to identify pathways to successful and failed sanitation systems

Sanitation systems globally fail at high rates. Researchers and practitioners attribute the causes of both sanitation success and failure to numerous factors that include technical and non-technical issues. A comprehensive understanding of what leads to sanitation failure and how to achieve sanitation success is imperative to prioritize the use of limited resources. To determine which combinations of causal conditions led to successful and failed sanitation systems, we applied fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to 20 cases in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, India with small-scale sanitation systems. Two pathways led to successful sanitation systems, and four pathways led to failed sanitation systems. All successful systems required Sufficient O&M Funds, a Clear O&M Plan, and Technical Support in addition to either Addressed Sanitation Priorities and Community Participation in Planning or Behavior Change Education and Municipality Involved in Planning. All failed systems had Lack of Municipality in Planning, Unaddressed Sanitation Priorities, and No Technical Support. Most failed systems also had No Clear O&M Plan, Poor Construction Quality, Lack of Community Participation in Planning, and Insufficient O&M Funds. Two failed cases had unique pathways because Government Barriers permanently disrupted use and maintenance. Overall, implementing organizations who initiate sanitation projects in resource-limited communities should ensure that (1) communities have adequate technical and financial resources for maintenance; (2) community and municipality stakeholders are engaged in planning and know their maintenance responsibilities; and (3) appropriate technologies are selected that meet community needs and achieve community buy-in.

Hoop House Gardening in the Wapekeka First Nation as an Extension of Land-Based Food Practices

Rural Indigenous communities in Canada’s North face many challenges getting regular access to nutritious foods, primarily because of the high cost of market food, restricted availability of nutritious foods, and lack of government support for nutritious food programs. The consequences of food insecurity in this context are expressed in high rates of diabetes, heart disease, and childhood obesity. Many Indigenous communities are responding to issues related to healthy food access by attempting to rebuild local food capacity in their specific regions. Important first steps have been taken in developing local food initiatives, yet whether these initiatives are improving northern food security remains to be seen. We explore this question by working with the Oji-Cree First Nation in the community of Wapekeka, northern Ontario, to construct a hoop house and develop a school-based community gardening program. Using a community-based participatory approach, we determined that hoop house and gardening initiatives in rural, northern settings have the potential to build up local food production, develop the skills and knowledge of community members, engage youth in growing local food, and align with land-based food teachings. We show that despite widespread and multidimensional community hardships, there was considerable community buy-in and support for the project, which gives hope for future development and provides important insight for those seeking to initiate similar gardening, hoop house, or greenhouse initiatives in northern Indigenous communities.

Best Practices and Innovative Solutions to Overcome Barriers to Delivering Policy, Systems and Environmental Changes in Rural Communities.

To better understand the barriers to implementing policy; systems; and environmental (PSE) change initiatives within Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) programming in U.S. rural communities; as well as strategies to overcome these barriers, this study identifies: (1) the types of nutrition-related PSE SNAP-Ed programming currently being implemented in rural communities; (2) barriers to implementing PSE in rural communities; and (3) common best practices and innovative solutions to overcoming SNAP-Ed PSE implementation barriers. This mixed-methods study included online surveys and interviews across fifteen states. Participants were eligible if they: (1) were SNAP-Ed staff that were intimately aware of facilitators and barriers to implementing programs, (2) implemented at least 50% of their programming in rural communities, and (3) worked in their role for at least 12 months. Sixty-five staff completed the online survey and 27 participated in interviews. Barriers to PSE included obtaining community buy-in, the need for relationship building, and PSE education. Facilitators included finding community champions; identifying early “wins” so that community members could easily see PSE benefits. Partnerships between SNAP-Ed programs and non-SNAP-Ed organizations are essential to implementing PSE. SNAP-Ed staff should get buy-in from local leaders before implementing PSE. Technical assistance for rural SNAP-Ed programs would be helpful in promoting PSE.

P180 - Process Evaluation of a SNAP-Ed Healthy Corner Store Initiative in New York State

Background (Background, Rationale, Prior Research, and/or Theory): To address poor access to healthful food, a SNAP-Ed healthy corner store policy, systems, and environment (PSE) initiative in New York State was designed to increase availability of fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy in local corner stores using phased changes, beginning with education and marketing strategies and ending with sustained increases in healthful offerings. Process evaluation was an important step in assessing program implementation and determining context for implementing evidence-based best practices. Objective: The purpose of this process evaluation was to determine the extent to which the healthy corner store PSE initiative was implemented as intended and to identify facilitators and barriers to implementation in all seven participating stores during FY 2017. Study Design, Setting, Participants, Intervention: The mixed methods design included review of SNAP-Ed program activity logs, discussion with SNAP-Ed staff and partners, and site visits. Outcome Measures and Analysis: Fidelity was assessed by comparing quantified input, activity, and output data from activity logs with the program logic model and store-specific goals. Field notes were analyzed for themes related to program implementation successes and challenges. Results: Three of the seven corner stores were new to the initiative in 2017, reflecting successful program efforts to build and sustain relationships with store owners. Program staff implemented (or continued to support) early stage goals (e.g. educational events and presentation and promotion practices to highlight healthful foods already available). However, changing store food offerings proved challenging. Staff cited cultural preferences, limited buying power, and limited store size as barriers to increasing fruit, vegetables, and low-fat dairy offerings. Conclusions and Implications: This healthy corner store PSE initiative reflects nationwide evidence that suggests corner store programs can be slow-moving and require consistent effort and community buy-in. Process evaluation results indicated achievement of early program goals and highlighted challenges in creating sustainable changes in store food offerings. Results will immediately inform scheduled interviews with staff, community partners, store owners, and store customers and will inform interpretation of outcome results. Funding: USDA.

Implementation of Policy, Systems, and Environmental Community-Based Interventions for Cardiovascular Health Through a National Not-for-Profit: A Multiple Case Study.

In 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded the American Heart Association to implement policy, systems, and environment-focused strategies targeting access to healthy food and beverages, physical activity, and smoke-free environments. To understand factors affecting implementation and variations in success across sites, evaluators conducted a multiple case study. Based on past literature, community sites were categorized as capacity-building or implementation-ready, for comparison. A sample of six communities were selected using a systematic selection tool. Through site visits, evaluators conducted interviews with program staff and community partners and assessed action plans. Evaluators identified important implications for nationally coordinated community-based prevention programming. Differences in implementation varied by the communities' readiness, with the most notable differences in how they planned activities and defined success. Existing partner relationships (or lack thereof) played a significant role, regardless of the American Heart Association's existing presence within the communities, in the progression of initiatives and the differences observed among phases. Last, goals in capacity-building sites were tied to organizational goals while goals in implementation-ready sites were more incremental with increased community influence and buy-in. Using national organizations as a mechanism to carry out large-scale community-based prevention work is a viable option that provides coordinated, wide-scale implementation without sacrificing a community's priorities or input. In funding future initiatives, the presence of relationships and the time needed to cultivate such relationships should be accounted for in the planning and implementation processes, as well as both local and national expectations.

Anti-gentrification Campaigns and the Fight for Local Control in California Cities

Abstract Gentrification is integral to the functioning of global cities: international developers raze old housing and renovate industrial lofts for elite service workers seeking central-city accommodations. In the process, local real estate markets heat up and working-class residents find themselves priced out, displaced more often than not to peripheral sites of the global metropolis. In Californian communities in downtown and the east side of Los Angeles, the Mission in San Francisco, and Barrio Logan in San Diego, however, residents rejected this process of involuntary movement, instead arguing for the value of historically rich, rooted communities. In what appeared to be a wave of anti-global activism beginning in the 1980s, residents worked to regain control over their local communities through a variety of strategies including the deliberate deployment of local culture and arts, and the increasingly savvy use of media and public relations. With these tools, anti-gentrifiers asserted ownership without property titles, housing rights without mortgages, and community buy-in without cash deposits. Anti-gentrification movements thus constituted a direct challenge to the workings of the global city while also feeding into a global movement to restore political power to the grassroots.

Barriers to Integrating New Urbanism in Mixed-Income Housing Plans in Chicago: Developer, Housing Official, and Consultant Perspectives

This article explores the barriers to implementing mixed-income development plans that incorporate the social (income) and physical (new urbanism) mixing goals of HOPE VI. I examine a comparative case study of three HOPE VI planning efforts in Chicago, Illinois, that exhibit different results. I draw from 25 in-depth interviews across three primary types of actors involved in the development process: developers, housing officials, and consultants. This research uses the perspectives of these key actors to identify the barriers that constrain the implementation of new urbanist designs. Current research indicates that mixed-income developments vary in their degree of income mixing and how new urbanist strategies are implemented. However, there is little consensus on why this is so. Findings indicate implementation of new urbanism is constrained by limited interagency coordination, restrictive design policies, low community buy-in, and exclusive marketing and occupancy practices. Overall, the research offers lessons learned from which I recommend changes in planning practices to assist actors in the consistent implementation of new urbanism in mixed-income developments.

Experimenting with a novel technology for provision of safe drinking water in rural Bangladesh: The case of sub-surface arsenic removal (SAR)

Subsurface Arsenic Removal (SAR) is a technique used for in-situ removal of naturally occurring arsenic in groundwater. This new technology was deployed recently on an experimental basis in two sites in rural Bangladesh, to address the pressing problem of rural drinking water supplies contaminated by arsenic. This article assesses whether and to what extent these first field experiments with SAR can be conceptualized as “socio-technical experiments” designed to incubate and improve radical technological innovations by serving as ‘living lab”, “window” and/or “agent of change”. As per writings in transition theory, an experiment functions as a living lab if it permits testing, learning and improving upon a technological innovation. It functions as a window if it is able to facilitate communication and conversation by raising actors’ interest and enrolling new actors. It functions as an agent of change if it can successfully stimulate changes in potential users' practices and behaviours. Through studying two SAR experiments, this article finds that this novel technology served as a living lab and window, but not (yet) as agent of change, partly because integrating social considerations (such as community buy-in, appropriate site selection and post-installation support) into SAR prototype design during field experimentation proved very difficult. A key obstacle was that the technical efficacy of the technology remained a primary concern during experimentation, and it was unsafe to make water deriving from experimental SAR units available to users. The technology thus remained an abstract idea and provided unable to stimulate behavioural changes amongst users. We conclude that there is a need to identify conditions under which real world experiments can serve as agents of change to facilitate sustainable uptake of arsenic safe technologies in rural developing country contexts.

A Note from the Editor

A Note from the Editor Noe Montez As the semester comes to an end, I am enjoying a moment of calm in which grades are entered, before summer-writing guilt kicks in, to reflect on my work in the classroom in hopes of improving on my courses next time I teach them. It is an opportunity to evaluate individual lessons that I thought were successful in fulfilling course objectives. I also appreciate thinking about the feedback that students generously offer in the classroom without having to parse their words through systematically biased course evaluations. Strategies for assessment and application stand out as key ideas that describe and unite the essays and notes found in this issue of Theatre Topics. The projects and perceptions offered by our authors place emphasis on exploring classroom exercises, theatrical productions, and the efforts to engage neurodivergent spectators with an eye toward assessing whether activities and performances yielded the intended results. Beth Osnes’s essay “Youth Shine in Performance for Resilience” documents her experience creating Shine, a musical about the relationships among fossil fuels, climate change, and political engagement. The first half of the production is professionally scripted, but the second half invites an ensemble of local youth in communities where the play is performed to develop scenes that offer solutions for their respective city’s environmental recovery. Osnes draws on eco-criticism and applied theatre practices to argue for the efficacy of using the arts to generate more community buy-in, especially among the youth, regarding developing new approaches for generating political change. Next, Tony Perucci’s “‘The New Thing’: Three Axes for Devised Theatre” offers a complex and in-depth pedagogical approach for a devised theatre training process designed to create actor-creators rather than actor-interpreters. The essay outlines a three-step approach to a specific pedagogical sequence drawing from his experiences in the classroom and as a devised theatre creator with the Performance Collective. Perucci connects numerous practitioners and theories, including Mary Overlie and Viewpoints, to his pedagogical practice, while drawing from numerous classroom experiences to demonstrate and evaluate how The New Thing can be incorporated by other teaching artists who wish to teach devised performance processes. Isaiah Wooden poses the question of what to do with stage directions when reading a play in a textually oriented classroom in his essay “How to Do Things with Stage Directions: Lessons from Contemporary African American Drama.” The author introduces the work of Tarell Alvin McCraney and Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins as object lessons through which to demonstrate that an attention to what stage directions do can help to elucidate the formal specificity and embodied potential of African American dramatic writing. Wooden provides examples from classroom exercises that have served him well in encouraging his students to dig deeply into the stage directions, rather than underestimating them, in order to understand how to better read and analyze a play. Hannah Simpson turns toward audience engagement in her “Tics in the Theatre: The Quiet Audience, the Relaxed Performance, and the Neurodivergent Spectator.” The essay documents the ableist norms of theatre spectatorship in contemporary Britain and theorizes the work of “relaxed performances” in producing a more egalitarian public sphere. Simpson largely focuses on the modern emphasis on quiet audiences and the ways that a rethinking of the need for silence in relaxed performances might not only benefit neurodivergent spectators, but it might also place “a renewed [End Page ix] emphasis on the theatre’s fundamental construction as a live, embodied encounter with other individuals” (227). Irina Yakubovskaya’s note from the field “Multicultural Theatre in Times of Turmoil” is an interview with performing artist and arts administrator Maxim Tumenev. Tumenev worked at the Ilkhom Theatre of Mark Weil prior to taking a position with CEC ArtsLink, an international nonprofit arts-management organization with headquarters in New York City and St. Petersburg, Russia. In conversation with Yakubovskaya, he candidly addresses the differences between artistic exchanges such as international tours and what he calls collaborative arts practices. His perspectives on US and Russian bureaucratic efforts to collaborate are timely, as are his feelings about the need for Americans to embrace their freedom to assemble. The online-only edition of this...

The role of relationships in achieving and maintaining a social licence in the New Zealand aquaculture sector

Based on a conceptualization of ‘social licence to operate’ drawn from recent international literature, this research explores the role of relationship building as an element of the process of gaining a social licence. Drawing on an interview-based case study of the aquaculture industry in New Zealand, this paper describes the motivations for seeking social licence, the approaches that have been adopted, the outcomes sought and the challenges faced by those involved. The findings are discussed in a framework of relationship typology – transactional or relational. We find that those companies and communities that are able to form more relational relationships are more likely to gain community buy-in and thus a social licence. Our findings indicate that relationship type is related to scale, and that there are lessons that large-scale companies can incorporate into their business models that enable them to build relational relationships, gaining social licence and thus operating more sustainably.