Decentralization Of Responsibility Research Articles

Prospects and Challenges of Capacity Building Projects in Higher Education: University of Dar es Salaam Experience

The development of skills and competences is a fundamental objective of capacity-building projects in order to achieve successful long-lasting outcomes. This study is about factors that influence effective implementation of capacity-building projects at the University of Dar es Salaam. For it is necessary that capacity building projects implemented by higher education institutions achieve a standard of performance that results into better and sustainable outputs. The study was guided by a qualitative research approach and a case study design. It involved five selected capacity-building projects at the University of Dar es Salaam. The sample included respondents from both members of top management, stakeholders and project beneficiaries. The study revealed that among the three successful of the five selected capacity-building initiatives each achieved the majority of its primary objectives. Among the elements that helped these projects succeed were the careful objective-setting and execution that come from committed and qualified leaders. The study learned in order for a project to succeed, dedicated full-time supervisors and operators who are specialized in that field and possess in-depth project management skills are needed. The following are recommended among others: a charter outlining the precise responsibilities of each management entity and participants, better disbursement of cash and decentralisation of responsibilities. Keywords: Higher education, Capacity building, Projects, Success factors, Challenges

Assessing the country-level involvement of nurses in COVID-19 vaccination campaigns: A qualitative study

BackgroundAs each country individually manages the COVID-19 pandemic, mass vaccination campaigns have varied considerably. Implementation campaigns often depend on nurses; however, nurses are not consistently involved in higher-level planning, prioritization, and policy development decisions. This study aimed to examine the involvement and engagement of nurses in country-level COVID-19 mass vaccination policies and practices in 10 Office of Economic Cooperation and Development countries, identify barriers and factors to enhancing the engagement of nurses in the evidence-informed mass vaccination decision-making processes, and suggest areas for improvement. MethodsA qualitative study using in-depth semi-structured interviews was conducted as a follow-up study to an International Council of Nurses survey. The study sample included a purposeful sample of 14 country-representative nurses from 10 Office of Economic Cooperation and Development countries. Interview questions focused on each country's overall COVID-19 vaccination campaign and policies, participants' perspectives regarding the involvement of nurses in the planning, design, and implementation of the mass vaccination program observed outcomes, and the impact of nursing on the outcomes. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, translated where necessary, coded, and thematically analyzed. ResultsMain areas of involvement identified by participants were membership in advising and decision-making committees, operationalization planning, implementation and coordination processes, education efforts, and nurses' interactions with the media. Seven themes emerged among perceived facilitators of nursing involvement: existing systems and infrastructure, nursing profession-related skills and competencies, communication and messaging, multidisciplinary and interagency work, recognition and visibility of nurses and nursing, trust in nurses, and nursing pride. Meanwhile, perceived barriers included lack of a voice, recognition and appreciation for nursing, workforce-related challenges, decentralization of responsibility and authority, supply and access issues, downstream effects of the pandemic, and non-COVID-related nursing barriers. Three main themes emerged among suggestions made by participants for improved involvement of nursing: culture change within nursing and healthcare, opportunities and momentum to build upon, and perceptions of responsible parties. ConclusionsNurses play a central role in providing health services but are inconsistently included in the policy, planning, and decision-making processes. Findings highlighted the critical importance of nursing leadership roles and expanded roles for nurses. Nursing should be represented by high-level leaders as part of multidisciplinary decision-making groups, educational initiatives for involvement in health policy should be implemented in nursing schools and continuing education, and advocacy and inclusion efforts should utilize bottom-up and top-down approaches concurrently.

The Reshaping of Romania's Social Security System in the Context of European Union Integration

This article makes reference to the effectiveness of the national social protection system, which depends on the efficiency of systems for redistributing income within a state, i.e. the efficiency of tax and social systems. The accession to the European Union (EU) was equivalent to the start of a new transition phase for the of development and social protection of Romania system. The current system of social protection can be characterized as a centralized one, even if the intentions of decentralization of responsibilities are pronounced while the financial capacities of local public authorities are strengthened. Romania has learned that EU policies are not always tailored to its size and that it has the possibility to negotiate them so that specific features and needs are better considered and covered.

Unanticipated Consequences of Reforms in School Governance

Abstract This article argues that policy development and evaluations should not only incorporate whether and to what extent the policies achieve the intended goals, but should also take the unintended consequences of the policies into account. Based on the classic work of the sociologist Robert Merton, this article addresses the side-effects of attempts that have been made by the Lithuanian national government to improve on the governance of basic and high-schools. The intended goals of the policies concerned the increase of autonomy of school governance through the decentralization of responsibilities; increasing autonomy of and control over school governance; increasing market-driven governance, inducing competition and collaboration between schools, and altering the relation between service providers and recipients. An in-depth analysis shows that there were serious side-effects. Due to the limited knowledge and capabilities at the local level the policies resulted in sub-optimal decision-making at the school level. As the transfer went hand in hand with national laws and strict regulations, stipulating the financing and content of education, setting standards and uniform requirements this reduced the ability of schools to make autonomous decisions and rather turned them into bodies implementing national standards. A decrease in cost-efficiency is visible as every school has to make its own plans; administrative burdens increase, and insufficient funding results in a transfer of shortages instead of transferring the responsibility to find solutions for those shortages, and instead of becoming more collegiate, the relation between schools becomes competitive resulting in distrust with all the expected negative consequences. The plans to increase the autonomy of school governance could have developed rather differently if these unintended consequences had been taken into account beforehand. If such side-effects would be anticipated, that could have resulted in more realism, less one-sided and unfounded optimism and in the end, less frustration and demotivation.

Pandemic response credit-claiming and blame-avoidance in Czechia

Abstract Credit claiming led in Czechia during the first wave to centralization and during the summer to decentralization. During the second wave, blame-avoidance led again to centralization. First Wave: Similar to other Central and Eastern European countries, Czechia's number of cases and deaths per capita during the first wave were some of the lowest in Europe. The Czech Prime Minister, Andrej Babiš (of the centrist populist ANO) was in a good position to take credit for these results. While this level of centralization of power attracted some criticism, the unprecedented context as well as the undeniable results of the timely intervention translated into genuine political credit. The government's measures enjoyed overwhelming popular support: an April survey found 76% of respondents saw them as “adequate” (and 16% as too lenient). Summer: The Czech government relaxed measures relatively quickly, precipitated by judicial challenges to the procedural aspects of lockdown measures. Thanks to the low prevalence of COVID-19 in the country, rapid reopening did not lead to dramatic increases in infections. Between June and September, there were virtually no restrictions in Czechia. Second wave: In September, the PM admitted the extent to which restrictions had been eased during the summer was a mistake, but explained his decisions by “societal demand” and prioritizing the economy. Explicit blame avoidance strategy through decentralization of responsibility between governments came only one year into the pandemic. The government obliged and, unconstitutionally, declared a new state of emergency (24). In one weekend, a year after total centralization of responsibility for the pandemic, regional governors (mostly belonging to opposition parties) were co-opted into the government's blame game that crossed party lines, ahead of the October 2021 parliamentary elections.

Introduction to NJWLS 2021-3

This issue of Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies presents six new research articles from the Nordic countries. The first article of the issue is Working Environment Activities in Hospitals: Expansion of Scope and Decentralization of Responsibility by Per-Christian Borgen and Bente Vibecke Lunde. Borgen and Lunde’s study explores how legislative working environment regulations are understood and handled by actors responsible for the working environment in three hospitals in Norway (...)

Working Environment Activities in Hospitals: Expansion of Scope and Decentralization of Responsibility

This article analyzes how two development traits in the regulatory requirements for Working Environment (WE) activities – an expansion of scope and a decentralization of responsibility – are understood and handled over time by actors responsible for WE activities in Norwegian hospitals. The expanded scope of WE activities is studied based on the requirements outlined in The Working Environment Act, public health science theory, and the WE challenges in hospitals. The decentralized responsibility for WE activities is studied based on Internal Control (IC) reform and other hospital reforms inspired by New Public Management (NPM). The final section of the article discusses the effects of the two development traits, and how these enlarge the line manager’s area of responsibility. The article is based on a qualitative, longitudinal study conducted in three Norwegian hospitals in 1998-1999 and 2013.

Decentralization Experience in Pakistan: The 18th Constitutional Amendment

Of all the amendments made to the Constitution of Pakistan, the 18th Amendment passed in April 2010 is arguably the most important amendment with the most far-reaching consequences. It restored the parliamentary character of the Constitution, redefined the Parliament–judiciary relationship by proposing parliamentary oversight on high judicial appointments and devolved several important functions to Provincial Governments. This decentralization of responsibility and authority provided the context in which various institutional actors renegotiated their roles in a contested space during the years since the Amendment. However, implementation has been quite a challenge in the face of covert and overt opposition from the federal bureaucracy, which is characteristically averse to any transfer of resources and authority. This article is a critical examination of the Amendment and its implementation to understand the nature and extent of devolution of authority resulting therefrom.

In Search for Stability in Crypto-Assets: Are Stablecoins the Solution?

Stablecoins claim to stabilise the value of major currencies in the volatile crypto-asset market. This paper describes the often complex functioning of different types of stablecoins and proposes a taxonomy of stablecoin initiatives. To this end it relies on a novel framework for their classification, based on the key dimensions that matter for crypto-assets, namely: (i) accountability of issuer, (ii) decentralisation of responsibilities, and (iii) what underpins the value of the asset. The analysis of different types of stablecoins shows a trade-off between the novelty of the stabilisation mechanism used in an initiative (from mirroring the traditional electronic money approach to the alleged introduction of an “algorithmic central bank”) and its capacity to maintain a stable market value. While relatively less innovative stablecoins could provide a solution to users seeking a stable store of value, especially if legitimised by the adherence to standards that are typical of payment services, the jury is still out on the potential future role of more innovative stablecoins outside their core user base.

New development: Decentralizing governance in England—transport's key role

Transport holds the key to effective decentralization of responsibilities in England. But transport cannot be considered in isolation from other functions. It has close links with spatial planning and other environmental, economic and social activities and they must function together. Decentralization must take this on board for England as a whole. There should be combined authorities established throughout England that are viable and accountable to the areas they serve.

Governing the coordination of care for older people: Comparing care agreements in Denmark and Norway

Increasing specialisation and demands to decrease the length of hospital stays have important consequences for the integration of specialised health and local care services. Based on case studies of care agreements in Denmark and Norway, this article compares subnational governance strategies for coordinating care services for older people discharged from hospitals. The question is how, and to what degree, national government regulations have an impact on local service coordination strategies. The analysis reveals that the numerous subnational procedures for coordination are somewhat more itemised in Denmark, and that regional variation in care agreements is greater in Norway. The identified differences can partly be accounted for by national differences in regulation, which is tighter in Denmark than in Norway. The study suggests that despite decentralisation of responsibility, subnational procedures to facilitate coordination are heavily influenced by national government policy.

Nordic education policy in retreat neoliberal economic rationalization and the rural school

The Nordic educational welfare model was implemented to support social justice and equal opportunities for all. After the fall of the Berlin wall the welfare model is weakened due to influences from international and global trends. It is found that with the introduction of new public management steering of public welfare and the decentralization of responsibilities from state to municipalities, local authorities are left to their own devices to solve disparities between, for example, a decreasing population and a shrinking economy. The article looks closer at the disparities between the structure of new public management steering and context-related variables of diversity. Arguing for diversity as cultural variation, the article draws on empirical data based on focus-group interviews with teachers of three multi-grade schools in rural Norway. To support the analysis, Bourdieu’s theories on structure and agency (habitus and field) as well as cultural, social and symbolic capital are utilized. The results give examples of the cultural socialization of individuals/groups – and how they pursue their valued resources and pursue their interest in practice. In reference to new public management and the steering of education, the findings indicate resistance and complexity concerning contingent social and cultural influences, and dispositions in the educational field investigated.

Governance Innovation and entrepreneurship in Greek local government: Towards the limits of Europeanization?

<p>The evaluation of the participation of private sector in Greek local government comprises a rather complex task, as it is directly linked to the special configuration parameters of the national model of local governance. Although such model of local governance has gone through significant reforms over the last 20 years, mainly in the promotion of democratization, decentralization of responsibilities and municipalities uniting, however, it remains largely monopolistic and distinctive for its limited efficiency. The monopolistic provision of municipal services still features in the Greek local government, despite its distinctive significant efficiency issues, and also the vast number of regulatory initiatives for the promotion of the alternative provision that have been introduced. Such promotion initiatives of the alternative provision of municipal services have already been promoted since the mid-80s, through actions such as scheduled contracts, inter-municipal co-operation, concessions and PPPs<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Mohamad%20Mostafa/Desktop/Knowledge%20E/In%20Press%20Conferences/EBEEC-2016/Source%20files/Source%20files/KNOWLEDGE%20E_1/EBEEC_2016_paper_95.doc#_ftn1">[1]</a>. However, these have eventually produced limited results, due to the regulatory complexity that characterized their operation, increased bureaucracy in respect of their supervision, limited administrative capacity of local partners and the inability of their integration to the wider development planning of local government.</p>

CEO transformational leadership and top manager ambidexterity

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of CEO transformational leadership in promoting ambidexterity of top managers. This paper posits that connecting CEO transformational leadership with the CEO-top manager interface offers a better explanation of heterogeneity in top manager ambidextrous behavior.Design/methodology/approach– This study is based on a questionnaire survey of 388 senior managers in 80 top teams nested in 80 small- to medium-sized Taiwan manufacturing firms.Findings– The findings indicate that transformational CEOs shape the CEO-top manager interface, characterized by senior team behavioral integration, decentralization of responsibilities, long-term compensation, and individual manager risk propensity, and in turn promote ambidexterity at the individual top manager level.Originality/value– Hence, the authors contribute to the existing understanding that transformational CEOs may not only have a beneficial influence on firm-level ambidexterity, but also may be particularly effective in enabling individual-level top managers to simultaneously explore and exploit.

The public's voice about healthcare quality regulation policies. A population-based survey.

BackgroundIn the wake of various high-profile incidents in a number of countries, regulators of healthcare quality have been criticised for their ‘soft’ approach. In politics, concerns were expressed about public confidence. It was claimed that there are discrepancies between public opinions related to values and the values guiding regulation policies. Although the general public are final clients of regulators’ work, their opinion has only been discussed in research to a limited extent.The aim of this study is to explore possible discrepancies between public values and opinions and current healthcare quality regulation policies.MethodsA questionnaire was submitted to 1500 members of the Dutch Healthcare Consumer Panel. Questions were developed around central ideas underlying healthcare quality regulation policies.ResultsThe response rate was 58.3 %. The regulator was seen as being more responsible for quality of care than care providers. Patients were rated as having the least responsibility. Similar patterns were observed for the food service industry and the education sector. Complaints by patients’ associations were seen as an important source of information for quality regulation, while fewer respondents trusted information delivered by care providers. However, respondents supported the regulator’s imposition of lighter measures firstly.ConclusionsThere are discrepancies and similarities between public opinion and regulation policies. The discrepancies correspond to fundamental concepts; decentralisation of responsibilities is not what the public wants. There is little confidence in the regulator’s use of information obtained by care providers’ internal monitoring, while a larger role is seen for complaints of patient organisations. This discrepancy seems not to exist regarding the regulator’s approach of imposing measures. A gradual, and often soft approach, is favoured by the majority of the public in spite of the criticism that is voiced in the media regarding this approach. Our study contributes to the limited knowledge of public opinion on government regulation policies. This knowledge is needed in order to effectively assess different approaches to involve the public in regulation policies.

Bureaucratisation of the Teaching Profession in Decentralised Vocational Education—The Case of Slovenia, Europe

Since 2001, Slovenian vocational education has undergone major changes at the curricular and financing levels, particularly moving towards competence-based and open curricula and the decentralisation of responsibilities. Both tendencies have changed the role of the teacher, who has become a team worker with many new responsibilities in planning, assessment and evaluation of the pedagogical process. Reform measures are regularly evaluated, and research findings are an important source of information for reforms. In our secondary analysis of selected evaluations, we attempt to prove our thesis that the teacher’s autonomy has, despite this decentralisation, not increased in terms of better conditions for the students’ development. Instead, it has resulted in teachers becoming exhausted by paperwork, the purpose of which they do not realise due to poor training and difficult working conditions. The article proves that the potential positive outcomes of the reforms can be lost if reform instruments are abused for political and/or economic purposes, if the swiftness and content of the reforms are dictated by the European (financial) policies and particularistic political interests, and/or if the school is reformed according to the rules of the market.

Young people with intellectual disability—The role of self-advocacy in a transformed Swedish welfare system

A growing number of young people in Sweden with intellectual disability have organized themselves during the last 15 years in self-advocacy groups for socializing, empowerment, and expressing opposition to the norms and attitudes in a society that labels them as disabled. At the same time, the Swedish welfare system has transformed dramatically with processes of far-reaching individualization, closure of the major institutions, decentralization of responsibility from the state to local governments, and an emerging welfare market where service users are turned into customers. The aim of this article is to analyse and discuss the significance of self-advocacy in the new welfare context. Data were collected over a period of more than 10 years using repeated interviews with members of two self-advocacy groups and participation observations. Findings suggest that participation in self-advocacy groups opens up members for increasing health and well-being through new roles and identities, and it strengthens their control over everyday life. Support is still needed, however, but in new ways; otherwise, the restrictions of the institutions will simply be reconstructed in the new welfare system.

Decentralization, participation and deliberation in water governance: a case study of the implications for Guarulhos, Brazil

After the return to democracy in the late 1980s, Brazil developed a new system of water governance with a decentralization of responsibilities and the formation of participatory, deliberative institutions that characterized the governance reforms in general. Tripartite “water basin committees”, with an equal representation of state, municipal and civil society actors, are now responsible for water resource management in each basin and for decisions that affect urban water governance. However, state representatives come from entities established long before the reforms, raising the question of whether the new participatory bodies can change water management practices. This paper suggests that despite the process of transition in water governance, the underlying power inequalities have not been addressed and major decisions are still being taken outside the new deliberative bodies. Technocratic government actors maintain a claim on authority through their economic superiority and their use of expert knowledge, ultimately inhibiting the influence of other actors.

The path to integrated healthcare: Various Scandinavian strategies

>> Background Scandinavian healthcare, like many other healthcare systems, is constantly undergoing change and restructuring in order to be able to meet the demands for improved effectiveness and quality. This has led to the increased division of roles, tasks, and responsibilities. Three development trends have strongly contributed to this state of affairs: decentralization, specialization, and professionalization. These trends have had a major impact on Scandinavian healthcare. The decentralization of responsibility and powers to lower organizational levels is generally seen as an effective form of conducting operations effectively. Clinical specialization has unequivocally improved the population’s state of health. Furthermore, the professional principle of organization is today deeply embedded in

Adaptation policy and adaptation realities: local social organization and cross-scale networks for climate adaptation on Mount Kilimanjaro

Least developed countries have prepared national adaptation programs of action (NAPAs) to coordinate international adaptation funding to reduce social vulnerability to climate change. The adaptation programs have been written for consistency with existing sectoral policies and development agendas—policies which have thus far led to inequitable and incomplete decentralization of responsibility to organize and manage adaptation at the local level. The capacity of local social organization and of cross-scale networks and flows of knowledge and resources from higher levels of government is insufficient to facilitate socially equitable and sustainable adaptation to climate change. Tanzania’s NAPA, poverty reduction strategy paper, and sectoral policies for forest, water, and agriculture/livestock illustrate the coordination of adaptation plans with existing policies. National and regional statistics and a survey of households on Mount Kilimanjaro—a regional priority for climate adaptation in Tanzania—demonstrate significant gaps in local social organization and cross-scale networks for adaptation. Challenging existing structural causes of vulnerability will be difficult under adaptation plans written for complementarity with the very policies that have produced social inequality. Outside of a few development projects of limited geographic extent, there is limited evidence for socially equitable and sustainable adaptation outcomes. Sustainable adaptation will require substantial new commitments to developing local capacity and cross-scale networks.