Global Policy Agenda Research Articles

The Managing Director's Global Policy Agenda, Annual Meetings 2024: Secure A Soft Landing And Break From The Low Growth–High Debt Path

The Managing Director's Global Policy Agenda, Annual Meetings 2024: Secure A Soft Landing And Break From The Low Growth–High Debt Path

Using linked data to inform multidimensional real-world issues: Canadian examples

Issues at the top of global and national policy agendas, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate emergency, and energy and cost of living crises, are illustrating the interconnectivity of the economy, society, and the environment. Moreover, it is clear, that impacts of these issues are not uniformly felt across societies. Greater granularity of information is required to address inequalities. As a result, policy makers are taking a more holistic view of issues to address the interlinkages across domains. This is driving the demand for Statistics Canada to provide statistical insights that address these cross-cutting policy issues and provide more granular information across multiple domains. Linked data are necessary for understanding the interrelated nature of these issues and the scope of their impact. For example, recent Canadian research based on linked data has shown that COVID-19 led to changes in work arrangements that have implications for public transit use and greenhouse gas emissions. The employer-employee linked administrative data augmented with a further linkage to census data provide opportunities for Canadian researchers to produce multidimensional insights on a portrait of racialized groups and immigrants including refugees’ presence in the Canadian economy, their sociodemographic characteristics, and their performance over time relative to other Canadians, particularly post the COVID pandemic. Rapid growth in data availability for research also poses new challenges ranging from technical issues needed for the feasibility of data linkage to stewardship issues related to governance, access, and oversight. The presentation will also discuss the lessons learned and reflections from the Canadian experiences.

What does valuing water mean in practice? A case study from the Ewaso Ng’iro River Basin, Kenya

ABSTRACT Valuing water is receiving increasing attention within the global water policy agenda as a new water management paradigm. However, it is not yet clear how it can be operationalized in local water management contexts. We apply the Value Landscapes Approach as a conceptual framework to show how water-related preferences are informed by underlying assigned/water values and governance-related values and how these values may explain three different visions for water management among professional respondents in a Northern Kenyan case study. Through making shared and conflicting values explicit, these insights may serve as a foundation for addressing water conflicts in practice.

Empowering youth for sustainability in universities: service-learning and the willingness to act

PurposeService-learning (SL) shows potential to respond to the global policy agenda of education for sustainable development (ESD) by increasing pro-sustainability competences through direct involvement of students in projects that satisfy identified community needs. Nevertheless, there is a scarcity of studies that attempt to measure the impact of SL on students’ sustainability competences, especially the action competence. This study aims to address this gap by examining the experiences of higher education students.Design/methodology/approachA pre-post survey design based on the Self-Perceived Action Competence for Sustainability Questionnaire was conducted on an interdisciplinary group of 219 students of two courses (Sustainable Development and Ecology) in Medellin, Colombia, half of which (109) participated in SL projects.FindingsSufficient empirical evidence was found to suggest that SL boosts the impact of academic courses regarding action competences in students (specially their willingness to act).Research limitations/implicationsThe statistical analysis shows some contradictions that should be addressed in further research.Practical implicationsThese results can encourage more educators and universities to implement strategies such as SL to move forward with ESD and thus help overcome the current socioecological crisis.Originality/valueThis paper not only discusses the theoretical potential of SL but also contrasts theory with empirical observations of 13 SL projects assessed in terms of self-perceived action competence for sustainability.

Excluding through inclusion: managerial practices in the era of multistakeholder governance

Managerial practices underpin most global policy agendas. Existing research shows how these practices have reshaped the public sector, facilitated the marketization of problems, and altered organizational structures. This article highlights that managerial practices are also a central driver of political marginalization. When incorporated into multistakeholder processes, managerial practices engender two exclusionary processes: the accommodation of dissent and the uniformization of political subjects. They do so by making consensus an organizational goal and by treating politics as a marketplace. Through an examination of the United Nations Food Systems Summit, the article shows how, within multistakeholder models, managerialism sidelines critical voices by invoking ideals of openness, spontaneity, and the absence of rule, rather than traditional principles of ‘command and control’. Additionally, it unpacks the novel roles assumed by private consultancy firms, which are nowadays not only tasked with implementing weighty bureaucratic reforms but are also increasingly involved in ‘optimizing’ political struggles and shaping debates on how societies ought to be governed.

Climate Change Policies and Global Cooperation: Assessing the Role of International Organizations in Germany

Purpose: The aim of the study was to analyze the climate change policies and global cooperation: assessing the role of international organizations in Germany. Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: International organizations play a vital role in facilitating global cooperation on climate change policies. They serve as platforms for information exchange and coordination of initiatives, setting international standards and targets. Additionally, these organizations provide financial support and technical assistance to enhance climate resilience, particularly in developing countries. Overall, their efforts are essential for driving collective action and combating climate change on a global scale. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Complex interdependence theory, transnational advocacy networks (TANs) & regime theory may be used to anchor future studies on climate change policies and global cooperation: assessing the role of international organizations. International organizations provide technical expertise, capacity-building support, and financial assistance to enhance the implementation of climate change policies at the national and regional levels. International organizations play a vital role in shaping the global policy agenda on climate change through advocacy, norm promotion, and policy coordination.

The global relevance of locally grounded ethnobiology.

While ethnobiology is a discipline that focuses on the local, it has an outstanding, but not yet fully realized potential to address global issues. Part of this unrealized potential is that universalistic approaches often do not fully recognize culturally grounded perspectives and there are multiple challenges with scaling up place-based research. However, scalability is paramount to ensure that the intimate and context-specific diversity of human-environmental relationships and understandings are recognized in global-scale planning and policy development. Here, we identify four pathways to enable the scalability of place-based ethnobiological research from the ground up: local-to-global dialogues, aggregation of published data, multi-sited studies, and geospatial analyses. We also discuss some major challenges and consideration to encourage continuous reflexivity in these endeavours and to ensure that scalability does not contribute to unnecessarily decontextualizing, co-opting, or overwriting the epistemologies of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. As ethnobiology navigates multiple scales of time and space and seeks to increase its breadth, this study shows that the use of deliberately global approaches, when carefully nested within rich field-based and ecological and ethnographically grounded data, can contribute to: (1) upscaling case-specific insights to unveil global patterns and dynamics in the biocultural contexts of Indigenous Peoples and local communities; (2) bringing ethnobiological knowledge into resolutions that can influence global environmental research and policy agendas; and (3) enriching ethnobiology's field-based ethos with a deliberate global analytical focus.

Fighting plastic pollution with a circular economy roadmap and strategy: Addressed to the United Nations Environment Programme

Plastic pollution poses a significant challenge to the environment, biodiversity, and human health. Each year, the world produces 300 million tons of plastic waste, equivalent to the weight of the planet's entire human population. Only 9% of plastic products worldwide are recycled due to a pervasive throw-away culture and inefficient policies for managing single-use plastic. Over time, plastics fragment into smaller pieces, distributed across ecosystems by wind and rainfall. Marine and terrestrial wildlife accidentally ingest these smaller plastics, leading to a build-up of toxins in tissues. These toxins are transferred to other species, including humans, through the food chain. This document proposes two policy options to address this issue: (a) replacing conventional plastics with more environmentally friendly alternatives or (b) transitioning to a circular economy focused on reducing, reusing, repairing, and recycling. We urge the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to pursue the latter by leading the development and implementation of a comprehensive global policy agenda for the appropriate and effective management of plastics. This would include the development of financial, environmental, and social estimators to quantify, manage, and reduce plastic waste. A UNEP-led global plastic policy agenda has the potential to standardize and regulate plastic production, consumption, and waste management and ultimately reduce the negative impact of plastics on ecosystems and human health.

Beyond Borders: A Qualitative Analysis of Migrant Health and Sociodemographics

Migration and health are integral aspects of human nature that are high on global policy agendas. In this context, it is crucial to delve deeper into the study of migration as it relates to physical health in order to explore some dimensions in greater depth. The objectives of this study are as follows 1) To explore the perceptions of migrants, participants in the study, about their health. Focusing on aspects related to physical health, disabilities and access to health care services; 2) To identify and describe the distinctive features that characterise the migrant population participating in the study. This analysis is carried out using a qualitative methodology based on the Grounded Theory approach. We employ tools such as individual records and group interviews to collect data. The primary findings of this study reveal the presence of pathologies and disabilities, alongside deficiencies in accessing healthcare services. Additionally, the key characteristics of migrants in Spain are highlighted. In conclusion, this study underlines the importance of maintaining the study of physical health in the context of migration from different disciplines as a way of underpinning social interventions aimed at improving the situation of migrants in the field of social and health welfare.

Imagining sport in Lithuania: young athletes’ views on safe sport

Sports organisations have a moral and legal duty of care to deliver sport in a safe environment and to promote the welfare of athletes. This right to what has become known as ‘safe sport’ is now firmly established on the global policy agenda. Simultaneously, there is growing understanding of the need to engage with athletes, including those who are children and young people, and involve them in safe sport developments and research to ensure initiatives are effective and (child-) athlete-centred. However, to date most developments and research in this area have excluded athletes. The project presented here, in which researchers delivered a series of workshops on safe sport topics to current youth high-performance athletes in Lithuania, aimed to explore youth athletes’ views on the safe sport issues they consider most relevant to sport in their nation. Using a qualitative case study approach, data were generated through focus group interviews with 17 Lithuanian undergraduate student-athletes (average age 22) from sport-related degrees. Analysis identified doping, overtraining, emotional/psychological abuse, and corruption as the issues the young athletes consider most pertinent to their sporting lives. The project highlights the importance of working with current youth athletes to understand the issues they consider important to their experience to better enable sport policymakers and educators to develop relevant and meaningful safe sport training.

Strategies for engaging older adults and informal caregivers in health policy development: A scoping review.

Care for older adults is high on the global policy agenda. Active involvement of older adults and their informal caregivers in policy-making can lead to cost-effective health and long-term care interventions. Yet, approaches for their involvement in health policy development have yet to be extensively explored. This review maps the literature on strategies for older adults (65+years) and informal caregivers' involvement in health policy development. As part of the European Union TRANS-SENIOR program, a scoping review was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute's methodology. Published and grey literature was searched, and eligible studies were screened. Data were extracted from included studies and analysed using the Multidimensional Framework for Patient and Family Engagement in Health and Healthcare. A total of 13 engagement strategies were identified from 11 publications meeting the inclusion criteria. They were categorized as "traditional", "deliberative" and "others", adopting the World Bank's categorization of engagement methods. Older adults and informal caregivers are often consulted to elicit opinions and identify priorities. However, their involvement in policy formulation, implementation and evaluation is unclear from the available literature. Findings indicate that older adults and their informal caregivers do not often have equal influence and shared leadership in policy-making. Although approaches for involving older adults and their informal caregivers' involvement were synthesized from literature, we found next to no information about their involvement in policy formulation, implementation and evaluation. Findings will guide future research in addressing identified gaps and guide policy-makers in identifying and incorporating engagement strategies to support evidence-informed policy-making processes that can improve health outcomes for older adults/informal caregivers.

LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the global health policy agenda: A critical discourse analysis of the Lancet Commission report archive.

LGBTQIA+ people worldwide experience discrimination, violence, and stigma that lead to poor health outcomes. Policy plays a crucial role in ensuring health equity and safety for LGBTQIA+ communities. Given Lancet Commissions' substantial impact on health policy across domains, we aimed to determine how LGBTQIA+ communities and their care needs are incorporated throughout Lancet Commission reports and recommendations. Using critical discourse analysis, we analyzed 102 Commissions for inclusion of and reference to LGBTQIA+ communities using 36 key terms. Three levels of analysis were conducted: 1) micro-level (overview of terminology use); 2) meso-level (visibility and placement of LGBTQIA+ references); and 3) macro-level (outlining characterizations and framing of references with consideration of broader social discourses). 36 of 102 (35%) Commissions referenced LGBTQIA+ communities with 801 mentions in total. There were minimal (9/36) references made in the "Executive Summary," "Recommendations," and/or "Key Messages" sections of reports. LGBTQIA+ communities were most frequently discussed in reports related to HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health. Few Commissions related to public health, or chronic conditions (9/60) referenced LGBTQIA+ communities. Some reports made non-specific or unexplained references; many discussed the LGBTQIA+ population without specific reference to sub-groups. LGBTQIA+ communities were often listed alongside other marginalized groups without rationale or a description of shared needs or experiences. We identified framings (legal, vulnerability, risk) and characterizations (as victims, as blameworthy, as a problem) of LGBTQIA+ communities that contribute to problematizing discourse. LGBTQIA+ people were rarely included in the Commissions, resulting in an inadvertent marginalization of their health needs. Policy initiatives must consider LGBTQIA+ groups from a strengths-based rather than problematizing perspective, integrating evidence-based approaches alongside community-based stakeholder engagement to mitigate inequities and promote inclusive care and policymaking.

Human capital development and economic sustainability linkage in Sub-Saharan African countries: Novel evidence from augmented mean group approach

Sustainable Development Goal number four (SDG-4) strongly emphasizes quality education, which is crucial to human capital development. The importance of human capital development for sustainable economic development has thus risen to the top of the global policy agenda. However, the empirical literature on the topic has several limitations, including utilizing inappropriate measurement of human capital development and being unable to investigate the quality dimensions of education. Therefore, this study used years of schooling and return on education to fill the gap, and also considered the role of institutional and political factors in its empirical estimation. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effect of human capital development on economic sustainability in 30 Sub-Saharan African countries, employing panel data from 2000 to 2020. The augmented mean group model was used in the empirical investigation. The findings of the study showed that human capital development negatively and significantly affects economic sustainability in Sub-Saharan African countries. Thus, among the policy alternatives that Sub-Saharan African countries and policymakers should pursue to attain the goals of economic sustainability is revisiting the entire human capital development architecture and putting more of an emphasis on quality education than on access to education.

South African local economic development policy approaches and challenges: Finding a sustainable approach in social innovation

Background: Increased economic competition globally, makes local economic development (LED) more critical given its contribution to national economies. Local governments (LGs) are central to steering the direction and growth of local economies through their policy approaches. In the last decade, social innovation (SI) has been on the global policy and research agenda as an approach to address economic development challenges. In South Africa’s LG context, SI’s application as a sustainable approach to LED is however nascent.Aim: To explore SI as a sustainable approach to implementing LED policy approaches adopted in the LED strategies of South African municipalities.Setting: Social innovation’s application is congruent with LED’s embeddedness in partnerships between a municipality and local or other stakeholders. This however appears to be latent in South Africa’s LG context and highlights a research gap.Methods: Using an interpretivist paradigm, a qualitative research approach is applied. A literature review with a predetermined approach was applied to search for relevant research concerning SI and LED to address the research aim.Results: Local government should play a leadership role in initiating SI’s application across different sectors, adopting policies harnessing its application, and cultivating a promotive and enabling institutional culture.Conclusion: Social innovation’s application as a sustainable approach to LED requires an enabling policy framework to yield its benefits.Contribution: Social innovation’s application as a sustainable LED policy approach, is presented as integral to an institutional culture that drives LED across different departments contributing to key deliverables of a municipality’s LED strategy.

The Managing Director's Global Policy Agenda, Annual Meetings 2023

The Managing Director's Global Policy Agenda, Annual Meetings 2023

The contributions of citizen science to SDG monitoring and reporting on marine plastics

The accumulation of plastic litter in marine environments is a major environmental challenge along with the difficulties in their measurement because of the massive size of the oceans and vast circulation of plastic litter, which is being addressed as part of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Citizen science, public participation in scientific research and knowledge production, represents a potential source of data for SDG monitoring and reporting of marine plastic litter, yet there has been no evidence of its use to date. Here, we show how Ghana has become the first country to integrate existing citizen science data on marine plastic litter in their official monitoring and reporting of SDG indicator 14.1.1b for the years 2016–2020, which has also helped to bridge local data collection efforts with global monitoring processes and policy agendas by leveraging the SDG framework. The results have been used in Ghana’s 2022 Voluntary National Review of the SDGs, and reported on the UN SDG Global Database, as well as helping to inform relevant policies in Ghana. In addition, here, we present a pathway that can be adopted by the relevant government authorities in other countries that have an interest in following a similar citizen science data validation and reporting process for this indicator and potentially others.

The Development and Innovation of Social-Emotional Learning in China

In todays society, implementing social-e motional learning (SEL) is an important way to promote childrens all-round development fromthesmallsense, and the key to building global citizenship fromthelargesense. With the concept of social-emotional learning being proposed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), and SEL was putting on the global policy agenda by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), many countries have begun to explore and carry out relevant practices according to their actual conditions. This study takes the practice of MOE-UNICEF SEL Programme Team in China as an example to analyse how the policies and practices related to social-emotion learning were diffused and innovated in China. Onthisbasis, some preliminary suggestions on policy formation, theoretical framework, areas requiring special attention, programme implementation and evaluation can be put forward, which are hoped to provide a little reference for the better promotion of SEL.

Shaping smart cities: problem framing, vertical selection and governance in UK smart cities

ABSTRACT As urban governments adopt smart city strategies for delivering services, the need to understand how – and in whose interests – these strategies are formed is imperative. The selection of smart city verticals (or areas of focus for smart city programs) within processes of urban governance has implications for which aspects of the urban agenda become prioritized. Through a study of seven UK smart cities, the paper investigates the framing of city problems, selection of smart verticals, and decision-making logics. The findings highlight that the selection of smart city verticals within the case study cities is rooted in four key considerations: challenges in service delivery, pragmatism, entrepreneurialism, and broader national and global events and policy agendas. These considerations transcend different spatial scales and governance arrangements, raising questions around democratic accountability and transparency. The study concludes that caution is warranted when framing smart cities as a solution to city problems.

Evolution of the major alcohol companies key global policy vehicle through the prism of tax records 2011–19

BackgroundImportant insights have been generated into the nature of the activities of the International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP). Its successor, the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD) is less well understood. This study aims to rectify evidence limitations on the political activities of the alcohol industry at the global level.MethodsInternal Revenue Service filings were examined for ICAP and IARD each year between 2011 and 2019. Data were triangulated with other sources to establish what could be gleaned on the internal workings of these organisations.ResultsThe stated purposes of ICAP and IARD are near identical. The main declared activities were similar for both organisations and comprised public affairs/policy, corporate social responsibility, science/research and communications. Both organisations work extensively with external actors and it has become possible more recently to identify the main contractors supplying services to IARD.DiscussionThis study sheds light on the political activities of the alcohol industry at the global level. It suggests that the evolution of ICAP into IARD has not been accompanied by shifts in the organisation and activities of the collaborative efforts of the major alcohol companies.ConclusionAlcohol and global health research and policy agendas should give careful attention to the sophisticated nature of industry political activities.

COVID-19 Pandemic, Climate Change, and Conflicts on Agriculture: A Trio of Challenges to Global Food Security

Global food security is a worldwide concern. Food insecurity is a significant threat to poverty and hunger eradication goals. Agriculture is one of the focal points in the global policy agenda. Increases in agricultural productivity through the incorporation of technological advances or expansion of cultivable land areas have been pushed forward. However, production growth has slowed in many parts of the world due to various endemic challenges, such as decreased investment in agricultural research, lack of infrastructure in rural areas, and increasing water scarcity. Climate change adversities in agriculture and food security are increasing. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected global food supply chains. Economic and social instability from the pandemic contribute to long-term disturbances. Additionally, conflicts such as war directly affect agriculture by environmental degradation, violence, and breaches of national and international trade agreements. A combination of food security and climate change challenges along with increased conflicts among nations and post-COVID-19 social and economic issues bring bigger and more serious threats to agriculture. This necessitates the strategic design of policies through multifaceted fields regarding food systems. In this comprehensive review, we explore how these three challenging factors, COVID-19, climate change, and conflicts, are interrelated, and how they affect food security. We discuss the impact of these issues on the agricultural sector, plus possible ways of preventing or overcoming such adverse effects.