Levels Of Government Research Articles

Standardization versus Situatedness: A Gray Literature Metasynthesis of How Guidance for Alaska’s Water Infrastructure Management Varies by Government Level

Standardization versus Situatedness: A Gray Literature Metasynthesis of How Guidance for Alaska’s Water Infrastructure Management Varies by Government Level

Evaluating the effectiveness of climate change policies and initiatives in the United States: A comprehensive review

Climate change presents profound challenges, demanding effective policies to mitigate its impacts. This paper reviews the effectiveness of climate policies in the United States, analyzing scholarly articles, government reports, and relevant literature. The review covers diverse policies such as greenhouse gas regulations, renewable energy initiatives, energy efficiency programs, and adaptation measures. It assesses their success in reducing carbon emissions, advancing a low-carbon economy, and enhancing resilience to climate impacts. Key findings highlight significant successes, such as the rise in renewable energy due to renewable portfolio standards and reduced emissions from vehicle fuel efficiency standards. State-level initiatives, like carbon pricing and renewable energy targets, also show promising outcomes. However, the review identifies substantial challenges, including political and economic obstacles, inconsistent policies across states, and the need for better federal-state-local collaboration. Additionally, disparities in policy benefits, with marginalized communities facing greater burdens and limited access to renewable resources, are significant concerns. To enhance the effectiveness of climate policies, the study recommends fostering coherent policies across all government levels, promoting equitable and inclusive climate solutions, raising public awareness, and supporting innovation in clean technologies. This comprehensive review provides valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders to develop strategies that effectively address climate change, promote sustainability, and ensure a fair transition to a low-carbon future.

Do independents like to party? The rise in independent and minor party MPs in Australian parliaments since 1970

ABSTRACT Commentary about the successes of the ‘Teals’ and the Greens in the 2022 federal election echoes scholarship regarding the ongoing fragmentation of major party support, weakening partisan alignment, and the rise of post-materialist voting since the 1970s. To explore the dynamics behind this trend, we construct a novel dataset of independent and minor party members of parliament elected to single-member electorates in Australian lower houses since 1970, empirically exploring the circumstances through which these candidates are successful. Tracing the rise of independent and minor party MPs, we observe that initially, these MPs often emerged through lower levels of government and outside organised politics, while, more recently they have succeeded through party structures and what we term ‘party-like’ forms of organisation. Our results suggest that political fragmentation is increasingly a challenge to conservative politics, especially via the rise of organised party-like independents, representing a realignment from the twentieth century.

Review of national climate change risk assessment methods for impacts on health and health systems in WHO European Region

Abstract Background Climate change poses significant risks to health and health systems. The European Union climate adaptation strategy sets out the pathway to become climate resilient by 2050 and supports the development of adaptation strategies across all levels of governance. Whilst many European countries have published climate change risk assessments (CCRA), it is unclear to what extent health outcomes have been quantified or prioritised. There is a need to improve methods for CCRA methods to support decision making on adaptation and better quantify future impacts on health. The aim of this study is to review the methods used in national CCRAs for impacts on health and health systems in the WHO European region. Methods National and European level CCRAs were identified from national government websites and European document databases e.g. Climate-ADAPT. The most recently published CCRA from each country was included. Data extracted from CCRAs included climate scenarios used, modelling data, outcomes, types of evidence evaluated, stakeholder involvement, health information, methods for prioritization of adaptation options and urgency scoring. Data extracted from each document was grouped by climate risk or outcome. Results Nearly all WHO EURO countries have conducted a formal assessment of climate risks and over half specifically include risks to health. All countries assessed the urgency to adapt to heat and flooding however, less than half consider the health related risks related to disrupted water supply and quality as well as impacts on food supply and security. The key reported health outcomes identified across countries were mortality, infectious disease, chronic diseases and mental health. Conclusions There is varying progress in the quantification and prioritization of health risks from climate change across Europe. To support better public health decision-making, CCRAs should integrate sub-national and local information for targeted adaptation action.

9.L. Round table: “What” and “How” for building competencies for effective policy making in and for public health

Abstract Policymakers operating within the field of public health must regularly draw on their skills or competencies to facilitate engagement in and between policy sectors and with the public, to navigate the larger landscape of public health institutions and governance levels across the policy cycle, to generate, understand, and apply evidence for decision making, as well as to negotiate the demands of diverse stakeholders. What exactly are the competencies needed and how can they be cultivated to enhance the collective capacity of policymaking institutions? The increasing strain placed on public health systems worldwide, owing specially to challenges in population ageing, the burden of non-communicable diseases, and the exigencies introduced by pandemics, environmental disasters, and geo-political instabilities push us to expand the scope of public health. A look to the policy environs and outcomes seen within and across countries demonstrates that the quality of policy is both highly variable and exceedingly subject to the quality of public health leadership itself. These developments shed light on the need for greater investment in the development of competencies needed by policymakers to engage in effective decision making on key issues impacting population health and the resilience of public health systems. This includes efforts to strengthen the abilities of policymakers to identify problems, recognize opportunities, and put forth solutions in line with robust data and evidence, principles of public health ethics, gaps and priorities in public health needs, and in accordance with financial and political realities. The proposed roundtable will examine the state-of-the-art on policymaking competencies in public health, and how to build them by examining the barriers and opportunities. The panel will convene leading experts in the field of public health research and practice to explore: 1) the conceptual definition of competencies for policymaking at different levels of governance and across the policy cycle; 2) the strengths and limits of competency frameworks and their utility in guiding assessment and training tools, as well as policy practice; 3) the challenges associated with developing, maintaining and transferring competencies in fast-changing, multi-level policy making environments; 4) the challenges for public health experts and institutions to be trusted advisors both by policy makers and other stakeholders and the population; and 5) the opportunities to harness the unexploited power of professional networks in some countries of Europe. Key messages • An enhanced research agenda and investment are needed for the development of competencies - individual and collective - for effective public health policy-making and stronger governance. • Innovative approaches to policy-making are needed, and this requires building competencies, including leadership, for addressing the complex nature of public health.

The official career of Sir Christopher Hales, attorney general and master of the rolls under Henry VIII

Abstract This article is the first study of the official career of Sir Christopher Hales. It casts new light on the workload and responsibilities of an early Tudor lawyer-administrator at the highest levels of government. It is structured around the principal stages in Hales’s career: undersheriff of Kent (1507–8), solicitor general (1525–9), attorney general (1529–36) and master of the rolls (1536–41). Its chief contribution to scholarship is that it provides a detailed discussion of the office of attorney general in the early Tudor period.

The transition towards a healthy and sustainable food system at local level: the Brussels City case

Abstract Despite the European Union’s political efforts to promote healthier and more sustainable food systems, challenges persist, with these systems not yet achieving sustainability and still exacerbating health inequalities. The EU-funded FEAST project aims to catalyse this transition through different actions including by focusing on mapping factors shaping food environments in five European cities, including Brussels. This study focuses on mapping existing policies and initiatives by the city government supporting healthier and more sustainable food systems in Brussels City. Policies were then categorized based on Food-EPI domains, types of policies (i.e. financial incentive) and role of the government (i.e. policy development). Results indicated that while Brussels City has a clear strategy (Good Food Strategy) and objectives (Climate Action Plan) to support the transition, there is a notable emphasis on sustainability over health which could be explained by the absence of a dedicated public health expert in the local government. While there are numerous policies focused on improving the school environment (i.e. healthy and sustainable canteens, banned sodas and snack provision, forbidden advertising inside and nearby of unhealthy foods), there is a lack of corresponding measures for public spaces. Furthermore legislative policies are practically inexistent possibly due to jurisdictional barriers from higher governmental levels. Stakeholder interviews will be conducted in the next phase to delve deeper into these issues and to explore potential facilitators and barriers faced in the development and implementation process of these policies. Overall, this research sheds light on the policy landscape in Brussels City, highlighting both progress, areas for improvement and policy gaps in advancing towards healthier and more sustainable food systems. Key messages • Despite EU political efforts to prioritise more sustainable food systems, relevant barriers are still present at local level in Brussels City, hampering the development and implementation of policies. • In Brussels relevant policies for healthier and more sustainable food systems have been implemented, especially in the school environment, but health seems to be overshadowed by sustainability.

Generation of spatial grids for hydrometeorological data in hydrogeological investigations for Colombia

Abstract. In Colombia, water resources management is carried out with insufficient hydrometeorological information in most of the territory. Natural and social conditions make it complex and difficult to densify the monitoring of primary variables for analysis. As a result, decisions often have to be made based on national scale studies, extrapolating information from areas with somewhat better monitoring coverage. The objective of this study is to estimate hydrometeorological data with a spatial resolution that allows decision making on water resources management from the national government level to the local level. For this purpose, multivariate regression models are used where data are fitted from meteorological station measurements taken for the time period 1981–2016.

A Multi-Scale Evaluation Model of Sustainable Development Goal 11.7 for Problem-Solving at Different Levels

Sustainable Development Goal 11.7 (SDG 11.7) aims to promote the improvement of urban public spaces. However, the localization process of SDG 11.7 mainly relies on a bottom-up problem-solving approach, which fails to fully encompass the connotation of SDG 11.7. Additionally, existing evaluations primarily focus on a single scale, neglecting the impact of scale issues. These limitations can lead to imbalanced development or misallocation of responsibilities when guiding governments at different levels in promoting the sustainable development of public spaces. Therefore, this article introduces a multi-scale assessment model of SDG 11.7. It employs a top-down problem-solving approach to construct a sustainable development indicator framework, setting appropriate sustainable development indicators for various levels of government based on the connotation of SDG 11.7, and generates city-scale results by integrating three scales: apartment complexes, street blocks, and counties. Testing this model in Xi’an, China, revealed that it adequately captures four key aspects of SDG 11.7—safety, inclusiveness, accessibility, and greenness—through 11 indicators. The evaluation outcomes at the apartment complex, street block, and county levels effectively guide future development directions for various levels of government. Ultimately, the synthesis of these scales reveals the spatial pattern of SDG 11.7 at the city scale and identifies focal areas for development. Overall, this exploratory model demonstrates high accuracy and robustness, providing a comprehensive understanding of the essence of SDG 11.7. It also alleviates challenges posed by scale issues, offering decision support for monitoring SDG 11.7 across different levels of government in Chinese cities and promoting the process of sustainable development.

CHALLENGES TO PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN THE CONTEXT OF INTERNAL MIGRATION IN UKRAINE

The article addresses the challenges faced by public administration in managing internal migration in Ukraine, driven by large-scale population movements due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, and the necessity of maintaining the stability of state institutions amidst social, economic, and demographic shifts. The purpose of the article is to identify the primary challenges confronting public administration in the context of internal migration and propose strategies to address them. To achieve this, the study employs an integrated approach, combining both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The article identifies the causes of internal migration and the key factors contributing to internal displacement: armed conflict, economic hardships, and social and environmental issues. It analyzes the main challenges to public administration in this context, including organizational difficulties, coordination problems between different levels of government, a lack of resources for effectively managing migration processes, and socio-economic challenges. It is demonstrated that there is insufficient infrastructure to provide housing, employment, and social services for internally displaced persons (IDPs), along with inadequate funding for support programs, and difficulties in integrating IDPs into new communities and fostering interaction with the local population. The article reviews state policy on internal migration, evaluates existing programs and strategies, assesses the effectiveness of current state initiatives, and highlights the barriers to implementing effective IDP policies, such as underfunding and lack of coordination. The author proposes solutions to enhance coordination and management, develop a unified migration management system, engage local communities in addressing IDP issues, increase funding and resources, expand state support programs, attract international assistance to tackle internal migration challenges, and implement legal reforms. Recommendations for improving migration management are also provided to overcome these challenges.

Deliberation on continuous spread of corruption in South Africa

Corruption is widely spread in South Africa and is against the norms of honestly, morals, values, ethics, and good governance. The reasons of corruption may be individual (personal greed for luxury, power, authority), organisational (inadequate monitoring and evaluation, reporting processes), legislative (no compliance), strategic (lack of ethical culture), to state a few. The study is aimed to find answers to the following guiding research question, such as: what is the extent of corruption in South Africa? The qualitative study utilised secondary sources through the literature review of articles and document review of annual/official reports to gather relevant information. The information was further assessed using document analysis. The findings show that corruption is spreading at every level of government, and even public and private sectors are getting exposed to cases of misconduct. The country has established various legislative frameworks to combat corruption. The objectives of anti-corruption frameworks are operationalised through the establishment of anti-corruption organistaions. Some of them are Corruption Watch; National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council; Financial Intelligence Centre; Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse; and National Anti-Corruption Hotline. The findings show that although there are anti-corruption measures in place, the inadequate compliance may create implementation gaps, hence corruption keeps on spreading at political level, bureaucratic offices, and even in municipalities. The study suggests policy measures to minimise the scope and spread of corruption.

Handling client financial insolvency in maternity services: An occurrence, experience and policy gap qualitative analysis among healthcare stakeholders in North-Central Nigeria.

To assess the occurrence of client financial insolvency, experiences of key healthcare stakeholders, and policy gaps on handling the situation during maternity services. A qualitative study was conducted in North-Central Nigeria. Participants were key healthcare stakeholders including healthcare workers from private, primary, secondary, and tertiary facilities, healthcare administrators/facility-heads, program managers and policy makers at local and state government levels through In-depth and Key Informant interviews. Identified themes were occurrence, experiences of stakeholders, and prevention of client financial insolvency. Data were analyzed with the Nvivo statistical package. Participants confirmed the occurrence of client financial insolvency. Clients' inability to pay hospital bills was due to being indigent, awaiting support from relations, or clients who were uncommitted to the payment. Health facilities lack guiding policy documents; potential cases are referred from private to public or from primary to secondary/tertiary facilities. Methods of handling financial insolvency included healthcare worker-related (staff scavenging for needed consumables, fund-raising among facility staff), facility-related (revolving fund, medical social welfare, welfare committee, discharge with re-payment plan, fee-waiver), community-related (ward development committee, religious organizations/philanthropists) interventions, or hospital detention of insolvent clients. Although clients' bills did not increase during detention, many clients did not honor post-discharge re-payment agreements. Participants suggested a client-friendly billing system, early initiation of birth preparedness, partner involvement, and a rapid scale-up of health insurance for pregnant women to curb financial insolvency. Tackling client financial insolvency requires policy documents, support to private facilities, effective debt-recovery mechanisms, and scale up of health insurance for pregnant women.

Understanding evidence ecosystems: What influences the production, translation, and use of modeled evidence in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, India, and Kenya?

Background This study sought to document and understand facilitators and barriers to producing, translating, and using modeled evidence in decision-making in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, India, and Kenya. We explored researcher-decision-maker engagement mechanisms as key facilitators of evidence use, with a focus on knowledge brokers and boundary organizations. Methods The study used sequential mixed methods drawing on data collected from surveys and key informant interviews, complemented by a rapid desk review to map modeling activities and actors. The survey was conducted online while the qualitative research entailed in-depth interviews with modelers, knowledge brokers, and decision-makers working in a representative variety of health fields, organizations, and levels of government. This study was approved by Health Media Lab IRB (Institutional Review Board) in the United States and a local IRB in each study country and conducted between September 2021 and June 2022. Results Informants interviewed for this study described a range of factors that facilitate and inhibit the use of modeled evidence in public health decision-making at the individual, organizational, and environmental levels. Key themes included the capacity to produce, translate, and use modeled evidence; the timing and relevance of modeling outputs; the existence of communications channels between modelers and decision-makers; the strength of underlying data systems; the role of sustained funding; and the impact of global crises. Conclusion This study highlights the importance of taking an ecosystem approach to supporting modeling activities, considering individual, organizational, and environmental factors and how different actors and interact to inform the production, translation, and use of modeled evidence. Structured interaction that promotes dialogue, debate, and joint sense making between the producers and users of evidence is critical to informing and influencing the use of evidence in decision-making.

Inclusion of Students With Disabilities in Physical Education: The Crossroads of Systemic Coherence

Abstract This study aims to identify and comprehend the factors and pedagogical practices that facilitate or hinder the inclusion of students with disabilities in physical education classes at school, considering micro and macrosystemic levels. The methodology employed in this study was a case study approach, using an interpretative phenomenological analysis to construct thematic categories of analysis. These categories include: 1.Flexibility of the physical education teacher’s practices and strategies, 2. Teacher training, 3. Inclusive spaces and infrastructure, 4. Involvement of the educational community. The various data collection tools (interviews, focus groups and observations) allowed to portray and illuminate each of the topics of analysis and the contextual differences of the three schools analyzed. The findings demonstrate that inclusive strategies must be coherent and systemic in accordance with the contexts. However, it is possible to highlight inclusive strategies that reveal the importance of teacher commitment, the interconnected work between teachers and school management, the use of expeditious communication channels within the educational community and with governmental levels, the use of implements related to the practice of physical education and the use of the teacher’s voice as the primary agent for the implementation of inclusive learning strategies.

SOCIAL POLICY IN THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM: ENSURING EQUAL ACCESS TO SOCIAL SERVICES

he article explores current issues of social policy within the public administration system of Ukraine in the context of decentralization, focusing on ensuring equal access to social services for all population groups. The relevance of the research is driven by the need to adapt social policy to new challenges. Key problems identified include socio-economic instability and the consequences of the war. The objective is to identify the main problems and factors affecting the effectiveness of social services delivery. The research aims to find ways to improve social policy at the regional level. The study employs methods such as comparative analysis, statistical review, index-based approach, and social service efficiency evaluation methodology. A comparative analysis of countries like Sweden, Germany, France, and Estonia revealed effective approaches to organizing social policy, with their practices partially applicable in today’s Ukraine. The research results indicate that decentralization has expanded the financial and organizational autonomy of local communities. The war’s impact has been significant, leading to reduced institutional capacity of authorities, the destruction of social infrastructure, and workforce shortages. The article proposes a conceptual model for assessing equal access to social services, which includes five key components: social capital, economic potential, infrastructure, governance level, and digital capabilities. This model enables the evaluation of access to social services based on objective indicators while accounting for regional specificities. The practical application of this model will help identify strengths and weaknesses in social policy at the local level and determine priority areas for future development. The conclusions emphasize that improving the mechanisms of financing, organizing, and monitoring social service delivery is a crucial task today. A key consideration is the specific characteristics of regions and contemporary challenges. Future research prospects include developing new approaches to evaluating the effectiveness of social services. Additionally, future studies should focus on examining the impact of digitalization on access to social services and integrating international experience to enhance the resilience of Ukraine’s social system.

Searching for Justice: Indigenous Self-Determination over the Landfill Search as a Matter of Justice for MMIWG2S

“Search the Landfill” is an Indigenous-led movement for justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S) which originated through Indigenous resistance to police racism in Winnipeg, Canada. The movement calls upon all levels of government to support and execute the search of the Prairie Green Landfill, just north of the City of Winnipeg, to recover the bodies of at least two of four First Nations women who were murdered in early 2022 at the hands of a white male serial killer. Through an analysis of the news articles, press releases, and reports, this paper explores the way in which Indigenous leaders resisted and rewrote the discourses that surrounded the search. By at once condemning the Winnipeg Police Service’s refusal to search the landfill and rejecting police authority and control over the decision-making process, Indigenous women who became the leaders of this movement crafted the space to articulate for themselves how and why the search must be done as a matter of Indigenous rights. This paper explores how Indigenous leadership offers glimpses of what a decolonizing approach to justice may look like in cases of MMIWG2S and which, in turn, invites further opportunities to problematize, subvert, and move beyond the Western legal norms and traditions.

A tale of two (Florida) cities: perceptions of flooding risk and adaptation in Tampa’s Hyde Park and Saint Augustine

AbstractSea level rise is not a problem for the future alone. It is already affecting many small to medium cities on the East Coast of the USA. These cities are adapting to their problems without sufficient help from the federal or state government. To escape the perils of short-term reactionary ad hoc measures to deal with such problems, there is a need to utilize longer-term visions and frameworks. One such approach, Adaptation Pathway Planning, requires the involvement of locally affected people. This study looks at the perceptions and preferred adaptation solutions of the residents of St. Augustine and the Hyde Park neighborhood in Tampa, FL, two cities that are already experiencing the worsening flooding effects caused by rising seas. The results show that those living in areas at higher risk, and which are already experiencing frequent tidal flooding, had a greater knowledge of this risk and a higher desire for increased action from multiple levels of government. Also, such people were more aware of what their municipalities were already doing to adapt. Finally, when faced with two different scenarios of the possible rise in sea levels by 2050, those presented with the higher scenarios were more likely to choose a wider range of adaptation countermeasures. All this indicates the need to carefully consider the awareness of residents regarding the effects of sea level rise and how long-term adaptation should be discussed with them.

Integrated development plan strategies for service delivery in Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality

Background: Following the end of apartheid in 1994, the democratic government recognised the importance of local government as a key vehicle for service delivery.Aim: This article examined the effectiveness of the integrated development plan (IDP) strategies of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality (NMMM) as a public service delivery tool.Setting: In South Africa, poor service delivery has remained a challenge. This has been attributed to the challenge of transparency and accountability. Thus, the lack of access to basic needs is more profound at the local government level. While urban centres have access to certain basic facilities, rural communities such as Walmer and Motherwell townships remain underdeveloped.Methods: The study used a qualitative research design for data collection and analysis. Thirty participants were purposively selected among municipal officials, ward councillors and community members for semi-structured interviews. Thematic data analysis was used for the analysis of data.Results: Despite the IDP’s well-structured strategic framework, various challenges, such as insufficient community participation, inadequate resource allocation and a lack of essential planning skills among officials hindered its effective implementation.Conclusion: The study concluded that for the IDP to achieve its aims, its implementation should be evidence-based and responsive to community needs. Effective service delivery requires a fundamental transformation in municipal leadership and public participation.Contribution: The article presents the challenge of public service delivery within the context of the IDP strategies in a specific municipality. It serves as a signpost for understanding the implementation of the IDP as a public service delivery strategy.

Decarbonising the Australian Economy Introduction

AbstractFor most of the last 15 years, Australia policy on climate change has been decidedly underwhelming, leaving us behind where we need to be to fulfil our obligations under the Paris Accord. But there are encouraging signs at present that there is an emerging consensus—amongst captains of industry, different levels of government, policy‐makers and everyday Australians—that we can achieve our ambitions to live in a world that is far less reliant on carbon.

The dominant policy approach to the right to food has been improperly underpinned by a food security paradigm

Focusing on food security is hiding the true challenge of reclaiming a truly democratic path to the right to food and adequate nutrition. Under the food security paradigm, the question of power in the food system never comes up. So, as long as access to food is guaranteed under some system or other, there is no problem. Therefore, the notion of ‘securing-the-needs-of-the-hungry’ is also meant to signal the presence of a ‘security’ discourse that identifies ‘hunger’ and the ‘hungry’ as a threat to the political economy. The dearth of active scholarship in this area may be due, in part, to the opposition that the Via Campesina’s food sovereignty narrative poses to the existing institutions handling food issues, particularly at their governance level. The increasing dependence on agriculture --not as a source of food for direct consumption, but as a source of inputs for the food processing industry-- means that the raw food commodities produced by agriculture will have a diminishing potential to directly impact human consumption and health since many are processed, reshaped and transformed into unhealthy ultra-processed formulations.