Local Voluntary Groups Research Articles

Private Benefits? External Benefits? Outcomes of Private Schooling in 21stCentury Britain

AbstractPolicy discourse surrounding Britain’s unusually well-resourced private schools surrounds their charitable status and their relationship with low social mobility, but informative evidence is scarce. We present estimates of the extent to which private and external benefits at age 25 are associated with attendance at private school in England in the 21st century. We find a weekly wage premium of 17 percent, and a 12 percentage point lower chance of downward social mobility. By contrast, private schooling is not significantly associated with participation in local voluntary groups, unpaid voluntary work, or charitable giving and fundraising; this finding casts doubt on claims that private schools deliver ‘public benefit’ in this way.

A METHOD OF PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN GOVERNMENTS AND CITIZEN’S COMMUNITY GROUPS FOR ACHIEVING ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN THE LANDCARE MOVEMENT IN AUSTRALIA

With regard to achieving environmental sustainability, it has long been recognized that partnership between citizens and governments is important for conservation and for solving environmental problems. It has also been recognized that what form that partnership takes makes a difference. However we are still in the process of seeking out a methodology for an ideal form of partnership between citizens and governments. This study will focus on the partnership between citizen's community groups and governments in an Australian community-based approach to natural resource management called Landcare, which has been recognized as a successful approach for natural resource management through multi-party partnership. In the Landcare movement, local voluntary groups care for the local environment, including such things as parks, creeks, forests and farms. In order to clarify the nature of the partnership between citizen's community groups and governments in the Landcare movement, documentation analysis and in-field research in the State of Victoria, Australia, were undertaken. The in-field research included observations through participation and interviews with individuals participating in the Landcare movement as volunteers or staff members. As a conclusion, the partnership between citizen's community groups and governments in the Landcare movement has been found to include respect for the voluntary and autonomous nature of the local groups that carry out the activities for improving local environments with informational, financial, technical, and motivational support from the state and federal government.

Contesting and re-negotiating the national in French cities: examining policies of governance, Europeanisation and co-option in Marseille and Lyon

The past decade has seen a dynamic and contradictory treatment of difference in French policy-making, both nationally and locally. However, the means by which local difference orientated policies redefine the national is understudied. This article bridges this gap with a case study analysis of Marseille and Lyon to assess and typologize the ways that difference is deployed in local policy to influence, contest and negotiate the discursive performance and construction of the nation. Of particular importance here are modes of municipal governance, the influence of European government and the co-option of local voluntary groups into policy. This article concludes that both Marseille and Lyon provide rich examples of not only how municipalities are increasingly concerned with the notion of difference in policy-making, but also how their policies and engagement with local actors in dealing with nationally salient issues might lead to a redefinition of the national.

From awareness to involvement? A qualitative study of respiratory patients' awareness of health service change.

BACKGROUND Despite the policy rhetoric, patient involvement in health service decisions remains limited. Highlighted barriers include a concern that most patients are unable to see beyond personal aspects of their care in order to contribute meaningfully to health service development, and a perception that professionals do not welcome patient involvement. OBJECTIVES We aimed to explore respiratory patients' awareness of changes in local health service provision and provide insight into health professionals' attitudes to engaging patients. METHODS Nested within an ethnographic study of health service reconfiguration, we recruited 31 patients with a range of respiratory diseases from four case study areas in England and Wales. Data from telephone interviews, illness diaries and focus groups with patients, and interviews with health professionals and managers were transcribed and analysed using the Framework approach. RESULTS Participants were not only aware of trends in health service provision (e.g. emergence of new professional roles, shift from secondary to primary care) but interpreted changes in the light of local and national events. Despite this awareness, none of the patients was formally involved in service development, though some contributed to local voluntary groups. Professionals generally welcomed the need for patients' views to be heard. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS Our data give grounds for optimism. Patients are aware of and interested in a broad range of health-related issues. Professionals' motivation to involve patients in service development may be underestimated. Although practical obstacles remain, our findings should encourage the ongoing search for effective models of promoting patient engagement in health-care services.

Consumer involvement in research using oral history: ‘What are people's experiences of health and well‐being in Halton?’

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to describe a qualitative oral history case study that involved consumers in research and followed a collaborative approach in the north‐west of England. This study had two aims: (1) to increase local voluntary groups research capacity through active involvement in research; and (2) to explore the community's historical perceptions of health and well‐being. The research team included four lay researchers from local voluntary groups supported by an academic researcher. Data collection used semi‐structured interviews based on oral history life stories that focused on health and well‐being. Thematic data analysis and mind maps were used to create a collective narrative. This paper will provide a brief synopsis of the findings from the main themes of health and well‐being, and reflect on the process of consumer involvement in research using oral history. Outputs have included dissemination at a local and national level, increased knowledge and confidence in the research process, and involvement in other related initiatives, such as Local Involvement Networks, partnership working with local libraries and collaboration with the regional archivist.

Exploring support for dyslexic adults in the English workforce: lessons learnt from the story of an adult dyslexia group

Dyslexia support is likely to be in place for students within educational establishments in England. However, there are a significant number of adults with dyslexia in the English workplace who are no longer involved in education and for whom ongoing support is necessary to enable them to reach their potential in a world of increasing literacy demands. Legislation has led to significant moves towards inclusion in the English workplace, but there has been a lack of public recognition of the concerns and needs articulated by adults with this invisible disability. The formation of local voluntary groups provides one model of support for adults with dyslexia. This article examines the setting up of one such group and highlights issues involved in this process. The nature of the group structure and the support offered is discussed, including its impact on the individuals concerned. Finally, the author makes recommendations for stakeholders in the inclusion of adults with dyslexia.

Promoting Patient and Public Involvement in Primary Health Care: Part 2 ‐ Local Case Study

Primary care groups (PCGs) and primary care trusts (PCTs) are required to ensure that patient and public involvement underpins all activity. In Part 1, the literature review revealed many challenges to implementing this important measure of performance that would test those with responsibility for achieving a meaningful outcome for all stakeholders. Part 2 reports on a local study that used qualitative data from key stakeholders to examine how one PCG was responding to the involvement agenda. The findings revealed cynicism and doubt among board members about the purpose and value of involvement, despite which some progress had been made in engaging with local voluntary groups. However, the experience of involvement among local patients had not always been a positive one. It is suggested that issues of power and organisational culture will need to be tackled through greater investment in clinical and managerial staff development.

The Manchester Community Information Network

The Electronic Library spoke to Alec Gallimore, who is Central Library Manager of Manchester Public Libraries. In Manchester the public library has joined with the Citizens Advice Bureau, a national firm of management consultants, local voluntary groups and city council departments to establish the Manchester Community Information Network (http://www.poptel.org.uk/mcin/), a project designed to provide community information through public terminals in the form of World Wide Web pages with access to local databases. There is also a project to develop public information touch screen kiosks.

America's Voluntary Groups Thrive in a National Network

any conservatives tend to blame M the rise of big government over the course of the 20th century for the decline of American civil society. Convinced that once upon a time voluntary groups flourished within self-contained local communities, they often cite Alexis de Tocqueville in support of the notion that in the early days of the American republic local voluntary groups prospered apart from politics or government above the local level. In reality, however, the great Frenchman's Democracy in America repeatedly highlights the ways in which America's nascent elec toral democracy promoted all sorts of voluntary asso ciations. And recent research by historians underscores the enduring importance of the U.S. federal govern ment in promoting a vibrant civil society

HOME CARE BEFORE HACC: INTER‐STATE COMPARISONS

AbstractDespite different delivery systems for home care, similar services were delivered to similar proportions of elderly people in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide in 1981. Per capita government expenditure on home care in the three States varied, as did the cost of service delivery. Client characteristics also differed, in that the health‐oriented regional services in Adelaide had more disabled and more poor clients, while local government in Melbourne and local voluntary groups in Sydney served a more mainstream clientele. Substantially more funds have gone to home care through the HACC Program, warranting an analysis of current service patterns, client characteristics and client outcomes.

Social Life, Local Politics and Nazism: Marburg, 1880-1935

Focusing on Marburg, a contentious university town where voters demonstrated strong electoral support for Adolf Hitler's National Socialist party, this imaginative study discusses the political role of small-town organizational life and painstakingly reconstructs the full range of Nazi sympathizers' cross-affiliations with local voluntary groups.

The contribution of computer‐based information systems to partnership between public agencies and voluntary environmental groups

Abstract This paper considers the contribution of computing to the implementation of a policy of partnership between public environmental agencies and local voluntary groups. The present policy commitment to partnerships of this kind is reviewed. Particular information needs arise when public agencies seek to give co‐ordinated support to the environmental action undertaken by local groups. These stem from the disaggregated nature of the structure and functions of the voluntary sector. Computer‐based information systems are identified as a bridge between the regional organisation of public agencies and the local activities of voluntary groups. A computer system devised to aid the forward planning of public support for voluntary action is described. It is considered that this technique has value as part of a wider strategy of interaction between the public and voluntary sectors.

Local Voluntary Groups and Concern for the Environment: the Example of Surrey, England

Local Voluntary Groups and Concern for the Environment: the Example of Surrey, England

Factors in Voter Turnout and Party Preference in a Saskatchewan Town

In 1960 and 1962 an intensive study was conducted of voluntary organizations and social participation in the town of Biggar, Saskatchewan. While the research was primarily focused upon the structure and characteristics of local voluntary groups, their leadership and their participants, it also delved into the related subjects of voter turnout (on the local, provincial, and federal election levels) and political party preference (on the provincial and federal levels). It is the purpose of this paper to present, and examine the implications of, these latter data. Following a brief description of the research site, and the sample chosen for study, the data are first examined in terms of the apparent relationship between voter turnout and party preference in a community where party switching (that is, voting for one party on the provincial level, another on the federal) is not an uncommon phenomenon. This analysis suggests the probability that a relatively small number of “switch voters” may be the key to party success in many Canadian communities, and examines the question of whether party popularity or keenness of a local competition plays a greater role in stimulating voter turnout. A series of eight social factors are then considered, independently, in terms of their relationships to turnout and party preference. A number of significant findings emerge, some of which support, others of which question, expectations based upon previous research in Canada and elsewhere.