Public Welfare Sectors Research Articles

Role of Cooperative Planning in Mixed-Economy and Its Impact on Development in Nepal

This paper discusses the importance of cooperative planning in the country that followed the mixed economy. This paper is based on the qualitative approach and the data were collected through secondary sources. A developing country like Nepal may not be adequately sustainable without the development of both private and public welfare sectors. After 1950, more enterprises were introduced in Nepal to uplift the existing status of the cooperatives for development in a mixed economy; the effort could not able to give satisfactory results however, the path of gradual and steady economic recovery as market space in development found to be started for the pro-poor in Nepal. Cooperative planning has introduced the principle of three pillars (public, private, and cooperative) of development in a mixed economy to address the demand and interests of poor and marginalized people in society. For this purpose, co-operatives have been providing foundations for uplifting their livelihood through the process of capital formation, landing, and saving in Nepal. However, most of the cooperatives in Nepal have operated and are controlled by rich and elite sections of society. Consequently, the activities of cooperatives are not found to follow the pathway of the three pillars of the economy. Hence, there is still a gap between reality and rhetoric in the operation of cooperatives in Nepal that should be reduced to uplift the livelihood of the poor and marginalized people.

KINERJA PEMERINTAH DAERAH DI MATA PUBLIK: STUDI KASUS PENANGANAN PANDEMI COVID-19 DI BALI TAHUN 2020

Bali is one of the region in Indonesia experiencing an upmost severe impact of Covid-19 pandemy. Policies formulation and implementation were done in unideal condition. The evaluations from the public opinion are really needed. This study captures the public's response over the policy of pandemic handling in Bali which is focused on the aspects of: (1) health, (2) tourism economy, and (3) social welfare. The method used in this study is survey conducted on 1.540 respondents spread all over Bali. The margin of error is 3% at the confidence level of 95%. The results showed that public values the performance of Bali Government is lower than national scores (66%). Good satisfaction numbers are shown over the health aspect (62%). Balinese rate over economic and public welfare sectors are valued as 42%. This research also found that public's response over Bali Province government policies in pandemic handling are related with the pandemic impact on respondents household financial situations.

How Unstandardized Work Tasks Create Arenas for Leadership

ABSTRACTInterviews with 41 employees and managers in the Norwegian public welfare services identify characteristics and behaviors experienced as leadership. The study identifies how management behaviors such as deciding, controlling, and structuring the work create arenas for leadership and how these arenas vary with the standardization of work tasks. The findings connect employees leadership experiences to their need for management, and thus challenge the assumption that management tasks are a hindrance to leadership in the public welfare sector.

Understanding evaluation practice within the context of social investment

Social impact investing is the use of private investment to fund social programs in various public welfare sectors. It is currently unclear which evaluative practices are used to determine the impact of social investment. This study describes how impact investments are evaluated and the factors that help explain variations in practice through survey ( N = 161) and interview ( N = 13) data from investors, intermediaries, entrepreneurs, and analysts. Study findings indicate that analysts typically rely on descriptive quantitative and qualitative data and analyses. Analysts’ background, training, and role; perceptions of the goals of the work; and the complexity of a program’s theory influence their evaluation approach. More nuanced or indirect impacts of investments may not be captured because evaluation activities tend to be limited in scope and scale. Future research should explore the work of those directly responsible for impact activities to better understand the conditions under which more sophisticated evaluation approaches might be employed.

Introduction: The Failure and Future of the Welfare State in Post-socialism

Debates on the post-socialist welfare state evolved in two main directions. While some scholars have maintained that they would eventually converge with Western European patterns, some others have pointed at the need of a more ‘particularist’ approach, seeking to demonstrate that post-socialist states might follow a different and non-traditional path, individually or as a region in terms of welfare provision. Our current work is an attempt to contribute to the debate on the direction of post-socialist welfare state adaptation by engaging with corruption and welfare state/public sector failure in post-socialist spaces. In particular, emphasis is put on the tactics and strategies used by public workers and citizens to cope with incomplete and inadequate public social welfare provision. Rooted in different disciplinary schools, and making use of diverse methodological and theoretical approaches, the papers of this special issue provide further evidence to rechart the relationship between the public welfare sector, citizens and the current economic transition, a commonality that allows us to point at alternatives to the capitalist model that for some time has been seen as the only option. In line with our previous works, in this special issue we explore the possibility that informality and formality are complementary or that informality may ‘replace’ formal processes and structures. In other words, where the welfare state does not penetrate, welfare might be spread also through informal channels and it might redefine the very dynamics underpinning of a society.

Coping with the imbalance between job demands and resources: A study of different coping patterns and implications for health and quality in human service work

• Summary: In recent decades the public welfare sector has been subjected to major structural changes, and studies of various occupational groups within human service work have reported increased workload and a high prevalence of work-related stress. Using questionnaire data from a sample of human service workers within social work, child care and elderly care, the aim of this study was to identify different patterns of coping strategies to manage the imbalance between work demands and resources, and then to investigate their impact on outcomes in employee health and service quality. • Findings: Cluster analysis identified three strategy profiles: compensatory and quality reducing, voice and support seeking and self-supporting, and the comparative analysis indicated that the compensatory and quality reducing cluster may be regarded as a risk group. Results of hierarchical regression analyses disclosed that the identified strategies affected health outcomes as well as perceived service quality. The use of compensatory and quality reducing strategies was negatively related to health and quality, although work demands, resources and background characteristics were controlled for. • Applications: The results add to the research field through the identification of compensatory and quality reducing strategies not previously described in the coping literature, as well as the risks associated with them. Applied in practice, the identified strategy clusters might help distinguish ‘risk behaviors’ from more beneficial strategies. The results also point toward the importance of providing organizational structures that allow the employees to voice their opinions and critique, as well as to give and receive social support.

Feminism och jämställdhet i en nyliberal kontext 1990-2010

The article discusses the relationship between gender equality politics and the advancement of neo-liberalism in Sweden from the 1980s–90s. As theoretical starting point serves a discussion by Nancy Fraser, concerning the relationship between feminism and neo-liberalism, and her fears that capitalism has co-opted the feminist agenda, in fact putting feminism in the service of market-liberalism. From many perspectives, it is evident that Swedish society, like so many in the Western world, has been subjected to the forces of market logic, imbuing the politics from conservatism to social-democracy alike. To what extent has this development affected feminism on the one hand, and gender equality politics on the other? Do we detect a new kind of liberal feminism? A neo-liberal feminism? The article makes use of empirical evidence concerning the current politics on behalf of the Liberal-Conservative Swedish Government to promote female entrepreneurship. Three political areas with relevance for both gender equality and the issue of female entrepreneurship are investigated: the future of the public welfare sector, the issue of tax-deduction for household services, and, finally, gender quotas and women on company boards. While promoting a politics where the market is increasingly substituted for the public welfare-sector, and offered as a solution in most political areas, the Liberal-Conservatives of today have nevertheless embraced a feminist rhetoric. Acknowledging the forces of ‘the gender powerorder’ and structural inequality is now a standard feature within liberal gender equality politics. This political merger between feminism and neo-liberal politics may be interpreted as just paying lip-service; as a way of reconciling a long tradition of consensus surrounding gender equality with the overall neo-liberal aim of transforming the entire society along market principles. But, we may also see a neo-liberal feminism in its own right, intent on expanding the field of gender equality to enterprise, ownership and economic power.

Independent fostering agencies uncovered: the findings of a national study

ABSTRACTThis paper presents the findings of a survey of independent fostering agencies (IFAs) in England, Scotland and Wales. Information was gathered about their operational arrangements, services, fees, staffing, foster carers and the children and young people in placement. This information is supplemented by an earlier evaluation of one large English IFA and by reference to the available relevant literature. The expansion of the IFAs has been generally greeted with hostility by local authority managers because of what is perceived as the loss of foster carers to the independent sector, the costs of the IFAs and their position outside the public welfare sector. This paper questions the validity of these views following an examination of the status of the agencies, the background of their foster carers and the circumstances surrounding the placements of the children and young people. It concludes by identifying gaps in our knowledge and areas for future research.