Regional Authorities Research Articles

Psychological characteristics of environmental stakeholders and interactions in their social network

This research explores the roles of (1) the stakeholder categories conservation association, land use association, public authority and research group, (2) Organizational Culture, operationalized by the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument; (3) Environmental Worldview, operationalized by the New Environmental Paradigm; and (4) Environmental Risk Perception, operationalized by the Myths of Physical Nature, in shaping the interactions in the social network of environmental stakeholders in the city and district of Osnabrück in Northwest Germany. First, the study examines the stakeholder categories (1), regarding the expression of the constructs (2), (3) and (4) among them. Second, all constructs (1), (2), (3) and (4) are examined regarding possible correlations with the presence of collaboration and conflict between stakeholders. Our analysis reveals that (1) Stakeholder Categories are significantly correlated with the presence of collaboration, but not of conflict. (2) A significant correlation between membership of a stakeholder category and the dominant manifestation of a particular organizational culture is present, while no correlation between Organizational Cultures and the presence of collaborations or conflicts could be found. Moreover, the study highlights (3) a generally pro-environmental orientation across stakeholders as captured by the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP), indicating a shared foundation for potential collaborative efforts. (4) Analysis of Environmental Risk Perception, through the Cultural Theory’s myths of physical nature, uncovers a widespread preference for the hierarchical myth, suggesting a common perception of environmental risks and resilience. This study emphasizes the importance of understanding psychological and social dimensions in environmental stakeholder management to enhance collaborative efforts towards sustainable development. It highlights the need for management approaches that acknowledge the complex interplay of diverse psychological constructs in driving effective and sustainable collaborations between stakeholders of regional land use, nature conservation, public authorities, academia and other sectors depending on the context. Through its insights into stakeholder interactions, this research contributes to the broader discourse on achieving sustainable development goals through informed, cooperative stakeholder engagement.

Kewenangan Pemerintah Kabupaten/Kota dalam Pengelolaan Sumber Daya Alam di Wilayah Laut Perbatasan Negara

Introduction: Indonesia is one of the largest archipelagic countries in the world with a total of 17,508 islands and borders with other countries. As a country with a number of boundaries with other countries, Indonesia must strategically plan its borders to protect the sovereignty of its own country.Purposes of the Research: This writing aims to re-position the regional government's authority in managing marine natural resources, especially those in border areas.Methods of the Research: The research method used in this study is normative legal research or another name, namely doctrinal law research which uses statutory regulations as the basis for this research. The analysis uses the statutory approach (statute approach), and the conceptual approach (conceptual approach).Result of the Research: The results of this study indicate that in the Indonesian constitution, there is the authority given to Regency/City Governments to manage border areas for the welfare of the surrounding community and Indonesia as a whole. Thus this thesis was developed in the interest of advancing educational science.

Effectiveness of regional government authority regarding mining business permits post presidential decree number 55 of 2022 concerning mineral and coal mining management

Effectiveness of regional government authority regarding mining business permits post presidential decree number 55 of 2022 concerning mineral and coal mining management

Primary care team reorganisation after the SARS-COV-2 pandemic. Differences between Catalonia and Spain in the PRICOV study.

Spanish primary care services are managed differently by each region's authorities. Catalonia started its services provision and design nearly two decades before other Spanish regions and developed nurses' roles and task shifting in primary care. This work identifies differences in the Europe PRICOV-19 study answers between Catalonia and those submitted from the rest of Spain regarding how primary care teams (PCT) were organised during the SARS-CoV-2-2019 pandemic, how tasks and roles changed, and the pandemic's impact on the care providers. Initially, we computed bivariate relationships and tested using contingency association and unpaired Wilcoxon. Still, we estimated multiple linear regressions controlling with a list of individual and GP practice characteristics and clustering standard errors at the kind of location. Main statistically significant differences were found in the adaptation to the new tasks, the ability to solve most health problems, and specific accessibilities to primary care. In Catalonia, satisfaction with the adaptation to the new tasks was higher (41.9% satisfied and 30.2% neutral) than in the rest of Spain (50.9% dissatisfaction). Also, GPs in Catalonia reported to a greater extent than the rest of Spain that chronic patients were listed for extensive follow-up. These differences may be related to Catalonia's strategy for empowering primary care professionals other than family doctors. Considering future pandemics, demographic ageing, and professional shortages, we point out the potential benefits of these changes in PCT organisations and the need to review the centres's design.

Shaping the future of healthcare in British Columbia: Establishing provincial clinical governance for responsible deployment of artificial intelligence tools.

As healthcare embraces the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is imperative to safeguard patient and provider safety, equity, and trust in the healthcare system. This article outlines the approach taken by the British Columbia (BC) Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) to establish clinical governance for the responsible deployment of AI tools in healthcare. Leveraging its province-wide mandate and expertise, PHSA establishes the infrastructure and processes to proactively and systematically intake, assess, prioritize, and evaluate AI tools. PHSA proposes a coordinated approach in AI tool deployment in collaboration with regional health authorities to prevent duplication of efforts and ensure equitable access to existing and emerging AI tools across the province of BC, incorporating principles of anti-Indigenous racism, cultural safety, and humility. The proposed governance structure underscores the identification of clinical needs, proactive ethics review, rigorous risk assessment, data validation, transparent communication, provider training, and ongoing evaluation to ensure success.

Navigating the innovation policy dilemma: How subnational governments balance expenditure competition pressures and long-term innovation goals

In the pursuit of economic growth, the role of innovation has become increasingly important, posing dilemmas for subnational governments as they navigate the balance between expenditure competition and long-term investments in innovation. This study aimed to investigate the intricate relationship between fiscal pressures and the pursuit of innovation goals faced by regional authorities. To achieve this, a systematic literature review was conducted, synthesizing more than 150 studies published within the past 15 years. Keyword searches were conducted across multiple databases, and additional scholarly articles were incorporated through citation tracking. Rigorous qualitative analysis techniques, including inductive coding and thematic analysis, were employed to distill conceptual insights from the literature. The analysis performed in this review reveals extensive discussions regarding the influence of competition on innovation outcomes, encompassing a wide range of perspectives. The potential advantages of localization are emphasized by some viewpoints, while others caution against the risks of inadequate investment. The effective coordination of policies across multiple levels of governance to maximize synergies between national and subnational innovation systems emerges as a complex yet crucial challenge. It is observed that collaborative networks, which facilitate knowledge exchange through industrial clustering and public-private linkages, play a significant role in leveraging regional innovation assets. Strategic approaches that successfully balance competition with long-term capacity development have been demonstrated by leading jurisdictions. These findings highlight the significance of tailored policy frameworks that account for the unique contexts of each region, providing opportunities to harness competitive motivations while sustaining investments in innovation. Ongoing coordination is essential to strike a balance between responsiveness and coherence across diverse territories. This study offers practical guidance and academic insights on strategies to align decentralized imperatives, aiming to optimize prosperity through knowledge creation within evolving multi-level innovation systems. By shedding light on these strategies, the research contributes to both practical and academic understandings of how to effectively navigate and capitalize on the dynamics of such systems.

Real-time forecast of temperature-related excess mortality at small-area level: towards an operational framework

The development of innovative tools for real-time monitoring and forecasting of environmental health impacts is central to effective public health interventions and resource allocation strategies. Though a need for such generic tools has been previously echoed by public health planners and regional authorities responsible for issuing anticipatory alerts, a comprehensive, robust and scalable real-time system for predicting temperature-related excess deaths at a local scale has not been developed yet. Filling this gap, we propose a flexible operational framework for coupling publicly available weather forecasts with temperature-mortality risk functions specific to small census-based zones, the latter derived using state-of-the-art environmental epidemiological models. Utilising high-resolution temperature data forecast by a leading European meteorological centre, we demonstrate a real-time application to forecast the excess mortality during the July 2022 heatwave over England and Wales. The output, consisting of expected temperature-related excess deaths at small geographic areas on different lead times, can be automated to generate maps at various spatio-temporal scales, thus facilitating preventive action and allocation of public health resources in advance. While the real-case example discussed here demonstrates an application for predicting (expected) heat-related excess deaths, the framework can also be adapted to other weather-related health risks and to different geographical areas, provided data on both meteorological exposure and the underlying health outcomes are available to calibrate the associated risk functions. The proposed framework addresses an urgent need for predicting the short-term environmental health burden on public health systems globally, especially in low- and middle-income regions, where rapid response to mitigate adverse exposures and impacts to extreme temperatures are often constrained by available resources.

Problems and Prospects for the Development of Cluster Structuring in the Economy of Kazakhstan’s Agricultural Sector: Theory and Practice

This article discusses the issues of cluster policy formation in the Republic of Kazakhstan on the basis of studying the experience of leading countries. The research aim is to find new effective tools and institutions for the development of the cluster structuring of the agro-industrial complex economy of Kazakhstan. Cluster policy in the field of supporting regional clusters starts with the identification of already existing clusters in the region, because by viewing the regional economy through the prism of various local industries and innovative enterprises, regional authorities can identify measures of effective impact and support for their clusters. This research examines the possibilities of using clusters and cluster policy as one of the most important components of the policy for the development and support of small and medium-sized enterprises in Kazakhstan’s agro-industrial complex. The research methodology includes qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods, comparative analysis, and mathematical processing (the Pearson correlation coefficient), as well as the modeling of possible development scenarios. The obtained results show that there are significant opportunities for a wider involvement of small and medium-sized enterprises in the formation of cluster structures of the agro-industrial sector through joint efforts by the government and regional centers in the conditions of innovative development of the country’s economy.

A critical review of biomonitoring in East African rivers: fostering community-based collaboration for environmental change observation

The contribution of citizen scientists to environmental monitoring is notably increasing significantly. Governments worldwide establish Water Users Associations (WUAs) as a good practice model to implement Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) at local levels. These associations target different stakeholders depending on the expected outcome. However, their effectiveness, especially in East Africa, can only be determined case by case. In Kenya, Water Resources Users Associations are registered, voluntary community groups whose members are water users and land owners. Similarly, in Uganda, community-based initiatives exist, especially along degraded rivers, involving cooperation between local communities and regional water authorities. On the contrary, it has been reported that in Tanzania, many community initiatives created become non-functional within 2–3 years of induction. In general, the main responsibility of Water Users Associations or its equivalent is to manage and conserve water resources for sustainable uses. In most cases, water quality monitoring by communities through citizen science is limited to the visual appearance of water in the river channel. While this can indicate the water’s esthetic value, it is insufficient for assessing the ecological status of rivers, which is influenced by a variety of physical, chemical, biological, and socioeconomic factors. The use of bioindicators has been advocated as a feasible method for community-based water quality river monitoring. Therefore, this review explores the commonly used bio-indicators and bio-assessment tools for river health assessment and their complexities when using a biomonitoring community-based approach through citizen science. Tolerance and intolerance macroinvertebrate and fish metric protocols that utilize identification keys have been recommended. These protocols are designed to be user-friendly and require minimal taxonomic expertise, making them easy for community volunteers to use with minimal basic training. The sustainability of these citizen science initiatives relies on the motivation of volunteers, the frequency of monitoring activities, and collaboration with researchers and government agencies. These initiatives not only facilitate environmental monitoring but also foster community engagement and awareness regarding the ecological status of rivers, thereby addressing knowledge and data gaps necessary for effective policy-making. This approach provides a practical model for environmental stewardship and participatory resource management in East Africa.

Подходы к выбору индикаторов региональной бюджетной безопасности (на примере арктических регионов России)

The article deals with the approach to selection of regional budget security indicators in order to develop a system of parameters to assess the regional budget security. The approach is based on the principle of identifying the interests of economic agents. The satisfaction level of regional authorities, economic entities, and population is considered as a budget security indicator. The express analysis based on the materials from the Arctic regions of Russia indicated an imbalance of interests of economic agents, which is further confirmed by the decline in regional and population welfare due to reduction in regional product volume redistributed through budgets and by the decrease in businesses financial results in context of the changing world economy conditions. Balance of economic interests will be achieved by the increase in budget revenues and per capita incomes.

PROBLEMS OF ELIMINATING LEGAL CONFLICTS OF LEGISLATION REGARDING PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF HEALTH PROTECTION

Introduction. The relevance of the topic lies in the fact that the problem of legal conflicts regarding the activities of public administration in the field of health care is extremely important for any legal democratic society that is in the process of building or reforming its state system. The issue of collisions becomes especially important in the context of the reform of the administrative system and public administration in Ukraine, which has been going on for ten years, as well as in the conditions of bringing the legal framework into compliance with the requirements of martial law and European integration processes. Legal disputes can lead to inconsistencies in legislation, delays in decision-making, and even legal confusion, which is unacceptable in wartime. Understanding how to overcome legal conflicts can lead to faster and more efficient governance, especially between authorities in different countries and regions. This ensures not only better coordination, but also protection of the rights of citizens who may suffer from unclear legislation. The aim of the study. Identify and characterize conflicting points in the current legislation that regulate the activities of public administration in the field of health care. Materials and methods. In the course of conducting an in-depth study on the regulatory and legal regulation of the activities of the public administration in the field of health care, as a result of which 250 workers in the field of health care were interviewed, which confirm the imperfection of the current legislation in the field of health care. The results showed that the majority of medical workers do not support making any amendments to the legislation – 86% of them, 2% – support the global change of the current legislation, 2% refrained from answering. Results and discussion. The authors comprehensively define legal disputes in the field of healthcare as legal contradictions that arise due to subjective or objective reasons or errors during the implementation by patients of their rights and obligations due to the adoption of legal acts containing conflicting norms. In addition, legal disputes have the following features. First, they depend on the national legal system and, accordingly, on the legal regulation in the field of health care. Secondly, the sphere of public medical legal relations, in which legal disputes most often arise, is the question of medical significance. Thirdly, legal disputes most often arise when regulating typical issues, such as establishing the quality and efficiency of the provision of medical services; management of medical teams; possession, use and disposal of communal property. Conclusions. the proposed reforms of public administration in the field of health care have the potential to further guarantee the realization of everyone's right to health care. Summarizing the key directions of solving legal conflicts in the field of health care, the following tasks can be identified: 1) state guarantees of free medical care for socially vulnerable population groups; 2) introduction of adequate health care financing and an effective system of mandatory health insurance; 3) creation of conditions for the free development of entrepreneurship in the field of health care and formation of the basis for competition between medical institutions and formation of the basis for fair competition between health care institutions; 4) improvement of the country's legislation in the field of health care in accordance with international legal standards; 5) create optimal conditions for healthy childbirth, primarily in terms of living conditions, education and nutrition; 6) implement an active demographic policy aimed at increasing the birth rate and reducing the mortality rate; 7) ensure the ability to meet the needs of the population, primarily in the sphere of health care, education and nutrition.

Low-Budget Households in the Conditions of Digitalization in US Regions

The digitalization of the economy and society of the highly developed countries, along with technological improvements in production and social relations, introduces a number of significant problems associated with the widening income gap and the flow of the economically active population from the knowledge economy to the “traditional activity” sectors. The subjective expression of this process in the 21st century Low Budget Families, an increase in the share of which has been observed in the United States during the period of increased digitalization and reindustrialization, starting in 2010. The growth trend of Low Budget Families in the United States has an intra-country spatial nature, quantitatively and qualitatively different both at the level of subregions and individual states of the country. The regional aspects of the relationship between the growth of the share of Low Budget Families, depending on the level of digitalization of the economy and society, reflected through the corresponding “complex index”, considered in the article, find empirical confirmation, generally characterized by a direct dependence and causality associated with the release of an increasingly significant number of labor potential from the advanced sectors of the economy. The problem of the flow of economically active citizens, who represent the basis of Low Budget Families in which the level of official income, taxes, consumption and savings is declining, is being solved differently in different US states. Based on a comparison of the criteria for identifying Low Budget Families, a priority for the authorities of various regions of the country, a general “spatial picture” of polarization of subregions and states is formed based on the share of Low Budget Families, depending on the level of digitalization and the choice of directions of state regional policy to smooth out the negative problems of inequality and hidden employment, caused by the digital transformation of social relations.

FROM THE “RIGHT GERMAN” TO THE “KALININGRAD PHILOSOPHER”: IMMANUEL KANT IN COMMEMORATIVE PRACTICES AND MEMORY POLICY IN THE KALININGRAD REGION (SOVIET PERIOD)

One of the key problems of the state historical policy in the Kaliningrad region during the Soviet period was related to the attitude to the local pre-war historical and cultural heritage, it was partly the memory of the life and activities of the outstanding philosopher and educator Immanuel Kant. The purpose of this article is to identify the prerequisites, factors and stages of integration of Kant’s name and image into the regional culture of memory and commemorative activity. The scientific novelty of the study is determined by the fact that the commemoration of the philosopher is first considered throughout the Soviet period of the region’s history. In the first post-war decade, the key condition for the formation of Kant’s commemoration traditions in the young Soviet region was ensured, that is, his tomb was preserved and taken under state protection in the mid-1950s. It became a place of attraction for Kaliningrad residents and guests of the city. In the 1960s–1970s, the philosopher’s grave was included in excursion routes and tourist guides, respect for his memory was used as an argument in the propaganda system, a tradition of scientific study of Kant’s heritage was formed in the region, and Kaliningrad State University became a center of such research. Under strict restrictions on the study and popularization of pre-war history, Kantian topics were perceived by a part of local intelligentsia as an allowed opportunity to share the “secrets” of the German past of the Kaliningrad land. At the same time, the position of regional authorities was characterized by contradictions, and initiatives to commemorate the philosopher were repeatedly met with resistance instigated by the regional committee of the CPSU. In the years of perestroika Kant’s image was perceived as a “bridge” connecting epochs and cultures. The work on the preparation of restoring the monument to the philosopher began, the plans of the regional branch of the Soviet Culture Fund included a “Kantian” programme of events, Kant became a character in the first popular narratives about the prewar history of the region. The process of integration of the “outstanding ‘fellow countryman’”, “Kaliningrad philosopher” into the regional culture by the end of the Soviet period was considerably accelerated.

Community-engaged flood mitigation and ecological restoration on a university campus

Abstract Urban flooding is a major climate change risk that can be mitigated with green infrastructure such as tree plantings and restored naturalised buffers along watercourses. The creation and maintenance of green infrastructure projects for climate change adaptation provides opportunities for community partnerships and programming with co-benefits for human well-being and biodiversity. Here we present findings of action research on a flooding adaptation and education that was implemented on an urban higher education institution’s campus in partnerships within the university and with local Indigenous peoples, the regional conservation authority, the municipal government, and the public library. Through participatory workshops, we applied bioengineering and mixed planting methods to restore a creek bank. Using a combination of oral storytelling, digital media, and visual art that integrated perspectives across disciplines and knowledge systems, we situated our creek restoration project within a framework of environmental justice, emphasising specific acts of stewardship to improve watershed health and advance reconciliation. We produced digital resources and outreach materials to disseminate lessons from the project into the community and to support similar flooding adaptation efforts at local and global scales. Our project demonstrates how incorporating partnerships into the design and implementation of nature-based solutions can build cross-cultural ecological knowledge, forge important on and off-campus relationships, and create place-based opportunities for students to take direct and measurable action on climate change.

Financial Reporting, Tracking, and Analysis Practices Effect on Financial Performance of Commercial State Corporations in Kenya

In Kenya, legislative acts by parliament establish state corporations to promote social and economic progress. The state corporations advisory committee has identified eight distinct categories of these entities, which include financial, commercial, industrial, regulatory, public universities, training and research, service, regional development authorities, as well as tertiary education corporations. Out of the 33 state corporations in commercial and manufacturing category, 18 fall under manufacturing while 15 are commercial-oriented and therefore by their operational nature expected to make profits or operating surplus. The study focused on the fifteen (15) profit-making state corporations. Most commercial state corporations are in a state of perennial loss-making. Their financial performance trend between 2016-2020, shows that out of the 15 corporations in the commercial sector, only four (26.67%) are sustainable from their operations. This leaves over 73.33% of them struggling to survive and have to depend on government funding to address their liquidity challenges. This study sought to assess the impact of financial reporting and analysis on the financial performance of commercial state corporations in Kenya. The study assumed a descriptive study design. The study used a census procedure since all fifteen State Corporations under the commercial category were studied. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The inferential statistics results indicate that financial reporting and analysis have a positive and statistically significant effect on financial performance of commercial SOEs. The study found that improved financial performance was observed upon conducting periodical operational budget estimations, capital project estimations, periodical cash flow projections, and comparison of actual costs and budget variance analysis. The management and finance department to ensure that financial reporting processes are strengthened to enhance accuracy, openness, and compliance with governing requirements.

Biopolitical Strategies in Media Discourses: Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Russia, Germany, and France

The objective of this study is to conduct a comparative analysis of how media outlets in Russia, France, and Germany reported on events during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis was carried out in three stages: comparing the actors of biopolitics, examining the ideologemes of biopolitics, and analyzing the spheres in which biopolitics were implemented. The theoretical and methodological framework of this study is grounded in Michel Foucault's theory of biopolitics, Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky's propaganda model, and Didier Bigo's concept of (in)securitization. Texts related to the COVID-19 pandemic were categorized into four «waves» (January 2020 – March 2022) and retrieved using the keywords «pandemic», «covid», and «coronavirus» from the archives of «Rossiyskaya Gazeta», «Kommersant», «Novaya Gazeta», «Le Figaro», «Le Monde», «Le Parisien», «Süddeutsche Zeitung», «Die Zeit», and «Die Tageszeitung». The total volume of analyzed material amounts to 67.62 million words. The results reveal that state power consistently emerges as a key subject of biopower and biopolitics across all the media studied, following Foucault's traditional framework of biopower subjects. This includes a focus on the actions and decisions of government officials and institutions. Additionally, the study found that all examined media outlets participated in promoting vaccination campaigns orchestrated by the governments of Russia, Germany, and France, indicating a widespread alignment with state-led biopolitical strategies.The analysis also shows that the insecuritization of public life during the pandemic affected various sectors including social relations, the economy, healthcare, and education. Media discourse in all three countries highlighted these areas of impact, often framing them within the broader context of public and existential security.Furthermore, the study identifies notable differences in how the media in each country portrayed biopolitical themes. In Russia, media coverage placed a strong emphasis on the central government's role, while in Germany, there was a more pronounced delineation between federal and regional authorities. In France, media outlets often focused on the personal leadership of President Emmanuel Macron. Despite these differences, there were shared themes across all three countries, such as the emphasis on the importance of vaccination and the portrayal of government measures as necessary for public safety.

Authoritarian responsiveness online: social media strategy of Russian regional governance centers

ABSTRACT This article is dedicated to authoritarian responsiveness and feedback mechanisms that autocratic regimes exploit to keep citizens loyal, using the example of Russia. The study aims to describe how the Russian government uses online feedback mechanisms in political communication. I focus on the activities of the Regional Governance Centers, i.e. project management offices designed to establish communication between authorities and citizens. This communication system represents a proactive approach where authorities initiate engagement with citizens rather than passively receiving complaints. I analyze the content of VK communities operated by these project management offices, where they report how the authorities solve citizens’ problems initially indicated by citizens on social media. The explorative text analysis shows that Regional Governance Centers mostly report on how authorities process citizens’ complaints and solve problems indicated by them. They also promote live Q&A sessions with regional and local authorities and advertise financial support that different groups of citizens can get from the government. Posts containing information about how to communicate directly with officials, warnings about bad weather conditions, information about financial assistance from the government, and self-promotion of these Regional Governance Centers are the most popular in getting user reactions.

Managerial style as an indicator of the nature of interaction between regional authorities and the population

The article presents an analysis of respondents' perception of the regional management style as a factor characterizing the managerial communication system. Based on the secondary conceptualization of empirical data (6021 field documents) obtained in 2019-2020 in 12 regions of the Russian Federation during a self-filling questionnaire based on a quota sample calculated for each region according to Rosstat, the author conducted a study of the relationship between respondents' characteristics of the regional management style with agreement with it, concern about the shortcomings of the regional management system and assessments the work of the vertical of power from the federal to the local levels. The author identified a number of patterns, based on which it was concluded that groups of respondents who define the regional management style differently agree with it to varying degrees, demonstrate concern about the shortcomings of the characterized management system in different ways and evaluate the final result of the activities of the power and management vertical. Respondents who define the management style as authoritarian and clan-based tend to be more concerned about the shortcomings of the management system for the most part than respondents who characterize the management style as democratic, collegial, liberal or vague. Respondents who define the management style as authoritarian tend to evaluate the final result of the work of authorities at all levels lower than respondents who believe that the management style is democratic, collegial or uncertain.

Efficiency of regional export support measures and their influence on investments

Regions are active participants of foreign economic activity, with their contribution to the total export being significant. Therefore, data analysis of the volume and structure of exports and investments is important for determining the efficiency of support measures and for elaborating a further development strategy. A review of scientific sources demonstrates the role of investment and government support in stimulating exports. This article examines the efficiency of regional export support measures and their correlation with investments. Statistical data on exports, investments, and government support measures from 2012 to 2022 is compared. The research demonstrates the performance of the Irkutsk Region Export Support Center in the following spheres: in supporting exporters in concluding export contracts, in stimulating export activities of small and medium-sized enterprises, in engaging new exporters in foreign economic activities, as well as in promoting export diversification. Data on the increase in the share of nonresource, non-energy goods in the structure of the region exports confirms the efficiency of the undertaken supporting measures. The performance of the Export Support Center indicates its increasing popularity and efficiency. Moreover, the increasing number of exporters and the volume of export contracts demonstrates the positive impact of supporting measures on the export sector development and regional economy competitiveness. After considering the three main drivers of economic performance, i.e., consumer demand, exports, and investment, it can be concluded that the regional authorities use levers of influence over the latter two factors.

Reviving health mediation during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond: an implementation study in deprived neighbourhoods of Marseille, France.

In 2020, during France's COVID-19 response, healthcare professionals from a hospital and an association initiated health mediation interventions in Marseille's vulnerable neighbourhoods, funded by the regional health authorities. This mixed method research evaluates the CORHESAN program that lasted until June 2022. We examined CORHESAN documents and reports, conducted interviews, and analysed activity data, comparing it to the COVID-19 hotspots identified on a weekly basis at the neighbourhood level, using generalised linear mixed models (GLMMs). CORHESAN was implemented by a team of up to nine health mediators, six private nurses hired on an ad hoc basis, supervised by a general coordinator and two part-time medical and nursing coordinators. Multiple partnerships were established with shelters, associations, social-housing landlords and local institutions. The team accompanied 6,253 people affected by COVID-19 or contact in the practical implementation of their isolation and contact tracing. Of the 5,180 nasopharyngeal samples for RT-PCR and 1,875 for antigenic testing: 12% were taken at home and 27% in partner facilities in the targeted neighbourhoods; 32% were taken from symptomatic patients and 30% in the context of contact tracing; and 40% were positive. Multiple awareness sessions on prevention methods and distributions of personal protection kits and self-diagnostic tests were conducted in the streets, in shelters, in associations or at home. A total of 5,929 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered in a walk-in vaccination centre, at temporary street vaccination posts, during operations at partner facilities, or during home-visits to patients with limited autonomy. GLMMs showed that the intervention significantly targeted its testing interventions in neighbourhoods with socioeconomic disadvantage and/or past under-testing (adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 2.75 [1.50-5.00]) and those with high hotspot level (aOR for level-3 versus level-0, 1.83 [1.24-2.71]). The pandemic emphasised the potential of health mediation interventions to address health disparities. Building on this, a new program began in July 2022, aiming at enhancing cancer screening and vaccinations in deprived areas of Marseille. Evaluations are ongoing to assess its activities and impact, and provide evidence to future implementation initiatives.