Government Set Research Articles

Knowledge and Practice of TB Notification among the Private Health Care Providers in Eastern India

Abstract Tuberculosis (TB) has been a notifiable disease since 2012. The study aimed to assess the knowledge and practice of private health care providers (PHCPs) regarding TB notification and to identify the physician-level and health system-level factors determining knowledge and practice of TB notification. A cross-sectional study was done in the field practice area of AIIMS Bhubaneswar. The study was conducted from February 2020 to May 2021 in Odisha. PHCPs from all systems of medicine were included in the study. The sample size was calculated to be 138. A self-administered semistructured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Multivariable logistic regression was done to identify the association between the independent and dependent variables. A total of 89 PHCPs were recruited into the study. Among them, 57 (64%) of the PHCPs were aware of TB notification, whereas 24 (42%) had ever notified a case of TB. All PHCPs who had ever diagnosed or treated a TB case were aware of TB notification. The factors associated with TB notification were the clinical setting of practice, diagnosed more than one TB case in the past 1 year, and those who worked in the government setting in the past 2 years. The knowledge and practice of TB notification were low among PHCPs. More frequent and mandatory sensitization training should be conducted for all PHCPs to increase awareness about TB notification.

Evaluating stakeholder coordination and partnerships for NTD elimination in Taraba state, Nigeria: a multi-level analysis

IntroductionNigeria has a significant burden of NTDs with more than 120 million people at risk of the dominant NTDs namely Lymphatic Filariasis, Onchocerciasis, and Schistosomiasis. Control efforts have involved the four levels of governance with programs focused on vector control, preventive chemotherapy, water, sanitation and health education. However, the coordination across these levels and with multiple stakeholders remains unclear especially in states like Taraba that have received significant funding from local non-governmental organisations.MethodsThis study evaluated NTD control effectiveness across national, state, local, and community levels in Nigeria. Eighty-two stakeholders were interviewed across the 4 governance levels.ResultsFindings showed distinct roles of the different stakeholders: the National government sets policies, states adapt and strategise, local governments implement programs, and community leaders drive engagement. There is also some multi-sectoral collaboration and coordination among stakeholders. Challenges included inconsistent drug distribution, inadequate Community Drug Distributor (CDD) incentives, and limited cross-sector coordination.DiscussionNTD control progress has been notable, but to meet WHO’s 2030 targets, Nigeria needs expanded partnerships, increased private sector involvement, improved drug distribution, enhanced CDD support, and integrated programs with cross-border collaboration.ConclusionStrengthening multi-sectoral partnerships, improving resource allocation, and engaging community leaders are crucial for advancing NTD elimination in Nigeria. A coordinated approach is essential for sustainable disease control and achieving global health objectives.

Minimum quality standards for product R&D under Cournot and Bertrand competition

This paper investigates how the government sets minimum quality standards for duopolistic firms’ product innovation under Cournot and Bertrand competition. It turns out that Bertrand competition induces the government to set a higher MQS than Cournot competition, thus leading to more R&D investment. As products become more similar and patent protection becomes more perfect, the government will reduce minimum quality standards regardless of whether duopolistic firms are engaged in Cournot or Bertrand competition.

A novel spherical fuzzy-based decision model for assessing data management maturity in governmental institutions

Abstract The capability of government institutions to manage data effectively is fundamental to their operational efficiency and innovation potential. Governments face unique challenges, including rapid data generation, evolving regulations, and demands for quality services and transparency. This necessitates a tailored approach to data governance, given the complexities of balancing public interests with data privacy. This study aims to establish a robust framework for evaluating the data management maturity of Government Entities by developing an evaluative metric that reflects their data management maturity. The research approach involved gathering and synthesizing dispersed principles from existing literature into a set of definitive criteria. The criteria were subjectively weighted by an expert panel (SME) to reflect the significance of each criterion in a government setting. For methodology, the study pioneers the hybridization of spherical fuzzy sets (SFSs) built on the criteria importance through intercriteria correlation (CRITIC) and the evaluation based on distance from average solution (EDAS) model. The criteria weighting was methodically calculated using the CRITIC method, and the subsequent evaluation of the alternatives was ascertained through EDAS. This combination of methodologies effectively reduced subjective bias, yielding a more reliable foundation for the rankings. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to confirm the robustness of the presented methodology when subjected to variations. To verify the validity of the developed method, we compared the SF- CRITIC and SF-EDAS approach with the SF-AHP and SF-EDAS, SF-CRITIC and SF-TOPSIS, the SF-CRITIC and SF-WPM, and the SF-CRITIC and SF-MARCOS. The results showcased a spectrum of maturity levels across the evaluated entities, pinpointing both commendable proficiencies and key areas for growth. This research presents a strategic asset for government bodies, aiding in the targeted enhancement of their data management systems. The broader implications of our findings serve as a strategic compass for governmental organizations, steering them toward achieving a higher echelon of data management sophistication.

Methane Emissions in the ESG Framework at the World Level

Methane is a strong green gas that has higher GWP. Methane emissions, therefore, form one of the critical focuses within climate change mitigation policy. Indeed, the present study represents a very novel analysis of methane emission within the ESG framework by using the data across 193 countries within the period of 2011–2020. Methane reduction on account of ESG delivers prompt climate benefits and thereby preserves the core environment, social, and governance objectives. In spite of its importance, the role of methane remains thinly explored within ESG metrics. This study analyzes how factors like renewable energy use, effective governance, and socioeconomic settings influence the emission rate of the study subject, as many previous ESG studies are deficient in considering methane. By using econometric modeling, this research identifies that increasing methane emissions remain unabated with the improvement of ESG performances around the world, particularly within key agricultural and fossil fuel-based industrial sectors. Renewable energy cuts emissions, but energy importation simply transfers the burdens to exporting nations. It therefore involves effective governance and targeted internationational cooperation, as socioeconomic elements act differently in different developed and developing countries to drive various emission sources. These findings strongly call for balanced, targeted strategies to integrate actions of mitigation into ESG goals related to methane abatement.

Practitioners' perspectives on the enablers and barriers to successful Antarctic science‐policy knowledge exchange

AbstractMultilateral environmental governance regimes like the Antarctic Treaty System are pivotal in addressing today's wicked transboundary socio‐ecological problems and central to their success is the facilitation of constructive knowledge exchange (KE) between research and policymaking communities. Consequently, the literature is now ripe with studies that aim to uncover the elements that enable or hinder KE successes across diverse environmental governance settings. Yet, in the Antarctic context, the KE practices that comprise Antarctic science‐policy interfaces remain empirically under examined. Here we contribute by exploring the perspectives of 31 Antarctic practitioners to develop our understandings of successful KE practices in the policy contexts of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings and the Committee for Environmental Protection. By adopting a reflexive thematic analysis, we identify 11 enablers and 9 barriers to KE success that are overlapping, interconnected and complex. According to practitioners, in the face of pervasive barriers, such as the often overshadowing effect of politics, a deficiency of KE incentives and large‐scale wicked policy problems, certain Antarctic institutions and practitioners portray strong boundary spanning expertise, which despite the many challenges identified, serves to facilitate KE in support of evidence‐informed decision‐making. However, the extent to which boundary spanners are influential in their leadership varies, and while acknowledging that influential leadership is an important enabler for success, we raise several questions regarding the potentially unexplored assumptions that underpin current KE practices. As Antarctic practitioners share a desire to foster inclusive, iterative and multidirectional science‐policy dialogues among other identified improvements, we suggest that harnessing reflexivity and humility within these processes will be critically important for ensuring that existing asymmetries or inequities are not reinforced under the guise of improved ways of working.

Assessment of satisfaction of using socially marketed health consumables at government settings among beneficiaries in a rural area of Hooghly District, West Bengal.

India is committed to achieving universal health care for all by 2030. The objective of social marketing is to promote public health and its goal is to improve health for all, but there are some challenges like irregular availability, quality issue, inadequacy of marketing causes under- utilization of the government supplied health consumables. Present study aims to find out the usage pattern and assess the perceived satisfaction level of beneficiaries of using various socially marketed health consumables at government settings and explore the perception of healthcare personnel regarding barriers to its usage in a rural area of India. A community-based, Mixed-Methods study (Convergent parallel design) was done in the service area of the Rural Health Unit and Training Centre (RHU&TC), Singur of Hooghly district, West Bengal, between January 2023 and December 2023, where the quantitative component was carried out by face-to-face interview among 150 beneficiary household respondents selected by two-stage cluster sampling; and qualitative component was done by 4 Key informant interviews (KII) among healthcare personnel (medical officer, public health nurse, pharmacist). Statistical data were analyzed by descriptive statistics using SPSS 16 version and Microsoft Excel for the quantitative part, and thematic analysis was done for the qualitative part. Institutional Ethics Committee clearance was obtained. Ever use of government-supplied contraceptives like Chhaya (Ormeloxifene), Antara (Injectable contraceptive), emergency contraceptive pills, and intrauterine contraceptive devices (IUCD) was done by only 15.3%, 10.7%, 7.3%, 32% of eligible beneficiary households, respectively. The major reasons cited for irregular use were unawareness of availability of the products (Chhaya = 76.3%, Antara = 64.9%, EC pills = 46.7%), poor faith regarding quality (Male condom = 40%, Generic medicines = 70%), inadequate promotion (IUCD = 53.9%). The majority of users of male condoms (90%), IFA tablets (52.9%), ORS (51.1%), and generic medicines (55.7%) were not satisfied after using those products. Key informant interviews among healthcare personnel revealed avoidance of using modern contraceptive methods and frequent unavailability of some socially marketed health consumables were the predominant causes of reduced uptake of those products by beneficiaries. Proper social marketing strategies, adequate promotion, regular awareness campaigns, and tailored training of field healthcare workers are required to improve the acceptability, availability, and marketing of these health consumables.

EFFECTIVENESS OF RISK MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE ATTRIBUTES IN MITIGATING EARNINGS MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES IN NIGERIA

Recently, there has been a lot of debate on the issues of earnings management practices. Most of these arguments have been confirmed by past studies in developed economies, where their regulations and institutional settings of corporate governance varied from those of emerging markets. Accordingly, corporate governance best practice has been considered an effective monitoring mechanism for strengthening the credibility and reliability of financial reporting. This study examines the effectiveness of risk management committee (RMC) attributes in mitigating earnings management (EM) practices in Nigeria. The study used a sample of 365 firm-year observations of listed non-financial companies from 2018 to 2022. Driscoll and Kraay’s fixed effect standard error regression model was used to test the hypotheses. The study finds that RMC size and expertise have a negative effect on both AEM and REM. However, RMC independence is found to negative effect on REM only. Moreover, additional test validates that RMC scores (effectiveness) are significantly associated with lower EM practices. Our results are robust under alternative regression and measurements for endogeneity. The findings provide enormous insight to regulators, policymakers, and investors on the ongoing debate surrounding the effectiveness of the RMC attributes in mitigating EM practices, and the effectiveness of the revised NCCG 2018. Besides, the findings will provide important intuition to shareholders, financial analysts, and academia about the effective role of stand-alone RMC.

Vital lessons from struggling partnerships and potential partnerships: an international study with leaders across the health sector

BackgroundInter-organizational partnerships and collaborations, used here interchangeably, have growing prominence across the health sector. Successful partnerships have received extensive study. However, especially for partnerships including nonprofit partners, limited attention has been given to negative factors that contribute to struggling partnerships, including failed partnerships, and/or impede potential partnerships, including unexplored and undeveloped potential partnerships. This study aimed to explore these across diverse examples of struggling and potential partnerships considered otherwise worthwhile in principle, according to leaders and managers—in 13 countries across Asia-Pacific, EU+, North America—from diverse roles and settings across the health sector. It also aimed to explore success factors they said contributed to successful partnerships.MethodsInterviews were conducted with 70 practitioners in 13 countries and a wide range of roles and nonprofit, industry, and government settings, including research institutions, across the health sector. Interviews covered their examples of struggling, potential, and successful partnerships; and, factors. Interview data were analyzed inductively, employing thematic network analysis. Comments underlying themes were reviewed regarding the participants concerned to note range (e.g., regions).ResultsKey findings included: (1) the many negative factors and success factors identified as themes; (2) their occurrence across diverse contexts, including different regions and institutional sectors (i.e., nonprofit, industry, government); (3) the complementarity of negative factors and success factors, with each set placing different emphasis on certain topics and negative factors both broadening the overall range of topics and contributing more to literature; (4) the occurrence of most negative factors with both struggling and potential partnerships. The 255 partnerships and potential partnerships discussed included nonprofit (190/255), industry (112/255), and/or government (140/255) partners. Many spanned two different institutional sectors (147/255); 86/255 spanned one; 20/255 spanned three.ConclusionsThe findings suggest three takeaways for practitioners: (1) factors used to consider partnerships should reflect factors from struggling partnerships and/or potential partnerships, plus successful partnerships; (2) negative factors can highlight opportunities to advance partnerships, individually and systematically; (3) practitioners should consider developing frameworks of factors from literature and experience to facilitate judicious consideration of partnerships and inform approaches, lessons drawn, and potential partnerships sought. Struggling and potential partnerships merit scholarly attention.

The impact of institutional and managerial ownership on the pay-performance relationship: Evidence from JSE-listed firms

AbstractThis study explores how institutional and managerial ownership influence the connection between executive directors’ pay and firm performance in South Africa. Employing panel linear regression models and Johnson-Neyman analysis, complex insights are revealed. This study revealed that institutional ownership acts as a double-edged sword, positively moderating the link between long-term and total incentive remuneration and Return on Assets (ROA), while negatively influencing the relationship with market-based metrics like Tobin’s Q. This suggests that institutional shareholders play a dual role in enhancing long-term alignment and tempering short-term performance pressures. Managerial ownership also demonstrates mixed impacts, positively moderating the relationship between both short-term and total incentive remuneration, and ROA, but negatively moderating the link between long-term incentive remuneration and Total Shareholder Return (TSR). These findings underscore the delicate balance between managerial incentives, shareholder interests, and long-term value creation. While higher managerial ownership aligns with short-term shareholder goals, it may also lead to managerial entrenchment and short-termism in certain contexts. This study contributes to literature on corporate governance and executive remuneration in an emerging market setting.. By revealing the nuanced effects of institutional and managerial ownership on the pay-performance relationship, the paper provides valuable insights for policymakers, investors and corporate leaders aiming to improve governance practices and foster sustainable value creation. Our study offers essential implications for corporate governance practices and sets the stage for further inquiry into the intricate relationship between ownership structure, executive compensation, and firm performance.

Governance in Samarinda city using TOGAF (The open group architecture framework): Literature review

The governance in Samarinda City has faced various challenges related to efficiency, transparency, and citizen engagement. To address these issues, this study proposes the application of The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) for enhancing administrative and operational processes. TOGAF provides a structured approach to enterprise architecture, ensuring alignment between IT and business objectives, which is crucial for public sector entities aiming to improve service delivery and operational efficiency. This literature review explores the existing governance practices in Samarinda City, identifies key areas for improvement, and demonstrates how TOGAF can be effectively implemented to address these challenges. By integrating TOGAF principles, the study aims to create a comprehensive framework that can streamline processes, enhance data management, and foster better communication between government departments and the public. The review highlights successful case studies of TOGAF implementation in similar contexts, offering valuable insights and practical recommendations for Samarinda City. Through this approach, the study seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge on public sector governance and provide a viable roadmap for the effective adoption of TOGAF in local government settings.

Horizon problem and capital expenditures: evidence from the public sector in Indonesia

PurposeThis study investigates whether horizon problems affect the allocation of capital budgets and their implementation in a government setting.Design/methodology/approachWe use data from 2005 to 2020 for local governments in Indonesia, which apply a limit of two five-year terms for mayors. We use regression analyses for panel data with total observations of 4,541 local government years from 448 unique local governments. We also use graphical analyses and t-tests to provide robustness to our results.FindingsMayors allocated lower capital expenditures in the second term than in the first. Capital budget allocation is lower for local governments whose mayors are older than 60. Our additional analysis shows that incumbents seeking re-election allocate more capital expenditure than those not seeking re-election.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to the literature on the behavioral effect of term limits on local government's allocation and implementation of capital budgets. Limiting elected government officials to a certain number of terms will prevent the monopoly of power. However, it may negatively affect budget allocation on capital programs in their last term. Our findings should interest public policymakers in discerning the costs and benefits of term limits for elected offices.Originality/valueMost studies on horizon problems have focused on the corporate setting. This study provides evidence of the effects of horizon problems in the government setting, especially in Asia.

Limitations of trust and legitimacy in blockchain: exploring the effectiveness of decentralisation, immutability and consensus mechanisms in blockchain governance

PurposeThis paper examines to what extent blockchain creates legitimacy and trust in different modes of public governance. It posits that while blockchain aims for political legitimacy through decentralising, immutable and consensus-based mechanisms, the execution of these mechanisms is limited in legitimating governance, which has knock-on effects on trust. It provides an original contribution by recontextualising and reframing blockchain as a governance mechanism that should, and must, perform a legitimating function in order to engender trust.Design/methodology/approachThe research adopts a comprehensive framework for understanding the legitimacy of blockchain governance, positioning it in terms of co-governance, self-governance and hierarchical governance modes. It systematically analyses blockchain whitepapers, legislation, government documents and other sources in three paradigmatic case studies where blockchain governance failed. These cases are then used to assess blockchain according to three key characteristics of decentralisation, immutability and consensus.FindingsThe research finds that blockchain’s use in governance settings still relies on legitimacy conferred from other sources – namely state – in order to generate trust. Significant limitations in its de facto political decentralisation, immutability and consensus protocols can create failures in co-governance, self-governance and hierarchical-governance applications, thus limiting the legitimation function of blockchain in facilitating political trust.Originality/valueThese findings are significant in highlighting blockchain’s limitations as a decentralised, immutable and consensus-driven legitimating tool, which has knock-on effects on trust in technology and governance more broadly. It also has broader implications in more clearly highlighting the interconnectedness of political trust and legitimacy in governance processes.

IndoGovBERT: A Domain-Specific Language Model for Processing Indonesian Government SDG Documents

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires collaboration among various stakeholders, particularly governments and non-state actors (NSAs). This collaboration results in but is also based on a continually growing volume of documents that needs to be analyzed and processed in a systematic way by government officials. Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing (NLP) could, thus, offer valuable support for progressing towards SDG targets, including automating the government budget tagging and classifying NSA requests and initiatives, as well as helping uncover the possibilities for matching these two categories of activities. Many non-English speaking countries, including Indonesia, however, face limited NLP resources, such as, for instance, domain-specific pre-trained language models (PTLMs). This circumstance makes it difficult to automate document processing and improve the efficacy of SDG-related government efforts. The presented study introduces IndoGovBERT, a Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT)-based PTLM built with domain-specific corpora, leveraging the Indonesian government’s public and internal documents. The model is intended to automate various laborious tasks of SDG document processing by the Indonesian government. Different approaches to PTLM development known from the literature are examined in the context of typical government settings. The most effective, in terms of the resultant model performance, but also most efficient, in terms of the computational resources required, methodology is determined and deployed for the development of the IndoGovBERT model. The developed model is then scrutinized in several text classification and similarity assessment experiments, where it is compared with four Indonesian general-purpose language models, a non-transformer approach of the Multilabel Topic Model (MLTM), as well as with a Multilingual BERT model. Results obtained in all experiments highlight the superior capability of the IndoGovBERT model for Indonesian government SDG document processing. The latter suggests that the proposed PTLM development methodology could be adopted to build high-performance specialized PTLMs for governments around the globe which face SDG document processing and other NLP challenges similar to the ones dealt with in the presented study.

Interdisciplinary participation in climate-adapted urban land-use planning – findings of two gaming simulations in the city of Bottrop, Germany

PurposeSustainable and climate-adapted urban development requires integrative governance approaches and forms of collaboration between different disciplinary actors in urban society. Integrative approaches are a particular challenge for those planning cultures in which they are not yet sufficiently established. This also applies to formal urban land-use planning in Germany, which forms the governance setting of this study. This study aims to examine how interdisciplinary participation in formal urban land-use planning contributes to the consideration of climate adaptation in the planning process.Design/methodology/approachThis paper traces the process of two differently designed interdisciplinary participation formats based on the methodological framework of a gaming simulation, each in the context of a formal urban land-use planning procedure in Bottrop, Germany. The gaming simulations are designed as performance simulations in which we involved several representatives from different public authorities.FindingsThe gaming simulations show that interdisciplinary participation can lead to an increased awareness of climate adaptation requirements in particular and a mutual understanding of different logics of action in the context of comprehensive and sustainable urban planning in general. In addition, this paper provides recommendations as to how and under what conditions the benefits of the simulations can be transferred to municipal practice.Originality/valueWhile integrative and interdisciplinary formats are increasingly being used in the context of informal urban planning, this does not apply to formal urban land-use planning. Participation in formal urban land-use planning procedures is classically linear and multidisciplinary in Germany. Using two simulated interdisciplinary participation formats, this paper tested to what extent the consideration of climate adaptation requirements as a cross-sectoral task can benefit from interdisciplinarity in the context of two formal urban land-use planning procedures.

Strengthening anthrax outbreak response and preparedness: simulation and stakeholder education in Namisindwa district, Uganda

BackgroundAnthrax is a zoonotic disease caused by Bacillus anthracis that poses a significant threat to both human health and livestock. Effective preparedness and response to anthrax outbreak at the district level is essential to mitigate the devastating impact of the disease to humans and animals. The current diseaae surveillance in animals and humans uses two different infrastructure systems with online platform supported by established diagnostic facilities. The differences in surveillance systems affect timely outbreak response especially for zoonotic diseases like anthrax. We therefore aimed to assess the feasibility of implementing a simulation exercise for a potential anthrax outbreak in a local government setting and to raise the suspicion index of different district stakeholders for a potential anthrax outbreak in Namisindwa District, Uganda.MethodsWe conducted a field-based simulation exercise and a health education intervention using quantitative data collection methods. The study participants mainly members of the District Taskforce (DTF) were purposively selected given their role(s) in disease surveillance and response at the sub-national level. We combined 26 variables (all dichotomized) assessing knowledge on anthrax and knowledge on appropriate outbreak response measures into an additive composite index. We then dichotomized overall score based on the 80% blooms cutoff i.e. we considered those scoring at least 80% to have high knowledge, otherwise low. We then assessed the factors associated with knowledge using binary logistic regression with time as a proxy for the intervention effect. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% Confidence intervals (95%CI) have been reported.ResultsThe overall district readiness score was 35.0% (24/69) and was deficient in the following domains: coordination and resource mobilization (5/16), surveillance (5/11), laboratory capacity (3/10), case management (4/7), risk communications (4/12), and control measures (4/13). The overall community readiness score was 7 out of 32 (22.0%). We noted poor scores of readiness in all domains except for case management (2/2). The knowledge training did not have an effect on the overall readiness score, but improved specific domains such as control measures. Instead tertiary education was the only independent predictor of higher knowledge on anthrax and how to respond to it (OR = 1.57, 95% CI = 1.07–2.31). Training did not have a significant association with overall knowledge improvement but had an effect on several individual knowledge aspects.ConclusionWe found that the district’s preparedness to respond to a potential anthrax outbreak was inadequate, especially in coordination and mobilisation, surveillance, case management, risk communication and control measures. The health education training intervention showed increased knowledge levels compared to the pre-test and post-test an indicator that the health education sessions could increase the index of suspicion. The low preparedness underscores the urgency to strengthen anthrax preparedness in the district and could have implications for other districts. We deduce that trainings of a similar nature conducted regularly and extensively would have better effects. This study’s insights are valuable for improving anthrax readiness and safeguarding public and animal health in similar settings.

Chiefs and floods: hybrid governance and co-production of flood risk adaptation in Tamale, Ghana

ABSTRACT Climate change is changing physical and social risks facing people in African cities. Emerging awareness is beginning to stimulate a wide range of adaptive responses. These responses are playing out in a complex institutional and governance context which shape their effectiveness and legitimacy. Employing a hybrid governance approach, we investigate the development of flooding and flood protection in the context of urban development in Tamale, Ghana. We argue that the interplay between traditional and state-based authority shapes the market for land, the regulation of land use and the provision of urban services, including flood protection. Hybrid governance influences the types of knowledge applied to urban problem-solving, the legitimacy of choices made, the human and other resources that can be deployed in building community resilience and the willingness to act in the provision of public goods by communities. We suggest how the existing hybrid governance setting could be strengthened to achieve more effective and legitimate adaptation to dynamic flood risks under climate change in Tamale, with lessons for other West African contexts.

Why do we argue about risk? The invisibility of worldviews in marine decision-making

The paper asks “why are we always arguing about risk?” It explores what drives risk perception in decision-making processes in Aotearoa New Zealand’s marine environment. The research’s holistic framing shows that the prevailing concern with risk and uncertainty (RU) issues in government and managerial settings deflects attention from and hides the background influences of worldviews. After introducing the invisibilities around RU and outlining worldview-based perceptions of risk, the paper turns to an empirical investigation focusing on deep-seabed mining investment in the context of Aotearoa’s Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf Act (Environmental Effects) 2012. Enacted as part of neoliberal reforms, the Act seeks to reduce environmental degradation in tandem with economic growth. A situated methodology examines a consenting process within this Act as a strategic site to establish expressions of RU and shaping invisibilities. Three key influences are revealed: the positionality of decision-makers, their disciplinary training, and the largely unknown filtering of environmental and economic options that come from 3 worldviews held in Aotearoa (dominant social paradigm, new environmental paradigm, Te Ao Māori). We contend hidden worldviews impact on economy–environment relations and ensuing economic and environmental practices and outcomes. This arises because they underpin and fuel debates around what RU are acceptable and how benefits should be distributed (public vs. private benefits investment decisions, and economy vs. environment). Unless we recognize and understand these hidden influences, we simply cannot work with them. This insight has major implications for how RU ideas might be framed and navigated in emerging policy settings.

Implementation of the PLAVON Dukcapil Program in Population Administration Services

The general background of this research highlights the increasing importance of e-government services in enhancing administrative efficiency and accessibility for citizens. The specific background focuses on the implementation of the PLAVON Dukcapil program, which is an online service initiative aimed at improving population administration services in a local government setting. The knowledge gap identified in this study pertains to the lack of comprehensive evaluation regarding the effectiveness of communication, resources, disposition, and bureaucratic structure in this program’s implementation. The aims of the research are to assess the operational aspects of the PLAVON Dukcapil program and to provide recommendations for improvement. The results reveal four key aspects affecting implementation: communication has not been optimized, resource placement needs attention, the village head's commitment is lacking, and while the bureaucratic structure follows established SOPs, continuous evaluation is necessary. The novelty of this study lies in its focus on qualitative descriptive analysis, providing insights into practical challenges faced by local administrators. The implications suggest that improvements in communication strategies, proper resource allocation, enhanced commitment from leadership, and ongoing evaluation of procedures are essential for the successful implementation of e-government services, ultimately leading to better community engagement and service delivery in population administration. Highlights: Communication strategies need improvement for better community understanding of PLAVON. Resource allocation and staff training are crucial for effective program implementation. Continuous evaluation of bureaucratic structures is necessary to enhance service delivery. Keywords: E-Government, PLAVON, Administration, Communication, Resources

The relative effects of diversity on collective learning in local collaborative networks in Belgium

Collaborative networks are horizontal settings of public governance that enhance interactions between a diversity of actors (for example, civil servants, companies or citizens). They can help cross-cutting public policies (for example, climate policies) to gain coherence and become more innovative. To do so, collective learning, defined as the broadened and mutual understanding of public issues arising out of repeated social interactions, is critical but not spontaneous. In particular, the diversity of participants creates learning opportunities that do not necessarily transform into concrete learning. So, how does diversity lead to collective learning in collaborative networks? To address this research question, this article researched two collaborative networks within the city administration of Schaerbeek (Belgium). Based on semistructured interviews, mental models were used to assess collective learning, and social network analysis was performed to understand the structure of interactions between diverse members. The findings show that the influence of diversity on collective learning was contingent on the collaborative network, but fostered by social interactions, with noticeable links between formal and informal interactions. From these findings, the article makes three scholarly contributions. First, it deepens our understanding of collective learning, with a focus on the development of shared understandings as a condition of consensus formation. Second, it builds on psychology and resource management research to assess collective learning through mental models, and provides a new approach to the measurement of policy learning. Third, it contributes to the debate on the implications of different inclusion levels and conditions for the results of collaborative governance and their transformation in policy innovations.