Agency Stakeholders Research Articles

The Fast Track Land Reform Programme and its effect on the loss of forests: the case of the Mafungabusi Forest Reserve in Zimbabwe

Land reform in Zimbabwe, commonly known as the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP), was established in early 2000. Since the inception of the FTRLP, loss of forests and biodiversity has been on the rise. In this paper, an analysis of the rate of forest loss pre-FTLRP, during and post-FTLRP to date (1995–2019) is presented for the Mafungabusi Forest Reserve. Data were collected from semi-structured questionnaires, interviews, satellite imagery and fieldwork. Land Cover, Land-Use Change Maps were obtained from supervised classification of satellite imagery and regression graphs for the rate of change of forest area were also obtained. Results show that the forested areas decreased at a rate of 308 ha per year (2.4%) during the FTLRP and at a rate of 481 ha per year (5.2%) post FTLRP. The inception of FTLRP and the withdrawal of funds to support the Community Involvement in Forest Management (CIFM) resulted in forest loss as the population grew and demand for land increased. Given the current rate of forest loss, the Mafungabusi Forest will probably disappear in the next 20 years if no measures are taken to reduce the rate of forest loss. Thus, there is need for the Zimbabwe Forestry Commission, Environmental Management Agency and other relevant stakeholders to engage resettled farmers in sustainable co-management of natural resources. Such efforts will help in combating effects of climate change and conserving biodiversity.

“You Sort of Fit Together Like a Puzzle”: Across-Agency Partnership Attributes for Combating Food Insecurity in San Diego County

“You Sort of Fit Together Like a Puzzle”: Across-Agency Partnership Attributes for Combating Food Insecurity in San Diego County

New Business Segmentation for Haulage Industry in Malaysia

The haulage industry has the biggest fleets as compared to the others road trucking operators in Malaysia. The history of haulage industry started in 1971 until 2004 with five operators and in 2019 and above was recorded to 220 operators in the market. It was demonstrated with the open market which the growth of total fleet from 2,131 prime movers and 10,701 trailers before 2004 and more than 4,500 over prime movers and 31,500 over trailers in 2018 (AMH, 2018). The total number of prime movers and trailers had increased to 111% to overall fleets’ capacity. Haulage market which relate to container throughputs form 2009 - 2019 (ten-year) recorded at 16 million tues to 25 million teus in 2019 (UNCTAD 2019) which increased only by 65%. It was calculated on the surplus by 46 % of holding of prime movers in haulage industry at present. Apparently the market of haulage industry has stagnant and invite further sluggishness on haulage movements. The haulage operators had initiated to downsizing on the fleets due to unstable market and difficulty to sustain in their business. Therefore, the research suggests on appropriate ways to improve on the present condition and making more competitiveness of haulage industry. This research will investigate into three (3) segmentations such as reduction number of fleets, improvement on present activities and changing on other types of trucking businesses. The key respondents of the survey were the haulage operators, customers, government agency and other stakeholders. The survey was conducted among 200 respondents and at the end only 170 answers were accepted. The research uses SPSS version 25 and PLS-SEM to analyze from the collected data. The finding of the research has suggested that the three segmentations are the most appropriate ways to improve the present condition in haulage industry.

Performance of Firm and Board Attributes Nexus: Using Hausman Test Analysis

With the rise of corporate failures and the conflict of interest arising from shareholders and the management, there have been growing concerns in corporate governance (CG). It is there is ponsibility of the board of director in CG is to oversee the management as well as the firm performance and to make the management accountable to shareholders. Hence this research examines the connection between firms’ performance and board features using board size, board independence in addition to board age as a proxy for board characteristics and turnover as a proxy for firm performance. A sample size of 16 consumer goods firms out of a population of 20 consumer goods firms listed in the NSE from 2016 to 2019 was used using a judgmental sampling technique. Secondary data employed was taken out from the sampled firms’ annual reports. Hausman test analysis was used to select the appropriate regression model, which is the fixed effect regression model that was utilized to analyse the connection between firms’ performance in addition to board characteristics. It is found that firm performance and board independence of the consumer services goods companies in Nigeria are significantly related.The results also confirmed that firm performance and board size of the consumer services goods companies in Nigeria are significantly related. The result indicates firm performance and board education of the consumer services goods companies in Nigeria are not significantly related. Consequently, overall lthe study concluded that firms’ performance and board characteristics are related. Also, board characteristics increase board performance which will lead to increase in firms’ performances, there by maximizing profit and ensuring efficiency. The study concluded that a company with good board characteristics would help to ensure the maximization of both the shareholders and stakeholders wealth. Hence a proper board characteristic helps to solve the problem of both agency theory and stakeholders’ theory.

Preventing Suicide Among Homeless Veterans: A Consensus Statement by the Veterans Affairs Suicide Prevention Among Veterans Experiencing Homelessness Workgroup.

Preventing Suicide Among Homeless Veterans: A Consensus Statement by the Veterans Affairs Suicide Prevention Among Veterans Experiencing Homelessness Workgroup.

Outreach-based clinical pharmacist prescribing input into the healthcare of people experiencing homelessness: a qualitative investigation

BackgroundSeverely and multiply disadvantaged members of the homeless population are disproportionately vulnerable to exceptionally high levels of multi-morbidity and premature death. Given widespread calls for the development of interventions that might improve the uptake and effectiveness of healthcare for this population, this study investigated patient and other stakeholder perspectives regarding an outreach service, delivered by prescribing pharmacists in collaboration with a local voluntary sector provider, within homelessness services and on the street in Glasgow (UK).MethodsThe qualitative study involved semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 40 purposively sampled individuals with current or recent experience of homelessness (32 of whom had direct experience of the service and 8 of whom did not), all (n = 4) staff involved in frontline delivery of the service, and 10 representatives of stakeholder agencies working in partnership with the service and/or with the same client group. Pseudonymised verbatim interview transcriptions were analysed systematically via thematic and framework analysis.ResultsThe service was effective at case finding and engaging with patients who were reluctant to utilise or physically unable to access existing (mainstream or specialist ‘homeless’) healthcare provision. It helped patients overcome many of the barriers that homeless people commonly face when attempting to access healthcare, enabled immediate diagnosis and prescription of medication, and catalysed and capitalised on windows of opportunity when patients were motivated to address healthcare needs. A number of improvements in health outcomes, including but not limited to medication adherence, were also reported.ConclusionsA proactive, informal, flexible, holistic and person-centred outreach service delivered within homelessness service settings and on the street can act as a valuable bridge to both primary and secondary healthcare for people experiencing homelessness who would otherwise ‘fall through the gaps’ of provision. Prescribing pharmacist input coupled with third sector involvement into healthcare for this vulnerable population allows for the prompt treatment of and/or prescription for a range of conditions, and offers substantial potential for improving health-related outcomes.

Heavy charged particle beam therapy and related new radiotherapy technologies: The clinical potential, physics and technical developments required to deliver benefit for patients with cancer.

In the UK, one in two people will develop cancer during their lifetimes and radiotherapy (RT) plays a key role in effective treatment. High energy proton beam therapy commenced in the UK National Health Service in 2018. Heavier charged particles have potential advantages over protons by delivering more dose in the Bragg peak, with a sharper penumbra, lower oxygen dependence and increased biological effectiveness. However, they also require more costly equipment including larger gantries to deliver the treatment. There are significant uncertainties in the modelling of relative biological effectiveness and the effects of the fragmentation tail which can deliver dose beyond the Bragg peak. These effects need to be carefully considered especially in relation to long-term outcomes.In 2019, a group of clinicians, clinical scientists, engineers, physical and life scientists from academia and industry, together with funding agency stakeholders, met to consider how the UK should address new technologies for RT, especially the use of heavier charged particles such as helium and carbon and new modes of delivery such as FLASH and spatially fractionated radiotherapy (SFRT).There was unanimous agreement that the UK should develop a facility for heavier charged particle therapy, perhaps constituting a new National Ion Research Centre to enable research using protons and heavier charged particles. Discussion followed on the scale and features, including which ions should be included, from protons through helium, boron, and lithium to carbon, and even oxygen. The consensus view was that any facility intended to treat patients must be located in a hospital setting while providing dedicated research space for physics, preclinical biology and clinical research with beam lines designed for both in vitro and in vivo research. The facility should to be able to investigate and deliver both ultra-high dose rate FLASH RT and SFRT (GRID, minibeams etc.). Discussion included a number of accelerator design options and whether gantries were required. Other potential collaborations might be exploited, including with space agencies, electronics and global communications industries and the nuclear industry.In preparation for clinical delivery, there may be opportunities to send patients overseas (for 12C or 4He ion therapy) using the model of the National Health Service (NHS) Proton Overseas Programme and to look at potential national clinical trials which include heavier ions, FLASH or SFRT. This could be accomplished under the auspices of NCRI CTRad (National Cancer Research Institute, Clinical and Translational Radiotherapy Research Working Group).The initiative should be a community approach, involving all interested parties with a vision that combines discovery science, a translational research capability and a clinical treatment facility. Barriers to the project and ways to overcome them were discussed. Finally, a set of different scenarios of features with different costs and timelines was constructed, with consideration given to the funding environment (prer-Covid-19) and need for cross-funder collaboration.

Impact of Entrepreneurship Development on Sustainable Job Creation Amongst Youths in Bauchi State, Nigeria (2013-2017)

The study examines the impact of entrepreneurship development on sustainable job creation amongst youths in Bauchi State. The study which is a survey research design involved the use of both primary and secondary sources of data. Data were collected through the use of structured questionnaire and observations while the population of the study consist of 1,605 Youths entrepreneurs, government officials and other stakeholders targeted in the 20 local government areas of the State. Descriptive Statistics, Simple Percentages and Regression Analysis was used to test the formulated hypotheses in line with the objectives of the study. The major findings of the study reveals that, “several factors such as poor training, inadequate technology, unfavourable government policies and poor infrastructural facilities, as well as lack of the right business connection and inadequate funding and insecurity have significant effect on entrepreneurship and sustainable job creation which hampers on the activities of youths entrepreneurs in Bauchi State. The study found inadequate funding and technology and Insecurity with the most significant impact while infrastructural facilities and government policies were found to have exhibited the least impact. The study recommends the need for Bauchi State government to increase its effort towards meeting the training needs and improving on the security situation in the state as doing so will provide the enabling environment for entrepreneurship businesses to thrive. The study concludes that youth’s unemployment has become a major issue of concern not only in Bauchi State but the country at large. The situation requires concerted efforts by individuals, Federal and States governments including stakeholder agencies towards providing a lasting solution in curbing the menace so as to guard against spread of social vices and all forms criminality in the State which is retrogressive to peaceful co-existence and economic growth and development. Keywords: Bauchi State, Entrepreneurship, Development, Sustainable Job Creation, Youths. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-27-02 Publication date: September 30 th 2020

Sustainability of Farmer Producer Organisations - The case of producer organisations involved in the production and marketing of ‘neera’ in the coconut sector

Neera-the coconut inflorescence sap has been promoted as a potential value-added non-alcoholic beverage with abundant health benefits. The concerted effort of the stakeholder agencies could liberate the product from the policy regulations on its production under the excise act (known as ‘Abkari act’ in Kerala). Subsequently, the coconut producer federations (CPFs) in the State were granted licenses for ‘neera’ production and marketing. However, the majority of the CPFs discontinued the ‘neera’ enterprise, which they have initiated with greater enthusiasm. The present study is a modest attempt to trace the reasons for setbacks experienced in the ‘neera’ sector and also to provide a refined framework for revamping the sector. The details of licenses granted to the CPFs were sourced from the Department of Excise, Government of Kerala. The sample size of the study was 95 (13 CPFs who are still active and 82 CPFs who have discontinued). It was observed that the ‘neera’ value chain is in the evolving stage, and the withdrawal of the institutional support had detrimentally affected the confidence of the CPFs ventured into it. The availability of ‘neera’ technicians (tappers) and the high wage rates have evoked concerns on the profitability as well as the assurance of continuous supply of the product. The study categorically highlights the need for a restructured value chain of ‘neera’ with specific roles assigned to the stakeholders through the creation of functional linkages.

Historical development of climate change policies and the Climate Change Secretariat in Sri Lanka

Historical development of climate change policies and the Climate Change Secretariat in Sri Lanka

Process and Product Innovations from a Statewide Capacity-Building Initiative for Substance Use Treatment and Recovery

Statewide behavioral health collaborative capacity-building initiatives are designed to support substance use agencies in strengthening their behavioral health services delivery and implementing evidence-supported practices. This study explored the types of innovations resulting from one such statewide behavioral health initiative, as well as the facilitators and barriers to implementing these innovations, from the perspective of the substance use agencies involved in the initiative. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 67 agency stakeholders and 93 agency progress reports. Results indicated that 161 innovations emerged through this project for the substance use agencies, including staffing; policy, procedure, and technology; partnerships; training and media products; and service innovations. Agency facilitators included collaboration/partnership, project buy-in, and quality of agency staff. Barriers to implementation included lack of collaboration or partnerships, agency infrastructure or climate, lack of project buy-in, and funding and billing issues. The article concludes with a discussion on implications for social work practice in behavioral health.

Rising Sea Level and the Growing Threat of Hazardous Material Releases: A Pilot Project in Coastal Virginia

Introduction:Hazardous materials are widely used in modern society, including in industry, business, agriculture, research, healthcare, and other sectors. As sea levels continue to rise around the globe, locations where hazardous materials are produced, stored, transported, or utilized become increasingly vulnerable to flooding, storm surge, and other problems that can result in accidental releases. Such releases can pose threats to health, the environment, and the economic viability of communities.Aim:This paper reports on a new pilot project in Coastal Virginia to increase awareness, enhance safeguards, and strengthen preparedness for the growing threat of hazardous material releases posed by rising sea levels.Methods:Launched under the Institute for Coastal Adaptation and Resilience (ICAR) at Old Dominion University, with support from the ODU Resilience Collaborative, the project includes several components. One part identifies hazardous materials sectors that could be affected by rising seas. Another component consists of case studies of locations that have already been affected. A third component involves stakeholder workshops where participants work collaboratively to enhance safeguards and strengthen preparedness.Results:Designed in 2017 and 2018, the project secured initial funding early in 2018. Since then, the project has worked to identify sectors and activities that could be affected by rising seas and establish links with key stakeholder agencies, sectors, and organizations. The next steps, to be completed in 2019, involve preparation of case studies from facilities already affected by rising sea levels, and the implementation of the first in a series of stakeholder workshops.Discussion:As sea levels rise, more hazardous materials locations become vulnerable. Proactively addressing this threat is an essential part of sea level rise preparedness, adaptation, and resilience. The new pilot project in Coastal Virginia is intended to help address this challenge by increasing awareness and bringing stakeholders together to collaboratively identify practical steps forward.

Assessment of Road Safety Audit Status in Gaza Strip, Palestine

Local statistics in the last ten years indicate that the number of road accidents in both Gaza Strip and the West Bank is continuously increasing. Recent statistics by the Traffic Accidents Investigation Office of the Palestinian Police, recorded 2710 road accidents in 2016 in Gaza Strip, causing 84 deaths with a high rate of fatalities per 100,000 vehicles. This work aims to provide a general study about traffic safety condition in Gaza Strip and to assess the status of road safety audit (RSA). This work is also expected to encourage stakeholder agencies in Gaza Strip to make potential changes toward enhancing traffic safety. The results and discussion in this paper are based on the collected data on RSA actions in Gaza Strip’s agencies by several methods; interviews, electronic communications and exploring several specialized local and international websites. This was followed by a comparison between local and international procedures of RSA. The results indicate that traffic safety sector in Gaza Strip suffers from several shortages and deficiencies. The results also proved that the local implementation of RSA is non-frequent and unsystematic. They also revealed that there is no adopted or standard guideline for RSA in Gaza Strip and that there is a lack of qualified and multi-disciplinary RSA teams. The research concludes that traffic safety sector in Gaza Strip needs more attention as well as continuous development. The adopted RSA guidelines for the West Bank (version 2013) are suitable and they are recommended to be used in Gaza Strip.

Systematic Identification and Prioritization of Communities Impacted by Residential Woodsmoke in British Columbia, Canada

Background: Residential woodsmoke is an under-regulated source of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), often surpassing mobile and industrial emissions in rural communities in North America and elsewhere. In the province of British Columbia (BC), Canada, many municipalities are hesitant to adopt stricter regulations for residential wood burning without empirical evidence that smoke is affecting local air quality. The objective of this study was to develop a retrospective algorithm that uses 1-hour PM2.5 concentrations and daily temperature data to identify smoky days in order to prioritize communities by smoke impacts.Methods: Levoglucosan measurements from one of the smokiest communities were used to establish the most informative values for three algorithmic parameters: the daily standard deviation of 1-hour PM2.5 measurements; the daily mean temperature; and the daytime-to-nighttime ratio of PM2.5 concentrations. Alternate parameterizations were tested in 45 sensitivity analyses, and 23 smaller communities (populations < 80,000) were ranked by the number of smoky days identified within a 2-year period.Results: Using the most informative parameter values on the most recent two years of data for each community, the number of smoky days ranged from 5 to 277 out of 730. Heat maps visualizing seasonal and diurnal variation in PM2.5 concentrations showed clear differences between the higher- and lower-ranked communities. Some communities were sensitive to one or more of the parameters, but the overall rankings were consistent across the 45 sensitivity analyses.Conclusions: This information will allow stakeholder agencies to work with local governments on implementing appropriate intervention strategies for the most smoke-impacted communities. It was also used to identify communities for more detailed assessment using mobile monitoring.

Development and testing of an assessment of youth/young adult voice in agency-level advising and decision making

Development and testing of an assessment of youth/young adult voice in agency-level advising and decision making

The Impact of Multilingualism on Reporting Domestic Violence in Mozambique

ABSTRACTThis article examines the linguistic environment in which police and justice agencies conduct interviews in domestic violence cases in Maputo, Mozambique. In Maputo, most people speak one or more African languages and many do not speak the official language, Portuguese, fluently. Moreover, a complex justice environment in Maputo incorporates customary law such as community-based mediation. This article examines justice and civil society stakeholder attitudes towards the role of language in the justice system. Interviews with staff from ten agencies indicate that stakeholders recognise the positive value for victim- survivors of domestic violence to tell their story in their own language. However, stakeholder agencies sometimes act as “linguistic gate-keepers” and the authors conclude that a suitable first step in improving the state’s response to domestic violence is the development of tools to support agency staff at all levels in explaining legal terminology and processes in simple Portuguese, or local language translations.

Audit committee roles, responsibilities and characteristics in Ghana: the perception of 'agency stakeholders'

This paper examines the perception of firms' major 'agency stakeholders' – external auditors, investors and senior management - of Ghanaian listed companies on the roles, responsibilities and desirable characteristics of an effective corporate audit committee (AC). Employing a survey approach to this study, the paper documents that 'agency stakeholders' in Ghana associate the role and responsibilities of AC more with firms' internal audit function and processes than any other unit which AC has oversight responsibilities. It also demonstrates that corporate stakeholders do not attach the same level of importance to the roles, responsibilities and characteristics of AC. The paper, therefore, highlights the need for stakeholders to be aware of and consider the new dynamics of AC functions and processes with equal importance to promote effective practice.

Audit committee roles, responsibilities and characteristics in Ghana: the perception of 'agency stakeholders'

Audit committee roles, responsibilities and characteristics in Ghana: the perception of 'agency stakeholders'

Craig Johns, Pamela Lyon, Randy Stringer and Wendy Umberger. Changing urban consumer behaviour and the role of different retail outlets in the food industry of Fiji

The food industry is undergoing transformation globally. The set of circumstances specific to Fiji provides important insights into the drivers of this change, which have implications for private, government and donor agency stakeholders. A novel study of 1,000 urban households in Fiji found that among those surveyed, modern supermarkets have overtaken traditional markets as the dominant food retail outlet and now have 100 per cent patronage and take in 54 per cent of total household food expenditures. However, the battle for the fresh fruit and vegetable category appears to be in its infancy, with 97 per cent of households still shopping for products in this category at the traditional main market. Although foreign investment is a key driver of the retail food sector transformation in more rapidly growing developing countries, in Fiji, where foreign investment is relatively low, this transformation appears to be predominantly supported by rising urban income and changing consumer preferences. Consequently, policy attention should be directed towards market channels that can take advantage of changing consumer preferences, while still supporting local farmers.

Pioneers in Social Work Practice with the Addictions: An Interview with Maryann Amodeo, PhD, LICSW

Dr. Maryann Amodeo has worked in the addiction field for more than 30 years and has trained many students and agency stakeholders. She was the first nonphysician president of the Association for Me...