Reconciling Actors' Preferences in Agricultural Policy - Towards a New Management of Public Decisions

To attain sustainable development in the 21st century, the world's population still has to overcome many challenges; hunger, poverty, environmental degradation and depletion. Policy design in such a context is and will remain a complex task. On one hand, policy makers often lack information on stakeholders' strategies and constraints as well as on potential options for improvement. On the other hand, stakeholders do not always adhere to policies for lack of understanding of the pursued goals. It is not unusual to observe that often, real policy effects are not those initially expected. Furthermore, existing decision-making mechanisms for public intervention are increasingly questioned due to pressure for market liberalization, decentralization processes and the increasing role of the civil society. However, while the classical role of government is challenged, few methods have been proposed to enable the design of viable alternatives. The approach presented in this book is a contribution to the improvement of efficiency in public decision-making. Based on practical experience from Viet Nam, Indonesia and other countries, it proposes new methods for the identification of policy objective, stakeholders and issues at stake, and for the definition and implementation of concrete actions. It also provides means and guidance to foster progressive actors' participation and involvement in decision-making and policy implementation processes. Key Words: analytical methods, tools, decision making, agricultural policiesanalytical methods, tools, decision making, agricultural policies, Agricultural and Food Policy,

The reputation of the corporate social responsibility industry in Australia

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is increasingly seen as an imperative for sustainable business and there is a growing literature on the effect of CSR on corporate reputation. Despite this, a pall of ambiguity and uncertainty remains around what CSR means and how it should be practiced. This paper offers a unique addition to the body of literature to date by revealing that CSR is an emerging industry in Australia, which is in the process of developing its own reputation as a set of business practices. The paper is based on exploratory qualitative research using a case study methodology. Interviews were conducted with key actors within the industry to investigate shared understandings of what CSR means, perceptions of CSR practice and of the industry as a whole, and who is involved in shaping these perceptions. The research revealed that the CSR industry in Australia is in its early stages of development and is therefore in need of increased internal cooperation if it is to develop a strong reputation

Designing whole-systems commissioning: lessons from the English experience

The paucity of formal evidence, allied to the requirement for strategies that are sensitive to local history and context, means that a ‘blueprint’ for successful strategic commissioning is not currently available for adoption. We are therefore confined to proposing ‘design principles’ for those seeking to embark upon a transition towards a whole systems approach to strategic commissioning. People and relationships are of critical importance all the way through the chain from strategic commissioning to micro-commissioning. Most crucially, experience suggests that structural solutions alone cannot deliver effective relationships and will not be effective when relationships are neglected. The need to ensure staff, partner and political buy-in suggests that relationship management and consensus-building are an integral component of the leadership role in moving toward strategic commissioning. As with any major re-organisation, the move to strategic commissioning is essentially a change management initiative and therefore will stand or fall according to whether it adheres to good practice in the change management process. Central to this, and to achieving commissioning outcomes, is the requirement for meaningful service user and public engagement. Effective commissioning emphasizes individual capabilities as well as needs, and community assets as well as deficits and problems. Adoption of strategic commissioning approaches is still at the developmental and learning stage and arguably all structural arrangements should be regarded as transitional

Exploring the Issues: An Evaluation Literature Review

Finding ways to make evaluation more meaningful and more useful has been a key theme in the evaluation literature since the discipline began, and there is no shortage of discussion around improving evaluation among nonprofit practitioners. The topic has been a highlight at ONN's annual conference in recent years.However, much of the discussion around improving evaluation focuses on methodology, tools, and indicators.There has been less attention paid to who is asking and determining the questions of evaluation, such as who evaluation is for and what is its purpose. Consequently, the purpose of this background paper is to review the literature on evaluation use with a particular focus on systemic factors. In other words, we are interested in looking at the relationship between evaluation practice and the overall structure and function of the nonprofit sector in Ontario.We're interested in the policies and regulations that guide us, the roles played by various actors, theassumptions we make, the language we use, and the ways in which resources move through the sector. We're examining the purposes that evaluation serves, both overt and implicit. We want to learn more about the factors that make evaluations really useful, the issues that can get in the way of evaluations being useful, and ideas for improvement. Ultimately, our goal in this paper is to generate a broad vision to inform our project's final outcomes

Developing individuals for developing learning based systems

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This research is concerned with investigating the externalisation, sharing and making tangible of tacit knowledge in the context of organisational learning (OL). The externalisation, sharing and making tangible of tacit knowledge can provide “inputs” for Information Systems (IS) development. This process, in turn, can become a basis for the development of a system that is capable of promoting a learning environment within the organisation. However, the externalising, sharing and making tangible of tacit knowledge, a transparent and subjective form of knowledge, needs staff members’ self-confidence and willingness to undertake it. Therefore, elements that can motivate staff members to externalise, share and make tangible their tacit knowledge or skills are needed. To undertake this, the elements of meta-abilities, understanding organisational roles, internal strengths, formal and informal discussions and rational discourse are proposed. For this research, all these propositions are integrated into a framework. Therefore, the aim of this research is to study the elements that can encourage staff members to contribute inputs for learning-based systems development. The question to be used for the research is stated as follows: How do we include individuals in the learning-based systems development? Why use meta-abilities in order to include individuals in the learning-based systems development? By answering the question this research offers the following contributions. A novel topic in the IS area, meta-abilities is discussed within the context of the IS area. By considering these elements motivation and encouragement can be offered to staff members such that a contribution to inputs for learning-based systems development can occur. The research approach undertaken in this research involved the use of a pilot and an in-depth case study, as well as interviews, observation and reference to archival documents. From the undertaken research it was concluded that the future focus for the OL-based IS development should be towards individual development strategies that develop interpretive, creative staff members. Interpretive, creative staff members in turn, are capable of externalising, sharing and documenting their own tacit knowledge based on the situational contexts and orientation. Systems analysts can study the documented inputs provided by the staff members and can codify them. This whole process will enable continuous re-examination and modification processes of organisational IS, thereby making its content become more relevant for OL