50,001 research outputs found

    Connected Women: How Mobile Can Support Women's Economic and Social Empowerment

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    This report explores how mobile services provided by Vodafone and the Vodafone Foundation are enabling women to seize new opportunities and improve their lives. Accenture Sustainability Services were commissioned to conduct research on the services and to assess their potential social and economic impact if they were widely available across Vodafone's markets by 2020. It showcases the projects and the work of those involved and also poses the question -- what would the benefit to women and to society at large be if projects such as these were taken to scale and achieved an industrialscale of growth? This reflects the Foundation's commitment not solely to the development of pilots but rather the Trustees' ambition to see projects which lead to transformational change. In order to understand this more deeply, the Report looks at the benefits for women and society and providessome financial modelling for how the engagement of commercial players could achieve industrial, sustainable growth in these areas. Accenture has provided the modelling and, given the public benefit and understanding which the report seeks to generate, these are shared openly for all in the mobile industry to understand and share. It is the Trustees' hope that the collaboration with Oxford University and Accenture in the delivery of this Report will stimulate not only the expansion of existing charitable programmes but will also seed other philanthropic, social enterprise or commercial initiatives

    Science for Scotland : background

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    Intergenerational Education for Social Inclusion and Solidarity: The Case Study of the EU Funded Project "Connecting Generations"

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    This paper reflects on lessons learned from a validated model of international collaboration based on research and practice. During the European Year for Active Ageing, a partnership of seven organizations from the European Union plus Turkey implemented the Lifelong Learning Programme partnership “Connecting Generations‘ which involved universities, non-governmental organizations, third age Universities and municipalities in collaboration with local communities. Reckoning that Europe has dramatically changed in its demographic composition and is facing brand new challenges regarding intergenerational and intercultural solidarity, each partner formulated and tested innovative and creative practices that could enhance better collaboration and mutual understanding between youth and senior citizens, toward a more inclusive Europe for all. Several innovative local practices have experimented, attentively systematized and peer-valuated among the partners. On the basis of a shared theoretical framework coherent with EU and Europe and Training 2020 Strategy, an action-research approach was adopted throughout the project in order to understand common features that have been replicated and scaled up since today

    Responsible corporate governance: An overview of trends, initiatives and state-of-the-art elements. What sort of globalisation is sustainable?

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    Transnational corporations' (TNCs) economic operations cover numerous countriesand can be diverted between several continents. These units have reached a level ofsignificance, having not only economic, but also social and environmental implications. This justifies that they shall be treated separately as a social phenomenon,when considering strategies for the development towards sustainability.This paper presents the concept of Responsible Corporate Governance (RCG), asa strategy to govern TNCs. RCG is suggested as a stakeholder based policyinstrument, which aims at allocating responsibilities to societal actors aiming atcorporate accountability. RCG recognises that the process of societal change isstrongly based on what can be called as bottom up-processes. Learning processestake place through the interaction of the different societal members, whicheventually leads to macro changes. Therefore, governing TNCs towards sustainability improvements is considered to be a collective process including all stakeholders. Firstly, the paper places the concept of RCG in the ongoing debateof political modernization based on the fact that society develops overtime and thepolitical system must correspondingly modernize. In this context, politicaloverload developed as a consequence of increased resource interdependencies isexplained and as a resolution, network approach is discussed. Secondly, demands on the orientation of the TNCs in terms of accountability and innovative actionare brought forward. Here, the paper also lists down corporate elements (stakeholder empowered corporate governance, management and performanceevaluation systems, transparency enhancement and accountability verification), which need to be in place to attain an accountable orientation in the society.Following, using an analytical framework, the orientation and capabilities of each societal actor (environmental non-governmental organisations, financial institutions, intergovernmental organisations) to affect improvements in the corporateresponsibility elements are investigated and recommendations for their effectiveorientation are listed. --

    Chasing the honey bee: enhancing leadership for sustainability

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    This paper explores the ways in which different conceptions of leadership can contribute to the sustainability of economic productivity, social equity and, of course, the natural systems and resources upon which all social and economic development depend. It begins by briefly defining leadership and outlining the major approaches to leadership studies in terms of trait and social theories of leadership. In particular, the paper argues that transformational leadership and what Western (2013) calls “eco-leadership” are most consistent with the systemic, ethical and learning dimensions of sustainability. This involves contrasting what Avery and Bergsteiner (2011, 2013) call the “honey bee” and the “locust” approaches to leadership. With these authors, the chapter argues that the “honey bee” approach of critical, transformational leadership is most consistent with sustainability. The paper concludes with an example of how capacities for “honey bee” leadership and eco-leadership can be developed and enhanced through a university programme

    Service sector reform: a roadmap for community and human services reform

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    This paper examines strategies to improve the way that government and community services work together to address the needs of vulnerable community members.Introduction In late 2012 I was appointed to lead the Service Sector Reform project. The goal was to explore how government and non-government service providers can work together to improve outcomes for Victorians. I was asked to lead a process that engaged all stakeholders in a discussion about community and human services and in particular, to examine how support for Victoria’s most vulnerable people could be delivered in a more integrated way.An intensive five-month consultation process took place between February and July 2013. During this period my project principal, Dr Bronte Adams, and I listened to the views of people in the community sector, public administration and the private sector. Consultation included public forums, individual meetings, focus groups and a submission process. We talked to ministers and departmental secretaries as well as frontline staff, case managers and community workers. We also heard from service users.This report is a summarised account of many hours of discussions and more than a hundred submissions. The report represents my findings, although it is clear it also seeks to capture the voice of the community

    The interaction between non-governmental organisations and marginalized communities to build self-sustaining capacity to transfer, absorb and use building technologies in indigenous housing

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    Different organisations outside the public and private sectors, such as non governmental organisations (NGOs), are involved in generating, introducing, and promoting capacity building and technology, particularly in marginal areas of less developed countries (Farrington and Biggs, 1990). Non-governmental organizations have become important players in the field of social development, with increased expectations shifting to NGOs as the “Magic bullet” to fix some of the on-going developmental problems of developing countries (Edwards and Fowler, 2002). NGOs use strategies such as capacity building to promote self-reliance. Capacity building is an important strategy for fostering sustainable social, political and economic development. Accordingly, grass root communities are said to be an important section of the community capable of transforming the state and society (Fisher, 1997). Hence, the reason many NGOs work with marginalised communities who have been marginalized by the either the market or deprived of social infrastructure. Previous research to date has tended to focus on NGOs activities in communities. However, little attention has been paid to how such strategies and organisation could fit with the community’s needs, especially in housing which is a major problem in developing countries. This paper proposes that many development initiatives by NGOs to build self-sustaining capacity to transfer, absorb and use building technologies in indigenous housing are hindered by inadequate interaction with the beneficiary communities. This paper gives a synthesis of literature review on the background of NGOs and capacity building as a strategy for self-reliance. The paper offers an in-depth understanding of this phenomenon, which will allow certain questions to be raised regarding the interaction with marginalised communities. This study is important because it adds to existing literature and opens up a whole new debate on NGO/ community interaction. This paper argues that capacity building ought to be incorporated with the needs and culture of the community and special attention paid to participatory process

    Importance of Global Co-innovation Networks: A TCS Case Study

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    Today all kinds of innovations and research work is done by partnerships of competent entities each having some specialized skills. Like the development of the global economy, global innovation partnerships have grown considerably and form the basis of most of the sophisticated innovations today. To further streamline and simplify such cooperation, several innovation networks have been formed, both at local and global levels. This paper discusses the different types of innovations and how cooperation can benefit innovation in terms of pooling of resources and sharing of risks. One example of an open global co-innovation network promoted by Tata Consultancy Services, the TCS COIN is taken as a case. It enables venture capitalists, consultants, research agencies, companies and universities form nodes of the network so that each entity can play a meaningful role in the innovation network. Further, two innovation projects implemented using the COIN are discussed. Innovation Networks like these could form the basis of a unique global innovation network, which is not owned by any company and is used by innovation partners globally to collaborate and conduct research and development.innovation partnerships; co-innovation network
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