A review of the leader approach for delivering the rural development programme for England: a report for Defra

This report, commissioned by the Rural Communities Policy Unit at Defra, sets out the findings of a review of the Leader approach in England. The focus of the review is the impact of Leader in contributing to the delivery of the Rural Development Programme (RDP) in England, in order to inform the future Leader approach to delivering rural policy. The research is primarily based on a review of existing literature and in-depth qualitative research with Local Action Groups and other stakeholders involved in delivering or benefiting from the Leader approach. The review focuses on four key issues: 1) Evidence to support the rationale for use of EU resources to enable rural development – justifying intervention for the current programme and informing choices about interventions in the next programme 2) Evidence on the extent to which interventions have been effective to date and where future resources can be targeted 3) Evidence to provide an assessment of the impact of RDPE spend (2007-13) on outcomes – with reference to delivery mechanisms 4) Evidence to support prioritisation of activities to be funded under the next programme mapped against the six EU wide priorities for 2014-2020 and inform decisions about future delivery models

Sustainable development : fourth annual assessment of progress by the Scottish Government

SDC Scotland’s annual assessment is based on a review of government policy across a range of topics from economy and energy to education, health, waste and biodiversity. The conclusions and recommendations are also based on discussions with expert groups in each policy area, government civil servants and a stakeholder survey.Publisher PD

PRIMUS/Informed Cities: Making research work for local sustainability

The final report of a three year European Commission FP7 project

Measurement and reporting of climate-smart agriculture: technical guidance for a countrycentric process

Given the extent of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) initiatives at project, national, regional and global levels, there is increasing interest in tracking progress in implementing CSA at national level. CSA is also expected to contribute to higher-level goals (e.g., the Paris Agreement, Africa Union’s Vision 25x25, and the Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs], etc.). Measurement and reporting of climate-smart agriculture (MR of CSA) provides intelligence on necessary the status, effectiveness, efficiency and impacts of interventions, which is critical for meeting stakeholders’ diverse management and reporting needs. In this paper, we build the case for a stakeholder-driven, country-centric framework for MR of CSA, which aims to increase coordination and coherence across stakeholders’ MR activities, while also aligning national reporting with reporting on international commitments. We present practical guidance on how to develop an integrated MR framework, drawing on findings from a multi-country assessment of needs, opportunities and capacities for national MR of CSA. The content of a unified MR framework is determined by stakeholders’ activities (how they promote CSA), needs (why MR is useful to them) and current capacities to conduct periodic monitoring, evaluation and reporting (how ready are institutions, staff and finances). Our analysis found that explicit demand for integration of data systems and active engagement of stakeholders throughout the entire process are key ingredients for building a MR system that is relevant, useful and acted upon. Based on these lessons, we identify a seven-step framework for stakeholders to develop a comprehensive information system for MR of progress in implementing CSA

The Nature of Context-Sensitive Solutions, Stakeholder Involvement and Critical Issues in the Urban Context

Over the last several decades many transportation and planning agencies have experienced conflicting demands emerging from the need to develop projects in an expeditious manner while at the same time involving stakeholders in the decision-making process, which sometimes is perceived as slowing project delivery and/or increasing costs. Given this tension between apparently conflicting demands, it is important to understand how the stakeholder involvement is being carried out and what best practices may be recommended. This study examines the issue in the context of a relatively new policy framework – Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) – which supports the early integration of stakeholders into the planning process. The report pays particular attention to stakeholders’ involvement in projects within urban centers, where there is likely to be more complexity, both in terms of the number of stakeholders and end users affected. CSS is a relatively new process and not consistently interpreted or applied across states and/or agencies. The literature suggests that an underlying assumption when applying CSS principles to community involvement processes is that stakeholders are empowered through clear policies and procedures directed towards their participation. In our research, we found that the extent to which public agencies apply the CSS framework and involve and respond to stakeholders depends on each agency\u27s interest to engage the public in the deliberation process to find the best-fit project for a community. It is likely that the increased integration of stakeholders into the planning and project development process will not become a state of practice until the benefits flowing from community involvement are clearly understood by the agency staff. The CSS literature describes many benefits associated with comprehensive stakeholder engagement, including gaining constituents\u27 buy-in and support for project financing. A movement toward standardizing CSS policies and directives across the country will facilitate a public discussion about the benefits of engaging communities into the project design phase and away from solely expert-based designs. In addition, there are a number of stakeholder involvement practices that, if adopted, could expedite the integration of communities\u27 views and values in the decision-making process, while at the same time minimizing the chances of protracted consultation processes, time delays and additional costs

Measuring the Performance of Livability Programs, MTI Report 12-06

This report analyzes the performance measurement processes adopted by five large “livability” programs throughout the United States. It compares and contrasts these programs by examining existing research in performance measurement methods. The “best practices” of the examined performance measurement methods for each program are explored and analyzed with respect to their key characteristics. The report entails an appropriately comprehensive literature review of the current research on performance measurement methods from the perspective of various stakeholders including the public and government agencies. Additionally, the results of this literature review are used to examine the actual performance measures of the target programs from the perspective of different stakeholders. The goal of the report is to determine what did and did not work in these programs and their measurement methods, while making recommendations based on the results of the analysis for potential future programs

Towards Efficient Public Sector Asset Management

Governments are accountable for providing quality public services to their citizens at the most favourable terms. They are, among other issues, responsible for managing a diversified public asset portfolio. This paper examines one of the critical financial challenges in Croatia: managing public sector assets efficiently. It attempts to facilitate better understanding of public asset management as an integral part of public sector reforms. The lack of reliable information on public assets in place hinders determination of the assets’ value, budgeting for asset management activities and evaluating public asset portfolio performance. As a result, assets are managed on an ad-hoc, often reactive basis. Starting from the concept that public authorities have to be fully accountable to the public, we propose the preconditions necessary for commencing proper public asset management practice in Croatia. Our model might help other countries that are also faced with public asset management inefficiency.public sector assets, centralised asset registry, accrual financial reporting, professional asset management, Croatia

The Challenge of Governance of India Today

This paper attempts to delineate the possible role of goverance oriented reform in India today. We raise conceptual and historical difficulties with the notion that sees governance failure as the cause of poor economic performance. We discuss why there are certain regularities in the occurance of good governance, distinguishing the same from functional governance which aids and abets industrialisation. Next we go on to discuss the interlikages between institutions, economic development and governance in India, and why internal attempts at reform thus far have failed.. Finally we bring out the current failures in governance that are actionable and suggest that they are largely corrected by changes in economic policy and some intitutional initiatives. Attention to governance as such is warranted only to build organisations and initiatives for commercialisation and privatisation, and for appropriate changes in the law and in the development of frameworks for regulation and contracting out.

Measures of Pleasures

Measuring culture originated in cultural anthropology, but all social sciences contributed to comparative cultural studies. Tracing critical approaches towards a measurement of cultural values one is bound to strip the biases and stereotypes bare and to invade numerous academic fiefs. Hofstede defined interdisciplinary cultural dimensions but failed to anchor studying of culture's consequences in the academia. Measuring culture (rituals, patterns, business recipes, symbols, standards) we end up measuring values and competence in management of knowledge and skills, of norms and behaviours, cutting many corners of established disciplines. Demanding, but should we fail to do so, our cross-cultural experiment with the European integration could result in the corrosion of character and bowling alone.integration;knowledge management;bias;cross-cultural measurements;learning standardscomparing values