Fears, constraints, and contracts: the democratic reality for New Zealand’s community and voluntary sector

The important role of community and voluntary sector organisations to democratic debate and policy development is widely acknowledged by governments, academics, and the sector itself. However, our survey of 153 NZ community and voluntary sector groups shows that democratic engagement has been constrained under both Labour-led and National-led governments in the last decade. The ‘contract’ environment dominating funding for social service providers; a lack of understanding and appreciation of those who work in the sector; and, disparaging remarks and treatment of ‘dissenters’ by political elite were major factors constraining democratic debate in NZ. This report was presented at the Community and Voluntary Sector Research Forum, Victoria University of Wellington, 26 March 2013

Learning Evaluation of the Disability Rights Fund

The Disability Rights Fund (DRF) is a partnership between funders and the disability community that provides grants and other support for work at country-level towards the realisation of rights affirmed in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. DRF believes that enhancing the participation of persons with disabilities in the realisation of their rights will have an impact on poverty among persons with disabilities.In 2012, DRF conducted its first external evaluation. The evaluation, which was conducted by Universalia, concluded with an overall positive assessment of the Fund's performance, highlighting the Fund's relevance and progress towards its stated results. In 2013, DRF concluded another partnership agreement with DFID of the duration of 3 years. Both as part of the conditions set in this partnership agreement and as DRF being a learning-oriented organization, DRF launched a call for proposals to conduct a learning evaluation, consisting of two interrelated components: the development or adjustment of DRF's tools for data collection, recording, and management; and the mid-term evaluation of DRF grantmaking operations.The Learning Evaluation had the following objectives: i) provide an update on progress made towards the achievement of the output-, outcome- and impact-level results in DRF's logical framework; ii) identify DRF's contributions to results achieved and factors affecting performance; iii) make an overall assessment of DRF's value for money; and iv) provide DRF staff with a clear set of lessons learned to improve current interventions and guide future ones

Evaluation of macrophyte control in 38 Florida lakes using triploid grass carp

Florida’s large number of shallow lakes, warm climate and long growing season have contributed to the development of excessive growths of aquatic macrophytes that have seriously interfered with many water use activities. The introduction of exotic aquatic macrophyte species such as hydrilla ( Hydrilla verticillata ) have added significantly to aquatic plant problems in Florida lakes. The use of grass carp ( Ctenopharyngodon idella ) can be an effective and economical control for aquatic vegetation such as hydrilla. Early stocking rates (24 to 74 grass carp per hectare of lake area) resulted in grass carp consumption rates that vastly exceeded the growth rates of the aquatic plants and often resulted in the total loss of all submersed vegetation. This study looked at 38 Florida lakes that had been stocked with grass carp for 3 to 10 years with stocking rates ranging from < 1 to 59 grass carp per hectare of lake and 1 to 207 grass carp per hectare of vegetation to determine the long term effects of grass carp on aquatic macrophyte communities. The median PAC (percent area coverage) value of aquatic macrophytes for the study lakes after they were stocked with grass carp was 14% and the median PVI (percent volume infested) value of aquatic macrophytes was 2%. Only lakes stocked with less than 25 to 30 fish per hectare of vegetation tended to have higher than median PAC and PVI values. When grass carp are stocked at levels of > 25 to 30 fish per hectare of vegetation the complete control of aquatic vegetation can be achieved, with the exception of a few species of plants that grass carp have extreme difficulty consuming. If the management goal for a lake is to control some of the problem aquatic plants while maintaining a small population of predominately unpalatable aquatic plants, grass carp can be stocked at approximately 25 to 30 fish per hectare of vegetation

The contract state and constrained democracy: the community and voluntary sector under threat

The article explores the vital contribution of the community and voluntary sector as a voice for the voiceless and as a conduit of information about society’s unmet needs. The challenge, however, is that these roles are being severely constrained by the heavy dependence of the voluntary sector on government funding, as well as the particular type of contracting that has become the norm. Supposedly there is an equal contractual relationship between the state and the voluntary sector, but the reality is very different: the relationship is asymmetrical, with the state holding most of the cards. Accordingly, Grey and Sedgwick recommend a complete rethinking of the current contracting model. Without this, the role of the community and voluntary sector in democratic debate will be undermined and its capacity to develop new and innovative responses to changing social needs will be hindered. • Sandra Grey is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at Victoria University of Wellington. Sandra is currently working on a major project examining activism by the New Zealand women’s, union, and anti-poverty movements since 1970. Dr Charles Sedgwick is a sociologist with strong interdisciplinary interests. During the course of his career he has taught at the University of Canterbury and at Victoria University of Wellington

Antecedents of industrial brand equity: An empirical study

Industrial branding has emerged as an important issue, allowing firms to gain substantial competitive advantage, especially in markets where product commoditization and electronic procurement are on the increase. This article proposes, and empirically validates, a theoretically structured approach to measure brand equity, its antecedents and its consequences for industrial products. The model distinguishes between product and corporate brand equity, uses buyer perceived performance on the dimensions of the marketing mix as antecedents of brand equity, and relates them to re-purchase and loyalty intentions.Economics ;

Femtosecond Self-Reconfiguration of Laser-Induced Plasma Patterns in Dielectrics

Laser-induced modification of transparent solids by intense femtosecond laser pulses allows fast integration of nanophotonic and nanofluidic devices with controlled optical properties. So far, the local and dynamic nature of the interactions between plasma and light needed to correctly explain nanograting fabrication on dielectric surfaces has been missing in the theoretical models. With our numerical approach, we show that a self-consistent dynamic treatment of the plasma formation and its interaction with light triggers an ultrafast reconfiguration of the periodic plasma patterns on a field-cycle time scale. Within this framework, a simple stability analysis of the local interactions explains how the laser-induced plasma patterns change their orientation with respect to the incident light polarization, when a certain energy density threshold is reached. Moreover, the reconfigured sub-wavelength plasma structures grow into the bulk of the sample and agree with the experimental findings of self-organized volume nanogratings. Mode coupling of the incident and transversally scattered light with the periodic plasma structures is sufficient to initiate the growth and the self-organization of the characteristic pattern with a periodicity of a half-wavelength in the medium.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Reviving trade routes: evidence from the Maputo Corridor

This new SSATP discussion paper reviews the experience of an apparently successful corridor to help understand optimal mix and trade-offs in reviving historical trade route. The Maputo Corridor, which had fallen in disuse during the troubled period in Mozambique, is widely regarded as one the successful corridors. It has experienced tremendous growth, attracted large industrial and transport investments, and strengthened ties between neighboring countries over its almost two decade long history since the end of the apartheid era in South Africa and the Peace Agreement in Mozambique. What makes the Maputo Corridor ideal as a source of learning lessons is that it has many contrasting facets—it is an established trade route with a development focus, as well as an hinterland corridor, a mining and resource-based corridor—whereas other corridors may have a far less diverse nature. The lessons that can be learnt from the Maputo Corridor thus have relevance for a wider variety of corridors, and can help regional economic communities, countries, corridor users and development partners to better focus their corridor strategies to maximize economic growt

Table of contents and editorial information for Vol. 3, no. 3, Spring 1976

Table of contents and editorial information for Vol. 3, no. 3, Spring 197

Table of contents and editorial information for Vol. 2, no. 3, Spring 1975

Table of contents and editorial information for the Spring 1975 issu