Supporting Social Change : A New Funding Ecology

This report, produced by the community interest company Collaborate and commissioned by the Big Lottery Fund and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, argues that strong ideas and bottom-up social change initiatives are undermined by a lack of strategic collaboration between the individuals and institutions that fund them.Based on interviews and focus groups with leading independent funders, the report says that in order to change systems and help projects to become more effective, funders should see their role less as "guardians of self-identified change" and more as partners in an ecosystem of support for others

From public services to “services to the public”: the three elements of contemporary welfare

Public services are dying a slow death, but what comes next? Lord Adebowale and Henry Kippin set out a vision for a move towards “services to the public” – a vision that requires us to re-think the needs of citizens, the reality of a mixed economy, as well as the relationship between citizens and the state

A New Funding Ecology : A Blueprint For Action

This work is the result of partnership between Collaborate, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch) and the Big Lottery Fund. It is based on UK-wide research with 40 structured interviews, a number of group sessions and informal conversations with a wide range of leaders within the independent funding sector (including a workshop held at the Association of Charitable Funders annual conference). It draws on Collaborate's wider work across public services, and reflects expertise and analysis from a number of organisations and commentators looking at the sector from the outside in. The purpose was to substantiate the initial thinking developed in a first paper, work with a wider range of funders, and develop lines of inquiry and practical solutions using the framework which had been set about the funding ecology

Sex-dependent diversity in ventral tegmental dopaminergic neurons and developmental programing: a molecular, cellular and behavioral analysis

The knowledge that diverse populations of dopaminergic neurons within the ventral tegmental area (VTA) can be distinguished in terms of their molecular, electrophysiological and functional properties, as well as their differential projections to cortical and subcortical regions has significance for key brain functions, such as the regulation of motivation, working memory and sensorimotor control. Almost without exception, this understanding has evolved from landmark studies performed in the male sex. However, converging evidence from both clinical and pre-clinical studies illustrates that the structure and functioning of the VTA dopaminergic systems are intrinsically different in males and females. This may be driven by sex differences in the hormonal environment during adulthood ('activational' effects) and development (perinatal and/or pubertal 'organizational' effects), as well as genetic factors, especially the SRY gene on the Y chromosome in males, which is expressed in a sub-population of adult midbrain dopaminergic neurons. Stress and stress hormones, especially glucocorticoids, are important factors which interact with the VTA dopaminergic systems in order to achieve behavioral adaptation and enable the individual to cope with environmental change. Here, also, there is male/female diversity not only during adulthood, but also in early life when neurobiological programing by stress or glucocorticoid exposure differentially impacts dopaminergic developmental trajectories in male and female brains. This may have enduring consequences for individual resilience or susceptibility to pathophysiological change induced by stressors in later life, with potential translational significance for sex bias commonly found in disorders involving dysfunction of the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic systems. These findings highlight the urgent need for a better understanding of the sexual dimorphism in the VTA if we are to improve strategies for the prevention and treatment of debilitating conditions which differentially affect men and women in their prevalence and nature, including schizophrenia, attention/deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorders, anxiety, depression and addiction

When people feel they are not involved in shaping public services, this puts at risk the ‘social contract’ between citizen and state

The importance of public services to British citizens hardly needs to be restated, with the NHS and the welfare and schools systems at the heart of citizens lives. Here Lord Victor Adebowale and Henry Kippin argue that these services must be shaped with a stronger focus on relationships and engagement with what they term the ‘collaborative citizen’, rather than handed down from Whitehall by diktat

Devolution, local growth and public service reform: What now and where next?

This paper advocates for a deepening of the English Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) model as a mechanism for achieving better economic and social policy outcomes. It argues for greater alignment of financial resources with long-term goals, fostering co-creation and upholding democratic accountability. It explores the origins of the MCA model set within the context of wider UK devolution and successive waves of English government reform, identifies some key benefits of the MCA model such as scale, democratic legitimacy and potential for collaboration, before proposing some key areas for further development. The paper recommends a strategic focus on evolving the relationship between the MCA and public service reform, particularly in health, education and employment support. The story of North East devolution is presented as an important case study that provides lessons for the future trajectory of English devolution as a whole, while highlighting the necessity of continuous adaptation to achieve sustainable regional development

Devolution, local growth and public service reform: What now and where next?

This paper advocates for a deepening of the English Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) model as a mechanism for achieving better economic and social policy outcomes. It argues for greater alignment of financial resources with long-term goals, fostering co-creation and upholding democratic accountability. It explores the origins of the MCA model set within the context of wider UK devolution and successive waves of English government reform, identifies some key benefits of the MCA model such as scale, democratic legitimacy and potential for collaboration, before proposing some key areas for further development. The paper recommends a strategic focus on evolving the relationship between the MCA and public service reform, particularly in health, education and employment support. The story of North East devolution is presented as an important case study that provides lessons for the future trajectory of English devolution as a whole, while highlighting the necessity of continuous adaptation to achieve sustainable regional development.Output Status: Forthcomin

History, Space & Place: Exploring Politics, Development and Identity in Contemporary West - Central Tanzania

This is a study of politics, development and identity, set in Tabora region, west-central Tanzania. It focuses on the issue ofidentity, asking how processes of economic liberalisation and political democratisation have impacted on local identities in an area of the country where development remains slow. Its aim is to show how people have assimilated the political, economic and social change that has gone on around them, how they have coped with it and sought to change it, and how this has impacted upon their own everyday lives. This thesis contends that identity in contemporary Tabora can be represented as a 'moral matrix', based on three central premises. Each of these premises are themselves grounded in fundamental tensions - between 'continuity and conflict', between feeling 'connected yet distant', and between perceptions of 'collectivity and competition'. These three interrelated premises combine to fonn an 'implicit and cognitive template' that provides the basis for constructions oflocal identity. It is distinctly regional in its fonnulation, yet reflective of the changing relationship between Tabora and the wider Tanzanian nation. The thesis sits within a literature concerned with the politics of transition in Tanzaniatracing the effects of liberalisation within economic, political and developmental spheres. It argues that particular local histories and local understandings are key to the way that such refonn is played out, and that in Tabora, such understandings reflect a perception of unequal engagement within the nation.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo