Statistics Norway from cell offices to open landscape. A survey from Department of Administration

The Statistics Norway (SN) office relocation survey was conducted from February 4th to 15th, 2013 and covered all administration department employees who regularly work in Oslo. The survey aimed at investigating employees’ satisfaction with the current physical environment of the office and their preferences to open and cell offices. The total number of respondents was 62 of which 42 returned the questionnaires. The survey shows that a majority of the administration staff were satisfied with the current physical environment of the office and their preference is towards cell office design. Key findings include: Almost half of the respondents travel between 30 and 59 minutes to reach the office from where they stay 65 percent of the respondents arrive at office before 08:30 am to have enough concentration, to get off early from work and to avoid traffic during normal hours 95 percent of the respondents agreed that they can communicate effectively in the current offices 75 percent of the respondents do not consider their job to be rather unpleasant More females believe that open offices encourages communication 27 percent of the respondents agreed that closed offices limit knowledge sharing and 24 percent were not sure 87 percent of the respondents preferred cell office to other types of office design 61 percent of the respondents do not know the type of office they will occupy after relocation 51 percent of the respondents were neutral on their satisfaction with the role of the trade unions in the preparation of office relocation 39 percent of the respondents disagreed that they are looking forward to working in the new offices 42 percent were not looking forward to working at the new location 58 percent of the respondents were aged 50 and above More than 60 percent of the respondents have been working at SN for 10 or more year

Health financing at district level in Malawi: an analysis of the distribution of funds at two points in time.

There is growing attention to tracking country level resource flows to health, but limited evidence on the sub-national allocation of funds. We examined district health financing in Malawi in 2006 and 2011, and equity in the allocation of funding, together with the association between financing and under five and neonatal mortality. We explored the process for receiving and allocating different funding sources at district level. We obtained domestic and external financing data from the Integrated Financial Management Information System (2006-11) and AidData (2000-12) databases. Out-of-pocket payment data came from two rounds of integrated household budget surveys (2005; 2010). Mortality data came from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (2006) and Demographic and Health Survey (2010). We described district level health funding by source, ran correlations between funding and outcomes and generated concentration curves and indices. 41 semi-structured interviews were conducted at the national level and in 10 districts with finance and health managers. Per capita spending from all sources varied substantially across districts and doubled between 2006 and 2011 from 7181 Kwacha to 15 312 Kwacha. In 2011, external funding accounted for 74% of funds, with domestic funding accounting for 19% of expenditure, and out of pocket (OOP) funding accounting for 7%. All funding sources were concentrated among wealthier districts, with OOP being the most pro-rich, followed by domestic expenditure and external funding. Districts with higher levels of domestic and external funding had lower levels of post-neonatal mortality, and those with higher levels of out-of-pocket payments had higher levels of 1-59 month mortality in 2006. There was no association between changes in financing and outcomes. Districts reported delayed receipt of lower-than-budgeted funds, forcing them to scale-down activities and rely on external funding. Governments need to track how resources are allocated sub-nationally to maximize equity and ensure allocations are commensurate to health need