Social Learning Through Evaluation: from Evidence Based Management to Collective Action for Complex Problems

The role of evaluation in environmental management in Australia tends to be limited to restricted measures of program effectiveness rather than contributing towards supporting environmental managers in addressing complex environmental problems. This paper shows how a social learning approach can be incorporated into evaluating public investment in environmental management dealing with the complex environmental challenges which are inherently difficult to understand, predict and manage. The paper draws on a case study of salinity management amongst a Landcare group in the wheatbelt region of Western Australia. In this region, there are major knowledge barriers impeding salinity management which are being addressed through a program of participatory trials driven by local landholders linked to research partners and government funding. The research presented in this paper focused on evaluating this innovative initiative and tracking its impact through its design, implementation and monitoring phases. The paper shows that, by incorporating social learning principles and some additional practical elements, program evaluation can promote collective action and critical reflection which can assist individuals and communities to respond to complex problems.Salinity, participation, capacity building, uncertainty, monitoring

Slowing the stork : better health for women through family planning

Each year 500,000 women die from causes related to pregnancy - 99 percent of them in developing countries. While many of those pregnancies are unwanted and could have been prevented by family planning, only a minority of developing country couples use effective contraceptive methods. For some women, pregnancy represents a major health risk. Others, of lower risk, do not want any more children. This paper discusses the factors which determine women's use of contraceptives, and how family planning programs reach the large numbers of women at risk from further pregnancies. The most successful family planning policies offer women a variety of contraceptive methods tailored to specific age groups and educational levels. Much program experience suggests that family planning is one of, if not the most cost-effective means of averting maternal deaths. The savings generated by family planning services could be invested in saving the lives and health of women who do want to have more children.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Adolescent Health,Reproductive Health,Early Child and Children's Health,Gender and Health

Environmental Volunteering: Motivations, Modes and Outcomes

Volunteers play a key role in natural resource management: their commitment, time and labour constitute a major contribution towards managing environments in Australia and throughout the world. From the point of view of environmental managers much interest has focussed on defining tasks suitable to volunteers. However, we argue that an improved understanding of what motivates volunteers is required to sustain volunteer commitments to environmental management in the long term. This is particularly important given that multiple government programs rely heavily on volunteers in Australia, a phenomenon also noted in the UK, Canada, and the USA. Whilst there is considerable research on volunteering in other sectors (e.g. health), there has been relatively little attention paid to understanding environmental volunteering. Drawing on the literature from other sectors and environmental volunteering where available, we present a set of six broad motivations underpinning environmental volunteers and five different modes that environmental volunteering is manifested. We developed and refined the sets of motivations and modes through a pilot study involving interviews with volunteers and their coordinators from environmental groups in Sydney and the Bass Coast. The pilot study data emphasise the importance of promoting community education as a major focus of environmental volunteer groups and demonstrate concerns over the fine line between supporting and abusing volunteers given their role in delivering environmental outcomes.environment, volunteering, motivation, Natural Resource Management (NRM)

A more fluid approach to drinking

Young adults are consuming less alcohol than previous generations. Dominic Conroy and Fiona Measham look to understand changing ‘styles’. Might a consideration of fluid/transient ‘drinking styles’, alongside traditional harm-focused approaches, be the key to understanding young adult drinking practices

Remotely Engaged? A Framework for Monitoring the Success of Stakeholder Engagement in Remote Regions

The importance of stakeholder engagement for the success of natural resources management processes is widely acknowledged, yet evaluation frameworks employed by administrators of environmental programs continue to provide limited recognition of or insistence upon engagement processes. This paper presents a framework for monitoring and evaluation of engagement that aims to better incorporate community engagement into mainstream environmental programs, in particular in remote regions such as arid and desert regions of the world. We argue that successful monitoring of engagement should not only comprise a generic set of indicators but rather, in addition to the principles of good monitoring practice, should take into account a variety of the stakeholder interests as well as key regional drivers, addressing them at right geographic, institutional and time scale.engagement, evaluation, governance, natural resources, participation, stakeholders

Risk and Social Theory in Environmental Management

Risk and Social Theory in Environmental Management marks a timely contribution, given that environmental management is no longer just about protecting pristine ecosystems and endangered species from anthropogenic harm; it is about calculating and managing the risks to human communities of rapid environmental and technological change. Firstly, the book provides a solid foundation of the social theory underpinning the nature of risk, then presents a re-thinking of key concepts and methods in order to take more seriously the biophysical embeddedness of human society. Secondly, it presents a rich set of case studies from Australia and around the world, drawing on the latest applied research conducted by leading research institutions. In so doing, the book identifies the tensions that arise from decision-making over risk and uncertainty in a contested policy environment, and provides crucial insights for addressing on-ground problems in an integrated way

Reproductive tract infection—Lessons learned from the field: Where do we go from here?

The Population Council convened a meeting about reproductive tract infections (RTIs) to examine how best to use available tools and information, learn about potential service delivery approaches, and examine the direction of research. The meeting began with an examination of what is known about the prevalence, distribution, determinants, characteristics, and consequences of RTIs, as well as the common elements of an intervention framework. General obstacles related to work in the area of RTIs include lack of awareness of the problem and the limited power of women in society. Priorities for future research and programming include: further research on the scope and consequences of RTIs; integration of RTI services with other types of health care; continued investment in female-controlled technology; research on gender and power relations and their relationship to STDs and related protective measures; and research on appropriate low-cost diagnostics and screening tools. While more questions were raised than conclusions reached, the meeting helped to facilitate a move forward in dealing with this serious public health problem

Terms of Engagement: Consensus or Control in Remote Australian Resource Management?

Community based natural resource management (NRM) has seen a shift in the discourse from participation to engagement, reflecting a focus on increasingly active citizen involvement in management and action. This paper considers this shift in relation to two contrasting theoretical perspectives. The first is deliberative democracy, drawing on Habermas, which emphasises the importance of discussing and rationalising values and actions. The second is governmentality, or ‘governing through community’ which draws on Foucault, emphasising neo-liberal management styles and ‘self-help’. In considering the empirical relevance of these theoretical perspectives, this paper draws on a case study of public engagement in NRM in the Lake Eyre Basin, a remote, inland region of Australia. This research yielded a practical set of “factors for success” for public engagement in remote areas. The findings support the view that, especially in remote regions, public engagement in NRM reflects contrasting goals. We make two conclusions. First, that these contrasting objectives emphasise the tension between deliberative and neo-liberal conceptualisations of engagement; and second, the evidence for neo-liberal interpretations of engagement are stronger than for deliberative interpretations of engagement in the case study region.participation, decentralisation, governmentality, deliberation

The Future of Dancefloors: Building More Flexible, Open and Innovative Clubbing Experiences

Nightclubs across the world are in a state of crisis due to COVID-19, and neither inaction or ‘business as usual’ are viable options if the industry is to survive it. It has never been more important to question, innovate and re-imagine the status quo