Connected, Creative and Cultural Communities: Developing an Integrated Approach to Policy and Evaluation for Remote Australian Indigenous Media and Communications

This research project seeks to develop appropriate policy and evaluation frameworks to support the development of the remote Indigenous media and communications sector and build digital inclusion and capacity within remote Australian Indigenous communities. This project reviews existing policy and theory pertaining to Indigenous media and communications and identifies and assesses the applicability and limitations for the contemporary remote Indigenous Australian context. Some key policy aspects have remained the same since the 1990s. These include: cultural and linguistic maintenance, self-representation, community access, rights and justice, and employment opportunities. However, in the context of significant technological and socio-political change, there are a range of contemporary issues yet to be effectively incorporated into policy, including: digital convergence; digital inclusion; organisational and industry development; and sustainability. There is a growing divide between and within remote communities in terms of digital inclusion; access to appropriate information and services. Despite billions of dollars being spent on ‘closing the gap’ for Indigenous Australians, and numerous reviews over recent decades, the potential role of Indigenous media and communications in remote Indigenous communities remains largely unrecognised and under-utilised. At a time when the debate is re-emerging about the viability of remote Indigenous communities, the effectiveness of media and communications services and connectivity will increasingly become key determinants for community sustainability, effective service delivery, community capacity building, cultural maintenance and individual capability. The research included a review of literature in the fields of Communications, Media Anthropology, Community Development and Development Communications. Summaries of issues were then prepared. Relevant past and current government policies in Indigenous affairs and Indigenous broadcasting and communications were also reviewed and key issues summarised, along with an historic overview of the development of remote Indigenous media and communications in Australia and potential future directions and challenges. This led to the preparation of a draft set of Policy and Evaluation frameworks to be reviewed using a series of case studies. Using an Ethnographic Action Research methodology, the author undertook research over a nine year period while working as Manager at Ngaanyatjarra Media, the remote Indigenous media organisation for 15 remote communities in the Western Desert region of eastern WA. He worked closely with Yarnangu (Central/Western Desert Aboriginal people) media workers and communities, building on the existing BRACS network and cultural maintenance agenda to establish a range of innovative and integrated media and communications programs in the region. Six Ngaanyatjarra Media case studies were used to assess and revise the draft Policy and Evaluation frameworks. While the unique context and ‘communicative ecology’ of the Ngaanyatjarra Lands differs from other parts of remote Australia, the evaluation outcomes suggest that the integrated approach to media and communications delivery can have broader application. The research found that a bottom-up approach to program development that considers the social, cultural, political and technological context promotes community ownership and participation and delivers locally relevant solutions and outcomes. In contrast, top-down initiated programs had significantly lower participation and outcomes. It proposes a consultative approach to program development that incorporates community strategic planning and locally specific delivery strategies. It also proposes an evaluation model that includes three sets of performance indicators: those specified by the funding agencies (typically Government); indicators considered relevant by the local delivery agencies (e.g. media organisations); and those that meet the needs of Indigenous community recipients to understand and evaluate the impact of the program. A further key finding is the need for a ‘contingent’ approach to application of both the Policy and Evaluation frameworks; that is, selection and prioritisation of particular potential aspects to match the specific policy or evaluation need. The thesis provides justification for this approach and indicates how it may be developed. This thesis seeks to contribute to the existing body of knowledge in this field by documenting the growth of a little known remote Indigenous media organisation situated in the Ngaanyatjarra region of WA during a time of technological, political and social change within Australia. It brings together a deep understanding of community and cultural values and determinants as well as a solid knowledge of relevant government policy and programs. It helps fill a gap in field research and observation of remote Indigenous media activities in Australia since the 1990s. While aimed at the Australian context, the findings of this research may also have relevance for the international communications development sector. The project’s objective was to develop appropriate Remote Indigenous Media and Communications Policy and Evaluation frameworks for use within the contemporary technological, social and political context. The proposed integrated delivery approach involves the use of existing and new media and communications activities that engage and empower remote Indigenous people and help build connected, creative and cultural communities

Poverty, inequality, child abuse and neglect: changing the conversation across the UK in child protection?

This article explores the evidence on the relationship between poverty, inequality and child abuse and neglect. It argues for the importance of developing further work on the implications of inequality, in particular, as this is a significantly underdeveloped area of study despite compelling evidence of its pertinence to the harms that children and their families experience. Drawing from the findings of a quantitative study that an 'inverse intervention law' seemed to be in operation with systematic unequal implications for children, the conceptual thinking behind a new qualitative study to explore why and how this law operates is explained. The implications for policy and practice are discussed in order to promote further debate about what is often a neglected or invisible aspect of child protection

Social work, poverty, and child welfare interventions

** From Crossref via Jisc Publications Router.The relationship between children's material circumstances and child abuse and neglect raises a series of questions for policy, practice, and practitioners. Children and families in poverty are significantly more likely to be the subject of state intervention. This article, based on a unique mixed‐methods study of social work interventions and the influence of poverty, highlights a narrative from practitioners that argues that, as many poor families do not harm their children, it is stigmatizing to discuss a link between poverty and child abuse and neglect. The data reveal that poverty has become invisible in practice, in part justified by avoiding stigma but also because of a lack of up‐to‐date research knowledge and investment by some social workers in an “underclass” discourse. We argue, in light of the evidence that poverty is a contributory factor in the risk of harm, that it is vital that social work engages with the evidence and in critical reflection about intervening in the context of poverty. We identify the need for fresh approaches to the harms children and families face in order to support practices that engage confidently with the consequences of poverty and deprivation.NO DIVISION23pub5171pub

Exploring inequities in child welfare and child protection services: explaining the 'inverse intervention law'

Attempts to record, understand and respond to variations in child welfare and protection reporting, service patterns and outcomes are international, numerous and longstanding. Reframing such variations as an issue of inequity between children and between families opens the way to a new approach to explaining the profound difference in intervention rates between and within countries and administrative districts. Recent accounts of variation have frequently been based on the idea that there is a binary division between bias and risk (or need). Here we propose seeing supply (bias) and demand (risk) factors as two aspects of a single system, both framed, in part, by social structures. A recent finding from a study of intervention rates in England, the 'inverse intervention law', is used to illustrate the complex ways in which a range of factors interact to produce intervention rates. In turn, this analysis raises profound moral, policy, practice and research questions about current child welfare and child protection services

Engaging fathers in child welfare services: a narrative review of recent research evidence

It is widely recognized as problematic that there are generally low levels of engagement with child welfare services from biological and social fathers. The result can be limited resources for children's care and potentially poor risk assessment and management. This paper reviews the published research from 2000 to 2010 about the barriers to and facilitators of better father engagement, as well as the very limited evidence on the effectiveness of work with maltreating fathers. There is relatively little known about what works in engaging men, but there are some promising indicators from family support and child protection practice contexts. These include early identification and early involvement of fathers; a proactive approach, including an insistence on men's involvement with services; and the use of practical activities. In the light of what is known about the characteristics of maltreating fathers, there is a logical fit with cognitive‐behavioural approaches. Although there is no direct evidence of the effectiveness of motivational interviewing in this context, its effectiveness in allied fields of practice would suggest that it may hold some promise for the initial engagement of fathers who pose a risk to children.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90556/1/j.1365-2206.2012.00827.x.pd

Bayesian inference on stochastic gene transcription from flow cytometry data

Motivation Transcription in single cells is an inherently stochastic process as mRNA levels vary greatly between cells, even for genetically identical cells under the same experimental and environmental conditions. We present a stochastic two-state switch model for the population of mRNA molecules in single cells where genes stochastically alternate between a more active ON state and a less active OFF state. We derive the stationary solution of such a model and prove that it can be written as a mixture of a Poisson and a Poisson-beta probability distribution. This finding facilitates inference for single cell data, observed at a single time point, from flow cytometry experiments such as FACS or FISH as it allows one to sample directly from the equilibrium distribution of the mRNA population. We hence propose a Bayesian inferential methodology using a pseudo-marginal approach and a recent approximation to integrate over unobserved states associated with measurement error. Results We provide a general inferential framework which can be widely used to study transcription in single cells from the kind of data arising in flow cytometry experiments. The approach allows us to separate between the intrinsic stochasticity of the molecular dynamics and the measurement noise. The methodology is tested in simulation studies and results are obtained for experimental multiple single cell data from in situ hybridization (FISH) flow cytometry experiment

The Child Welfare Inequalities Project: final report

The Child Welfare Inequalities Project (CWIP), 2014-19, aimed to establish child welfare inequalities as a core concept in policy making, practice and research in the UK and internationally. Key research tasks were to identify the scale of inequalities in social welfare intervention rates as they affect children in different places, of different ages and identities, and their families, and to begin to understand how different factors in family lives and service responses interact to produce inequalities. A longer term intention was that remedies could subsequently be developed by policy makers and service providers and their impact tested. CWIP was the main project in a programme of research conducted over the period 2013-2019. It was designed to provide the foundations for the development of an inequalities perspective on child welfare, not the last word. By developing and testing a set of concepts, theory and methods and by securing a range of evidence, we hoped to set the baseline for subsequent reflection, research and action, in the UK and internationally (Bywaters, 2015). A social welfare system reflects the society in which it operates: its assumptions, priorities and attitudes to children, parents and family life. It also reflects the role of the state: how policy is made, the values that underpin policy, the power it exercises over its citizens, how it manages and polices that power and what it counts as success. All of these themes are explicit or implicit in our work. In summary, this project reports on a system which treats its citizens – parents and children – remarkably unequally but which focuses more attention on policy aspirations and implementation processes than on either the causes of family difficulties or the consequences of state responses

Drivers of Change or Cut-Throat Competitors? Challenging Cultures of Innovation of Chinese and Nigerian Migrant Entrepreneurs in West Africa

L'afflux remarquable des entrepreneurs migrants chinois dans différents pays d'Afrique occidentale au cours des dernières années a été heurtée à une résistance de plus en plus farouche par des entrepreneurs locaux établis. Que le premiers ont un avantage concurrentiel sur ce dernier en raison de traits socio-culturels distinctifs, ou si l'efficacité supposée chinoise est juste une caractéristique de toutes les diasporas mercantiles, est ouvert à la question. Cette étude exploratoire des migrants entrepreneuriales chinois et nigérians au Ghana et au Bénin tente de répondre à cette question. Apparemment, les forces culturels des agents du changement migrants ne sont pas limités à des systèmes de valeurs héritées ou religions, comme une éthique protestante ou le confucianisme, mais ils sont adaptés en permanence et ont inventé de nouveau par des réseaux transnationaux de la migration dans un monde globalisé. Il n'y a aucune preuve d'une prétendue supériorité de la culture d’innovation chinois par rapport aux cultures d’innovation africains des migrants entrepreneuriales. Plutôt, il existe une capacité accrue d'innovation d'une diaspora mercantile en général vis à vis des entrepreneurs locaux, indépendamment de l'origine de la culture nationale dans lequel il est intégré. En outre, la rivalité des entrepreneurs migrants chinois et nigérians dans les marchés africains ne conduit pas nécessairement à la concurrence coupe-gorge souvent suspectée sous l'impact de la mondialisation. Souvent, les deux groupes agissent plutôt complémentaires. Cela contribue, sous certaines conditions, même à la réduction de la pauvreté dans le pays d'accueil