Governance and information governance: some ethical considerations within an expanding information society

Governance and information governance ought to be an integral part of any government or organisations information and business strategy. More than ever before information and knowledge can be produced, exchanged, shared and communicated through many different mediums. Whilst sharing information and knowledge provides many benefits it also provides many challenges and risks to governments, global organisations and the individual citizen. Information governance is one element of a governance and compliance programme, but an increasingly important one, because many regulations apply to how information is managed and protected from theft and abuse, much of which resides with external agencies usually outside the control of the individual citizen. This paper explores some of the compliance and quality issues within governance and information governance including those ethical concerns as related to individual citizens and multiple stakeholders engaged directly or indirectly in the governance process

Scenario analysis can guide aquaculture planning to meet sustainable future production goals

Marine aquaculture holds great promise for meeting increasing demand for healthy protein that is sustainably produced, but reaching necessary production levels will be challenging. The ecosystem approach to aquaculture is a framework for sustainable aquaculture development that prioritizes multiple-stakeholder participation and spatial planning. These types of approaches have been increasingly used to help guide sustainable, persistent, and equitable aquaculture planning, but most countries have difficulties in setting or meeting longer-term development goals. Scenario analysis (SA) for future planning uses similar approaches and can complement holistic methods, such as the ecosystem approach to aquaculture framework, by providing a temporal analogue to the spatially robust design. Here we define the SA approach to planning in aquaculture, outline how SA can benefit aquaculture planning, and review how this tool is already being used. We track the use of planning tools in the 20 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea member nations, with particular attention given to Norway’s development goals to 2050. We conclude that employing a combination of an ecosystem framework with scenario analyses may help identify the scale of development aquaculture goals over time, aid in evaluating the feasibility of the desired outcomes, and highlight potential social-ecological conflicts and trade-offs that may otherwise be overlooked.Versión del editor2,27

Strategic Planning for Local Tourism Destinations: An Analysis of Tourism

This paper reports on a study of the planning practices of local tourism destinations. The tourism plans of 30 local tourism destinations in Queensland, Australia were analyzed to determine the extent to which sustainability principles, namely strategic planning and stakeholder participation, were integrated into the planning process. Utilizing a tourism planning process evaluation instrument developed by Simpson (2001), it was found that local tourism destinations are not integrating sustainability principles in their planning processes

Enablers and barriers of adapting post-disaster resettlements

Growing trend of disaster-induced displacements and resettlements is alarming the world to address the consequences to retain the stability of the concerned countries. In order to reduce the causes and consequences of displacements, governments and other concerned entities involve in the process of resettlement in different scales. However, settlers complain of the large-scale resettlement schemes for their inability to meet long-term expectations. Adaptability of the built environment is viewed as one of the principle reasons for this criticism. Accordingly, this paper aims to explore the long-term adaptability issues faced by the communities who live in resettlements. Resettlement is a process that introduces new built environment for the displaced community. This new built environment potentially redefines the social system as one interlinked with other subsystems of the community. However, following a fundamental change in the system, restoring the earlier equilibrium of a community requires certain basic conditions. Resettlement fails if the built environment does not provide these basic conditions. Failure in terms of built environment has been recorded in studies based on the inappropriate house design, insufficient infrastructure, inappropriate new environment, and alike. Based on several case studies, it is assumed that the process of resettlement in developing countries follows almost the same pattern as the results of similar resettlement cases that are shown in various pieces of literature reflect same issues. Therefore, in order to understand the process of resettlement in detail, selecting a particular developing country will give more focus to draw conclusions. Accordingly, Sri Lanka is selected as the study focus. The data collection technique that is used for this study is semi-structured interviews. These interviews were conducted among settlers in three different resettlement schemes in Sri Lanka. The interview results are analysed using content analysis. The outcome of this study shows the enablers and barriers in adapting a post-disaster resettlement which is necessary to identify in order to provide durable solutions

Co-designing in the real world: managing a multiple stakeholder design process with an NGO

Many ICT4D research projects work in collaboration with NGOs in order to meet their development objectives and to increase their interventions’ effectiveness. Herein, aspects of co-design are often applied, where the intention is to include all stakeholders as equal participants in the design process. However, collaborating with NGOs and with users who have reduced access to technology can be challenging. As a result, the ideals of co-design are not easily achieved, due to the vastly differing backgrounds of stakeholders in ICT4D projects. In this thesis, an explicit approach for managing the varying interactions between stakeholders is proposed and described through a case study. The approach was derived from ethnographic action research and participatory design methodologies, led by practical consideration from real-world constraints. The approach is structured around an interactive design process that includes the stakeholder groups in unique ways at each phase of the design process, in order to maximise the contributions in a way that respects their backgrounds and areas of expertise. The proposed approach was evaluated through its implementation in the design of a mobile recordkeeping application, in collaboration with an NGO in Cape Town, South Africa. The NGO comprises of two stakeholder groups: the staff and the micro-entrepreneurs who they empower. The NGO’s focus is to provide training and support over a two-year process to women from low-income communities, by teaching them how to manage their own businesses to become socially and financially independent. The objective of this case study was to design a mobile application that aligned with the recordkeeping curriculum of the NGO and meet the specific requirements and constraints of the target users. Through the implementation of the design approach, the students and staff were able to provide useful and complementary contributions towards the design of the system. A one-month field study of the application with a group of 21 student participants revealed that the system was a suitable solution and appropriately met the needs of the NGO and the end-users. The final evaluation of the stakeholders’ reflections on the design process revealed that it was an appropriate design process to have followed. The results further identified that care must be taken to clarify expectations at each stage of the design process, especially when external factors change, and to frequently communicate with all stakeholders involved. The design approach proposed and employed during this research project, and the unique way that it allowed the stakeholders to contribute, will benefit future ICT4D research projects that are faced with stakeholder groups that vary significantly, where traditional equal participation is not possible

Incentives to contribute to flood adaptation in cities : Stakeholder analyses in Belgium, the UK and the Netherlands

Increasingly, urban stakeholders are becoming more engaged in contributing to reducing the intensified flooding risks due to climate change in Belgium, the UK and the Netherlands. The aim of this study is to motivate stakeholder engagement for urban flood management. A template is provided including a total of four steps defining stakeholder positions, task roles and barriers, and showing how to deal with the barriers by suggesting communication levels, strategies and approaches. Overall, green solutions to drainage are thought to be favourable to quality of life, recreation, playground, air quality, health, heat stress, and depending on levels of inclusiveness, green can also contribute to social cohesion

Building better multistakeholderism: GIPO’s role in promoting debates on internet governance. Issue 2016/20 • October 2016

The Global Internet Policy Observatory (GIPO), an initiative of the European Commission, is an online tool to help monitor developments on Internet governance and policy around the world and provide better understanding and access to the largest number of potential stakeholders. Governments, NGOs and others interested in Internet Governance, including Internet users, are often daunted by the complexity of this fast-paced policy area. Thanks to the use of advanced IT technologies, GIPO provides a practical tool to navigate this field, increasing expertise and understanding among many more interested actors. The tool helps all those interested in Internet Governance to navigate the labyrinth of global Internet governance and policy. This policy brief outlines the results of a meeting held on the fringes of EuroDIG in Brussels in 2016, and presents some of the challenges and opportunities for such an experiment in ‘machine-driven information monitoring’ on a given topic of global importance. It provides recommendations for the future development of the tool, and continues the debate launched by the GIPO project’s Federation Roadmap, to help the tool maximize its impact in this complex policy environment

Role of Devolved Governance in Enhancing Incentives in Participatory Forest Management in Kenya

Natural resource management in East Africa has been centrally managed for a long period. However, recent initiation of decentralized system has been erratic and it is only recently, it has been undertaken systematically with supporting legislation and political will. In Kenya, the past natural resources policies and laws emphasized the role of the government in the management of these resources. Communities and other stakeholders were given nominal roles with minimal benefits. Community participation was introduced by Forests Act, 2005 through Community Forest Association and Water Act, 2002 by providing for Water Users Association. Despite the communities continued participation, they are yet to benefit fully from their participation. The government has remained the major beneficiary of natural resources. The inequity can be addressed by bringing on board the Constitution of Kenya 2010 Article 69 (1) and (2) that clearly spells out that the people of Kenya should benefit equitably from the sustainable exploitation, utilization and management of natural resources and at the same time, work to conserve and protect these resources. The constitution expects that costs and benefits in managing natural resources should be shared among the state natural resources managers and the citizens. This paper reviews current Participatory Forest Management framework, experiences and provides for a best scenario arrangement that will promote equity in cost and benefits sharing in management of natural resources. The review addresses; incentives available under PFM and how they can be enhanced for benefit to central government, county government, community and other stakeholders. Additionally, it provides a scenario of how value addition to traditional benefits from the forests and payment for environmental services, for products like water, biodiversity, ecotourism and at the international level for carbon credits through facilities like Reducing Emission through Deforestation and Degradation and other climate change initiatives could be institutionalized to enhance benefits. Devolved governance shall increase incentives to better manage natural resources if it shall provide an equitable balance between livelihoods and forest management, and between national government, local government, communities and other stakeholders. Key words: Devolvement, Incentives, Participation, Benefits, community, managemen