scholarly journals Organizational networks and sustainable urban water practices in US local governments

Water Policy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Pivo ◽  
Adam Douglas Henry ◽  
Lena Berger ◽  
Edna Liliana Gomez-Fernandez
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Organizational Capacity ◽  
Organizational Networks ◽  
Water Sector ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Using Data

Abstract Organizational networks are regarded as key in policy innovation for sustainable development. They are thought to enhance innovation through access to first-hand experience, enhanced trust within a community, and exposition to role models and competitors. Despite theoretical pertinence, organizational networks have not been studied as much as other drivers of innovation, such as organizational capacity, leadership, and the socio-political environment. This empirical study explores how networks affect the implementation of Sustainable Water Management Practices (SUWM) at the local level. Using data from 110 local governments in five US regions, we examine the relationship between the social interaction and the implementation of SUWM, and how this relationship depends on the types of interaction partners. Our findings show that local governments with larger organizational networks implement more SUWM practices. Collaboration with non-governmental organizations, particularly water sector associations, is strongly associated with an increase in use of SUWM practices. Overall, our findings suggest that creating and maintaining a robust organizational network of other government agencies and non-governmental organizations, especially water sector associations, increases the chances that a local government will implement more SUWM practices.

Taking Care of Companion Animals

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 423-444
Author(s):  
Mark C.J. Stoddart ◽  
Liam Swiss ◽  
Nicole Power ◽  
Lawrence F. Felt
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Companion Animals ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Companion Animal ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Interpretive Frameworks

Focusing on local government and non-governmental nonhuman animal welfare organizations, this paper reports survey results on institutional policies, interpretive frameworks, and practices regarding companion animals in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The findings suggested that local governments and animal shelters use different interpretive frameworks of companion animal welfare, with the former taking a human-centric position and the latter focusing on animal well-being. The results showed that most local governments are not well engaged with animal welfare issues. Instead, these issues are more often dealt with by non-governmental organizations that operate on limited budgets and rely heavily on volunteer labor. Whereas federal and provincial governments are responsible for legislating companion animal welfare, practical implementation of animal welfare has been largely the responsibility of non-governmental organizations. Our findings demonstrated that the ways that animal welfare policy is interpreted and enacted at the local level have significant implications for animal well-being more broadly.

scholarly journals Transformation from Below in Bangladesh: Decentralization, local governance, and systemic change

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
pp. 1668-1694 ◽  
Author(s):  
JEAN-PAUL FAGUET
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Development Indicators ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Joint Product ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Government Responsiveness

AbstractI examine decentralization through the lens of the local dynamics it unleashed in Bangladesh. I argue that the national effects of decentralization are largely the sum of its local-level effects. Hence, to understand decentralization, we must first understand how local government works. This implies analysing not only decentralization, but also democracy, from the bottom up. I present a model of local government responsiveness as the product of political openness and substantive competition. The quality of politics, in turn, emerges endogenously as a joint product of the lobbying and political engagement of local firms/interests, and the organizational density and ability of civil society. I then test these ideas using qualitative data from Bangladesh. The evidence shows that civic organizations worked with non-governmental organizations and local governments to effect transformative change from the grass roots upwards—not just to public budgets and outputs, but to the underlying behaviours and ideas that underpin social development. In the aggregate, these effects were powerful. The result, key development indicators show, is Bangladesh leap-frogging past much wealthier India between 1990 and 2015.

scholarly journals La reparación en casos de violencia de género en Ecuador. Apuntes preliminares sobre los desafíos de los Centros de Atención = Reparation in the Area of Gender-Based Violence in Ecuador. Preliminary Notes on the Challenges of Care Centers

2019 ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
Paz Guarderas Albuja ◽  
Ana Dolores Verdú Delgado ◽  
Celsa Beatriz Carrión Berrú ◽  
Lucianne Anabel Gordillo Placencia
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Country Analysis ◽  
National Norms ◽  
Gender Based

<p><strong>Resumen</strong></p><p>En el 2018 entró en vigencia en Ecuador una nueva ley de erradicación de la violencia de género que enfatiza la reparación. En este artículo nos proponemos indagar en las concepciones en torno a la reparación en la normativa nacional, así como evidenciar las transformaciones en la atención a las víctimas de violencia de género en el país. El análisis se orienta al objetivo de identificar los obstáculos y desafíos que presenta la aplicación de la nueva ley a nivel local. Como conclusión se señala la necesidad de una mayor institucionalización de los procesos de reparación de las víctimas en un contexto en el que estos recaen principalmente sobre organizaciones no gubernamentales con escasos recursos o gobiernos locales.</p><p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p>In 2008, a new law for eradicating gender-based violence takes effect in Ecuador, with a new emphasis on reparation. In this paper we aim to review the conceptions regarding reparation in national norms, as well as highlighting the transformations on the attention on the victims of gender-based violence in the country. Analysis is guided by the objective of identifying the obstacles and challenges present in the implementation of the new law at local level. As a conclusion we point out that need for a greater institutionalization of the processes of victims reparation in a context in which these processes lie mainly with non-governmental organizations with scant resources or local governments.</p>

scholarly journals Project Management in Development Cooperation. Non-Governmental Organizations

Innovar ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (56) ◽  
pp. 53-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maricela I. Montes-Guerra ◽  
Aida R. De-Miguel ◽  
M. Amaya Pérez-Ezcurdia ◽  
Faustino N. Gimena ◽  
H. Mauricio Díez-Silva
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Project Performance ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Applicable Knowledge ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect

This article analyzes the adoption of project management practices in development cooperation NGOs and their influence on project performance. This paper illustrates the impact in the implementation of methodologies, techniques and tools on outcomes, measured by success criteria of several projects recently implemented. Information from the project managers of the organizations was collected, and complemented by a literature review. We analyzed the correlation among the variables that determine the adoption of a project, and the criteria that determine its success. The positive effect of project management adoption in the performance of cooperation projects is demonstrated, in spite of the low use of methodologies, techniques and tools within the sector. The article shows the importance of project management in cooperation and aid projects, with the purpose of increasing researchers' awareness about the field as applicable knowledge and about the benefits of its use in the sector. The paper shows that project management can improve project efficiency and accountability in other sectors.

From Local Activism to Local Politics: The Case of Moscow

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yana Gorokhovskaia
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Candidates ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Private Realm ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Local Problems ◽  
Training And Support

Conventional wisdom holds that civil society is a sphere of activity separate from the state and the private realm. Due to a combination of historical, developmental and institutional factors, Russian civil society today is dominated by the state. While not all interactions with the state are seen as harmful, scholars acknowledge that most politically oriented or oppositional non-governmental organizations today face difficult conditions in Russia. In response to the restrictions on civil society and the unresponsive nature of Russia’s hybrid authoritarian regime, some civil society actors in Moscow have made the transition into organized politics at the local level. This transition was motivated by their desire to solve local problems and was facilitated by independent electoral initiatives which provided timely training and support for opposition political candidates running in municipal elections. Once elected, these activists turned municipal deputies are able to perform some of the functions traditionally ascribed to civil society, including enforcing greater accountability and transparency from the state and defending the interest of citizens.

scholarly journals Influence of Social Capital on Livelihood Outcomes for the Internally Displaced Persons in Kenya: A Social Capital Approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (26) ◽  
pp. 266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Nkonge Kiboro
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Internally Displaced Persons ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Essential Services

Social capital is increasingly recognized as important in influencing economic development, establishment of safe neighborhoods and wellfunctioning communities. There is growing evidence that communities with relatively higher stocks of social capital in form of grassroots associations appear to achieve higher levels of growth compared to societies with low stocks of social capital. This study sought to investigate the influence of social Capital on the livelihood outcomes for the internally displaced persons in Kenya. Membership to local level associations was used as a predictor of social capital. The study revealed that majority of the households that were affiliated to local level associations obtained essential services that influenced their livelihoods positively. Overall, the findings reveal that memberships in local associations (social capital) tend to insulate households from risks and other exigencies. The study recommends that government and other stakeholders such as non-governmental organizations should formulate projects and programs that seek to promote wider participation in local level associations particularly by the poor and those whose livelihoods are vulnerable.

scholarly journals Biodiversity trends in Europe: development and testing of a species trend indicator for evaluating progress towards the 2010 target

2005 ◽  
Vol 360 (1454) ◽  
pp. 297-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
M de Heer ◽  
V Kapos ◽  
B.J.E ten Brink
Keyword(s):  
Population Declines ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Species Population ◽  
2010 Target ◽  
Biogeographical Region ◽  
Using Data ◽  
High Level ◽  
Existing Data

This paper presents a trial of a species population trend indicator for evaluating progress towards the 2010 biodiversity target in Europe, using existing data. The indicator integrates trends on different species (groups), and can be aggregated across habitats and countries. Thus, the indicator can deliver both headline messages for high-level decision-making and detailed information for in-depth analysis, using data from different sources, collected with different methods. International non-governmental organizations mobilized data on over 2800 historical trends in national populations of birds, butterflies and mammals, for a total of 273 species. These were combined by habitat and biogeographical region to generate a pilot pan-European scale indicator. The trial indicator suggests a decline of species populations in nearly all habitats, the largest being in farmland, where species populations declined by an average of 23% between 1970 and 2000. The indicator is potentially useful for monitoring progress towards 2010 biodiversity targets, but constraints include: the limited sensitivity of the historical data, which leads to conservative estimates of species decline; a potential danger of ambiguity because increases in opportunistic species can mask the loss of other species; and failure to account for pre-1970 population declines. We recommend mobilizing additional existing data, particularly for plants and fishes, and elaborating further the criteria for compiling representative sets of species. For a frequent, reliable update of the indicator, sound, sensitive and harmonized biodiversity monitoring programmes are needed in all pan-European countries.

Analysis and Comparison of the Role of Local Governments With Other Policy Actors in Disaster Relief via Social Media

2019 ◽  
pp. 579-601
Author(s):  
Mete Yildiz ◽  
Kamil Demirhan
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Disaster Relief ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Policy Actors ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Communication And Coordination

This chapter examines the social media use by local governments, and other policy actors (government agencies, non-governmental organizations and citizens) after the 2011 Van Earthquake in Turkey. This study is different from others examining social media use of just one policy actor after a disaster; as it compares and contrasts the performance of different policy actors with that of local governments. To this end, contents of the messages posted on selected Facebook pages after the earthquake are analyzed. The findings include examples of effective social media use for disaster relief and recovery, as well as detailed information about the nature and functioning of “multiple/parallel systems of public service/information delivery”, more than one electronic channel of communication and coordination simultaneously connecting people and organizations. The findings suggest that, if institutional arrangements conducive to collaborations are present, social media platforms can be effective means of disaster relief and recovery, especially for communication among citizens after a disaster.

Corporate water management systems and incentives to self-discipline

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 592-616
Author(s):  
Linhan Zhang ◽  
Qingliang Tang
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Business Practices ◽  
Water Usage ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Carbon Disclosure Project ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Sustainability Research ◽  
Water Accounting

Purpose Water management is an emerging practice. This paper aims to propose a theoretical model of a corporate water management system (WMS) and empirically explores whether superior water management improves water use performance. Design/methodology/approach Our model of WMS consists of 10 structural elements. We draw on self-discipline theory to predict the results and use archival data from the Carbon Disclosure Project to measure and evaluate the overall quality and effectiveness of the water management of our sample companies. Findings Companies motivated to adopt self-discipline tend to proactively implement high-quality WMSs. However, further analyses suggest that water management without regulatory sanctions appears insufficient for reducing water usage, at least in the short term. Overall, this study reveals a clear and growing tendency for businesses to manage water risks and a corresponding momentum toward more rigid control of water consumption. Research limitations/implications Corporate participation in the Carbon Disclosure Project survey is voluntary. Thus, the data in this paper are subject to self-selection bias, and what the companies claim concerning their behavior may not reflect the reality of their business practices. In addition, the inferences drawn here are based on data from only large firms. Future researchers could investigate whether and how corporate WMS continued to develop or decline in recent years, and how such practices integrate with other aspects of management (including carbon and energy). Practical implications This paper responds to water scarcity by exploring how the development of corporate WMS is driven by self-discipline motivation. This study sets out an agenda for the future of water accounting and management which can be used to guide research and stimulate extension in practice. Governments and non-governmental organizations may utilize the results to guide and bind corporations to achieve sustainability. Social implications The efficient use of freshwater is essential for sustainability, but limited studies have addressed the issue. The current paper explores this important issue, and our findings suggest regulatory institution is necessary to effectively enhance water usage. Originality/value This paper represents an early attempt to model corporate water management practices. A WMS should facilitate resilience in water management, measurement of water performance, and comparability among firms. This study contributes to the conceptualization and empirical assessment of self-discipline in motivated water management and enhances the validity and applicability of the theory of self-disciplining in sustainability research.

Project Portfolio Management

2020 ◽  
pp. 547-563
Author(s):  
Beata Jałocha ◽  
Ewa Bogacz-Wojtanowska
Keyword(s):  
Portfolio Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Third Sector ◽  
Corporate Management ◽  
Project Portfolio ◽  
Project Portfolio Management ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
Strategic Objectives ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations

Project Portfolio Management is a relatively new practice for the majority of non-government organisations. Project portfolio management is important in the areas of management and education of third sector practitioners. However, project portfolio management, corporate management tools are usually used in the business sector with very little research undertaken in the non-government sectors. This chapter fills that research gap by identifying and analysis of project portfolio management practices in non-governmental organizations. Findings suggest that non-government organisations manage multiple projects simultaneously but that project portfolio management could support them to build their portfolio in accordance with a strategic plan that can fulfil their strategic objectives efficiently and effectively.

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