Human Resources Management and Training in Metropolitan Municipalities in Turkey

By the 2000s, human resources management in local government in Turkey had become an important issue. Training is one of the most important functions of human resources management; there is an important relationship between the development and increase of the capacities of local government personnel and training. Within the context of the metropolitan municipalities organizational structures in Turkey, there are ‘human resources and education departments'. Firstly, the relation between human resources management and training will be searched. Secondly, the regulations of human resources and education departments of metropolitan municipalities in Turkey have been examined to put forth the main duties and responsibilities of those departments and their branch offices on training. In the last part of the study, human resources and education departments' training programs in Turkey will be clarified.

The use of electronic learning centres in public libraries in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa

Purpose This study aimed to establish the use of electronic learning centres in public libraries in the city of Johannesburg, which is under one of the biggest metropolitan municipalities in South Africa. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative research approach was adopted, and questionnaires were used to collect primary data. The target population for this study was the entire users of the electronic learning centres and librarians in the public libraries within the city of Johannesburg. Findings The findings of this study revealed that there are different services, levels of awareness and training. Research limitations/implications This study was limited to public libraries in the city of Johannesburg. Academic, special and mobile libraries were not included in this study because they were not open to the general public. Users who were not using the electronic learning centres were excluded from this study. Practical implications Adequate use and awareness of services of electronic learning centres in public libraries are instrumental in the satisfaction of users’ needs using the electronic learning centres. The suggestions of this study will be useful to decision makers and heads of the electronic learning centres on how to enhance the use of the electronic learning centres in the city of Johannesburg. Originality/value This paper establishes the use of electronic learning centres in public libraries in the city of Johannesburg, which is under one of the biggest metropolitan municipalities in South Africa.

South Africa elections erode ANC's long-term position

Significance The ruling ANC's national vote share dropped below the symbolic 50% threshold to 45.6%, its lowest score in its 27 years in power. It now controls only two metropolitan municipalities (metros) out of the country’s eight. The second-largest party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), dropped more than five points to 21.8% amid historically low voter turnout. Impacts ANC infighting will intensify ahead of its national elective conference in late 2022. President Cyril Ramaphosa still looks set to be elected for a second term. Violent protests by disaffected citizens and ‘shutdowns’, some led by politically ambitious community leaders, will increase. There may be an uptick in political killings, particularly within the ANC, if by-elections are held to change contested candidate lists.

Assessing Local and National Government Interaction in LED: A Policy Evaluation of South Africa’s Metros

The article examined the adoption of the 2018-2028 National Framework for Local Economic Development (NFLED 2018-2028) in South Africa eight metropolitan municipalities. The article employs a qualitative research approach whereby a document analysis of municipality strategic reports reveals that there is low adoption of the National Framework for Local Economic Development in South African metros. The findings confirm that whilst metropolitan municipalities cannot be expected to share the exact policy adoption considerations due to their political, administrative, economic and demographic heterogeneity, it is suggested that there should be a balanced level of policy standardisation when it comes to LED and other municipal kep performance areas (KPAs). The article concludes that South Africa’s metropolitan municipalities had not adopted most of the five enabling pillars of the National Framework for LED 2018-2028 as part of the key performance areas (KPAs). This points to the discord between national LED policies and local level LED planning. While there is a need for LED planning decentralisation to meet local needs in metros, general alignment with national policies could assist in unlocking intellectual and financial resources that municipalities lack. Received: 23 September 2021 / Accepted: 25 October 2021 / Published: 5 November 2021

The reflection of public values in twitter use of metropolitan municipalities: A content analysis employing the analytic hierarchy process

The reflection of public values (PVs) could be monitored through some indicators, like institutional social media tools. The measurement of how PVs are reflected over local social media accounts is of great importance. Studies in the relevant literature are mainly focusing on the benefits of social media presence, drivers, or barriers or attitudes and expectations on social media presence. We, in this study, focus on the evaluation of whether and how selected PVs are reflected through social media accounts of metropolitan municipalities (MMs) in Turkey. By taking participation, collaboration, and transparency as the main PVs, we have formed an evaluation metric composed of five sub-criteria for each determinant. With the help of seven public administration experts holding a Ph.D. degree to form an expert graded scheme by using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), we have employed a content analysis over Twitter accounts of 30 Turkish MMs using this expert graded scheme. We have found that Turkish MMs were found not to grasp the valuation of the selected PVs since most seem to fail to reflect them over their social media accounts to the full extent possible. Moreover, many Turkish MMs seem to have violated privacy and personal data.

Woman Existence in the Rural Population of Turkey

The level of development throughout the world is explained on the basis of various criteria population are some of these development indicators. For many countries, the rural population and the characteristics of this population are accepted as an important indicator of development. Also, in Turkey, focusing the rural population particularly on the issue of rehabilitation since the founding of the Republic remained on the agenda. Indeed, the rural population in Turkey since the first years of the Republic showed a great change and transformation in terms of both quantitative and qualitative. The continuous contraction of the share of the rural population in the face of the urban population, the change in the rural labor force and finally some changes in the administrative sense, led to the situation of addressing the rural population and especially the female population from a significantly different perspective. Finally, in 2012, in accordance with Law No. 6360, Metropolitan Municipality 30 Metropolitan Municipalities organized in Turkey, rural population in these cities was adopted as 0 (zero). In addition to the many disadvantages of this situation, there are drawbacks to criticism in terms of ignoring the presence of women, which constitutes the largest part of the informal labor force in rural areas. It is debatable that rural women, who are deprived of their social rights and have a low level of awareness and quality of life, are inaccessible with the relevant law in comparison with the relatively urban women. In this study, the state of the overall presence of women in rural areas as a result of administrative arrangements with the relevant distribution in Turkey explained the outlines of the female population in the metropolitan municipalities in rural areas was discussed.

Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in Denmark: nationwide, population-based seroepidemiological study

Seroprevalence studies have proven an important tool to monitor the progression of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We present results of consecutive population-based seroprevalence surveys performed in Denmark in 2020. In spring, late summer and autumn/winter of 2020, invitation letters including a questionnaire covering symptoms were sent to representative samples of the population above 12 years and to parents of children below 18 years in the sample. Blood samples were analysed for total Ig and seroprevalence estimates per population segment were calculated and compared to other surveillance parameters. Based on 34 081 participants (participation rate 33%), seroprevalence estimates increased from 1.2% (95%CI: 0.3–1.9%) in May to 4.1% (95%CI: 3.1–4.9%) in December 2020. Seroprevalence estimates were roughly three times higher in those aged 12–29 years compared to 65 + and higher in metropolitan municipalities. By December 2020, 1.5% of the population had tested positive by RT-PCR. Infected individuals in older age groups were hospitalised several fold more often than in younger. Amongst seropositives, loss of taste/smell were the more specific symptoms, 32–56% did not report any symptoms. In more than half of seroconverted families, we did not see evidence of transmission between generations. Seroprevalence increased during 2020; adolescents were primarily infected in the autumn/winter. Denmark has a high per capita test rate; roughly one undiagnosed infection of SARS-CoV-2 were estimated to occur for each diagnosed case. Approximately half were asymptomatically infected. The epidemic appears to have progressed relatively modestly during 2020 in Denmark.

Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in Denmark: Nationwide, population-based seroepidemiological surveys

Background. Seroprevalence studies have proven an important tool to monitor the progression of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID–19) epidemic. We present results of consecutive population-based seroprevalence surveys performed in Denmark in 2020. Methods. Invitation letters including a questionnaire covering symptoms were sent to representatively drawn samples of the population in spring, late summer and autumn/winter of 2020. Blood samples from participants taken at public test-centers were analyzed for total Ig and seroprevalence estimates per population segment calculated and compared to other surveillance parameters. Results. From 34,081 participating individuals (response rate 33%), we obtained seroprevalence estimates increasing from 1.1% (95%CI: 0.7%–1.7) in May to 4.0 % (95%CI: 3.4%–4.7%) in December 2020. By December 2020, 1.5% of the population 12 years and older had tested positive by PCR. Seroprevalence estimates were roughly 3 times higher in those aged 12–29 compared to 65+ and higher in metropolitan municipalities. Among seropositives, loss of taste/smell were the more specific symptoms, 32%–56% did not report any symptoms. In half of seroconverted families, we did not see evidence of transmission between generations. Infected individuals in older age groups were hospitalized several fold more often than in younger. Conclusions. Seroprevalence increased during 2020; younger age groups were primarily infected in the autumn/winter surge. Approximately half were asymptomatically infected. Denmark has a high per capita test rate; roughly two undiagnosed infections of COVID–19 were estimated to occur for each diagnosed case. The epidemic appears to have progressed relatively modestly during 2020 in Denmark.