Fiscal Decentralization and Social Service Delivery: An empirical Analysis of Balochistan

Purpose: This study has been initiated to measure the impact of fiscal decentralization in case of Balochistan province by using both revenue decentralization and expenditure decentralization to measure the impact of fiscal decentralization on provision of health, education, employment and poverty reduction. Design/Methodology/Approach: In measure, we have applied ARDL approach on the data spanning from 1975 to 2016. Findings: Our results point out that fiscal decentralization improves the social services delivery in case of Balochistan province. Moreover, it improves the provision of health and education facilities in Balochistan. Further, our findings indicate that fiscal decentralization leads to reduction in the poverty and unemployment. In addition, we found that expenditure decentralization is relatively effective in the provision of social services as compared to the revenue decentralization in case of Balochistan. Implications/Originality/Value: Our study findings suggest that to improve the social services delivery; we may opt for fiscal decentralization particularly expenditure decentralization in case of Balochistan.

Workplace friendships while teleworking during COVID-19: Experiences of social workers in Australia

COVID-19 has shifted Australia’s social service delivery. Understanding the impact on workplace relationships is key. This article used a small-scale sample of social workers ( N = 37) to explore workplace friendship experiences while teleworking. Participants reported opportunities for friendships during COVID-19 but reported ongoing personal and professional concerns.

Government profiles as perceived by governments’ NPO partners in Chinese social service delivery

Social services in China nowadays are increasingly coproduced by both government and non-profit organizations (NPOs). However, we still know little about how NPOs perceive their government partners in social service delivery. Using a Q methodology, this study remedies this gap and identifies three profiles – namely, government as a distant facilitator, government as a hands-off collaborator, and government as a prudent principal. Also, it has been found that two conditions – namely, NPOs’ development stage and funding resources – influence their perceptions on government in social service delivery. These three profiles provide new insights into NPOs’ perceptions of their government partners in social service delivery, and they add new building blocks to existing literature, specifically on the government–NPO relationship in China.

Growth in Motivation, Performance, and Positive Emotions: Experiential Learning in Macro Social Work

The Control Value Leaning Theory can be used to understand and impact student knowledge, interest, and experiences in content relating to health professions and associated topics, including working with organizations and communities and being a part of a task group or interdisciplinary team. This case study reports on the experiences of 19 students in a graduate practice social work course: Practice of Social Service Delivery II. Students’ increased control and input in assignments and perception of the assignments’ value were associated with increased motivation, performance, and enjoyment. Experiential learning opportunities that emphasized greater student choice and value increased students’ exposure to the professional realm and appeared to increase the perceived importance of a course topic in which students previously had low knowledge and interest.

Democratic Governance and Social Service Delivery in Africa: the case of Taraba State, Nigeria

Postcolonial leadership is implicated in the distorted development and crisis of governance in Nigeria. The political leadership emerged from authoritarian traditions of the colonial state and pursued self-interests against collective societal interests; the mode of the emergence of the leaders as well as the context in which they operate usually impact on the nature and trend of social welfare provisioning. Relying on data from secondary sources, this study examined the impact of democratic governance on social service delivery with Taraba State and education as a case study. The data analysis was based on qualitative descriptive analysis. We found that the education sector under the two administrations between 1999 and 2014, was not prioritized in budgetary allocation, in contravention of UNESCO recommendation that 26% of the budget be dedicated to education. The study recommends, among others, that the government must show commitment to education as a matter of deliberate policy to allocate the required minimum percentage pecked by UNESCO to enhance educational development in Taraba state.

An Empirical Comparison of Bias Reduction Methods on Real-World Problems in High-Stakes Policy Settings

Applications of machine learning (ML) to high-stakes policy settings - such as education, criminal justice, healthcare, and social service delivery - have grown rapidly in recent years, sparking important conversations about how to ensure fair outcomes from these systems. The machine learning research community has responded to this challenge with a wide array of proposed fairness-enhancing strategies for ML models, but despite the large number of methods that have been developed, little empirical work exists evaluating these methods in real-world settings. Here, we seek to fill this research gap by investigating the performance of several methods that operate at different points in the ML pipeline across four real-world public policy and social good problems. Across these problems, we find a wide degree of variability and inconsistency in the ability of many of these methods to improve model fairness, but postprocessing by choosing group-specific score thresholds consistently removes disparities, with important implications for both the ML research community and practitioners deploying machine learning to inform consequential policy decisions.

Conceptualising the Role of Deservingness in Migrants’ Access to Social Services

This ‘state-of-the art’ article on the role of deservingness in governing migrants’ access to social services situates our themed section’s contribution to the literature at the intersection between the study of street-level bureaucracy and practices of internal bordering through social policy. Considering the increasing relevance of migration control post-entry, we review the considerations that guide the local delivery of social services. Among others, moral ideas about a claimant’s worthiness to receive social benefits and services guide policy implementation. But while ideas of deservingness help to understand how perceptions of migrants’ claiming play out in practice, we observe limited use of the concept in street-level bureaucracy research. Drawing on theorisations from welfare attitudinal research, we demonstrate the salience of deservingness attitudes in understanding the dynamics of local social service delivery to migrant clients.

Ethiopia: Ugly Mathematical Unit Cost Fiscal Equalization Formula; Beautiful Findings

Purpose: Grant allocation formulas used to allocate fiscal resources among different tiers of government have proved to be useful in many countries around the world. This article provides a unit cost approach equalization formula that was used in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) to transfer resources from the regions to the woredas (districts) in 2007. Study methodology: The study approach involved gathering and reviewing of pioneering literature; identifying six representative sectors; field visits to collect and collate data; and data analysis. Findings: The developed model was highly equalizing. The FDRE adopted the study recommendations and the regional governments used the formula, or a modified version thereof, to transfers resources to woredas. Research limitations: It was not easy to access the required data. Furthermore, the representative sectors may not holistically reflect the actual budgetary needs of the Local Governments (LGs) due to their heterogeneous tax bases and expenditure needs. This can be addressed with future research to further refine the model presented and granularity of data used. Practical implications: The study developed and specified a mathematical unit cost equalization model, which was applied to Tigray region in FDRE. The model’s ability to equalize was tested and evaluated econometrically. Social implications: The paper identified six representative sectors that have high synergies in terms of poverty eradication via improved social service delivery. These sectors attracted large budgetary allocations.