Search results

The aim of this article is to investigate how the use of financial instruments influences the development of Regional Development Funds (RFR) in Poland and to assess the maturity and coherence of the regional development financing system in this country.

The methodology is based on the multilevel governance literature and on data collected during 26 in-depth interviews in regional, national and international institutions.

The authors demonstrate that the use of financial instruments stimulates new kinds of cooperation between several institutions and contributes to the establishment of RFR. The authors also show that the Polish regional financing system is still developing and formulate recommendations about necessary improvements.

The main contribution of this article, in addition to taking up a new, relevant topic for the regional development policy in countries benefiting from European Union (EU) cohesion policy, is the application of the multilevel governance (MLG) concept to explain the development of the Polish regional development financing system. Moreover, the significant added value of this study comes from the use of data collected during 26 in-depth interviews (IDI) in regional, national and international institutions on the use of repayable instruments in regional development policy.

The paper aims to compare and evaluate two Norwegian municipal networks for climate change adaptation, to see how such networks should be initiated and implemented as a means of achieving adaptation measures within municipalities.

The findings are based on 12 qualitative interviews taken from two case studies, and the results are explained in relation to the multilevel network framework and environmental psychology.

Multilevel networks can promote learning and identification of specific actions in connection with climate change adaptation. The aim should be to establish interdisciplinarity, with participants from at least two authority levels. Representatives should be in positions that enable them to introduce acquired knowledge to the organization and influence its application. A network requires organizational commitment, during the initial phase and throughout the follow-up process. Municipal leaders (mayors) must be aware of the network, act as signatories to relevant documents, and be familiar with participating representatives. Commitment to knowledge application within the organization also requires that participants understand where and how to work strategically to convert new ideas into action.

This paper presents practical and research-based guidelines for the management of climate change adaptation networks at municipal, county and national authority levels.

This paper combines political science and environmental psychology perspectives as a means of analysing network achievements. A psychological approach may help to promote a greater understanding of why and how network knowledge is transferred.

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to spread across countries, it is becoming increasingly clear that the presence of pre-existing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) dramatically increases the risk of aggravation in persons who contract the virus. The neglect in managing NCDs during emergencies may result in fatal consequences for individuals living with comorbidities. This paper aims to highlight the need for a paradigm shift in the governance of public health emergencies to simultaneously address NCD and noncommunicable disease (CD) pandemics while taking into account the needs of high-risk populations, underlying etiological factors, and the social, economic, and environmental determinants that are relevant for both CDs and NCDs.

The paper reviews the available global frameworks for pandemic preparedness to highlight the governance challenges of addressing the dual agenda of NCDs and CDs during a public health emergency. It proposes key strategies to strengthen multilevel governance in support of countries to better prepare for public health emergencies through the engagement of a wide range of stakeholders across sectors.

Addressing both CD and NCD pandemics during public health emergencies requires (1) a new framework that unites the narratives and overcomes service and system fragmentations; (2) a multisectoral and multistakeholder governance mechanism empowered and resourced to include stakeholders across sectors and (3) a prioritized research agenda to understand the political economy of pandemics, the role played by different political systems and actors and implementation challenges, and to identify combined strategies to address the converging agendas of CDs and NCDs.

The article is based on the review of available published evidence.

The uptake of the strategies proposed will better prepare countries to respond to NCD and CD pandemics during public health emergencies.

The article is the first of its kind addressing the governance challenges of the dual pandemic of NCDs and CDs in emergencies.

Globally, climate change governance continues to be a significant challenge to policymakers, environmentalists and politicians despite international summits, conferences and programmes designed to find sustainable solutions to the climate change crises. Climate change continues to be viewed primarily as a challenge for the future, whereas many leaders and administrators globally regard it as an environmental issue rather than a challenge that encompasses all aspects of life. In South Africa, these misleading perceptions of climate change continue to prevail both at national and local levels. The government and private organisations do not attach the required levels of urgency needed to address the climate change crisis. While numerous policies and institutions have been established to address these challenges, they lack financial backing, coordination and synergy that cut across the broad objectives of environmental, social and economic agendas. Additionally, weak, eroding trust and manipulating of institutions continue to hinder effective policy implementation and focus-driven governance. This paper aims to explore the structural and governance weaknesses of climate change administration in the KwaZulu-Natal province and South Africa in general.

This paper used extensive literature reviews and a triangulated approach to investigate the weaknesses of the current governance structure in the context of institutional and capacity constraints.

The findings uncovered that most institutions and organisations mandated to address climate change challenges operate in silos, lack required investment and capacity and have weak accountability mechanisms with a shallow understanding of climate change governance.

This paper recommends better coordination between national, provincial and local governments as well as the private sector towards climate change activities and capacity to ensure that climate change actions are effectively implemented.

As part of a national plan to govern professional and organizational development in Norwegian specialist healthcare, the country’s hospital clinics are tasked with constructing development plans. Using the development plan as a case, the paper analyzes how managers navigate and legitimize the planning process among central actors and deals with the contingency of decisions in such strategy work.

This study applies a qualitative research design using a case study method. The material consists of public documents, observations and single interviews, covering the process of constructing a development plan at the clinical level.

The findings suggest that the development plan was shaped through a multilevel translation process consisting of different contending rationalities. At the clinical level, the management had difficulties in legitimizing the process. The underlying tension between top-down and bottom-up steering challenged involvement and made it difficult to manage the contingency of decisions.

The findings are relevant to public sector managers working on strategy documents and policymakers identifying challenges that might hinder the fulfillment of political intentions.

This paper draws on a case from Norway; however, the findings are of general interest. The study contributes to the academic discussion on how to consider both the health authorities’ perspective and the organizational perspective to understand the manager’s role in handling the contingency of decisions and managing paradoxes in the decision-making process.

This article investigates how Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be integrated into the strategic planning and management processes of local governments (LGs). It draws from the classic strategic planning and control framework developed in management studies and elaborates some propositions for adapting, implementing and monitoring the SDGs at the city level.

As a first step in the assessment of the ways the principles of sustainable development can be integrated into LG management, this research scrutinizes the incorporation of sustainability goals in the strategic plans of all medium-to-large capital cities of provinces in Italy, a context in which there has been a National Strategy for Sustainable Development (NSSD) since 2016.

The focus on SDGs at the LG level in Italy is in its initial stage, and few capital cities have started to integrate sustainable development concerns into their comprehensive strategic plans. SDGs are used mainly as a reference framework in the strategic plans to demonstrate the contribution of LG strategies to global concerns on sustainable development.

The paper offers insights for political leaders and public managers to rethink their strategic management systems, including the continuous process of evaluating and updating of strategic plans, in accordance with the multidimensional perspective of sustainability. To this end, the study has identified possible patterns of actions that public managers elsewhere will find useful.

The managerial approach behind the proposed conceptual framework might contribute to effectively localize the SDGs in multilevel government settings and to integrate the concept of sustainability as a guiding principle into organizational routines.

The purpose of this study is to propose a matrix framework to understand the interdependencies of domains and scales of protein transition towards diets based on plants and alternative sources of proteins.

The abductive research approach is used in building the framework, and the proposed framework is illustrated using the regional food system in Central Finland as an example. Focus groups and interviews were used to collect qualitative data from 28 respondents.

This study provides a framework for protein transition, with five domains and five scale levels. Interactions between public and private governance activities at different scales, domains and governed niche and regime levels are discussed. The study shows how micro-level activities at individual or community levels are linked with broader governance activities.

Due to the relatively narrowed set of empirical data, further research is required to test the framework in different regional and cultural settings.

This paper presents a practical illustration of the matrix framework, and considering this, the paper discusses the possible implications of matrix interdependencies for protein transition management.

This study proposes that understanding the coevolution of domains and scales, with the help of accurate policies and business models, can lead to effective protein transition.

This study fulfils an identified need to study protein transition in a broader frame, which highlights the structural activity interdependencies between different scale levels and domains.