The social work literature of the last two decades has drawn attention to the increasing importance of the assessment role of social workers. However, there has been limited historical analysis of the development of the assessment function in social work. This study examines the way in which the assessment role of social workers in England and Wales developed between 1950 and 1993. Historical narrative has been used to develop the themes of this study, addressing the significance of interrelated events and the range of political, economic and social influences on the changes which took place. It uses archival sources as primary material, including the archive of Lancashire County Council which is employed as a case study. This study traces the stages of development of social policy for the assessment function of social workers in local authorities. It draws attention to the diverse approaches of separate occupational groups of social workers to making enquiries and investigations about the circumstances of people who experienced social problems in the 1950s. Principles of social assessment which emerged during the 1960s are explored, together with their wider application to all client groups during the 1970s and the development of assessment as a priority activity within the newly established Social Services Departments (SSDs). The importance of the development of criteria and models of assessment in the late 1970s and 1980s and their inclusion as part of the social work process in planning documents produced by SSDs in the 1980s is discussed. The significance of the children’s and adults’ legislation and accompanying documentation at the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s in giving local authorities a lead role in the co-ordination of assessments is addressed. Although conventional interpretations of the history of social work have suggested that a high point in the development of social work was reached in the early 1970s, archival material points to the function of social assessment being at a particularly early stage of its development. As a consequence of the changes which took place, the thesis argues that assessment was a unifying influence on social work as a single occupational group and emerging profession.

La mutualisation est un phénomène né des pratiques des collectivités locales, qui s'est propagé à l'ensemble des autres personnes morales de droit public comme l'Etat et les établissements publics administratifs. Ces pratiques donnent lieu à l'application de différents dispositifs encadrés par des normes, par lesquels ces acteurs vont le plus souvent, soit créer une nouvelle institution dotée ou non de la personnalité morale, soit procéder à des regroupements de services, par le biais de contrats. Cette variété des dispositifs permet à la fois la coopération entre toutes ces entités unies par une communauté de destins, mais également de dégager des économies en agissant à plusieurs, pour une même action. Ainsi, les personnes publiques oeuvrent pour une amélioration du fonctionnement de leurs services. Toutefois, certains dispositifs de mutualisation en complexifient l'organisation. En effet, la nature juridique protéiforme de ces dispositifs soulève parfois des problèmes d'application sur le terrain. De plus, les changements qu'ils induisent dans l'organisation d'un service, peuvent se heurter aux volontés des individus qui vont les mettre en place, voire les subir, à savoir les agents de l'administration et les citoyens. Le rôle des autorités publiques telles les ministres, préfets et élus locaux est primordial dans la conduite du changement, mais celui des chefs de services est d'autant plus important, étant donné qu'ils font office d'interface entre les autorités publiques, les agents de l'administration et les citoyens. / Pooling is a phenomenon coming from practices of local authorities that has spread over all the other legal entities governed by public law, such as the State and administrative public establishments. These practices had led to the implementation of various plans framed by standards, by which these authorities are going the most often either to create a new institution endowed with legal personality, or to perform departmental grouping through agreements. This variety of plans encourages local relationships between all these pooled entities that are not only linked by a common objective, but also it allows making cost savings by acting together, for a common action. Thus, public authorities work for an improvement of the functioning of their services. However, some pooling plans make their organization more complex. Indeed, the protean legal nature of these plans raises implementation issues in the field. Furthermore, the changes they lead in a service organization can run up against the desire of individuals, that is to say, administrative officers and citizens, who will put them in place, or even endure them. The role of public authorities such as ministers, prefects and local elected representatives is essential in change management, but the role of the managers is all the more crucial since they act as interface between public authorities, administrative officers and citizens.

A new reform was introduced by the Swedish government in 2016 called Tillit i styrning. This reform looked for a new way to govern the public sphere, from local- to national level by introducing the concept of trust. Different projects and round tables were coordinated by Tillitsdelegationen, who was the delegation in charge of the reform. The establishment of a trust-based perspective within the public sector was developed due to the sector being perceived relying too heavily on supervisory control and goal orientation. The delegation concluded their work during 2019 which resulted in the termination of the projects and round-tables with the authorities. This Bachelor’s thesis aims more specifically to research the implementation of trust within the public authorities, since they are central actors in the furthering of the Swedish governance and its democracy. It aims to further research why the reform was developed and constructed, as well as how five public authorities have implemented the reform. This has been done by analysing political documents as well as conducting five interviews with representatives from five public authorities. The study showed that trust was seen as an important tool for the furthering of an efficient and citizen orientated organisation. The public authorities both favoured the influence the reform could have on the governance structures and implemented it in a variety of ways but also emphasised the challenges which needed to be handled.

No abstract available. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / am2014 / Mercantile Law / unrestricted

This paper analyzes whether there are differences in treatment for Western-Balkan and Arabic sounding names when requesting information about the Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) program by Swedish municipalities. To answer this question, a correspondence test was conducted in which all 290 municipalities in Sweden were contacted via emails from two fictitious inquirers. We were able to gather data on six outcome variables from this correspondence test, which were chosen to measure the time and effort spent on replies to each inquirer. The results suggest that government officials provide differential treatment in favor of a Western-Balkan-sounding name, but that the outcome variables are relatively small. Moreover, we found no strong evidence for whether this differential treatment is due to taste-based or statistical discrimination. The findings in our study highlights potential consequences for immigrants with an Arabic background as limited access to the SFI program could have implications for their integration into the labor market.

La recherche développée s’inscrit dans un contexte marqué par une actualité, française, riche de débats en matière de gouvernance portuaire. Ces débats sont relatifs à la comparaison entre un supposé « modèle » français et un supposé « modèle hanséatique ». La réflexion s’est articulée autour de l’identification de territoires portuaires au sein de la rangée nord-ouest européenne et des interactions entre les acteurs coexistant au sein de ces places portuaires : les entreprises privées et les autorités portuaires. Les généralités dégagées des analyses de terrain ont permis de mettre en évidence deux résultats majeurs concernant les formes de gouvernance portuaire : la nature des interactions entre les parties prenantes et les modalités de gouvernance. L’étude comparée entre les ports a conduit à dire que les rapports sociaux qui s’instaurent au fil du temps sont spécifiques à chaque place portuaire et concourent à la construction d’une identité propre à chaque territoire. Une gouvernance équilibrée et viable est le fruit de compromis permanents. Cela donne lieu à la création d’espaces décisionnels collectifs formels ou informels. La thèse s’intéresse aux mécanismes institutionnels et relationnels. Ainsi, la gouvernance est un ensemble de mécanismes qui aboutissent au résultat de la bonne entente entre les parties prenantes permettant l’équilibre dans la prise de décision concernant les affaires publiques. Pour élargir le propos, l’exercice du pouvoir au sein des places portuaires est une question sous-jacente de l’étude de la gouvernance. La thèse a posé clairement la question suivante : qui gouverne effectivement les places portuaires de la rangée nord-ouest européenne ? / The research takes place in the French context which is full of discussions as port governance is concerned. Those debates concern the comparison between a supposed French “shape” and a supposed Hanseatic “shape”. The questioning deals with the identification of port territories in the Northern Range and the interactions between stakeholders coexisting into port places: private companies and port authorities. Main items that stand out from interviews with stakeholders, shown two main results to understand port governance: the nature of interactions between stakeholders and the terms of governance. Compared study between ports permit to say that social interactions established day by day are specifics to each port place and contribute to the construction of an own identity to each territory. A balanced governance is the result of constant compromises that leads to the creation of collective spaces formal and unformal to take decisions. The thesis is focused on institutional and relational mechanisms. Thus, governance is a set of mechanisms which lead to the result of goodwill between stakeholders and permit the balance into the decision taking concerning public affairs. In order to develop our purpose, the study of governance permits to question the exercise of power in port places. The thesis clearly ask the following question: who truly govern port places of the Northern Range?

DAdmin / Department of Public and Development Administration / This study focussed on the roles of traditional leaders in the promotion of Local Economic Development (LED). This study focused on Limpopo Province but for this study, the research study was conducted in Vhembe District which consists of four (04) local municipalities which are Makhado, Thulamela, Musina and Collins Chabane local municipalities under Limpopo Province. Chiefs as traditional leaders are expected to play an active role in local development, on the day-to-day administration of their areas and the lives of people in their jurisdiction. One of the roles of traditional leaders is to promote socio-economic development and service delivery. The new government is trying to bring economic development to all areas, especially rural areas which were left out in the previous regime. The researcher chose a mixed research method in which both quantitative and qualitative research approaches were used. The reason for using a mixed research method is because it can be integrated in such a way that qualitative and quantitative methods retain their original structures and procedures. A qualitative approach is applicable in this study, because it allows openness to ideas, experiences, opinions, feelings and perceptions expressed by the research participants to the researcher. The researcher also applied a quantitative study for which would enable him to get results from many respondents. The researcher used a field research study as a research design. For this study, the researcher used a non-probability sampling and its subtype purposive sampling method to select the respondents for this study. The researcher chose purposive sampling method which is based entirely on the judgment of the researcher regarding the characteristics of the participants. Two data collection instruments were used, namely; research questionnaire and interview. The reason for selecting structured questionnaire and open-ended interview schedule is because the researcher wants to get relevant information about the study. Two methods of data analysis were used, namely descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The findings of the research study were:  The study findings revealed that majority of the respondents at 155 (74.3%) agreed that traditional leaders participate in approving Local Economic Development (LED) initiatives/projetcs. The study further affirms that most of the respondents at 178 which constitute 84.8% confirm that traditional leaders influence community members to participate in economic development projects in their communities.  Majority of the respondents at 147 (70.0%) agreed that traditional leaders are effective instruments to initiate LED and the researcher discovered that participation by traditional leaders promotes community development. vi  The findings revealed that there is a lack of co-operation between the traditional leaders and the municipalities. Poor working relationship between traditional leaders and the municipalities was revealed that it hampers the implementation of economic development projects in the municipality.  The study findings revealed that the LED in the municipality fails to create job opportunities and these result to an increase in crime rate. The study findings also revealed that poor planning, communication break-down; lack of common interest; poor management by the municipalities exacerbate the challenges facing traditional leaders in the implementation of local economic development.  The study findings revealed that traditional leaders lack knowledge, skills, capacity and resources in orders to promote LED. The study also discovered that due to the educational level of traditional leaders, it makes it difficult for them to understand the concepts and developmental projects.  The study findings discovered that traditional leaders only get involved in policy-making for IDP programmes wherein community stakeholders participate by providing the development projects that they require in the areas.  The researcher found that the role of traditional leaders in the promotion of LED is minimal because the only role of traditional leaders in the promotion of LED is mainly the allocation of land for LED projects. The recommendations of the research study are:  The researcher recommends that traditional leaders should actively participate in the decision-making to the implementation of LED. There is a greater need to ensure that the traditional leaders are made aware about the concept − LED. Traditional leaders should influence community members to participate in economic development projects. Traditional leaders should encourage community members to actively participate in economic development projects.  The study found that traditional leaders have development skills to benefit the community’s future and the researcher recommends that traditional leaders should be granted an opportunity on LED projects, as they are having development skills that can benefit the community. If traditional leaders are given a chance to participate in decision-making processes regarding issues that relate to and affect them, they will become part of the initiatives and this sense of ownership will encourage them to participate fully in the LED. vii  It is recommended that the culture of consultation and communication between traditional leaders and the municipalities should be promoted to enhance a good working relationship. Good working relationship between the traditional leaders and municipal councillors should be encouraged as it is very critical in enhancing the provision of services in the communities. The municipalities should improve their systems of communication to promote effective involvement of traditional leaders in LED. It is suggested that openness between community structures and the municipality should be encouraged.  The researcher recommends that the municipalities should provide enough budget to improve the implementation of LED in order to bring the communities and the government together in working towards the improvements of the LED projects. The findings suggested that in order for the municipalities to implement LED projects there should have well trained personnel and enough funding and be in a position to attract investors in order to implement the LED projects accordingly.  Supporting traditional leaders with training will enhance good governance, performance and accountability. The institution of traditional leaders should be trained about economic development as most of the respondents asserted that training on economic development is not given to traditional leaders. The researcher recommends that traditional leaders should be trained on economic development activities, as training is one form of communication which promotes the realisation of improved development. The researcher recommends that there should be a school that will educate traditional leaders to gain knowledge and skills which will result in a better community development.  It was stated that the municipality should involve traditional leaders in LED by clearly adding and stipulating out the roles of traditional leaders in the promotion of LED. The researcher recommends that the municipalities should involve the traditional leaders in LED as it encourages community ownership. The researcher recommends that LED meetings should be done regularly to give traditional leaders a better understanding of what is LED and what the municipalities is doing concerning job creation, eradication of poverty and other municipal matters.  The findings suggested that the traditional leader should be part of the LED by playing a meaningful role in the decision-making body (formulation stage) to implementation and have a voice in the LED council. / NRF

The energy sector and the phenomenon of anthropogenic-induced cli-mate change are intrinsically related insofar as this sector is responsible for considerable emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG) due to fossil-fuel-based energy production facilities, namely electric power plants. The overall aim of the present work is to explore the relations and synergies between climate change and the energy sector as well as to explore the French example of PCET plans (Climate and Energy Territorial plans) that have been developed by local authorities for the past decade. Based on a literature review of the background for the issues of climate change and local planning, this works uses the strengths of participant observation and interviews with actors in the development of PCET to present the approach and discuss its characteristics and shortcomings. Since climate change is not only affecting and affected by both the supply- and demand-side of the energy sector, but is also related to numerous sectors such as housing and transportation, the need for com-prehensive plans has become more important at various levels of action. Although the PCET approach is recent and its impacts remain uncertain, it tackles fundamental public issues that are also potential aspects for development. While local authorities remain sceptical concerning their means of efficient action at the territorial level, a PCET plan may therefore have major consequences if it perceived as a comprehensive strategic tool rather than a simple action plan.

Ett stabilt boende är en grundläggande nödvändighet och en viktig förutsättning för att stärka individers välmående. En bostad är inte bara en plats för förvaring av ägodelar, utan är även nära sammankopplat med ett antal grundläggande “förmågor” som ger individer möjlighet att sköta sin hälsa och hygien, tillgodose sitt sömnbehov och upprätthålla ett socialt nätverk. På detta sätt är en stabil bostad en av de avgörande faktorerna för att en individ skall nå framgångsrik återanpassning i samhället efter avtjänat fängelsestraff. Den kriminologiska forskning som undersöker individers liv efter avtjänat fängelsestraff behandlar nästan uteslutande generella samhällskonsekvenser efter frigivning utan vidare fokus på bostadssituationen specifikt. Detta leder till en kunskapslucka på området. Mot bakgrund av denna kunskapslucka syftar vår studie till att undersöka hur bostadssituationen ser ut för individer som tidigare avtjänat ett fängelsestraff. Detta genomfördes med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer med individer som tidigare avtjänat ett fängelsestraff. Vidare syftade studien till att undersöka respondenternas upplevelser av den hjälp de fått av myndigheter och organisationer gällande bostad. Resultatet visar att dessa respondenter har haft stora svårigheter att finna ett stabilt boende efter avtjänat fängelsestraff, där hög grad av mobilitet varit förekommande. Bristfälliga ekonomiska förutsättningar i form av betalningsanmärkningar och skulder var en avgörande faktor till detta. Upplevelserna kring myndigheter och organisationers hjälp har varierat bland respondenterna där både negativa och positiva erfarenheter har skildrats. / Stable housing is a necessity and an essential prerequisite for strengthening the well-being of individuals. A residence is not only a place for storing property but is also closely linked to several basic "capabilities" that allow individuals to manage their health and hygiene, meet their sleep needs and maintain a social network. In this way, a stable home is one of the decisive factors for an individual to achieve successful re-adjustment in society after serving a prison sentence. The criminological research that examines the lives of individuals after serving prison sentences deals almost exclusively with general social consequences after release without further focus on the housing situation specifically. This leads to a knowledge gap in the area. Considering this knowledge gap, our study aims to investigate what the housing situation looks like for individuals who have previously served a prison sentence. This was done with the help of semi-structured interviews with individuals who previously served a prison sentence. Furthermore, the study aimed to investigate the respondents' experiences of the assistance they received from authorities and organizations regarding housing. The results show that these respondents have had great difficulties in finding stable housing after serving prison sentences, where a high degree of mobility has occurred. Poor financial conditions in the form of payment notes and debts were a decisive factor for this. The experiences of authorities and organizations have varied among the respondents, where both negative and positive experiences have been depicted.

This diploma thesis is oriented primarily on fair trade and its application possibilities in selected areas of public administration in the Czech Republic. The theoretical part of thesis deals with fair trade system, its principes, projects that are implemented to support it and specific examples of these projects. Finally, it is also mentioned the comodities, which are cultivated in fair trade certification. The practical part is based on a questionnaire survey. A part of this research is a questionnaire, which was sent to the regional authorities of the Czech Republic and selected municipal authorities of the South Bohemian Region. The questionnaire focuses on the participation of these authorities in the fair trade system, the consumption of fair trade products in the office and finally the possibilities to participate in the "Fairtrade office" certification. The aim of the theses is find out a current involvment of regional authorities and municipal autorities of the South Bohemian region in the fair trade system, support of this system and posibble activities that are implemented to support it.