Stakeholder participation has become a valuable tool for agencies in the field of environmental planning. The potential benefits, for both agencies and individuals, of involving stakeholders in the planning process have been widely recognized and well documented. However, the success of participatory initiatives depends on the extent to which local stakeholders are interested in, and capable of, becoming involved in the process. Thus, the outcomes for each process vary as planning issues are dependent on their local context. This study aimed to evaluative the characteristics of successful stakeholder in planning. Specifically, it strived to obtain an understanding of successful stakeholder engagement through developing and integrating an evaluative framework based on the literature with the motivations and perceptions of agencies representatives and local stakeholders. In order to achieve these goals, the evaluative framework was applied to a case study of the Tiffany Creek subwatershed in Hamilton, Ontario. The case study revealed that determining and incorporating the opinions of agencies and stakeholders toward a participatory process can shed light on the characteristics of successful stakeholder participation in a given region. The characteristics of successful stakeholder participation and the integration of agency and stakeholders viewpoints into the planning process are discussed and recommendations to improve participatory processes in environmental planning are provided.

The crucial factor for successful municipal climate work is that there are driving forces. Most importantly is that the senior officials and politicians in the municipality are dedicated to the cause considering that they have the power to influence and make a change. Besides proactive and committed individuals, it is necessary that the work is organized and anchored by clear and concrete documents and control systems. It is also important that the work is continuously monitored and evaluated. To collaborate with other municipalities, authorities or participate in various networks is another factor contributing to the improved climate work in the form of exchange of information, knowledge and experience. A major driving force for municipalities to improve themselves is the distribution of state aid and grants. Being able to measure and compare themselves with other municipalities is also important because it encourages and motivates further efforts. One problem today is that there are no clear definitions and guidelines for a completely objective assessment of the climate work. According to the UN's climate panel, global emissions of greenhouse gases must be reduced with several percent to prevent global temperature increases from causing catastrophic and irreversible consequences. The greatest hope is placed on technology and development including better and more efficient engines and fuel. A transfer between transport modes, for example, from road and air to rail plays another big part. Swedish studies also show that efficient transport planning and changing behavior is of great significance for achieving the national vision. Municipalities have a great responsibility considering they transfer the overall goals into local action plans. The report examines the climate work of the three municipalities; Örebro, Eskilstuna and Östersund. The aim is to study the factors and driving forces behind a successful climate work. The goal is to contribute to a greater understanding of the local participants. A sidetrack of the report was to highlight how municipalities relate to government authorities. One result of this was a desire for better collaboration, in this case between the Transport Administration, the Sweden Energy Agency, the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, but also towards the municipalities themselves. Instead of handing out manuals and guidelines the government authorities should take on a coordination role and help the municipalities to build a sustainable structure of their climate work. Municipalities in this report were selected because it is suggested that they conduct a both active and successful climate work. The scrutiny was done with focus on organization and arrangements and interviews with responsible municipal officials have been implemented. Despite differences in the municipal organizational model they are still very similar in terms of centralization of climate work permeated with great commitment, clarity and sustainability. / Den avgörande faktorn för ett framgångsrikt kommunalt klimatarbete är att det finns drivande eldsjälar.  Allra viktigast är att de ledande tjänstemännen och politikerna i kommunen är engagerade då det är de som sitter på makten att påverka och förändra. Utöver drivande och engagerade individer är det nödvändigt att arbetet organiseras och förankras genom tydliga och konkreta dokument och styrsystem samt att det genomförs kontinuerliga uppföljningar och resultatredovisningar av arbetet. Att samverka med andra kommuner, myndigheter eller delta i olika nätverk är en annan faktor som bidrar till förbättrat klimatarbete i form av informations- kunskaps- och erfarenhetsutbyte. En stor drivkraft för kommunerna att förbättra sig är utdelning av statliga stöd och bidrag. Att kunna mäta och jämföra sig med andra kommuner är också viktigt då det sporrar och motiverar till ytterligare ansträngning. Ett problem idag är dock att det inte finns tydliga definitioner och riktlinjer för en helt objektiv bedömning. Enligt FN:s klimatpanel måste de globala utsläppen av växthusgaser minska flera procent för att undvika att jordens medeltemperatur ökar så kraftigt att det medför katastrofala och oåterkalleliga konsekvenser. Störst förhoppning läggs på tekniken och utveckling av bland annat bättre och effektivare motorer och drivmedel. Överflyttningar mellan trafikslag, exempelvis från väg och flyg till järnväg är en annan stor del. Svenska studier visar också att transportsnål samhällsplanering och förändrade beteenden har stor betydelse för att nå den nationella visionen. Kommunerna har ett stort ansvar då det är de som bryter ner och översätter de övergripande målen till lokala handlingsplaner. I rapporten granskas tre kommuner och dess klimatarbete. Kommunerna är Eskilstuna, Örebro och Östersund. Syftet är att försöka se vilka faktorer och drivkrafter som ligger bakom ett framgångsrikt klimatarbete. Målet är att bidra med ökad förståelse för de lokala aktörerna. Ett sidospår med rapporten har varit att belysa hur kommunerna ser på statliga myndigheter. Ett resultat av detta var ett önskemål om bättre samverkan, i det här fallet mellan Trafikverket, Energimyndigheten, Boverket och Naturvårdsverket men även gentemot kommunerna själva. En samordningsroll från myndigheternas sida där man inifrån hjälper till att bygga upp en hållbar struktur hos kommunerna är att föredra framför goda idéer, handböcker och riktlinjer. Kommunerna är valda då det antytts att de bedriver ett både aktivt och framgångsrikt klimatarbete. Granskningen har skett med fokus på organisation, samverkan och åtgärder och intervjuer med ansvariga tjänstmän har genomförts. Trots olikheter i den kommunala organisationsmodellen finns stora likheter i form av en centralisering av klimatarbetet som genomsyras av stort engagemang, tydlighet och långsiktighet.

This research focuses on how conservation authorities create organizational knowledge to enhance adaptive capacity to improve environmental policy. Organizational knowledge creation refers to the ability to create, disseminate and embody knowledge to improve products, services and systems (Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995). Organizational knowledge is required for building adaptive capacity, which is defined as the ability to anticipate, respond to and learn from disturbance and change. Highly adaptive organizations can anticipate, respond to and learn from disturbances to adjust management practices and overcome weaknesses in policy created by changing circumstances (Ascher 2001). As quasi-government agencies responsible for water management in Ontario, conservation authorities need to respond to change if they are to learn from past experiences and develop innovative water resource policy that adequately addresses increasingly complex social-ecological problems. A broad multidisciplinary literature review was conducted to develop a theoretical framework of conditions that potentially facilitate organizational knowledge creation and adaptive capacity. A case study analysis was conducted using five conservation authorities to acquire insight into the circumstances under which these conditions facilitate knowledge creation and adaptive capacity based on practical water resource management experience in three programs areas: flood damage reduction, low water response and source water protection. The case studies include Credit Valley Conservation, Grand River Conservation Authority, Maitland Valley Conservation Authority, Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority and Toronto Region Conservation Authorities and were chosen because they reflect a cross section of institutional attributes in terms of budget, staff, rate of growth and population. A qualitative, exploratory research methodology was employed to undertake analysis of empirical evidence from 64 semi-structured interviews with water resource practitioners. Analysis of interview transcripts was conducted with QSR NVivo, a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software, to provide insight into the role facilitating conditions played in water resource management. Findings from the analysis suggest there are twelve facilitating conditions for creating organizational knowledge to enhance adaptive capacity in conservation authorities. A conceptual model illustrates the relative importance of the facilitating conditions to conservation authorities and highlights three core conditions: values of trust and respect, social capital and accountability. The other nine conditions include leadership, surveillance of the environment, social memory, autonomy, motivation, conditions for social interaction, dialogue, shared vision and adaptive mental models. The conceptual model identifies and operationalizes theoretical facilitating conditions in water resource management. The model has a strong theoretical underpinning developed through a consolidation of insights from various fields of study including social-ecological systems, knowledge management, organizational learning and collaborative planning. The model’s structure is derived from the observations and experiences of practitioners in managing water resources and can in turn, provide practitioners with an opportunity to recognize how their daily activities and decisions can influence organizational knowledge creation processes and adaptive capacity. From a planning perspective, this research highlights the importance of creating organizational knowledge and building adaptive capacity in planning institutions to improve their ability to develop informed and adaptive public policy.

Stakeholder participation has become a valuable tool for agencies in the field of environmental planning. The potential benefits, for both agencies and individuals, of involving stakeholders in the planning process have been widely recognized and well documented. However, the success of participatory initiatives depends on the extent to which local stakeholders are interested in, and capable of, becoming involved in the process. Thus, the outcomes for each process vary as planning issues are dependent on their local context. This study aimed to evaluative the characteristics of successful stakeholder in planning. Specifically, it strived to obtain an understanding of successful stakeholder engagement through developing and integrating an evaluative framework based on the literature with the motivations and perceptions of agencies representatives and local stakeholders. In order to achieve these goals, the evaluative framework was applied to a case study of the Tiffany Creek subwatershed in Hamilton, Ontario. The case study revealed that determining and incorporating the opinions of agencies and stakeholders toward a participatory process can shed light on the characteristics of successful stakeholder participation in a given region. The characteristics of successful stakeholder participation and the integration of agency and stakeholders viewpoints into the planning process are discussed and recommendations to improve participatory processes in environmental planning are provided.

This study investigates if a company’s brand identity can be used to influence public authorities in public procurement by possible discretions in the procurement rules, and the importance of this meaning increased business opportunity. The subject of the work, branding in public procurement, is unexplored and may be of interest to a larger market. The study approaches an inductive, explorative, single case study. Literature studies forms a theoretical framework that is combined with interviews with representatives from both public authorities and a company. The study finds that a company can use the part of Brand Identity named Image. To be successful, a company’s image expresses what is important and desired from an authority: security, trust, long-term focus and stability. This reduces the authority’s perceived risk and increases its security, and makes the company a more attractive choice. The study also finds that it is impossible to directly influence an ongoing procurement process. The study is limited to the defense market and procurement of large technical advanced systems, not commodity products. The study focuses on the direct relations between the procuring authority and the tendering industry. It will not discuss the involvement of political forces and their actions, e.g. counter-trade. Possible future research is the following suggestions: Investigation of how political forces have impact on international/ intergovernmental business. This could include the correlation between the size and magnitude of the procurement and political involvement. Investigation of the relationship between the compliance of international procurement rules, the favoring of domestic suppliers, and a nation’s position on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. A third extension of this work is to extend its scope to encompass other products or business areas, and make the result more general. The study contributes with knowledge about how branding has influence on public procurement. The result may be of interest to companies, active in the defense market, wanting to increase their competiveness, and for authorities that wish to improve their ability to implement good procurement practices.

<p>This essay analyses how Swedish authorities implement the EU regulations on the application of social security schemes and, more specifically, when it comes to health care and sickness benefits. The research is based on a survey and several interviews and aims to answer how the lower echelons of the hierarchy work towards the implementation, what are their working conditions and how the authorities evaluate and optimize the implementation process.</p><p>The general conclusion of the study is that there are several flaws in the implementation process. The results have shown that there is a lack of resources as well as of tutoring and education amongst the actors. The complexity of the regulations does also seem to have influenced the process. Finally the results have shown that the public instances do not proceed to a systematic evaluation of the implementation process which has led to a bad communication between the different actors as well as to difficulties in improving the flaws in the implementation process.</p>

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1983.

This study aims to examine how heritage archives in Sweden create oral history by the conduction of interviews. Though previous research have shown that this is a task suitable for archives, there have been a lack of knowledge of how this is actually beeing done. Also, oral history have not earlier been studied in relation to the archives larger objectives. The heritage institutions that have been examined are Sjöhistoriska museet, Visarkivet and Dialekt- och folkminnesarkivet I Uppsala. They are all part of public authoritys and use oral history to create more pluralistic and diverse archive collections. The theory being used to analyze these heritage institution is derived from Terry Cooks article “ Evidence, memory, identity, and community: four shifting archival paradigms”. The main method used to understand the creation of oral history in swedish archives have been to interview chiefs and personnel working whith the collections. Important documents, web pages and laws that govern the work have also been analyzed. A result of this study is that the heritage institutions, dispite that they are governed by public authoritys, are relatively free to decide what to collect and how. Two main perspectives guide the archives. The first is the notion that something is in need of beeing documented before it´s to late. The second can be described as a strategy to fill in collection gaps. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

Environmental awareness among public authorities and governmental institutions has been a priority initiative for countries in the EU over the last years. The public sector is a major consumer of products and services, while their environmental policies are also at a top. Many EU Member Countries have already implemented EU legislation for greener purchasing in the public sector, while others are now preparing their National Action Plan. However, conscious acceptance of National Policy objectives and adoption of green environmental behavior in all scales of the public sector is a challenge. Researchers are concerned that public authorities and especially those of a small size are still focused on the lowest price as a leading factor in public tenders. Many studies have shown that lack of knowledge is a key determinant for the scarce environmental requirements in public procurements. Under this framework, this thesis explores the determinants that affect the implementation of environmental requirements in public procurements and consequently the environmental awareness of small sized public organizations. This thesis is based on a review of policy documents and a single case study investigation. The single case study was conducted on the Technical Department of a municipality in North Greece and the data sources were engineering projects’ public procurements and interviews from the local authority’s officers.

The aim of this study was to examine sex workers openness in regards to sex sale when communicating with other people and authorities. The essential questions that laid the foundation of this research were different factors that influence an individual on their choice of openness and concealment of their experiences, and also how they cope with the consequences of this. The results of this study are based on qualitative interviews conducted with five sex workers. The theoretical framework used to analyze the study’s findings is Erving Goffman’s theory of Stigma and Dramaturgical metaphor. The results indicate that sex workers experience difficulties with being open with other entities, including relationships and authorities. The underlying factors behind this appear to be among other things, based on current laws and social stigma in the society. Sex workers experiences of openness to people in their environment have been both positive and negative. Nevertheless, they have mostly been met with prejudices and dislikes. This signifies that many sex workers feel compelled to withhold and conceal their experiences to others. Our findings also show that sex workers use different strategies when coping with concealment of sex sale, which can have an emotional distress for some individuals.