No description available.

Climate change and energy security are issues facing municipalities throughout the world. Efficient, resilient, sustainable, community-based energy systems, such as district energy systems (DES), fuelled mostly by renewables, are an important tool for addressing both climate change and energy security at the municipal level. In spite of their benefits, DES are not widely adopted in Canada (CDEA, 2011). This is due to the complex nature of the barriers which project proponents face. This thesis examines the experience of the City of Prince George in adopting and implementing the Downtown DES. Using a case study methodology, data was collected through a review of relevant municipal documents and a series of semi-structured, open-ended interviews. A thematic analysis revealed unexpected barriers related to lack of adequate public consultation and negative perceptions regarding biomass as a fuel for the DES. These `lessons learned' were then developed into recommendations for other municipalities considering DES.

This is a historical study of the political process connected to closures and reorganizations of schools in the rural municipalities Stenbrohult, Göteryd and Virestad in Sweden during the years 1954-1970.The main source material used in the study are protocols from meetings with the city councils and the local education committees. Articles from the newspaper Smålänningen are used as a complement to the protocols. The study shows that all three of the municipalities went through big changes when it comes to education and schools during the period. The number of schools were reduced from 20 in 1954 to 7 in 1970. The main reasons that the schools were reorganized was that old school buildings were in bad condition, the number of students in rural areas were diminishing and small schools with only a few students were too expensive. Urbanization and centralization seem to have been important factors that contributed to the closing of many schools.

Begreppet medarbetarskap är långt ifrån ett välkänt uttryck idag. Det handlar om medarbetarens förhållningssätt till sin arbetsgivare, till sitt arbete och till sina kollegor. Syftet med denna uppsats är för det första att få mer kunskap om begreppets innebörd. För det andra är syftet att få kunskap om hur medarbetare i en kommunal verksamhet uppfattar och praktiserar medarbetarskap utefter en kommunal policy. För det tredje är syftet att ge förslag till hur medarbetarna i undersökningen fortsättningsvis kan bidra till att uppnå ett gott medarbetarskap. Detta för att synliggöra medarbetarnas möjligheter till att påverka sin arbetssituation. Undersökningen har utförts med en kvalitativ metod, där resultatet bygger på åtta intervjuer tillsammans med medarbetare från två arbetsgrupper som tillhör hierarkins lägsta nivå. Resultatet visar att det skiljer sig mellan gruppernas upplevelse och praktiserande av det rådande medarbetarskapet, trots att de tillhör samma organisation och förväntas arbeta utifrån samma kommunala policy. / The concept of employeeship is far from being a well-known expression today. It deals with how employees relate to their employers, their own work and to their fellow employees. The aim of this study is first to gather more knowledge about the concept employeeship and to illustrate similarities and differences between other close concepts. Second, the aim is to gather more knowledge about how employees in two workgroups within the public sector understand and practice employeeship in accordance with municipal policy. Third, the aim is to illuminate how public sector workers can contribute to accomplish a well-developed employeeship. This enables employees to influence their work situation. The research has been carried out with a method of high quality interviews with eight workers from two workgroups at the lowest level. The results reveal that there are differences in how the groups experience and practice the prevailing employeeship, in spite of belonging to the same public sector and are expected to work on the basis of the same municipal policy.

The purpose of this study is to examine Malmö Municipality’s strategies regarding counteracting social and structural homelessness, by describing and comparing the strategic differences between the two categories. We will do this mainly by performing a problem-based policy analysis of three municipal documents regarding the city’s homelessness problem. We will also be performing a theoretical analysis based on Ian Gough’s marxist analysis of the welfare state and institutional theory, respectively. Through our analysis on the municipal policy we have found that structural homelessness is a problem that is prioritized in comparison to social homelessness. This is because of a large increase in the structurally homeless population during the past decade. However, the problem of social homelessness has far more concrete measures to counteract it. This is found through our theoretical analysis to be due to several factors. One of these factors is that structural homelessness is more deeply entwined with the housing market, which affects the difficulty with creating appropriate measures. Another factor is path dependency, which means that structural homlessness as a newer problem affects the municipality’s ability to apply drastic measures. Our conclusion is that Malmö municipality prioritizes solving the problem of social homelessness through concrete measures, even though structural homelessness is seen as a larger problem. This is because of the complex nature of structural homelessness and the difficulty in applying the correct measures.

The paper investigates the problem of the contradiction between the importance of the urban environment for the successful socialization of modern adolescents and the continuing hostility of the urban space of the metropolis for adolescents. The analysis of the degree of benevolence of the urban environment for adolescents of a number of typical microdistricts of a large industrial metropolis is carried out. Recommendations are made on improving the municipal policy aimed at creating an urban environment comfortable for children. / В работе исследуется проблема противоречия между важностью городской среды для успешной социализации современных подростков и сохраняющейся недружественностью городского пространства мегаполиса для подростков. Проведен анализ степени доброжелательности городской среды для подростков ряда типичных микрорайонов крупного индустриального мегаполиса. Сформированы рекомендации по совершенствованию муниципальной политики, направленной на формирование комфортной для детей городской среды.

Equality is one of the most debated topics of our time. In Sweden, the work on gender equality has been shaped by the strategy of gender mainstreaming since 1994. Gender mainstreaming not only affects the undertaking of gender equality issues at the national level, but also at the local level. Despite this, there is limited knowledge regarding the implementation of gender mainstreaming in municipalities, particularly from perspectives other than feminist ones. Therefore, this study focuses on the implementation of gender mainstreaming in three Swedish municipalities and also highlights the potential impact of organizational culture on gender equality efforts. The thesis is a multiple case study that aims to study the extent to which municipal organizational culture influences the implementation process. This aim is formulated based on previous research in this field, which suggests that organizational culture affects implementation processes. The organizational culture in the municipalities is extensively examined through the lens of capability to change. The research questions are answered through text analysis of gender equality policies and interviews with officials in each municipality. The findings of this thesis show that organizational cultures in municipalities have the potential to influence the implementation of gender mainstreaming in different stages of the implementation process. The study identifies differences in the organizational capability to change, both within and between the municipalities. The study also finds that certain aspects of the municipalities’ organizational culture can affect the implementation of gender mainstreaming. Additionally, the study has found that both management models and path dependency may be factors that impact gender mainstreaming efforts, even though this was not the primary focus of the study.

[pt] Nas décadas de 1970 e 1980 com a pressão da demanda, a urgência do seu atendimento, a omissão da legislação educacional vigente e a difusão da ideologia da educação como compensação de carências levaram a criação de formas alternativas de atendimento onde inexistiam critérios básicos relativos à infraestrutura e à escolaridade das pessoas que lidavam diretamente com as crianças, em geral mulheres, sem formação específica, chamadas de crecheiras, pajens, babás, auxiliares, etc. Entretanto, mesmo com as conquistas legais determinadas pela Constituição de 1988 e pela LDB de 1996 é encontrado nas creches e préescolas de alguns municípios do Estado do Rio de Janeiro atuando ora como docente ora como apoio as atividades do professor um profissional, denominado muitas vezes de auxiliar. A situação desses trabalhadores é pouco estudada, por isso se faz relevante pela necessidade e urgência de se pensar e prezar pela qualidade na Educação Infantil. Diante disso, este estudo se propõe conhecer e analisar a situação dos auxiliares de Educação Infantil nos municípios e de que forma se configuram as políticas municipais para esses profissionais a partir dos responsáveis pela Educação Infantil nas secretarias dos municípios investigados pela pesquisa institucional Educação Infantil e Formação dos Profissionais no Estado do Rio de Janeiro: concepções e ações, realizada entre 2009-2011 pelo grupo de pesquisa Infância, Cultura e Formação (INFOC). Inicialmente é apresentada uma arquitetura histórica da Educação Infantil no Brasil, dialogando com as publicações acadêmicas, pesquisas e políticas públicas nacionais e municipais para compreender o aparecimento do auxiliar nos municípios. Em seguida são abordados os referenciais teórico-metodológicos da dissertação, além do campo empírico da pesquisa. E por último são apresentadas as análises das políticas públicas para os auxiliar através dos discursos dos responsáveis pela Educação Infantil nos municípios investigados. / [en] In the 1970s and 1980s with the pressure of demand, the urgency of their care, the omission of effective educational legislation and dissemination of the ideology of education as compensation shortages led to the creation of alternative service which did not exist on the basic criteria infrastructure and the education of the people who worked directly with children, women in general, without specific training, crecheiras calls, pages, nannies, assistants, etc. However, even with certain legal victories by the 1988 Constitution and the 1996 LDB is found in daycare and pre-schools in some municipalities of the State of Rio de Janeiro acting either as teachers or as supporting the activities of teacher a professional, called many Auxiliary times. The situation of these workers are poorly studied, so it is relevant for the necessity and urgency of thinking and appreciate the quality in early childhood education. Thus, this study aims to understand and analyze the situation of kindergarten aides in the municipalities and how to configure municipal policies for these professionals from kindergarten responsible for the departments of the municipalities investigated by the institutional research Child Education and Training Professionals in the State of Rio de Janeiro: conceptions and actions conducted from 2009-2011 by the research group Childhood, Culture and Education (INFOC). Initially presents a historical architecture of early childhood education in Brazil, dialoguing with the academic publications, research and national and local public policies to understand the appearance of assisting municipalities. then examines the theoretical and methodological dissertation, beyond the realm of empirical research. Finally we present the analysis of public policies to assist them through the speeches of those responsible for Early Childhood Education in the municipalities investigated.

Theses (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / The purpose of the study was to examine the perceptions of senior managers on the upper limits policy for the remuneration of senior managers at Polokwane Municipality. In 2014 the Minister responsible for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in South Africa published a notice on the implementation of upper limits for the remuneration of senior managers across all municipalities in South Africa. The notice signified a new paradigm in the local government remuneration practice in the local government sphere. Local government remuneration in South Africa was characterised by lack of uniformity and negative public perceptions on the huge salaries that senior managers in local government earned. There are substantial variations in municipal salary structures and benefits, municipal managers’ salaries vary between R155 424 and R1, 3 million per year (National Treasury Local Government Budgets and Expenditure Review, 2001/02 – 2007/08). The South African media published stories articles on senior local government managers who earns more than the president of the republic. The public scrutiny on the remuneration in local government was compared to the standard of service delivery in their areas, and often there was no relationship between the remuneration of the senior managers and the performance of their municipalities. The implementation of the upper limits policy in 2014 meant that for the first time in the democratic South Africa, the remuneration of senior managers in local government was regulated. This meant a shift from a practice of senior manager’s negotiated remuneration to nationally regulated remuneration. The implementation of the Upper Limits policy had the potential of de-stabilising the local government sector in terms of senior manager’s recruitment, retention and availability of skills due to the low remuneration that the policy has introduced. v The research was conducted at Polokwane Municipality and the study sampled all senior managers of Polokwane Municipality. The researcher opted for a qualitative research approach and utilised semi-structured interview schedule to gather data. The research findings indicate that all senior managers (7) of Polokwane Municipality perceived the upper limits policy negatively and they were not in support of its implementation. The research indicated that the reasons for the negative perception was that the Upper Limits Policy was not properly introduced at Polokwane Municipality. The researcher recommends that Polokwane Municipality needs to formally introduce the Upper Limits Policy to senior managers. This needs to be done through conducting workshops on the policy.

Based upon feminist organized women's experiences of resistance and political acting space, this study investigates what is possible to say and do (and not do), as well as which issues can be politicized (and which cannot) in the Swedish municipal policy. More specifically it analyzes in which spaces women face resistance, who are expressing it, and how it is manifested. Moreover, it discusses which political content that can be formulated, politicized, and implemented in the local political area. It is based on interviews with representatives from the political party Feminist initiative, and builds on previous research on resistance against women's extra-parliamentary political organizing. Previous research has suggested that the organization in itself evokes resistance. Nevertheless, this study shows that it is the political content, rather than the organizing, that arouses resistance. The combination of women who organize themselves as women and runs an anti-racist policy seems to be the most provocative. This thesis also shows that it is possible to politicize gender issues – unless they are not labeled as feminist issues. The concept of “gender equality” can be used, but not “feminism”. There are opportunities to talk about equality if it is formulated in terms of gender neutrality and equal treatment. It is possible to talk about gender when it comes to gender equality, but it is not allowed to permeate other policy areas. And concrete policy proposals can be formulated, unless the political discussion is not conducted at a more visionary and ideological level. While there are policies which can be implemented on condition that they are not formulated in feminist terms, there are also policies which could be expressed, but subsequently will not be implemented due to opposition from the administration.