Social sustainability and sustainable communities are strongly linked to the concepts of social cohesion and social capital. Social capital arises through social networks, active citizenship, community volunteerism and taking part in social networks, which may be family, friends or associations. Through a high level of social capital, social cohesion can be fostered in communities. This is the aim of current urban policies, as cities nowadays struggle with high degrees of social segregation, fragmentation and polarisation. In an urban context these problems become visible through deprived neighborhoods, which are physically and socially isolated from the urban core. This phenomenon often goes hand in hand with ethnic segregation. These problems also emerge in Scandinavian cities, like the city of Malmö in southern Sweden. This paper will thus show what kind of policies are undertaken by the municipality to face social exclusion and to support active citizenship in the neighborhoods. This will be demonstrated with the aid of the case of the neighborhoods of Holma and Kroksbäck in the southern fringe of Malmö. In these neighborhoods, dominated by immigrants from the Middle East, former Yugoslavia and Albania, the level of trust is low and social capital is eroded. Ethnic associations thereby play an important role as the voice of local residents in collaboration with the municipality. Some examples of successfully facilitated actions by citizens’ participation in urban development by local residents- and barriers which occur will be analyzed.

This research is a cross-Atlantic study of Sure Start and Early Head Start program directors' perceptions of parent involvement in their early intervention programs, with a focus on the provision and take-up of parenting and employability-focused services. The review of the literature, which informed the survey design and the later data chapters, focuses on poverty and parenting, working parents, welfare reform, and early intervention programs, including early childhood education and care policies in England and the United States. Data was collected via an online survey, administered to all those individuals directing either a Sure Start Local Programme (including those that had been designated as Children's Centres) in England or an Early Head Start program in the USA. There was a 40.3% response rate (231 English and 236 American directors, resulting in a total of 467 respondents). The survey questioned directors on their background, and also sought their views of the area in which their program operated, characteristics of their programs and their perceptions of the families accessing the parent-focused services offered by their early intervention program. The resulting data was used to address the primary theme of parenting and employability, drawing associations between reported parent involvement and directors' perceptions of area, program and family characteristics. The findings also led to the establishment of secondary themes: the targeting and catchment area approach to service provision, engaging disadvantaged families, relationships with partner agencies, issues of funding and resources, particularly for staff, and the expansion of Children's Centres. A summary report was sent to all participating directors. It is hoped that this research has benefited program directors, providing insights into the local-level experiences had by their colleagues both within their own country and across the Atlantic, particularly with respect to parent involvement in early intervention programs.

The dissertation is a compilation of three essays on Turkey's poverty alleviation programs. The first paper focuses on the welfare impact of the global financial Crisis on Turkish households. The second paper considers the protective impact of the Green Card non-contributory health insurance program in Turkey during the Crisis in 2008-2009. The third paper uses experimental data from the field in eastern Turkey, to look at patterns of agricultural technology diffusion in a rural development program implemented in a post-conflict setting.

This thesis examines the interaction of criminal justice policy and social policy within the Prolific and Priority Offenders Scheme (PPOS), a government initiative which aims to reduce offending by persistent offenders. The research on which this thesis is based takes an interpretative approach to social inquiry and employs a qualitative methodology. It examines the operation of four PPO Schemes in the Thames Valley through semi-structured interviews with 22 practitioners and 16 offenders, and participant observation of over 45 multi-agency meetings. The interaction between crime and social policy is explored through examination of three aspects of the PPOS: the coercion of offenders within the Schemes; the working practices and roles of the police and probation officers seconded to the Schemes; and the way in which information and intelligence is used and generated within the Schemes. The central argument of this thesis is that the widely-accepted idea that social policy is being ‘criminalised’ provides an inadequate account of the relationship between criminal justice and social policy in the PPOS. Rather, this Scheme evidences a merger of criminal justice and social welfare agendas, which includes elements of the ‘socialisation’ of crime policy in addition to elements of ‘criminalisation’ of social policy. Whilst the ultimate aim of the PPOS is to reduce crime, and whilst social welfare services such as health, housing and benefits are provided in pursuance of this aim, the ways in which these services are provided accords with the ethos and values of social policy. The idea of a merger of criminal justice and social policy has relevance beyond the PPOS, providing a framework for analysis of other contemporary criminal justice policies, and contributing to broader debates in criminology which have for so long been dominated by the ‘criminalisation’ thesis.

The purpose of this thesis was to explore and describe how bilingual programmes are organized and implemented within the unique linguistic and socio-economic case of Qatar. Specifically the thesis explored bilingual programs offered by two types of primary schools in Qatar: international schools and independent schools. Qatar launched a new initiative for educational development in 2001 but with hardly any research linked to these changes. The study was positioned within a qualitative interpretive tradition drawing on elements of ethnography and grounded theory as tools of methodology. However, quantitative methods were also incorporated within the design. The research design is structured within two main phases: phase one included statistical analysis of secondary data investigating three variables: average teaching time in the first and the second language, students’ and teachers’ nationality. Phase two utilized a multi-case study design. One school from each type was examined in depth over a period of nine weeks. Data were collected by means of school documents, interviews, and non-participant observation of English and Arabic classes. The first phase made an initial impression of the model of bilingual education followed by international and independent schools compared to bilingual typologies found in the literature. The analysis of the two cases examined revealed various differences across the two types. Findings reveal that the international school followed a partial immersion type of programme while the independent school followed a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) type of programme. The study reveals that the Qatari bilingual schools context was one of heteroglossia, with three codes in operation: Modern Standard Arabic, Colloquial Arabic dialects and English. Findings reveal that teachers and students in the international school adopt a strict separation policy between the two languages following a monoglossic belief. Language teachers and students in the independent school were found to apply a flexible language policy inside English and Arabic classes. The study revealed a gap between claimed programme features and implementation of these features. An absence of a clear language policy in the schools was also a main finding relating to the practice of these schools. In light of these findings, adopting a clear and explicit language-in-education policy should be a priority for policy makers in Qatar. The study revealed how the diglossia situation in Qatari schools is unique and therefore schools must be aware of the languages at the disposal of students and teachers. Schools must also concentrate on developing academic language skills needed for success in L2 schooling.

L’objectif de ce mémoire est d’identifier les déterminants de la générosité de l’aide sociale au Canada. Plus précisément, quels sont les facteurs qui expliquent les variations entre les montants d’aide sociale entre les provinces canadiennes de 1990 à 2009? Pourquoi le Québec, la Saskatchewan et Terre-Neuve-Labrador sont plus généreux que le Nouveau-Brunswick et l’Alberta? L’analyse de ces 10 politiques distinctes est produite à partir d’un cadre théorique quadripartite qui inclut le rôle des acteurs (partis politiques et syndicats), les traits institutionnels (dépenses publiques et engagement à la redistribution), les contraintes budgétaires (taux d’assistance sociale, dette, économie) et le rôle du gouvernement fédéral (montant et type de transfert). Les résultats démontrent que l’aide sociale est une politique hautement dépendante au sentier et incrémentale. Des transferts fédéraux à coût partagé et un taux de syndicalisation élevé sont des facteurs qui exercent une influence positive sur la générosité des provinces. À l’inverse, les partis de droite ainsi qu’une situation budgétaire difficile ont un impact négatif. Il faut noter que la richesse économique des provinces n’est pas associée à une plus grande générosité de l’aide sociale, au contraire les prestations d’aide sociale étaient plus faibles en 2009 qu’en 1990 malgré un PIB qui a presque doublé. De plus, des provinces riches comme l’Alberta et la Colombie-Britannique sont peu généreuses. Finalement, il faut noter que les partis politiques de gauche n’ont pas l’effet positif escompté sur la générosité des politiques de revenu minimum. / This thesis aims at identifying the determinants of minimum income protection in Canada. Specifically, we seek to explain the variations in social assistance generosity across Canadian provinces from 1990 to 2009. Why are Quebec, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland-Labrador more generous than Alberta and New-Brunswick? We analyse 10 different provincial policies through a theoretical framework that focuses on 4 dimensions: the role of actors (political parties and unions), institutions (public expenses and redistribution), budgetary constraints (social assistance rate, debt, economy) and the role of the central government (amount and type of transfers). Results show that social assistance is a highly path dependent and incremental policy. The presence of shared-cost programs with the federal government and high union density increase social assistance generosity, while a difficult budgetary context and right wing parties have negative effects. It is noteworthy that provincial wealth is not associated with higher benefits rates. In general, welfare income decreased between 1990 and 2009 in Canada, while GDP per capita almost doubled. Furthermore, Alberta and British-Columbia, two wealthy provinces, have a below-average generosity level. Last of all, the expected relationship between the presence of left wing parties and a more generous minimum income protection hasn’t been empirically demonstrated.

<b>Background:</b> Defined by their mechanisms, social and psychological interventions are those interventions that work through mental processes and social phenomena. They are often complex and challenging to evaluate, so understanding randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of these interventions requires detailed reports of the interventions tested and the methods used to assess them. However, reports of these RCTs often omit important information. Poor reporting hinders critical appraisal and synthesis of RCTs in systematic reviews, thereby impeding the effective transfer of research evidence to policy and practice. The Consolidated Standards for Reporting Trials (CONSORT) Statement is a reporting guideline that has contributed to improvements in the quality of RCT manuscripts in journals publishing medical research. However, studies have shown persistent deficiencies in the reporting quality of social and psychological intervention trials. A new CONSORT extension for these interventions may be needed given their distinct and complex features. This DPhil thesis reports on a project to develop and disseminate an official CONSORT Extension for Social and Psychological Interventions: CONSORT-SPI. <b>Structure:</b> Following a preface, this DPhil thesis includes eight chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the conceptual rationale that prompted the CONSORT-SPI project. Chapter 2 details the project protocol, which consists of a five-phase methodology that follows current best practices for reporting guideline development and dissemination. Chapter 3 discusses systematic literature reviews to assess reporting guidelines for and the reporting quality of publications of social and psychological intervention RCTs. Chapter 4 discusses an online, international Delphi process to generate a prioritised list of possible items to include in the CONSORT-SPI extension. Chapter 5 discusses a formal consensus meeting to select reporting items to add to or modify for the CONSORT-SPI Extension checklist. Chapter 6 involves drafts of the CONSORT-SPI checklist as well as a template for the Explanation and Elaboration (E&E) document providing detailed advice and examples of good reporting for each checklist item. These drafts have not yet been circulated to co-authors or other members of the project team; their purpose in this thesis is to give an indication of how previous project phases have led into initial prototypes of the checklist and E&E, which will undergo further development and revision by the project team before publication. Chapter 7 proposes a coordinated dissemination and implementation strategy informed by theoretical frameworks and tools used to guide the implementation of clinical guidelines and empirically-supported interventions. The final chapter summarises the information gained from the CONSORT-SPI project to date, assesses strengths and limitations of the project methodology, and discusses implications for future research. <b>Conclusion:</b> A CONSORT-SPI Extension could improve the reporting quality of social and psychological intervention RCTs. This extension could also facilitate better critical appraisal of this body of research and its use in evidence-based decision-making. With successful dissemination and implementation, the guideline will hopefully contribute to the improvement of intervention evaluations—as well as the methodology underpinning these studies—within the social and behavioural sciences.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-22T17:26:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ANA NEDEL.pdf: 629805 bytes, checksum: caf71dc72ae884ed5dbbb85e601c69bd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-02-29 / This study examined how prison guards position themselfs towards the speech of the purposes of prison system and what strategies they develop in face of the ambiguous dynamics of inclusion / exclusion that are developed in prison environments. The field research constituted the prisons that integrate the 5th Penitentiary Region of Rio Grande do Sul. The results show that the prison guards perform the function / activity, ressocialization" more due to the lack of structural and human resources in the prison system than to policies consistently designed and implemented. They attach the execution of "ressocializing activities" to execution of work and to the promotion of assistance for prisoners. Thus, the intent of this study was to contribute to the triggering of policies that, in a more scientific and enlightened way, influence in current and future situations and junctures of the criminal justice system, seeking its improvement. So when the genesis and dynamics of the strategies used by prison guards to live with the conflicts of such peculiar environment are understood, actions can be taken to minimize the conflicts of such environments / O presente estudo analisa como os Agentes Penitenciários se posicionam perante o discurso das finalidades do sistema prisional e quais as estratégias que desenvolvem em face das ambíguas dinâmicas de inclusão/exclusão que nos ambientes prisionais se desenvolvem. A pesquisa de campo se constituiu nos Presídios que integram a 5ª Região Penitenciária do Rio Grande do Sul. Os resultados obtidos mostram que os Agentes Penitenciários realizam a função/atividades de ressocialização mais devido a carência de recursos estruturais e humanos do sistema prisional do que por força de políticas coerentemente projetadas e implementadas. Atribuem o exercício de atividades ressocializadoras à execução de trabalhos e à promoção de assistência ao preso. Nesse sentido, a intenção do presente estudo foi o de contribuir com o desencadeamento de políticas que, de forma científica e esclarecida, influam nas estruturas e conjunturas atuais e futuras do sistema penal, vislumbrando à sua melhoria. Assim ao se compreender a gênese e a dinâmica das estratégias adotadas pelos Agentes Penitenciários, para conviver com os conflitos desse peculiar ambiente, ações poderão ser adotadas no sentido de minimizar os antagonismos próprios de tais ambientes

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-22T17:26:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jose_Recuero.pdf: 1362796 bytes, checksum: d35b93b694fdf79379c3e1812d5bb053 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-07-28 / This study aimed to investigate whether the sport provided by Children and dolescents in Situations of Risk (CASR) promote social inclusion. We, in a Pelotensian entity, did a qualitative research whose purpose is to develop sports activities as a form of social inclusion. To that end, we used two different techniques, the focus group and semi-structured. There were invited to participate in this study eighteen children and adolescents, aged between 10 and 15 years old, selected at random, and included both genders. Basing our work on their words, our purpose was to show if it, social inclusion through sport, was being achieved. The records collected were transcribed, examined and classified, three themes, two categories and two reasons emerged from this material. The entity, a philanthropic stamp, maintains agreements with the Federal and Municipal Government, relying on resources derived from four Public Policies. Some sponser these activities, while others target the maintenance of these children and adolescents with the aim of the families to keep them occupied in counter-round school. However, this aid does not usually reach its destination, due to the money being delayed for many months, generating a large financial problem to the entity, which in turn triggers a range of other obstacles: lack of material, skilled and/or qualified personnel; cancellation of activities, workshops, deterioration of infrastructure, etc. We; through the work, unveiled situations that evidenced to be social inclusion, through the sports; still it is very fragile in terms of policies to include applicants to practice sports, the analysis shows benefits from Social Policy. Also it denotes the fragility of these policies in that there is no effective coordination between them. Despite its weakness in reducing inequalities, we can see that the programs do contribute to CASR, not to use drugs, stay at school, preserve family ties and maintain their capacity to dream / Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo investigar se o esporte proporcionado a Crianças e Adolescentes em Situações de Risco (CASR) promove inclusão social. Realizamos, numa entidade pelotense, uma pesquisa qualitativa cuja finalidade consiste em desenvolver atividades esportivas como forma de inclusão social. Para tanto, lançamos mão de duas técnicas, o grupo focal e a entrevista semi-estruturada. Foram convidadas a participar deste estudo dezoito crianças e adolescentes, com idade entre 10 e 15 anos, selecionados de forma aleatória, e contemplados ambos os gêneros. Baseando-nos nas falas destes, procuramos desvelar se tal propósito inclusão social por meio do esporte estava sendo atingido. Os registros coletados foram transcritos, examinados e classificados, emergindo desse material três temas, duas categorias e duas razões. A entidade, de cunho filantrópico, mantém convênios com o Governo Municipal e Federal, contando com os recursos advindos de quatro Políticas Públicas. Alguns deles custeiam essas atividades, enquanto outros destinam-se à manutenção dessas crianças e adolescentes com o intuito de as famílias mantê-las ocupadas no contra-turno escolar. Porém, esse auxílio não alcança regularmente seu destino, sendo o repasse da verba atrasado durante muitos meses, gerando à entidade um grande problema financeiro, o qual, por sua vez, desencadeia, uma gama de outros obstáculos: falta de material, pessoal especializado, qualificado; cancelamento de atividades, oficinas; deterioração da infra-estrutura, entre outros. Conseguimos pelo presente trabalho, desvelar situações que evidenciam ser a inclusão social, por intermédio do esporte, ainda muito frágil, mas, no plano das políticas de inclusão recorrentes à prática esportiva, a análise revela benefícios oriundos das Políticas Sociais. Igualmente, denota a fragilidade dessas políticas na medida em que não existe uma articulação efetiva entre elas. Não obstante sua debilidade na redução das desigualdades, podemos constatar que os programas contribuem a fim de as CASR não utilizarem drogas, permanecerem na escola, preservarem vínculos familiares, bem como manterem sua capacidade de sonhar

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-22T17:26:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Otavio.pdf: 5597529 bytes, checksum: 26cf9aee16b6e7c3761b68567680535a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-08-25 / The penitentiary problematic represents one of the greatest challenges to be faced by social policies and jails. Prison labor, establishing itself as a point of convergence between several different purposes conferred, contemporaneously, the capital punishment, meets, among other meanings, those who drive for understanding as a "transformative" intervention protagonist instrument in the life of inmates. Despite the possible ambiguities that entails meaning of prison labor in their configurations, we perceive it in our study as a motivating factor for the reflections and their exploitation in combating the social vulnerability of prisoners and individuals targeted by criminal selectivity. In this sense, we seek from this thesis unveilings subsidies from individuals belonging to two opposite geographically regional realities able to provide a critical analysis of the impacts that the work in prison strikes with the perspectives of life of inmates in their paths of returning to social life. The locations of data collection - Institute of Penitentiary Administration of Amapá/AP and Canguçu State Prison/RS - were chosen with the purpose of establishing tensioners contrasts of influences that the social, economic and cultural characteristics of each region register in the operation of the prison job by their administrators, as well as their responsiveness on the part of inmates of the prison system. For the pursuit of these objectives, sociological contributions of Michel Foucault, David Garland and Gustavo Busso were fundamental on the transmutations regarding the mechanism of power relations between social control and criminal selectivity, and notions concerning social vulnerability, respectively / A problemática prisional representa um dos maiores desafios a serem enfrentados pelas políticas sociais e penitenciárias. O trabalho prisional, por constituir-se como um ponto de convergência entre inúmeros propósitos distintos conferidos contemporaneamente à pena de prisão, reúne, dentre outros significados, aqueles que se direcionam para o seu entendimento como instrumento protagonista de intervenção transformadora na vida dos condenados. Não obstante as eventuais ambigüidades que a acepção do trabalho prisional enseja em suas configurações, procuramos percebê-lo em nosso estudo como um elemento motivador de reflexões voltadas à sua instrumentalização no enfrentamento da vulnerabilidade social de egressos e indivíduos abarcados pela seletividade criminal. Neste sentido, buscamos através desta Dissertação desvelamentos a partir de sujeitos pertencentes a duas realidades regionais geograficamente opostas subsídios capazes de nos fornecer uma análise crítica acerca dos impactos que o trabalho prisional logra junto às perspectivas de vida dos egressos em suas trajetórias de retorno ao convívio social. As localidades de coleta dos dados Instituto de Administração Penitenciária do Amapá/AP e Presídio Estadual de Canguçu/RS foram escolhidas no desígnio de se estabelecer contrastes tensionadores das influências que as características sociais, econômicas e culturais de cada região imprimem na operacionalização do trabalho prisional por parte de seus administradores, assim como em sua receptividade junto aos apenados e egressos do sistema carcerário. Para a persecução de tais objetivos, fundamentais foram as contribuições sociológicas de Michel Foucault, David Garland e Gustavo Busso acerca das transmutações referentes aos mecanismos de poder, das relações entre o controle social e a seletividade criminal, e das noções concernentes à vulnerabilidade social, respectivamente