El Programa Nacional de Alimentación Escolar Qali Warma fue creado como una mejor alternativa al anterior programa, cerrado en medio del escándalo y la deslegitimación. Sin embargo, desde su implementación, Qali Warma ha sido fuente de escándalos mediáticos constantes, así como de propuestas de mejora y cambio. Esta investigación se acerca a su implementación desde los espacios de monitoreo de las escuelas, para comprender las lógicas políticas y tecnocráticas dentro del programa y analizar las tensiones producidas por ellas durante las actividades de monitoreo. También analizamos las posibilidades de acción de los monitores a través de la comparación de su trabajo en dos regiones muy diferentes de Perú: Lambayeque y Junín. Finalmente, proponemos un nuevo enfoque para pensar la implementación de programas sociales y el monitoreo en estos.

Sverige nådde år 2015 en ny toppnotering vad gäller antal asylsökande. Detta förde med sig stora utmaningar för delar av socialtjänsten i relation till placering av ensamkommande barn och en snabbt stigande kostnadsutveckling för platser på asylboenden. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka konsekvenserna av vad som sker när boendeformen för de asylsökande förändras. Undersökningen tar sin utgångspunkt i hur behandlingsassistenterna på ett kommunalt stödboende ser på sitt arbetet med ensamkommande ungdomar och hur de upplever sina möjligheter att hjälpa dem integreras i det svenska samhället. Studiens empiriska material består av sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med behandlingsassistenter som är verksamma på ett stödboende i Stockholm. Analyserna tar sin begreppsliga utgångspunkt i Michael Lipskys (1980/2010) teori om gräsrotsbyråkrater samt Ludvig Beckmans (2011) integrationsteori. Resultatet visar att behandlingsassistenterna tenderar att fokusera på allmän kunskap kring samhällsinstitutioner, språk och relationer som viktiga faktorer man försökte forma sitt arbete kring. Samtidigt upplever behandlingsassistenterna en konflikt mellan vad man kunde göra och vad man upplever att de ensamkommande ungdomarna behöver. Studien visar bland annat på utmaningar i inkluderandet av boendepersonal och kommuner i beslutandet kring olika policyn givet det extraordinära sammanhang landet befinner sig i. / At the end of the year 2015, Sweden peaked in regards to asylum-seeking refugees. Concequently, parts of the social service would face numerous challenges in regards to the placement of unaccompanied minors in out-of home care and in rising costs for asylum accommodation for unaccompanied minors. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the consequences of what happens when the asylum housing for unaccompanied minors changes. This thesis takes its starting point in how treatment assistants at a municipal support housing view integration in regards to their work with unaccompanied minors. The empirical basis for this study consists of six semi-structured interviews with treatment assistants at a municipal support housing in Stockholm. The analysis takes its conceptual basis in Michael Lipsky's (1980/2010) theory of street-level bureaucrats and Ludvig Beckman's (2011) integration- theory. The results showed that treatment assistants tend to focus on general knowledge about societal institutions, language and relationships as important factors that they attempted to shape their work around. At the same time, the treatment assistants experience a conflict between what they can do and what they perceived that the unaccompanied minor needs. The study shows i.a. the challenges in including housing staff and municipalities on the forming and decision-making off public policies in extraordinary situations.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how kindergarten teachers look at their obligation to report and the possibilities and obstacles they see in reporting a child they think might be a victim of maltreatment. This study has a qualitative approach and six interviews were conducted with the help of both managers of kindergartens and kindergarten teachers. To analyse the empirical data that revealed itself during the interviews we used Johanssons (2007) and Svensson, Johnsson och Laanemets (2008) definition of discretion and the concept of “street level-bureaucrats”. The result showed that our informants experienced the meeting with children who they suspect is being maltreated is important and emotional and they thought that they had a moral responsibility towards these children. It also showed that the relationship the teachers had with the children's parents made a difference in how to act about reporting or not. Its also showed that the workplace itself and the knowledge and experience you have could interfere with reporting. In conclusion we think that more studies should be done in this area and that more knowledge about this should be included in education, which our informants also agreed on.

Yrkesverksamma inom LSS (Lagen om stöd och service till vissa funktionshindrade) har i sin yrkesroll flera olika faktorer att förhålla sig till och tillmötesgå. De har LSS individualistiska förhållningssätt, organisationens regler och riktlinjer samt den enskilde stödanvändaren. De utgör ramen för yrkesrollens handlingsutrymme, inom vilket yrkesverksamma tar beslut. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur yrkesverksamma inom LSS upplever och hanterar sitt handlingsutrymme och vad som styr hur de används. För att uppfylla studiens syfte har kvalitativa intervjuer använts och därefter analyserats med Michael Lipskys teori gällande gräsrotsbyråkrati och det teoretiska begreppet handlingsutrymme. Resultatet visade att yrkesverksamma upplever att handlingsutrymmet innebär svårigheter men också möjligheter att tillmötesgå de olika parterna, trots det hanteras det genom maktutövning gentemot den enskilde. Vidare visade resultatet att yrkesverksammas erfarenheter styr hur handlingsutrymmet används, och påverkas av deras kunskap- och kompetensnivå samt möjlighet till reflektion. / Social workers within the Swedish act concerning support and service for persons with certain functional impairments (LSS) has in their profession several factors to take into account. They have the individualistic approaches of LSS, the organization´s rules and guidelines as well as the people receiving support. They provide the framework for the profession, within professional’s discretion. The aim of this study was to investigate how professionals experience and manage their discretion and what governs their use. In order to fulfill the aim of the study qualitative interviews have been used and subsequently analyzed by Michael Lipskys theory of street-level bureaucracy and the theoretical concept discretion. The result showed that professionals felt that their discretion meant difficulties but also opportunities for accommodate various parts, despite being handled by power. Furthermore, the result showed that occupational work experience control how the discretion is used and influenced by their knowledge and competence, as well as the possibility of reflection.

Honour-related violence and oppression has been politically prioritised in Sweden during the past two decades. National policies have been formulated, laws adopted, and the school has been identified as a crucial actor for preventing this type of violence at the local level. Yet, the prevalence of the violence still constitutes a threat to the freedom and safety of children and youths in the Swedish society. To gain a deeper understanding about the apparent discrepancy between policy and practice, this study adopts a micro-level perspective and zooms in onto the actors responsible for implementing existing policies. Teachers from four different purposefully selected schools have been interviewed. Drawing on insights from street-level policy implementation theories, the study explores how the teachers work to implement the National Agency for Education’s policy targeting honour-related violence and oppression. Notably, Lipsky’s analytical categories for successful street-level policy implementation, comprehension, capacity and will, function as point of departure. The broad nature of the categories have allowed for contextual insights to be included and a number of constraining and enabling mechanisms for successful micro-level policy implementation to be identified. The findings demonstrate how the teachers’ access to information is contingent upon their personal interest in the topic or on other individuals’ commitment. The large room for manoeuvre permits teachers to use their creativity to include the perspective of honour, but likewise allows for misunderstandings and resistance to influence the policy outcomes. The lack of clear bureaucratic goals, limited resources and a high level of discretion force teachers to find their own strategies to adequately implement the policy. To deal with increased pressure they are however likely to resort to simplifications and familiar routines. In turn these may obstruct at-risk students from receiving appropriate support. Finally, the findings confirm the importance of taking the strategies, decisions and motivations of implementing actors seriously when trying to understand policy success or policy failure.

The purpose of the study is to seek an understanding of social workers experiences in working with children who have witnessed violence. The study aims to study and analyze what efforts the social services offer children who have witnessed violence, and what difficulties there are for social workers to help children who have witnessed violence, with the ambition to increase knowledge about what support children who have witnessed violence receive from social services and whether there are factors experienced that make it more difficult for social workers to work with children who have witnessed violence. To answer this purpose, the following questions were asked: According to the social workers, how are children affected by witnessing violence? How does the social service work with these consequences and what support does the social service offer to children who have witnessed violence? According to the social workers, what are the obstacles to being able to give children that support after they have witnessed violence? To pursue the study, we chose to do a qualitative method and we interviewed five social workers. The essay's results show that the social workers think that the consequences of witnessing violence are very different for each child. But there is a common picture among the social secretaries that children who witness violence are exposed to great psychological stress. It will also have a negative effect on the children's social, mental and physical well-being. Several times the child has their basic safety removed. The study also shows that social workers experience that they can not always help the children although they want to and believe that the children are in need of help. The result has been analyzed using theories about coping and street level bureaucracies. The coping strategies were mainly helpful in analyzing the first question regarding children's consequences. Street level bureaucracies were especially helpful in explaining the support provided by social workers to children and the obstacles that may exist in helping children who have been subjected to violence and who have adopted the various coping strategies.

The point of departure for this study is Michael Lipsky’s description and problematization of street-level bureaucrats’ discretion. Street-level bureaucrats, such as teachers, have a possibility to influence the implementation of policy at the point of delivery to citizens.This can create a problem within the democratic policy process as policy does not materialize in the way that politicians intended. I used a qualitative research design and interviewed ten teachers in upper secondary schools about their exercise of authority, in order to investigate a factor that may lead to policy-making: logics of action. I claim that logics of action are suitable tools for analyzing and discussing the policy-making that street-level bureaucrats perform in the democratic policy process. The main purpose of this study is to contribute to such a discussion. A second purpose is to elucidate logics of action as a type of factors that guides teachers’ exercise of authority, but which has not been noticed to any great extent in previous research. I investigated which logics of action are mainly present in teachers’ exercise of authority concerning assessment and grading: a logic of consequences or a logic of appropriateness; a manufacturing logic or a service logic; and an instrumental logic or alternative logics. The relationship between logics of consequences and appropriateness is complex. It is difficult to say that one logic is the dominant force behind teachers’ exercise of authority. This is because of the constantly changing circumstances in the school environment. As for the manufacturing and service logics, the latter is dominant in assessment and grading. This does not influence decision-making as such, but enriches policy with a certain value production. Lastly, teachers claim that they instrumentally follow the guidelines in their exercise of authority. But at the same time alternative logics, such as gaming and cheating with the rules, are very much present in assessment and grading. Alternative logics distort teachers’ decision-making in several ways. These results show that logics of action are indeed tools that can help us to better understand what influences street-level bureaucrats’ exercise of authority, and how this contributes to policy-making. I conclude by suggesting how the use of logics of action as analytical tools can enhance our knowledge of street-level bureaucrats’ discretion in future research.

The aim of this qualitative study is to understand the processes around the prevention of child endangerment in deportation processes in Germany focusing on street-level bureaucrats. Eight social welfare professionals directly working with refugee minors and having experiences with deportation processes where refugee minors are or were involved distributed along three Federal States participated in this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted online and were analysed afterwards by using discourse analysis. Strong engagement, emotional involvement, frustration, and anger but also objective views and uncertainty when it comes to the prevention of child endangerment in deportation processes emerged. The deportation process is viewed as something very horrible and not compatible with the best interests of the child leading to cases of child endangerment. Responsibility for this was attributed to the system/state, street-level bureaucrats, as well as parents. Prevention of child endangerment in this context is seen as very difficult as there appear to be barriers at different levels where improvement is needed, containing a professional and personal level, the parental level, and a political and state level. The results were discussed then by using the concept of institutional logics and Lipsky’s theory of street-level bureaucracy. The street-level bureaucrats’ reasoning and practice are informed by several institutional logics which are interpreted and valued differently and raise conflicts which need to be solved. The human rights logics and national state logics, as well as logics of professionalism and logics of bureaucracy play an important role in this context.

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As current social problems grow more complex, public organizations have to deal with more complicated problems and values than in the past. Public organizations arguably need more knowledge to effectively address such complex problems. However, there is little study of the relationship between knowledge sharing and government performance. This study has several primary purposes. First, it tries to find out more about the roles and effects of knowledge sharing on program performance in public organizations. Second, by examining the factors affecting the relationships between knowledge sharing and program performance, the study explores the importance of individual and organizational conditions in connecting knowledge sharing to program performance. Lastly, the study helps clarify the effect of knowledge sharing on program performance by also examining other factors that are likely to affect program performance. To explore the relationships among explicit and tacit knowledge sharing, public service motivation, self-set goals, red tape, economic conditions, staffers' professionalism, budgetary resources, and program performance, I examined Virginia's Child Protective Services program. The Virginia Department of Social Services determines the guidelines and policies for the state's CPS program and supervises its implementation by local agencies. I focused on the implementation of the CPS program. The study examined the relationships between CPS program performance and the degree and dynamics of knowledge sharing at the local jurisdictional and at the individual social worker levels in each of the 23 local CPS departments in which staffers responded to an on-line survey. In addition to these relationships, the study examined the effects of individual, organizational, and financial factors in Virginia local CPS departments on the relationships between knowledge sharing and program performance. The study yielded numerous findings. First, at the local agency level evidence showed that explicit knowledge sharing played an important role in affecting CPS program performance. At the individual level, only the reported usefulness of explicit knowledge sharing affected CPS program performance, while the usefulness of tacit knowledge sharing and time devoted to explicit knowledge sharing affected usefulness of explicit knowledge sharing. The personal motivation of CPS staffers influenced program performance through tacit knowledge sharing, and red tape evidently affected CPS program performance by decreasing explicit and tacit knowledge sharing. Even when factors like local economic conditions and available financial resources were taken into account, the usefulness of explicit knowledge sharing still affected CPS program performance. Second, the relationships among time devoted to, usefulness of, and access to explicit and tacit knowledge sharing were diverse. They affected CPS program performance through the reported usefulness of explicit and tacit knowledge sharing. Third, individual and organizational factors influenced the relationship between knowledge sharing and CPS program performance. The personal motivation of CPS staffers had a positive effect on tacit knowledge sharing, but red tape appeared to have a negative effect on explicit and tacit knowledge sharing. Fourth, the study showed that several factors other than knowledge sharing such as local economic conditions, work training of CPS staffers, family assessments, CPS staffer education, and additional budgetary resources also affected CPS program performance. / Ph. D.