Project beneficiary participation and behavioural intentions promoting project sustainability: The mediating role of psychological ownership

It is of great importance that development projects (especially those projects that target improving the livelihood of rural communities) continue to deliver their intended benefits over their intended economic life—we call this “project sustainability.” Applying an experimental design, our study reveals that active involvement of project beneficiaries during the needs assessment and planning stages has a significant positive influence on the behavioural intentions of the project beneficiaries toward project sustainability. Our study also finds that psychological ownership plays a mediating role in the relationship between project beneficiary participation and project sustainability. Implications for project sustainability and directions for future research are discussed.     

Government-NGO collaboration and sustainability of orphans and vulnerable children projects in southern Africa

Given current donor attention to orphans and children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS, and the need for a new framework that recognizes the complementary roles of nations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), this analysis reviews NGO-operated community-based orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) projects in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland. There has been a lack of attention within the field of evaluation to inter-organizational relationships, specifically those with government agencies, as a factor in sustainability. We analyzed evaluations of nine OVC projects funded by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation for the influence of government-NGO collaboration on project sustainability. For eight of the nine projects, evaluations provided evidence of the importance of the government partnership for sustainability. Government collaboration was important in projects designed to help families access government grants, initiate community-based solutions, and advocate for OVC rights through legislation. Government partnerships were also critical to the sustainability of two projects involved in placing children in foster care, but these showed signs of tension with government partners. In addition to the more common factors associated with sustainability, such as organizational characteristics, donors and NGOs should concentrate on developing strong partnerships with local and national government agencies for the sustainability of their projects.     

INSIDE–OUT: RESOCIALISATION FROM PRISON AS A BIOGRAPHICAL PROCESS. A LONGITUDINAL APPROACH TO THE PSYCHODYNAMICS OF IMPRISONMENT1

The social and economic regeneration of inner-city housing estates has been a common feature of successive UK government policies for a number of years. However, their focus has primarily been on the physical regeneration of communities to the exclusion of individuals' emotional and personal problems. Community-based counselling projects are still a rarity in regeneration projects. This article describes the establishment and subsequent history of a counselling project based on an inner-city housing estate in East London, which was undergoing extensive regeneration. It discusses how the service originated from the ongoing work of a participatory action research project and how it challenged stereotypical images of counselling. It demonstrated that free, accessible and locally based counselling services are needed in the regeneration of communities; that extensive planning is necessary both within the organisation and in relation to funding before the project begins; and that on-going core funding is essential to sustaining such innovative and much-needed projects.     

Structural equation model for the evaluation of national funding on R&D project of SMEs in consideration with MBNQA criteria

Financial support on the R&D in Science & Technology for SMEs at the governmental level plays a crucial role on the improvement of the national competitiveness. Korea Science & Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) has supported the R&D projects of SMEs with the competitive technology ability by way of the Science and Technology Promotion Fund. In this paper, we propose a structural equation model (SEM) to evaluate the performance of such a funding program in terms of three aspects: output, outcome and impact under given funding inputs, R&D environment of a recipient company, and external evaluation programs of funding organization. We adopt Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) criteria to assess the R&D environmental factors of recipient companies. In addition, we test the effect of interim evaluation of the funded project. The proposed model is applied to the real case and is used to identify the best practices as well as to provide feedback information for the improvement of the government funding programs of the R&D projects of SMEs.     

The Longevity of Community Aging Initiatives: A Framework for Describing NORC Programs’ Sustainability Goals and Strategies

Naturally Occurring Retirement Community Supportive Services programs (NORC programs) aim to bring together stakeholders within a local area with a large number of older adults (e.g., a neighborhood or apartment building) to facilitate activities and services that promote aging in place. Despite enthusiasm for these programs, there is ongoing concern regarding their long-term sustainability, especially as federal funding to support NORC programs nationally has dwindled in recent years. This exploratory study aimed to develop a framework to describe NORC programs’ sustainability goals and strategies. As part of a statewide study in New Jersey, this study drew on data from semi-structured in-depth interviews with staff of 10 lead organizations that represented 15 NORC programs. Using a grounded theory analytic approach, findings revealed three types of sustainability goals: continuing the program indefinitely within the lead agency (described by eight organizations); integrating the program functions across other organizations (described by one organization); and defining the program as a finite project (described by one organization). Lead organizations implemented and developed their programs in ways that reflected their goals. This framework can be used to guide efforts to maintain, expand, and evaluate NORC programs and related community aging initiatives.     

Sustainability and Disaster Planning: What Are the Connections?

In this article, we examine the connections between resiliency and sustainability by asking: Can disaster planning lead to more sustainability actions? In a survey we conducted of 1,899 cities, towns, and counties across the United States in 2015, we found that disaster plans are three times more common than sustainability plans. Our regression models find both types of plans lead to sustainability action as does regional collaboration across the rural‐urban interface. However, we find that hazard mitigation planning may be done without including sustainability staff, citizens, and other officials. After controlling for motivations, capacity, and cooperation, we find that rural communities are more likely to have sustainability plans than suburbs, though their level of sustainability action is lower due to capacity constraints. Our models of multilevel governance find local motivations balance sustainability’s concept of environmental protection, economic development, and social equity—and are more important drivers of action than grassroots or higher‐level government funding and policy. This bodes well in a context where federal government leadership on sustainability is absent.     

CARTOGRAPHY OF GENDER EQUALITY PROJECTS IN ICT: Liberal equality from the perspective of situated equality

This paper examines gender equality activities in the context of information and communication technology (ICT), traces the social and cultural relations that intertwine with them and discusses the understandings of gender, equality and ICT maintained in them. The aim of the paper is to analyse how liberal equal treatment actions prevail in ICT, although it is well known that liberal politics alone do not succeed in promoting gender equality, and not even in fulfilling its own goal of raising the proportions of women in technology. The study is based on oral history interviews with 30 women who have committed important parts of their lives to gender equality activities through several decades, as well as follow-up studies of women's ICT groups that aimed to promote equality in ICT expertise, both of these studies being conducted in Finland. The interviewed gender equality workers are competent promoters of gender and equality. However, they need to negotiate their aims, for example, in order to get funding, within national and transnational institutional practices, with actors who have little knowledge regarding the social construction of gender, equality or ICT. The managerial terms 'efficiency' and 'good practice' then take over the understandings of the gender equality activities in ICT, mainly organized as projects, and further emphasize the measurable goals often linked to liberal gender equality actions. These terms have material consequences and while gender equality projects continue to provide possibilities for unexpected changes, they are locked within liberal politics.     

Evaluating health services research capacity building programs: Implications for health services and human resource development

Evaluation of research capacity building programs presents challenges, including defining “research capacity building” and measuring it. The present study evaluates infrastructure capacity-building strategies and barriers and facilitators of two federally funded health-related research capacity building programs within the United States. We developed a conceptual framework and abstracted 223 data elements from existing project files. We administered questionnaires to 17 principal investigators and conducted 2-h interviews of 15 principal investigators. Finally, we conducted one-and-a-half-day site visits with five projects. We aggregated data and analysis results across the two programs. Impacts and strategies were also analyzed as to whether host institutions had little or no existing research infrastructure (“seed projects”) or had well-developed research infrastructure (“fertilizer projects”). Projects were associated with increases in publication and presentation rates by Principal Investigators and staff, increases in research funding, changes in organizational research culture, and positive impacts on the community. Project characteristics and activities associated with each of these outcomes were identified. It was also noted that the correlations between these outcomes were small and non-significant.     

Individual Preferences Over Development Projects: Evidence from Microlending on Kiva

Peer-to-peer microfinance connects philanthropic citizens with poor entrepreneurs in the developing world, offering new ways to channel charitable contributions. Although the literature suggests that donors?? perceptions of effectiveness affect charitable giving, very little is known about what types of projects individuals perceive as more effective. Using data from Kiva.org, this article presents evidence on the relative popularity of competing development projects. We present estimates of the impact of publicly visible project characteristics on funding speed. Assuming that Kiva lenders are motivated by poverty alleviation, the results shed light on individual philanthropists?? perception of project effectiveness. Knowing this can help practitioners design fundraising strategies more effectively, especially for projects that are inherently less popular.     

Aller Anfang ist schwer — Problem-und Zieldefinition in der Organisationsberatung

The article examines the initial phase of (management) consulting projects from a sociological perspective. The main focus lies on the processes of defining the initial problems that lead to the consulting project and the goals of the project. The article describes the clarification process carried out jointly by consultants and clients in the first phase of a project. After stressing the importance of these activities for project success, the factors that might disturb these processes are then analyzed and discussed, primarily following system-theoretical and micro-political considerations.     

湖南省解决农村贫困重度残疾人托养照护问题的实践与启示

解决农村贫困重度残疾人照护问题,既是党和政府的明确要求,也是残疾人和家属的热切期盼.湖南省农村贫困重度残疾人托养照护专项实践的主要启示:一是照护服务能有效改善农村重度残疾人生活质量和巩固脱贫攻坚成果;二是规划部署和经费配置是解决照顾问题的关键所在;三是"家庭自付+村社支持+政府补贴"的付费方式在实践中具有可行性和可持续性;四是农村地区需要优先发展保障急需的基本生活照护和寄宿照护服务,需要根据残疾人生活自理能力和家庭照护能力精准提供适合的照护服务.建议将"优先重点解决城乡低收入重度残疾人照护问题"纳入"十四五"规划及政府实事工程任务,加快建立以家庭照护为基础、社会化照护为支持、集中照护为补充的重度残疾人照护服务体系,完善以生活自理能力和家庭照护能力为核心指标的优先保障对象精准识别机制,通过"两补提标"、建立家庭照护和集中照护机构统一认定制度、评价制度和支持机制,完善残疾人帮扶机制.     

Recovering from Illness or Recovering your Life? Implications of Clinical Versus Social Models of Recovery from Mental Health Problems for Employment Support Services

Although valuable research has been undertaken in the United States little is yet known about the processes engaged in by supported employment projects for people with mental health problems. The study reported here explored these processes using semistructured interviews with employment project clients, their project workers and workplace managers. Of five projects involved in the research, two exemplified radically different approaches, one implicitly underpinned by a clinical model of recovery and the other by a social recovery model. In this article we draw on data from the seven cases studied from these projects to describe the two approaches and to consider their strengths and limitations. We conclude that approaches based on the social recovery model hold more promise, although such approaches would be enhanced through greater liaison with mental health professionals. In addition, funding structures are required that take account of job retention rates, rather than placement rates alone.     

Effects of Government Support of Nonprofit Institutions on Aggregate Private Philanthropy: Evidence from 40 Countries

This paper examines the effects of aggregate government payments to nonprofit organizations on aggregate private philanthropy. Four behavioral models of private philanthropic giving are proposed to formulate four hypotheses about those effects: no net effect (null hypothesis), crowding in (positive effect), crowding out (negative effect), and “philanthropic flight” or displacement (negative effect across different subsectors). These hypotheses were tested against the evidence from 40 countries collected as a part of a larger research project aimed to document the scale and finances of the nonprofit sector. The data show that, on the balance, government payments to nonprofit institutions (NPIs) have a positive effect on aggregate philanthropic donations to nonprofits, as stipulated by the crowding in hypothesis, but a field level analysis revealed evidence of “philanthropic flight” or displacement from “service” to “expressive” activities by government payments to “service” NPIs. Due to the limitations of the data, these results indicate empirical plausibility of the hypothesized effects rather than their incidence. The findings demonstrate the complexity of the relationship between government funding and philanthropic donations to nonprofits, which depends on the goals of the actors (donors and recipients) and institutional settings mediating the transaction costs of difference sources of nonprofit support.     

How Does a “Risk Group” Perceive Risk?

Abstract

Throughout the HIV/AIDS epidemic, female sex workers have been identified as a “risk group” and interventions developed to reduce their behavioral risk-taking. Both individual and structural level programs continue to target “risks” such as multiple partners and lack of condom use. Sex workers themselves, however, are likely to view their experiences more holistically, perceiving a range of risks within their work. This paper presents qualitative data from a participatory study conducted with brothel-based migrant Vietnamese sex workers in Cambodia, illuminating one community's perceptions of the sex industry. It argues that design and implementation of effective HIV prevention activities must be based on sex workers' own interpretations and responses to risk, using them as a realistic entry point for effecting change. Actively engaging with sex workers through participatory research and projects offers the first step in shifting the current epidemiological focus toward identifying feasible, context-specific risk-reduction strategies.     

Residential substance abuse treatment for pregnant and postpartum women and their children: treatment and policy implications

In FY 1993 and FY 1995, the federal government awarded 27 five-year grants that supported 35 residential treatment projects for substance-abusing pregnant and postpartum women and their children. These projects provided comprehensive culturally and gender-specific treatment. Preliminary aggregated data collected in a national cross-site evaluation of 24 of these projects are encouraging with respect to infant mortality and morbidity, treatment retention and completion rates, and behavioral changes in the participating mothers at six months postdischarge. Local evaluations reflect other benefits of treatment. Cost data are expected to demonstrate the efficiencies and benefits of these projects compared to no treatment.     

The demise of community at high heaven

This ethnographic study will describe the rise and fall of the country's first attempt at intergenerational involvement within a campus based retirement setting. It will discuss those factors responsible for the initial limited success of the project and its ensuing failure. These include the lack of competent support staff, funding, security problems, and a change in the administrative agency. Policy statements regarding future projects of this kind are also considered.An earlier version of this paper was read at the Annual Meetings of the Southwest Anthropological Association, April, 1974.     

Translating ‘Sustainability’ in Hawai'i: The Utility of Semiotic Transformation in the Transmission of Culture

This paper examines how businessmen and educators in Hawai'i have semiotically ‘translated’ sustainability to promote sustainability practices. Using data gathered from an educational institute that was co-founded by a corporation and a college, I analyse how the source discourse was, using Silverstein's term, ‘transformed’ so that the target discourse (or the signs used in the target discourse) invokes Hawaiian imageries rather than imageries of capitalism. Analyses reveal that changes to keywords of sustainability occur in a way that shifts possible local interpretations of them as cultural heritage, that is, as something ‘of Hawaiian’ and not ‘of white capitalists’. I argue that this translation effort assisted the concept's transmission by making ‘sustainability’ an inhabitable category of identity and by providing a model of a future in which locals can participate because it is now interpretable as having been modelled on the narrated past.     

Care for left-behind children in rural China: A realist evaluation of a community-based intervention

In many countries, large numbers of left-behind children (LBC) grow up experiencing prolonged separation from their migrant worker parents. These children are known to be vulnerable to psychological and developmental problems. Drawing on qualitative interview data as well as ethnographic observations, a realist approach was applied in this study to evaluate the feasibility, acceptance, preliminary outcomes and potential sustainability of a community-based intervention to provide care and support to LBC, in a migrant-sending area of rural China. The intervention program comprised “Children's Clubs” in local communities, in which LBC participate in play and educational activities under the care and supervision of local volunteers. Twelve Clubs in 12 different villages were evaluated for the study. In each village, semi-structured interviews were conducted with three community stakeholders, and children and primary caregivers from two families, to examine their perceptions and experiences with regard to the intervention. Our findings indicated that most Clubs adapted the initial program theory and implementation plan to specific community contexts, particularly the socio-economic situation and the support from village leadership and other community members. Program implementation mechanisms consisted of integrating available resources, engaging local volunteers, and delivering various Club activities. Preliminary outcomes indicated the success in establishing a community care platform to benefit the emotional and behavioral wellbeing of LBC, and to enhance the community support networks. To ensure program sustainability, the Children's Clubs should explore new funding schemes, expand the pool of qualified volunteers, and improve the curricular and activities at the Clubs.     

RACE AND CHARITABLE CHURCH ACTIVITY

The availability of public funding for charitable church activity has increased dramatically in recent years. A key dispute over this increase is whether congregations’ propensity to provide charitable services depends upon the local community’s racial composition. Using three congregation‐level data sets, this article investigates how race affects charitable church activity. Each data set indicates that all‐white congregations become less charitably active as the share of black residents in the community grows. This response is found only for charitable activities and not for other activities. Additionally, all‐white congregations favorably disposed toward receiving government funding respond no differently to black residents than do not‐all‐white congregations. (JEL H41, J15, Z12)