Knowledge Sharing is Power

Nowadays we can talk about a “Knowledge Revolution” because managing of information plays a crucial role in our society, both in public and private sphere. After a brief introduction—aimed at underling the main points we will debate on—the first part of the article focus on Knowledge Management techniques and knowledge-based government (k-Government) and the great potential in respect to the public sector transformation. The second part takes into account the social dimension of knowledge managing and the ethical relevance that social networking is progressively acquiring. After that, we have chosen to focus on global warming, indeed, the last session is a detailed analysis of a real case study related to China’s energy security. In the end, a wise use of Knowledge resources, trough the comparison with past experiences, turn out to be the powerful device that will let us provide some useful suggestion for a significant public action.

Allies with Attitude! Service Users,Academics and Social Service Agency Staff Learning How to Share Power in Running Social Work Education Courses

The University of Bath has been working in partnership (now referred to as an alliance) with the Wiltshire and Swindon Users' Network for 12 years. This contribution charts the development of this relationship. It will describe how service users have been involved in an increasing range of areas of the programme, starting with teaching, but now including the Programme Management Group, groups dealing with selection and recruitment, curriculum development, assessment, quality assurance and equal opportunities. Service users teach, interview applicants, provide practice learning opportunities, practice teach and assess students. Reflecting our alliance this contribution combines the perspective of a service user, and the perspective of a university social work lecturer on our achievements.     

Examining Discrimination against Women,non-Han Minorities,Intellectuals, and non-Communist Members among the Current China’s Provincial Political Elites

ABSTRACT

Drawing on a new biographical database of the current provincial leaders, this article aims to test the hypothesis whether women, non-Han minorities, intellectuals, and non-Communist members are discriminated against in the Chinese political sphere. Our findings indicate that women, despite being underrepresented in leadership positions, do not suffer from discrimination in obtaining chief positions, after controlling for their capability related variables. Non-Communist members are still facing the glass ceiling, preventing their rise to the top of China’s power structure, while at the same time being underrepresented in leadership positions. However, there is no evidence showing that intellectuals (i.e., doctoral degree holders) and non-Han minorities are suffering from underrepresentation, inequality, and discrimination. Further analysis indicates that traditional prejudice, discriminatory rule manipulation, and no well-defined and legally binding quotas are fundamental causes contributing to women’s underrepresentation in power structure and non-Communist members’ political discrimination.     

Inclusiveness,power sharing and critical enquiry: intercultural programme model for new settlers

Migrants and refugees settling permanently in a new country face significant social, linguistic and cultural challenges. However, they also bring intercultural strengths and skills which, if acknowledged and enhanced, can support successful settlement and inclusion in a pluralistic society. This paper describes the underpinning rationale and salient features of an intercultural settlement programme piloted in New Zealand with a group of recently arrived settlers from refugee backgrounds. The programme was designed to enhance the settlement process for newcomers through the development of critical thinking, problem-solving and intercultural skills. The pedagogical approach was rights-based and incorporated facilitated discussions within an environment of power-sharing, inclusiveness and critical enquiry. This paper discusses the implementation of the programme as well as findings from a preliminary research project which sought to explore the effectiveness and the extent to which the programme achieved its aims. The findings indicate that this approach can constitute good practice in an education programme designed to support interculturalism and successful integration.     

Well London: Results of a Community Engagement Approach to Improving Health Among Adolescents from Areas of Deprivation in London

This article reports findings among adolescents of the impact of Well London, a program of wellbeing interventions delivered across 20 deprived neighbourhoods of London using a community engagement model. Twelve hundred and fifty-four adolescents were surveyed from matched intervention and control areas. There was no significant intervention effect on the main outcome measures: unhealthy eating, physical activity, and mental health. Factors influencing the results may include the possibility that the communities defined by the cluster randomized controlled trial (CRCT) were not an accurate reflection of the adolescent’s natural community, and interactions within the school environment in particular could have led to a dilution of effect.     

Strengthening Partnership

When is the best time to bring in the service users?

This article, extracted from a wealth of material generated during UEL's first user/carer consultation, reveals a most useful day, enhancing the social work department's existing teaching partnerships with service users. Everything has to begin somewhere and small beginnings, where nurtured properly, harvest rich results. The day at the University of East London testifies that partnership works best when people are involved from the very beginning.     

Independent living: the frontier of communitarian welfare? 1

We hear so much about the ‘cost’ of care, today;and so little about the value society places upon ‘care’ and welfare, which, in turn, can promote economic, social and civic participation within society at large. The question of what should be supported and valued in contemporary society needs exploring critically. In the following I explore three well-established responses to the question of how society should support and deal with disadvantage. I argue that communitarian politics/thought and the independent living movement have key roles to play in forging a better society for disabled people.     

Hindsight,foresight and insight: The challenges of longitudinal qualitative research

This paper describes a UK based longitudinal qualitative study following approximately 100 young people over 9 years. It provides an overview of the research design, methods of data collection and analysis as well as reflecting on the strengths and weaknesses of the strategies employed. We focus on the value of a devolved research design, complementary cross-section and temporal analytic approaches and the effects of being involved in a longitudinal study on researchers and participants. The paper aims to contribute to a growing understanding of the practical, ethical and epistemological challenges presented by longitudinal qualitative methods, and highlights those challenges that are specific to this method as well as those which are amplified by this kind of approach.     

中国对非洲阿拉伯国家的“伙伴外交”

中国与非洲阿拉伯国家的“伙伴外交”与西方的结盟外交存在本质上的差异,它以主权平等为基础,以首脑互访为手段,以反对霸权主义与殖民主义为动力,以周思来访问亚、非、欧14国时提出的“对阿拉伯和非洲国家五项原则”为依据,为中国与非洲阿拉伯国家的交往奠定了基础。“伙伴外交”成为中国利用外部战略资源的重要手段,成为中国外交资源的“生长点”。本文通过考察“对阿拉伯和非洲国家五项原则”的缘起与实践,对新时期中国对非洲阿拉伯国家的“伙伴外交”提出了新的建议。     

A measure of community members’ perceptions of the impacts of research partnerships in health and social services

Currently, there are no psychometrically sound outcome measures by which to assess the impacts of research partnerships. This article describes the development of a 33-item, survey questionnaire measuring community members’ perceptions of the impact of research partnerships addressing health or social issues. The Community Impacts of Research Oriented Partnerships (CIROP) was developed using information from the literatures on health promotion, community development, research utilization, and community-based participatory research, and from focus groups involving 29 key informants. Data from 174 community members were used to determine the factor structure, internal consistency, and test–retest reliability of the four CIROP scales, and to provide evidence of construct validity. The CIROP informs research partnerships about the extent of their impact in the areas of Personal Knowledge Development, Personal Research Skill Development, Organizational/Group Access To and Use of Information, and Community and Organizational Development, allowing them to demonstrate accountability to funding bodies. As well, the CIROP can be used as a research tool to assess the effectiveness of knowledge sharing approaches, determine the most influential activities of research partnerships, and determine structural characteristics of partnerships associated with various types of impact. The CIROP provides a better understanding of community members’ perspectives and expectations of research partnerships, with important implications for knowledge transfer and uptake.     

Partnership evaluation: An application of a developmental framework to the Governance and Local Development project in Senegal

This study explores the valued-added of USAID/Senegal’s Governance for Local Development (GOLD) project’s integrated approach to working with four sector projects: two in health, one in water and sanitation, and one in nutrition. The study builds on a partnership evaluation framework that identifies practices related to preconditions, factors linked with success, implementation structures and processes, contribution of collaboration to performance, and collaboration outcomes. A survey instrument developed statements of positive practices and asked respondents to agree or disagree with each one. The analysis includes exploration of differences in perception. Respondents generally expressed agreement with the statements in the survey instrument associated with the various dimensions of effective partnerships. All projects mentioned the presence of partnership champions. Problems with joint action (e.g., planning, budgeting, managing) were the most frequently cited constraints. The study confirms most of the hypotheses embedded in the evaluation framework regarding partnership’s potential for creating synergies and improved outcomes and affirms the framework’s usefulness as a developmental evaluation tool. Positive outcomes result from intentional efforts to build relationships, cultivate champions, and design systems and processes that support a partnership culture and contribute to each partners’ success as well as the success of the partnership itself.     

Domestic Violence and Child Protection: Partnerships and Collaboration

Abstract

The interface between the child protection and domestic violence sectors is often problematic, in that the two sectors operate relatively independently, with little integration. However, it is widely recognised that these sectors need to work more closely to enhance both women's and children's safety. This paper explores the processes needed for the child protection and domestic violence sectors to develop collaborative partnerships that lead to the provision of higher-quality responses to both women and children. Drawing on collaboration theory, a number of barriers to the development of successful partnerships are described, and applied to initiatives that seek to develop integrated approaches between child protection and domestic violence services. It is concluded that there is much scope for the two sectors to work closely together, but that the development of integrated responses involving both child protection and domestic violence services will take a significant commitment, level of determination, and stamina from both parties.     

‘Providing a Link with the Real World’: Learning from the Student Experience of Service User and Carer Involvement in Social Work Education

Social work has long placed an emphasis on involving users and carers in the education of practitioners, an emphasis driven by service users and carers themselves, the value base of social work, and by policy and legislation from successive governments and regulatory bodies. Recent changes in regulation and professional standards in social work suggest a continuing commitment to service user and carer involvement. This paper argues that in order to ensure a sustainable commitment, there needs to be greater evidence of the value and purpose of such involvement. Whilst there is a considerable body of literature on this issue in social work education, little focus is on any impact on current and future practice of social work students. The paper discusses a research project addressing this issue from the perspective of social work students. Findings suggest that the involvement of service users and carers in their training was perceived by students as overwhelmingly positive, should be enhanced and that they believed that these experiences were taken forward in their practice. The paper also identifies key points that could inform best educational practice.     

Connecting a University to a Distant Neighborhood

Abstract

The willingness on the part of university participants to listen attentively to community representatives is of great importance to successful collaborations. This article presents three phases of a university-community partnership between the Macedonia neighborhood in High Point, North Carolina, and the Center for the Study of Social Issues (CSSI) at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Although no professional network and neighborhood contacts were in place prior to this collaboration, the partnership addressed community needs by obtaining federal grant funding and by listening to the residents' concerns. Staff, students, and faculty overcame the challenges of inexperience and the difficulty of working with a neighborhood that was not located near the university. In various phases, the partnership moved away from a technical assistance approach to a self-help model. By actively engaging neighborhood residents through the Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC), a learning and adaptation process occurred that resulted in successful university-community collaboration.     

The effectiveness of corporate gender equality plans in improving leave provisions for fathers in Spain

ABSTRACT

Official Spanish policy seeks greater gender equality by, among other things, encouraging men’s use of their legal rights to parental leave and requiring employers to implement equality plans. This article contains a first-ever analysis of the extent to which company equality plans are used to improve upon the legal provisions governing parental leave and whether those improvements actually encourage greater leave use by men, help to degender leave use and promote fathers’ co-responsibility for childcare. The improvements implemented by companies are analysed against a backdrop of economic crisis (2007-2016), during which public policy underwent no substantial change. An analysis of the gender equality plans in place among 107 ‘gender equality employers’ (GEEs) revealed that most included no enhancement of the existing legislation and only a few work organizations provided incentives for men to use leaves as part of their work-life balance strategies. Substantial progress in this regard can only be expected through increasing government provision of parental leave aimed at men and/or increasing government pressure on companies to encourage leave taking by men.     

Community development--action research in community settings

This paper considers the concept of resilience and how the natural qualities supportive of resilience in children and families can best be nurtured. It argues that there is an emerging crisis in bureaucratised child protection systems that alienates and undermines both social workers and clients, and that runs counter to the spirit of resilience‐led practice. Responding to this crisis requires a new emphasis on relationships, strengths and the clients' social context in child and family social work. It also requires practitioners and students to reflect carefully on the nature of helping. The paper explores some of the implications of these ideas for social work practice, education and policy.     

Conflicts and empowerment – a processual perspective on the development of a partnership

Partnership working involving providers and users of social services is highly valued as a means to inform research and practice, yet its effectiveness is debated. Frameworks for measuring and evaluating partnerships are developed, but still there is a need to shed light on micro-practices to gain insight in how partnerships succeed or fail to reach their goals. The context for this qualitative study is a Norwegian governmental funded program, where one goal was promotion of structures for equal collaboration between social work education, research, social service providers and users. The study investigates one local partnership project and how conflicts influenced processes and outcomes. Conflicts were related to the leadership of the group. With a particular look at users’ participation, the findings indicate how emergence and negotiations of conflicts were related to their empowering processes as the project developed. The study underscores the importance of acknowledging conflicts and how these may be complex and interwoven with empowering processes when users are involved, as well as the need to critically examine issues on leadership. The study supports the importance of ethnographic studies in order to understand how a partnership might deliver, as this approach enables enhanced understanding of micro-practices and internal power dynamics.     

The Mental Health Status of Indonesian Candidates Leaving for Japan under the Japan–Indonesia Economic Partnership Agreement: After the Great East Japan Earthquake

The goal of this study was to find predictors of the mental health status of the fourth batch of Indonesian candidates coming to Japan under the Japan–Indonesia Economic Partnership Agreement, 4 months after the Great East Japan Earthquake. A four‐page‐long questionnaire was developed and distributed to the fourth batch of Indonesian candidates, who wished to go to Japan under the above agreement, at the venue of an intensive Japanese language course held in Depok, West Java, Indonesia, in July 2011. Seventy‐six percent of the respondents were female. The average age was 24.7 (standard deviation [SD] 2.8) years old. Forty‐nine percent of the respondents answered that they were very worried or somewhat worried about the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The mean Score of Knowledge about Japan, including knowledge about the working and living environments in Japan, was 53.3 and ranged from 20 to 80 (SD 7.3) points. The average score of the General Health Questionnaire, which was used as a marker of the mental health status in this study, was 36.1 (SD 4.2) points. The result of a multivariate analysis showed that the Score of Knowledge about Japan was significantly correlated to the General Health Questionnaire score (β=?.234, P < 0.05), but the degree of worry about the earthquake was not. The result indicated that knowledge about the actual living and working conditions in Japan is a major indicator of the mental health of the candidates, but not their worry concerning the earthquake.