Good practices in monitoring and reporting on the Millennium Development Goals: National lessons from Latin America

Includes bibliography

Nation building in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Cooperation, coordination and collaboration

Cross-sectoral interorganizational relationships in post-conflict situations occur regularly. Whether formal task forces, advisory groups or other ad hoc arrangements, these relations take place in chaotic and dangerous situations with urgent and turbulent political, economic and social environments. Furthermore, they typically involve a large number of players from many different nations, operating across sectors, and between multiple layers of bureaucracy and diplomacy. The organizational complexity staggers many participants and observers, as do the tasks they are charged with completing. Reform efforts in Bosnia and Herzegovina starting in 1995 may serve as the archetype model of conflict, transition and development for the 21st century. It wins this honor due not to its particular programmatic successes and failures, rather to the interorganizational complexity of the International Community. From the massive response to the crisis, to the modern nation-building policies it spawned, and the development assistance practices and institutional arrangements it created, the Bosnian development experience has much to offer by way of lessons learned. This manuscript frames the unique Bosnian development situation, and provides lessons learned from the experience of nation building given local realities. Pettigrew (1992) called this "contextualizing." While network and/or organizational structure, strategy and process explain many interorganizational relationship issues, the development variables identified in this manuscript prove equally important, yet elusive and difficult to measure despite their very real and overt presence.

Conditions promoting good multiprofessional collaboration practices in Swiss all-day schools

Multiprofessional collaboration in all-day schools refers to teamwork and coordination that takes place between professionals with different vocational backgrounds. In Switzerland, all-day schoolscomprise regular school instruction and school-based extracurricular activities. Nevertheless, multiprofessional collaboration can also refer to collaboration between education professionals in all-day schools and professionals outside the school in a community-based setting of extracurricular activities. A synthesis of the literature shows that collaboration inside and outside the school setting is promoted by conditions in three areas: structural characteristics of the institution, characteristics of the team, and interpersonal processes (Schüpbach, Jutzi & Thomann 2012). In view of these findings, it was the aim of this study to analyze conditions of good collaboration practices in all-day schools in Switzerland. This qualitative study examined 10 all-day schools in five different cantons in the German-speaking part of Switzerland that showed good collaboration practice. In the course of this study, we conducted 18 problem-centered interviews and 10 focus group discussions. In the process of data evaluation, we applied the method of qualitative content analy sis. The findings show that all of the three areas of conditions promoting good collaboration proved to be relevant in the whole sample of all-day schools. Nevertheless, for the three different types of collaboration found? The school- oriented, the mixed/in termediate, and the social environment-oriented type? We identified different conditions of good collaboration practice.

'Worlds of justification’ in the politics and practices of urban regeneration

A considerable body of research has developed on processes of neoliberal urban regeneration and gentrifi cation. On the one hand, there are many political economy accounts emphasising the role of economic capital in processes of urban change and gentrifi cation. On the other hand, there is a wealth of governmentality studies on the art of government that fail to explain how ungovernable subjects develop. Similarly, within gentrifi cation studies there are many accounts on the role of changing consumer lifestyles and defi ning gentrifi cation, but less concern with the governance processes between actors in urban regeneration and gentrifi cation. Yet such issues are of considerable importance given the role of the state in urban regeneration and dependence on private capital. This paper utilises the French Pragmatist approach of Boltanski and Thévenot to examine a case study state-led gentrifi cation project. Boltanski and Thévenot argue that social coordination occurs by way of actors working through broader value-laden ‘worlds of justifi cation’ that underpin processes of argumentation and coordination. The examined case study is a deprived area within an English city where a major state-led gentrification programme has been introduced. The rationale for the programme is based on the assumption that reducing deprivation relies upon substantially increasing the number of higher income earners. The paper concludes that market values have overridden broader civic values in the negotiation process, with this intensifying as the state internalised market crisis tendencies within the project. More broadly, there is a need for French Pragmatism to be more sensitive to the spatial processes of social coordination, which can be achieved through critical engagement with recent concepts of ‘assemblages’.

Ontology-Based Workflow Design for the Coordination of Homecare Interventions

Part 20: Health and Care Networks

Best practice principles for management of children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) : results of a scoping review

Background. Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a prevalent health condition that is frequently unrecognized despite the substantial evidence that has accumulated regarding how it affects children’s health, education and skills.Most literature focuses on measurement of impairment and description of intervention approaches for individual children; little is known about the principles that should guide best practice and service delivery for children with DCD as a population. The purpose of this study was to identify these principles. Methods. A scoping review was used to ‘map’ the information available to inform intervention and service delivery. Scholarly and grey literature written in English was identified in six databases, using a combination of keywords (e.g. guidelines, management, models and DCD); a ‘snow-balling’ technique was also used in Canada and the UK to access clinical protocols used in publicly funded health care systems. Over 500 documents were screened: 31 met inclusion criteria as they outlined practice principles for children with DCD as a population. Data regarding best practices were independently extracted by two reviewers and then compared with achieve consistency and consensus. Results. Two over-arching themes emerged, with five principles: (1) Organizing services to efficiently meet the comprehensive needs of children (e.g. Increasing awareness of DCD and coordination; Implementing clearly defined pathways; Using a graduated/staged approach); (2) Working collaboratively to offer evidence-based services (e.g. Integration of child and family views; Evidence-based interventions fostering function, participation and prevention). Conclusion Numerous documents support each of the principles, reflecting agreement across studies about recommended organization of services.While these principles may apply to many populations of children with disabilities, this review highlights how essential these principles are in DCD. Researchers, managers, clinicians, community partners and families are encouraged to work together in designing, implementing and evaluating interventions that reflect these principles.

Using an evidence-based online module to improve parents’ ability to manage their child with Developmental Coordination Disorder

Background : Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder. Best practices include raising parents’ awareness and building capacity but few interventions incorporating these best practices are documented. Objective : To examine whether an evidence-based online module can increase the perceived knowledge and skills of parents of children with DCD, and lead to behavioural changes when managing their child’s health condition. Methods : A mixed-methods, before-after-follow-up design guided by the theory of planned behaviour was employed. Data about the knowledge, skills and behaviours of parents of children with DCD were collected using questionnaires prior to completing the module, immediately after, and three months later. One-way repeated measures ANOVAs and thematic analyses were performed on data as appropriate. Results : Fifty-eight participants completed all questionnaires. There was a significant effect of time on self-reported knowledge [F(2.00,114.00)=16.37, p=0.00] and skills [F(1.81,103.03)=51.37, p=0.00] with higher post- and follow-up scores than pre-intervention scores. Thirty-seven (65%) participants reported an intention to change behaviour postintervention; 29 (50%) participants had tried recommended strategies at follow-up. Three themes emerged to describe parents’ behavioural change: sharing information, trialing strategies and changing attitudes. Factors influencing parents’ ability to implement these behavioural changes included clear recommendations, time, and ‘right’ attitude. Perceived outcomes associated with the parental behavioural changes involved improvement in well-being for the children at school, at home, and for the family as a whole. Conclusions : The online module increased parents’ self-reported knowledge and skills in DCD management. Future research should explore its impacts on children’s outcomes long-term.

Using an evidence-based online module to improve parents’ ability to manage their child with Developmental Coordination Disorder

Background : Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder. Best practices include raising parents’ awareness and building capacity but few interventions incorporating these best practices are documented. Objective : To examine whether an evidence-based online module can increase the perceived knowledge and skills of parents of children with DCD, and lead to behavioral changes when managing their child’s health condition. Methods : A mixed-methods, before-after design guided by the theory of planned behavior was employed. Data about the knowledge, skills and behaviors of parents of children with DCD were collected using questionnaires prior to completing the module, immediately after, and three months later. Paired T-tests, sensitivity analyses and thematic analyses were performed on data as appropriate. Results: One hundred-sixteen, 81 and 58 participants respectively completed the three questionnaires. For knowledge and skills, post- and follow-up scores were significantly higher than baseline scores (p<0.01). Fifty-two (64%) participants reported an intention to change behavior post-intervention and 29 (50%) participants had tried recommended strategies at follow-up. Three themes emerged to describe parents’ behavioral change: sharing information, trialing strategies and changing attitudes. Factors influencing parents’ ability to implement these behavioral changes included clear recommendations, time, and ‘right’ attitude. Perceived outcomes associated with the parental behavioral changes involved improvement in well-being for the children at school, at home, and for the family as a whole. Conclusions : The online module increased parents’ self-reported knowledge and skills in DCD management. Future research should explore its impacts on children’s long-term outcomes.