Socially Responsible Indicators for Policy, Practice and Benchmarking in Service Organisations. The Australian Government, while attempting to limit the spiralling costs of the welfare state, has encouraged market principles and practices in service organisations. This has raised value dilemmas and administrative tensions for education and welfare organisations who, while committed to social justice and social responsibility, have to operate efficiently and effectively. This research aims, thr ....Socially Responsible Indicators for Policy, Practice and Benchmarking in Service Organisations. The Australian Government, while attempting to limit the spiralling costs of the welfare state, has encouraged market principles and practices in service organisations. This has raised value dilemmas and administrative tensions for education and welfare organisations who, while committed to social justice and social responsibility, have to operate efficiently and effectively. This research aims, through the identification and analysis of tensions between social and economic value orientations in the workplace, to develop a values framework and key socially responsible indicators for the improvement of policy, decision making and practice within the Industry Partners and the wider service sectors.Read moreRead less
Advocacy in the age of compacts: Strengthening the policy development dimension of partnership agreements between government and community organisations. The proposed research will be the first attempt to evaluate the roll-out of compacts in Australia. In order to ensure that the new compacts continue to be responsive to the needs of both government and community organisations it is crucial that their early operation be evaluated and the findings used to create ongoing mechanisms for monitoring, ....Advocacy in the age of compacts: Strengthening the policy development dimension of partnership agreements between government and community organisations. The proposed research will be the first attempt to evaluate the roll-out of compacts in Australia. In order to ensure that the new compacts continue to be responsive to the needs of both government and community organisations it is crucial that their early operation be evaluated and the findings used to create ongoing mechanisms for monitoring, outcome evaluation, and skill-building. The proposed project will assist Austraian governments to identify performance indicators for outcomes in the context of the compacts, particularly those that lead to the effective contribution of community organisations in policy development.Read moreRead less
Currencies of Care: Establishing the scope of performance indicators in child and family welfare services. This project aims to establish the scope of performance indicators for assessing outcomes in welfare services in urban, regional and rural contexts. Its significance lies in the analysis of outcomes, in addition to service outputs, and in advancing understanding of performance assessment beyond a narrow focus on urban service delivery environments. The project combines UnitingCare Burnside' ....Currencies of Care: Establishing the scope of performance indicators in child and family welfare services. This project aims to establish the scope of performance indicators for assessing outcomes in welfare services in urban, regional and rural contexts. Its significance lies in the analysis of outcomes, in addition to service outputs, and in advancing understanding of performance assessment beyond a narrow focus on urban service delivery environments. The project combines UnitingCare Burnside's experience in and commitment to delivery of high quality services with the CIs' interdisciplinary expertise in evaluation of caring work. Anticipated outcomes include development of a conceptual framework for performance assessment which will be used by the industry partner in managing and delivering services.Read moreRead less
Reconceptualising partnership: new options for effective partnerships between State governments and the third sector in employment services in Australia. The rapid devolution of employment services from the Commonwealth Employment Service to a model of contracted Job Network agencies assumes effective partnerships between Commonwealth, State, third sector and private organizations. Recent research suggests this is not the case. Furthermore, the industry partner, SACOSS, argues that the disparate ....Reconceptualising partnership: new options for effective partnerships between State governments and the third sector in employment services in Australia. The rapid devolution of employment services from the Commonwealth Employment Service to a model of contracted Job Network agencies assumes effective partnerships between Commonwealth, State, third sector and private organizations. Recent research suggests this is not the case. Furthermore, the industry partner, SACOSS, argues that the disparate requirements of Australian States in addressing local circumstances and diverse needs of disadvantaged jobseekers have not been met. This collaborative project will use network analysis methodology to assess alternative models of governance and identify best options for effective State/third sector partnerships that promote efficient and equitable labour markets.Read moreRead less
Connecting Government to Community: A study of social and political connectivity at the municipal level. Facilitating community strengthening by making public institutions more responsive to the needs of citizens is a central policy challenge in the global era. This project will advance theoretical, methodological and practical understandings of this issue by using comparative measures of personal ties and organizational connectedness in four municipalities to explicate the networks linking poli ....Connecting Government to Community: A study of social and political connectivity at the municipal level. Facilitating community strengthening by making public institutions more responsive to the needs of citizens is a central policy challenge in the global era. This project will advance theoretical, methodological and practical understandings of this issue by using comparative measures of personal ties and organizational connectedness in four municipalities to explicate the networks linking politicians, bureaucrats, civic leaders and ordinary citizens. The study will generate new measures of which kinds of connections count most, which ties bring more isolated groups closer to engagement, and which community strengthening strategies are likely to make improved governance outcomes feasible.Read moreRead less
Where's the evidence? Understanding the use of evidence in Indigenous policy. The project will strengthen the social and economic fabric of Indigenous communities and Australia as a whole by helping to improve the production and use of robust evidence and the engagement of Indigenous people themselves in Indigenous policy development. The dialogue approach has been used in many conflict situations. Here it will help the development of innovative approaches to resolving tensions between policyma ....Where's the evidence? Understanding the use of evidence in Indigenous policy. The project will strengthen the social and economic fabric of Indigenous communities and Australia as a whole by helping to improve the production and use of robust evidence and the engagement of Indigenous people themselves in Indigenous policy development. The dialogue approach has been used in many conflict situations. Here it will help the development of innovative approaches to resolving tensions between policymakers, researchers and Indigenous people, and also Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The project will significantly build the capacity of Indigenous researchers in this area. It will help Australian and international policymakers make more effective use of research in other areas of social policy. Read moreRead less
The Social and Business Implications of Extending China's Social Security System. The Shanghai Bureau of Labour and Social Security (SBLSS) has introduced regulations that extend social security coverage to employees (including migrants) resident and/or working within the municipality of Shanghai but outside the city limits. These regulations are part of a reform program that aims to develop a comprehensive and sustainable social security system that will provide coverage to all of China's popul ....The Social and Business Implications of Extending China's Social Security System. The Shanghai Bureau of Labour and Social Security (SBLSS) has introduced regulations that extend social security coverage to employees (including migrants) resident and/or working within the municipality of Shanghai but outside the city limits. These regulations are part of a reform program that aims to develop a comprehensive and sustainable social security system that will provide coverage to all of China's population; and one that draws on Australia's experience with social security management. The Bureau has asked us to partcipate in assessing the reforms, a research opportunity offered to no other body of scholars inside or outside China.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0989700
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$175,000.00
Summary
The Australian Policy Online Full-Text Research Repository and Thematic Gateways. By bringing together the research outputs of over 160 member centres and institutes, as well as selected material from government and other sources, Australian Policy Online (APO) makes a significant contribution to the national research effort across all National Research Priorities - environmental sustainability, promoting and maintaining good health, frontier technologies and safeguarding Australia - and to the ....The Australian Policy Online Full-Text Research Repository and Thematic Gateways. By bringing together the research outputs of over 160 member centres and institutes, as well as selected material from government and other sources, Australian Policy Online (APO) makes a significant contribution to the national research effort across all National Research Priorities - environmental sustainability, promoting and maintaining good health, frontier technologies and safeguarding Australia - and to the development of well-informed public policy. This project will increase the value of APO by deepening its coverage of preventative health, planning and the environment, and citizenship; broadening its collection of research material; and offering new resources for researchers.Read moreRead less
Political and social factors in the decline of mass transit: an investigation of failed policies to rebuild Melbourne's mass transit. The project aims to improve understandings of political and social factors underlying failed attempts to rebuild an effective mass transit system In Melbourne.
It will do this by developing an analysis of the delivery of Melbourne's mass transit system which combines modern public policy theory with the outcomes of recent transport planning research.
Urban tr ....Political and social factors in the decline of mass transit: an investigation of failed policies to rebuild Melbourne's mass transit. The project aims to improve understandings of political and social factors underlying failed attempts to rebuild an effective mass transit system In Melbourne.
It will do this by developing an analysis of the delivery of Melbourne's mass transit system which combines modern public policy theory with the outcomes of recent transport planning research.
Urban transport in Australia imposes very large economic, social and environmental costs. Significant increase in the use of mass transit is necessary to reduce these costs. The project will provide problem-solving knowledge to assist efforts to improve the planning and delivery of mass transit in Australian cities.
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Community consultation and the hard to reach. Local government, social profiling and civic infrastructure. This study offers conceptual insights into reasons for non-participation in local government consultation, drawing on critical policy analysis and debates on governance and democratic capacity. The collaboration of 7 local councils and the VLGA enable the development of a transferable, generally viable framework linking: (i) sophisticated demographic profiles (ii) types of communication me ....Community consultation and the hard to reach. Local government, social profiling and civic infrastructure. This study offers conceptual insights into reasons for non-participation in local government consultation, drawing on critical policy analysis and debates on governance and democratic capacity. The collaboration of 7 local councils and the VLGA enable the development of a transferable, generally viable framework linking: (i) sophisticated demographic profiles (ii) types of communication media on a continuum of intensity (face to face, telephone/mail survey, email/Internet); (iii) issues on which residents wish to be consulted; and (iv) implications for civic infrastructure. Outcomes will benefit councils and Victorian citizens by providing an innovative, practically applicable framework for policy implementation using consultative processes.Read moreRead less