The challenge of program evaluation: When increasing program participation decreases the relative well-being of participants

Two goals of food assistance programs are to improve well-being and to increase participation among those in need. Progress in meeting the first goal can be measured by the difference in well-being between participants and eligible non-participants. This gap in well-being though can be affected by progress made toward the second goal of increasing participation rates. In particular, if those with the lowest levels of well-being disproportionately enter the program, the gap can increase. To examine whether this tension between goals exists empirically, we consider the case of the Food Stamp Program and its effect on food insecurity in the United States, using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). In particular, we use variation in State policies (the change in administrative error rates and the combined value of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and food stamp benefits) to analyze whether increasing participation rates leads to increases in the difference in food insecurity rates. Controlling for other factors, we find evidence of the tension between these two program goals insofar as States with policies which encourage participation have higher differences in the food insecurity rates of participants and non-participants.     

Land owners’ perception of land consolidation and their satisfaction with the results – Slovenian experiences

Land consolidation has been an important instrument of rural development for over a century throughout Europe. Nowadays, land consolidation can be an integral part of both rural and urban development projects, but the focus of our study is on land consolidation in rural areas. In addition to the efforts aimed at making agriculture and forestry more competitive through a comprehensive reallocation process, improvement of road and drainage networks, landscaping, environmental management, conservation projects, and other functions may be implemented in land consolidation. There are differences in the objectives and procedures of land consolidation among the countries. Beside the formal institutional framework of land consolidation, informal institutions can have a substantial influence on the implementation of land consolidation. In the article, the past experiences in the field of land consolidation in Slovenia are presented, which are still reflected in the limited acceptability of this instrument among land owners. Furthermore, the current institutional (legal) framework is analyzed in detail. The main objective of the research was to investigate the opinion of land consolidation participants about land consolidation. Based on the field survey conducted on a sample of private land owners involved in selected land consolidation projects we tried to define the advantages and disadvantages of the current practice. The main finding is that the active participation of land owners contributes to their comprehension of the aims and to their satisfaction with the results of the land consolidation. It has been shown that the active participation of land owners in the land consolidation is the basis for developing good practices; moreover, it affects the land owners’ perception of land consolidation. The transfer of knowledge and representation of good practices among actors are still needed, in particular because of bad experiences in the past (i.e. enforced and environmentally unfriendly projects) and the traditional emotional attachment to land among land owners. In parallel, there is a great need to provide an optimization of the land consolidation process in Slovenia.     

Moving out or living on a mound? Jointly planning a Dutch flood adaptation project

All over the world spatial flood risk management policies are on the rise. This paper analyses the planning process for the Overdiepse polder, a so-called “Room for the River” project in the Netherlands. After high water in the 1990s, the Dutch government changed its flood risk management policy. While before 2000 it leaned heavily on dikes to separate water from land, after that year spatial measures to “let the water flow” were introduced. This required the integration of two formerly separated policy domains: flood risk management and land use planning. In the densely populated and economically highly developed Netherlands, returning space to the river unavoidably impacts on the lives and livelihoods of those who live and work along the rivers. Therefore, such spatial measures to decrease flood risk have to be negotiated with various stakeholders. The planning process towards making the Overdiepse polder suitable for temporary water storage deserves more in-depth analysis. We describe and analyze the development of relationships between key actors in the planning process, with a focus on planning practices rather than on assumptions about the existence of certain types and qualities of relationships. We conclude, among others, that citizen involvement can, under specific socio-political and institutional conditions, build trust among stakeholders and increase local legitimacy for interventions by government agencies. However, it should not be idealized as “self-governance” or assumed to be part of a unidirectional change in water interventions towards new relationships between actors.     

Public participation and local environmental planning: Testing factors influencing decision quality and implementation in four case studies from Germany

Public and stakeholder participation in environmental planning is often assumed to enhance effectiveness through improving the environmental quality of decisions and enhancing implementation. We draw on the literature on participatory environmental governance in order to derive key participation-related factors that are hypothesized to impact on decision quality and implementation. We then outline four cases of decision-making processes in local environmental planning in Germany, representing a variety of forms of public participation, and what we suggest can be seen as four different pathways to ‘success’ in participatory planning. The case studies, recounted on the basis of stakeholder interviews and secondary research, are subjected to a cross-case analysis in order to examine the influence of participation in each case. We consider how key participation-related factors played out across the cases, and assess both decision quality and implementation against counterfactual non-participatory, or less-participatory, scenarios. In moving beyond accounts of ‘what happened’, and considering how participation changed the order of things relative to ‘what would have happened’ under different scenarios, the research highlights how very different pathways may lead to ‘success’ in participatory environmental planning from the viewpoint of process organizers and planners sympathetic to environmental issues. We conclude that, given the significance of context and surprises, planners and process organizers must be open to different pathways to the successful conclusion of participatory planning processes.     

Participation in groupware-mediated communities of practice: a socio-political analysis of knowledge working

This paper adopts a communities of practice approach to examine how the introduction of a groupware application in a UK pharmaceuticals company enabled and constrained knowledge working. We will refine the analysis by distinguishing between participation that is undertaken in what is referred to as political enclaves, and participation that takes place in safe enclaves. We will discuss how the deliberate intervention of some employees moderated some of politicising, and facilitated increased participation. The paper concludes by suggesting ways in which existing theoretical conceptualisations of information systems and knowledge work may be expanded to consider socio-political issues in more depth.     

体验旅游与济南历史文化名城景观塑造问题的思考

随着生活水平的提高,现代人的旅游模式已进化到"体验旅游"这一高级阶段,针对体验旅游的特征,本文对济南的城市景观进行了思考,分析目前存在的不足,并提出了强化易识别的城市景观结构;营造多样性的城市景现环境体验氛围;突出差异性的城市景观元素;完善参与性旅游的互动平台的相应解决策略.     

Employee reactions to voice and choice in the workplace: the influence of culture

The present study investigated the effect of culture on a much-prescribed management practice, that of employee participation in decision making. A survey was conducted among employees from two countries culturally distinct in the dimensions of power distance and individualism, namely Canada and the Philippines. Given eight decision-making scenarios that varied in terms of whether voice and/or choice was given to the employee and in terms of the importance of the outcomes, the respondents were asked about their perceptions of fairness of the procedures and outcomes, satisfaction with the procedures and outcomes, and preference for the decision-making procedures. Results show a highly significant country decision-making mode outcome importance interaction effect, but not in the directions expected. Overall, the Philippine sample registered more positive reactions to participation in decision making, although the Philippines' higher rank in power distance and lower rank in individualism than Canada seem to indicate otherwise. The results, together with a previous study conducted in high power distance-low individualism Mexico, forcefully suggest that employee participation in decision making may be successfully transferred.     

我国城市社区建设中社区参与问题成因及对策探析

社区参与是社区建设的关键环节,在社区发展起着举足轻重的作用.但是我国城市的社区参与存在总体参与率低、参与被动、渠道不畅通等问题,严重制约着社区建设工作的开展.只有增强居民的社区参与意识,完善社区管理体制和相关法律法规,才能进一步促进社区参与,进而实现社区自治的目标.     

市民利益平衡下的城市设计导则的运作机制

新的社会环境下,适应社会利益主体多元化的社会发展格局是城市设计导则实施其控制引导城市规划、建设活动的理念、方法和效果的核心.论文通过对我国城市设计开发中各个"参与方"的动机分析,就城市设计导则的编制到实施的各个阶段作了系统的归纳,提出导则编制应以市民利益平衡为出发点,注重公众参与,明确政府部门的权责关系;结合我国规划编制体系现状,强调了以利益平衡为宗旨下的设计导则实施机制的可操作性思路和方法.     

Tax-benefit systems and differences in aggregate labour force participation: Comparative evidence from the Czech Republic and Hungary

This paper investigates the extent to which cross-country differences in aggregate participation rates can be explained by differences in tax-benefit systems. We take the example of two countries, the Czech Republic and Hungary, which – despite a lot of similarities – differ markedly in labour force participation rates. Using comparable individual-level labour supply estimates, we simulate how the aggregate participation rate would change in one country if the other country’s tax and social welfare system were adopted. The estimation results for the two countries are quite similar, suggesting that individual preferences are essentially identical in the two countries. The simulation results show that about one-third of the difference in the participation rates of the 15–74 year-old population and more than two-thirds of the participation of the prime-age population can be explained by differences in the tax-benefit systems.