The realization of human rights standards depends in part on the commitment of local actors. It can be argued that local public service professionals such as social workers can also be regarded as key players. The possible role of social workers becomes imperative if these professionals are working in a policy context that is not congruent with human rights. If existing laws or policies cause or maintain disrespect for human rights, social workers are in a position to observe that this is having an adverse impact on clients. When social workers are regarded as human rights actors, the question arises how they can or should respond to law and policy that impedes them in carrying out their work with respect for human rights. This article adds to existing theories on social workers as human rights actors by examining the practices of social professionals working in such a challenging policy context. The research took place among professionals in social district teams in the city of Utrecht, the Netherlands. Following a series of decentralizations and austerity measures the social care landscape in the Netherlands has changed drastically over the last few years. As a result, social workers may find themselves on the one hand trying to realize the best possible care for their clients while on the other hand dealing with new laws and policy expectations focused on self-reliance and diminished access to specialist care. The article explores how social professionals’ responses to barriers in access to care affect human rights requirements. In doing so, this socio-legal study provides insight into the ways in which everyday social work relates to the realization of human rights at the local level.
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OBJECTIVE: Standardization of the handover process is deemed necessary to ensure continuity and safety of care. However, local context is considered of equal importance to improve the handover process. Our objective was to determine what recommendations on standardized shift handover nurses make, if we combine evidence from the literature with the local context of the nurses.DESIGN: A RAND-modified Delphi consensus process that combines evidence from systematic reviews with expert opinion of local nurses and an evaluation of the consensus process with a survey.SETTING: One academic medical center in the Netherlands.PARTICIPANTS: Twenty nurses from surgical, medical, neurological, psychiatric, cardiology, children's and gynecology departments.RESULTS: Four systematic reviews on nursing handover were included to compose provisional recommendations on how, what, where and the preconditions of shift handover. Nurses reached consensus on a final set of 18 recommendations for a nursing shift handover blueprint: how (1 recommendation), what (12 recommendations), where (3 recommendations) and the preconditions (2 recommendations), which were structured with the mnemonic NURSEPASS. The nurses assessed the method as an effective approach to develop a local blueprint.CONCLUSIONS: Evidence-based consensus is a feasible method to combine evidence from the literature with local context. We anticipate that implementation of the resulting tailored blueprint for nursing shift handover will be facilitated due to the method used. Through evaluation of its effectiveness, we intend to add to the body of evidence on development and implementation of effective nursing handover, which is an essential link for continuity and safety of care.
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Abstract: Self-management interventions (SMIs) may fail if they misalign with the local context. To optimize the implementation of SMIs in Chinese people with chronic lung disease (CLD), the local context was identified in Chinese primary care (PC) and secondary care (SC). A mixed-method study using semi-structured interviews and quantitative surveys was conducted on people with CLD and healthcare professionals (HCPs). The qualitative data was collected until data saturation was reached, and participants were invited to complete the survey after the interview. The qualitative data—analyzed with the framework approach—was triangulated with the quantitative data. A total of 52 participants completed the interviews, and 48 also finished the survey. Four themes were identified; (a) illness perceptions (e.g., patients had poor CLD knowledge and SM, inadequate resources lead to suboptimal disease control in PC); (b) self-management skills (e.g., most patients delayed exacerbation recognition and action, and some were admitted at the crisis point); (c) factors influencing self-management skills (e.g., (in)adequate disease knowledge and medical expenditure affordability); and (d) needs for self-management (e.g., increased disease knowledge, individualized self-management plan, eHealth, (healthcare insurance) policy support). Identified themes were dependent on each other and should be leveraged when implementing SMIs. Ultimately, such SMIs can optimize patient health outcomes.
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There is an ongoing transition towards renewable energy sources in order to combat climate change. National power grids are suffering due to the rapid introduction of new energy sources and have other disadvantages. Local Energy Systems (LESs) are a beneficial example of an off-grid energy systems that can aid the energy transition. LESs are community driven and require participating and steering members. This can be achieved through empowering end-users to become active participants or steerers. End-users can be empowered to become an active participant through engagement with energy management activities. This does not work for empowering to steer, which begs the question, how to empower end-users or participants to become steerers in Local Energy Systems. Through a literature review this study explores the importance of establishing a group containing steerers with diverse skills, strong leadership, and engagement with the environment and community. Additionally, this study identifies the strategy that empowers end-users to steer. Which is training technological and managemental skills; and training capabilities in establishing relations with local participants and intermediary organisations. To apply these findings more precisely a secondary analysis is conducted on a survey with 599 participants. The original study researched willingness to participate in LESs, however the secondary analysis establishes three important factors to predict willingness to steer. These are energy independence, community trust, and community resistance. Additionally, men with a high level of education are most willing to become steerers per default, thus different demographics generally require more empowerment.
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Our paper investigates the inherent tensions between the local embeddedness of highly tacit knowledge and the global sourcing of ‘open’ knowledge or innovation. A single case study design enabled us to perform a thorough and detailed analysis of inter-firm collaboration and open innovation within the specific context of the Amsterdam denim cluster, which is internationally renowned as a centre of denim expertise with an important focus onsustainability. In-depth interviews and workshops were held with several stakeholders involved in Denim City, such as campus managers and denim brands. We find that open search strategies have more depth than breadth when the collaboration is focused on radical innovation. We also shed light on the complex relation between appropriability and opennesswhen collaboration involves competing firms. We also show that cognitive proximity of partners plays a role in the global sourcing of knowledge.
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The goal of a local energy community (LEC) is to create a more sustainable, resilient, and efficient energy system by reducing dependence on centralized power sources and enabling greater participation and control by local communities and individuals. LEC requires transformations in local energy systems, and strongly depends on the preferences and actions of the local actors involved. The necessity for extensive stakeholder involvement adds complexity to the energy transition, posing a significant challenge for all involved parties. The municipality of Leidschendam-Voorburg has committed to the national decision for energy transition. It has taken a strategic approach by proceeding De Heuvel/Amstelwijk as the pioneer in this initiative, leading the way for other neighborhoods to follow. It is crucial to devise strategies that effectively facilitate stakeholder engagement. To this end, a thorough stakeholder analysis is needed. Such an analysis can focus on the identification of key stakeholders, their interests, their influence, and their behavioral characteristics in relation to the energy transition. Additionally, it's crucial to uncover the challenges encountered by these stakeholders and finally develop appropriate strategies to address them hence enhance their engagement. This thesis begins with an introduction to the research background, including a presentation of the case study and a statement of the problem identified in the field, followed by the research questions underpinning the study. A thorough literature review ensues, providing a robust synthesis of existing research relating to stakeholder engagement in LECs, with a view to expediting energy transitions. The literature review not only forms the foundation for the research methods adopted in this study but also promotes in the construction of the conceptual model. Subsequent to the literature review, the research method is detailed. The filed research is conducted in five steps: Step 1 - identification of stakeholders, Step 2 - prioritization of stakeholders, Step 3 - interviewing, Step 4 - data analysis, including stakeholder profiling with mapping and addressing challenges, and finally, Step 5 - proposal of strategies for stakeholder engagement enhancement based on the expected and current levels of stakeholders engagement. This research collects necessary information to understand the profiles of stakeholders in De Heuvel/Amstelwijk, tackle challenges faced by different stakeholders, propose strategies to increase stakeholders engagement. It not only aims to enrich the depth of theoretical knowledge on the subject matter but also strives to aid in the development of a localized energy strategy that is optimally suited for the De Heuvel/Amstelwijk neighborhood as good example for other neighborhoods.
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Citizen participation in local renewable energy projects is often promoted as many suppose it to be a panacea for the difficulties that are involved in the energy transition process. Quite evidently, it is not; there is a wide variety of visions, ideologies and interests related to an ‘energy transition’. Such a variety is actually a precondition for a stakeholder participation process, as stakeholder participation only makes sense if there is ‘something at stake’. Conflicting viewpoints, interests and debates are the essence of participation. The success of stakeholder participation implies that these differences are acknowledged, and discussed, and that this has created mutual understanding among stakeholders. It does not necessarily create ‘acceptance’. Renewable energy projects often give rise to local conflict. The successful implementation of local renewable energy systems depends on the support of the local social fabric. While at one hand decisions to construct wind turbines in specific regions trigger local resistance, the opposite also occurs! Solar parks sometimes create a similar variation: Various communities try to prevent the construction of solar parks in their vicinity, while other communities proudly present their parks. Altogether, local renewable energy initiatives create a rather chaotic picture, if regarded from the perspective of government planning. However, if we regard the successes, it appears the top down initiatives are most successful in areas with a weak social fabric, like industrial areas, or rather recently reclaimed land. Deeply rooted communities, virtually only have successful renewable energy projects that are more or less bottom up initiatives. This paper will first sketch why participation is important, and present a categorisation of processes and procedures that could be applied. It also sketches a number of myths and paradoxes that might occur in participation processes. ‘Compensating’ individuals and/or communities to accept wind turbines or solar parks is not sufficient to gain ‘acceptance’. A basic feature of many debates on local renewable energy projects is about ‘fairness’. The implication is that decision-making is neither on pros and cons of various renewable energy technologies as such, nor on what citizens are obliged to accept, but on a fair distribution of costs and benefits. Such discussions on fairness cannot be short cut by referring to legal rules, scientific evidence, or to standard financial compensations. History plays a role as old feelings of being disadvantaged, both at individual and at group level, might re-emerge in such debates. The paper will provide an overview of various local controversies on renewable energy initiatives in the Netherlands. It will argue that an open citizen participation process can be organized to work towards fair decisions, and that citizens should not be addressed as greedy subjects, trying to optimise their own private interests, but as responsible persons.
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Energy planning in the built environment increasingly takes place in local settings. Suitable planning models should therefore be able to capture local dynamics, such as stakeholder behaviour, resource availability and building characteristics. In relation to the key challenges of energy transition in the built environment, building efficiency and renewable heating, little attention has been paid to the model characteristics needed to address these challenges. This paper analyses the characteristics of available models from the scientific community and the professional practice. Secondly, the paper reviews modelling approaches for integrating social factors within techno-economic models, as many local dynamics have a non-technical nature. Based on the gaps identified in the analysis, an analytical framework is proposed for local energy planning models for the built environment. Building characteristics, social context factors, temporal dynamics and spatial characteristics have been identified as key building blocks for a new modelling approach. To be able to deal with the socio-technical context, an integrated, socio-technical approach is suggested. This model collaboration, consisting of model calculations and empirical and participatory methods, will be capable of better supporting decision-making in a local, multistakeholdercontext.
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In recent years, the fight against terrorism and political violence has focused more on anticipating the threats that they pose. Therefore, early detection of ideas by local professionals has become an important part of the preventive approach in countering radicalization. Frontline workers who operate in the arteries of society are encouraged to identify processes toward violent behavior at an early stage. To date, however, little is known about how these professionals take on this screening task at their own discretion. Research from the Netherlands suggests that subjective assessment appears to exist. In this article, we argue that the absence of a clear norm for preliminary judgments affects prejudice or administrative arbitrariness, which may cause side effects due to unjustified profiling.
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Based on a theoretical discussion the main difference between models of lineair economy and circular economy are elaborated; (1) Elimination of waste is essential the circulation of circular flows and reclamation of (raw) materials; this requires mechanisms for the return of obsolete materials. (2) Design for circularity; designers need to design for use, disassembly and reclaiming of materials. (3) Dilemma of ownership; who is the owner of the (raw) materials and who is responsible for upscaling waste to raw materials? (4) The circularity of operationals processes such as energy use, production, distribution and transport is also essential.The application of circular economy to resillient communities is empirically illustrated with comparative case studies to show its practical and theoretical value. The emperical cases are taken from te communities of Saerbeck and Lathen (both in Germany), the Spanish Island of El Hierro and the redevelopment of the former sugar factory in Groningen, the Netherlands. Data has been collected through semi-structured interviews and document analysis.The paper concludes by stating that many communities in todays globalised context have become dependent on their larger surrounding network for many resources and that an agenda of local resillience reverts the focus on the qualities and resources within the community. One communities build local reslillience it may boost communal self confidence and social cohesion. The circular economy approach can assist transition.
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