This article addresses the resource dependencies of voluntary sports club in two Rhineland welfare states with differences in their organizational arrangements of sports (e.g. the centralization of the Sport for All policy). On the basis of the VOCASPORT typology of sports policy systems and the resource dependence theory the composition of the revenues of non-profit sports clubs in Flanders (Belgium) and Germany is analysed and related to organizational contingency factors as well as similarities and differences in the sports policy systems. Data are used from the Flemish and the German panel survey of non-profit sports clubs. The results show that Flemish and German sports clubs differ regarding size, year of foundation and offered sports, but are very similar with regard to their financial structure. Both Flemish and German sports clubs strongly depend on third sector income, regardless of organizational factors. No remarkable differences were found with regard to the dependency on state income. The results suggest that sports clubs in the selected Rhineland welfare states, regardless of the organizational arrangement of the sports system they operate in, depend on third sector resources and have considerable decision-making autonomy.
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Dutch citizens on welfare have to volunteer at Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in return for their benefits. Through applying the ‘worlds of justification’ of Boltanski and Thévenot, this article aims to provide a better theoretical and empirical understanding of social justice of policies that obligate welfare clients to participate in CSOs. The analysis of 51 in-depth interviews with Dutch welfare recipients shows that respondents perceive these policies partly but not unilaterally as unfair. If respondents perceive welfare as ‘free money’ and if they are convinced that civic behavior demands interventions against free riding on welfare resources, ‘mandatory volunteering’ is considered as fair. Our main contribution is to the theoretical debate on recognition and redistribution by showing empirically how ‘othering’ plays an important role in determining when mandatory volunteering becomes a matter of redistribution or recognition.
This thesis is about dilemmas, discretionary space and ethics in public welfare. In my position as a lecturer of ethics in socio-legal practices I am concerned with the way in which these practices open up to an ethical development of their professionals. Thus, this thesis is a search for the most fundamental themes and issues in understanding and judging public welfare as a, perhaps, ethical socio-legal practice. In the field of public services professionals function as the intermediary between government and citizen. In their daily work public welfare professionals take care of the important societal task and goal of poverty alleviation. During the last decades, public welfare has developed into a civil right that involves many obligations on the part of the client in return. The requirement to see to it that the client fulfils these obligations has complicated the public welfare professional’s task of helping citizens in need.
The Dutch hospitality industry, reflecting the wider Dutch society, is increasingly facing social sustainability challenges for a greying population, such as increasing burnout, lifelong learning, and inclusion for those distanced from the job market. Yet, while the past decades have seen notable progress regarding environmental sustainability and good governance, more attention should be paid to social sustainability. This concern is reflected by the top-sector healthcare struggles caused by mounting social welfare pressure, leading to calls by the Dutch government for organizational improvement in social earning capacity. Furthermore, the upcoming EU legislation on CSRD requires greater transparency regarding financial and non-financial reporting this year. Yet, while the existing sustainability accreditation frameworks offer guidance on environmental sustainability and good governance reporting, there must be more guidance on auditing social sustainability. The hospitality industry, as a prominent employer in the Netherlands, thus has a societal and legislative urgency to transition its social earning capacity. Dormben Hotel The Hague OpCo BV (Dormben) has thus sought support in transitioning its social sustainability standards to meet this call. Hotelschool, the Hague leads the consortium, including Green Key Nederland and Dormben, by employing participatory design to present a social sustainability accreditation framework. Initially, Dr. David Brannon and Dr. Melinda Ratkai from Hotelschool The Hague will draft a social sustainability accreditation framework informed by EFRAG. Subsequently, Erik van Wijk, from Green Key Nederland, the hospitality benchmark for sustainability accreditation, and Sander de Jong, from Dormben, will pilot the framework through four participatory workshops involving hospitality operators. Later, during a cross-industry conference, Dr. David Brannon and Dr. Melinda Ratkai will disseminate a social sustainability toolkit across their academic and industry networks. Finally, conference and workshop participants will be invited to form a social sustainability learning community, discussing their social earning capacity based on the revised sustainability accreditation.
In the last decade, the concept on interactions between humans, animals and their environment has drastically changed, endorsed by the One Health approach that recognizes that health of humans and animals are inextricably linked. Consideration of welfare of livestock has increased accordingly and with it, attention into the possibilities to improve livestock health via natural, more balanced nutrition is expanding. Central to effects of healthy nutrition is an optimal gastrointestinal condition which entails a well-balanced functional local immune system leading to a resilient state of well-being. This project proposal, GITools, aims to establish a toolbox of in vitro assays to screen new feed ingredients for beneficial effects on gastrointestinal health and animal well-being. GITools will focus on pig and chicken as important livestock species present in high quantities and living in close proximity to humans. GITools builds on intestinal models (intestinal cell lines and stem cell-derived organoids), biomarker analysis, and in vitro enzymatic and microbial digestion models of feed constituents. The concept of GITools originated from various individual contacts and projects with industry partners that produce animal feed (additives) or veterinary medicines. Within these companies, an urgent need exists for straightforward, well-characterized and standardized in vitro methods that provide results translatable to the in vivo situation. This to replace testing of new feed concepts in live animal. We will examine in vitro methods for their applicability with feed ingredients selected based on the availability of data from (previous) in vivo studies. These model compounds will include long and short chain fatty acids, oligosaccharides and herbal-derived components. GITools will deliver insights on the role of intestinal processes (e.g. dietary hormone production, growth of epithelial cells, barrier function and innate immune responses) in health and well-being of livestock animals and improve the efficiency of testing new feed products.
Het is erg moeilijk om het welzijn van herpeten vast te stellen zonder invasieve handelingen, zoals corticosteron metingen in het bloed, te verrichten. Dit onderzoek richt zich op het gebruik van non-invasieve (observatie en ontlasting) methoden als valide indicaties van het welzijn van herpeten. Zo kunnen stesshormonen gemeten worden in ontlasting van herpeten (Scheun, Greeff, & Ganswindt, 2018) waardoor bloedonderzoek niet nodig is. Onderzoek heeft uitgewezen dat bij in het wild levende herpeten (roodwangschildpadden, Cash et al. 1997) al binnen een half uur het corticosteron gehalte in het bloed significant hoger is na een hanteersessie. Het is nog niet bekend hoelang het duurt voordat deze corticosteron in de ontlasting te vinden is. De focus van dit onderzoek ligt op de baardagame (Pogona vitticeps) als meest gehouden herpeet in gevangenschap. Na validatie van de observeerbare stressindicatoren met metingen van stresshormonen in de ontlasting, zullen er dieren worden gehuisvest volgens verschillende richtlijnen; bijvoorbeeld van LICG, PvH, het Groot Handboek Terrariumkunde. Vervolgens wordt er gekeken of er een verschil is in de uitingen van stressindicatoren bij verschillende huisvestingsmethoden. Met de metingen van stresshormonen kan tegelijkertijd de vraag beantwoord worden hoelang corticosteron in de ontlasting zichtbaar blijft. De verwachte op te leveren producten zijn; observeerbare gedragsindicatoren voor het meten van welzijn bij de Baardagame, richtlijnen voor het bepalen van welzijn van de Baardagame door professionals zoals de RVO en bijgestelde huisvestingsrichtlijnen te gebruiken door de hobbyist. Dit (praktijk)onderzoek is een samenwerking tussen drie Aeres mbo-locaties Dierverzorging, het practoraat Dierenwelzijn en -gezondheid, het lectoraat ‘Smart Animal Behaviour & Welfare Management’ van Hogeschool Van Hall Larenstein, een dierenartspraktijk en twee belangenverenigingen. De onderzoeksvraag luidt; ‘Is er een correlatie tussen observeerbare stressindicatoren en de stresshormoon spiegel van de Baardagame’?
