This paper reports on the Design-for-Sustainability (DfS) approaches practiced in Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Peru to help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The study is part of a project funded by the Council on Australian Latin American Relations (COALAR) titled 'South-to-South: activating Australian Latin American Cooperation through Sustainable Design Education', which is a collaborative endeavour of DfS educators from 8 universities in the above-named countries. The current phase of the project involves an initial collection of 60 case studies of products, services and systems that deliver positive impacts to society, the environment and the economy in the Australia and Latin America. The SDG case studies will be shared, discussed and built on during the upcoming LeNS South-to-South educators' symposia, students' workshops and research collaboration dialogues.
Both institutional (vertical) & local (horizontal) approaches have been taken to study local government. The institutional approach studies local government autonomy & interaction with other political or territorial units, while the local focus analyzes local decision-making processes; studies on Western & Latin American democracies utilizing these approaches are cited. A basis analytical proposal that integrates these two foci in studying the dynamics of local government is described. In this proposal, local government is a relevant actor per se in a political network with discretionary power & the ability to act strategically. Other elements in the analysis are political elites, intergovernmental relations, local action networks, & local groups. Tables, Figures, References. M. Pflum
Background: Developing diversity-responsive healthcare systems calls for inclusive public and patient involvement policy and practice. Although several studies show that migrants and ethnic minorities are amongst the groups least involved in health participatory spaces, few efforts have been made to assess whether policy on public and patient involvement in healthcare governance is sensitive to diversity. This paper addresses this question. Methods: Migrant health experts from 40 countries (including the EU28 and EFTA) completed a questionnaire jointly developed by members of COST Action IS1103, the International Organization for Migration and the Migrant Integration Policy Index, in 2014-2015. The 24-item questionnaire included two questions about policy on the involvement of migrants in health policy-making and care provision, respectively. Results: Preliminary results show that 60% of the countries surveyed have not formulated policy enabling migrants' involvement in health policy-making. In the countries where such policy exists, migrants participate through one-off consultation exercises, i.e. none of the countries surveyed promote migrants' structured cooperation in policy-making (e.g. through advisory boards or regular reviews of legislation, services or outcomes). Concerning policy on involvement in healthcare provision, 28% of the countries promote migrants' participation in information development and dissemination, 28% in service delivery, 13% in service planning, management and evaluation, 18% in research and 10% in mediation between services and the community. Conclusions: Investment in diversity-sensitive policy on public and patient involvement in health care governance is limited. There is a gap between policy and practice, raising concerns about the potentially negative consequences of low migrant involvement in the design and implementation of healthcare policies and programmes seeking to address their needs. Message: Developing diversity-responsive healthcare systems requires inclusive public and patient involvement policy Few countries have invested in making their public involvement policy sensitive to diversity. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Roma health inequities are a wicked problem. Despite concerted efforts to reduce them under the Decade of Roma Inclusion initiative, the health gap between Roma and non-Roma populations in Europe persists. To address this problem, the European Commission devised the National Roma Integration Strategies (NRIS). This paper provides a critical assessment of the implementation of the NRIS' health strand (NRIS-H) in Spain and proposes an evaluation tool to monitor Roma health policies – the Roma Health Integration Policy Index (RHIPEX). It also makes recommendations to promote Roma health governance. To achieve these goals, four community forums, 33 stakeholder interviews and a scoping review were conducted. Results show that the NRIS-H implementation is hindered by lack of political commitment and poor resource allocation. This has a negative impact on Roma's entitlement to healthcare and on their participation in decision-making processes, jeopardising the elimination of the barriers that undermine their access to healthcare and potentially contributing to reproduce inequalities. These unintended effects point out the need to rethink Roma health governance by strengthening intersectional and intersectoral policies, enabling transformative Roma participation in policymaking and guaranteeing shared socio-political responsibility and accountability. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
