Sustainable public/private partnerships for public service delivery

This article defines three kinds of public/private partnership, lists their potential benefits and explains common issues and problems in their operation with examples from developing countries. It then defines and discusses the concepts of social sustainability and financial sustainability in relation to public/private partnerships, and emphasizes the importance of applying sustainability criteria to each partner. It is argued that essentially the same criteria apply to non-profit NGOs as to for-profit firms, despite their differences in goals and values. The article concludes with some suggested strategies for effective international technical co-operation in the establishment of public/private partnerships.     

Catalyzing Collaboration: Wisconsin’s Agency-Initiated Basin Partnerships

Experience with collaborative approaches to natural resource and environmental management has grown substantially over the past 20 years, and multi-interest, shared-resources initiatives have become prevalent in the United States and internationally. Although often viewed as “grass-roots” and locally initiated, governmental participants are crucial to the success of collaborative efforts, and important questions remain regarding their appropriate roles, including roles in partnership initiation. In the midst of growing governmental support for collaborative approaches in the mid-1990s, the primary natural resource and environmental management agency in Wisconsin (USA) attempted to generate a statewide system of self-sustaining, collaborative partnerships, organized around the state’s river basin boundaries. The agency expected the partnerships to enhance participation by stakeholders, leverage additional resources, and help move the agency toward more integrated and ecosystem-based resource management initiatives. Most of the basin partnerships did form and function, but ten years after this initiative, the agency has moved away from these partnerships and half have disbanded. Those that remain active have changed, but continue to work closely with agency staff. Those no longer functioning lacked clear focus, were dependent upon agency leadership, or could not overcome issues of scale. This article outlines the context for state support of collaborative initiatives and explores Wisconsin’s experience with basin partnerships by discussing their formation and reviewing governmental roles in partnerships’ emergence and change. Wisconsin’s experience suggests benefits from agency support and agency responsiveness to partnership opportunities, but cautions about expectations for initiating general-purpose partnerships.     

Enhanced learning from multi-stakeholder partnerships: Lessons from the Enabling Rural Innovation in Africa programme

Despite increasing interest and support for multi‐stakeholder partnerships, empirical applications of participatory evaluation approaches to enhance learning from partnerships are either uncommon or undocumented. This paper draws lessons on the use of participatory self‐reflective approaches that facilitate structured learning on processes and outcomes of partnerships. Such practice is important to building partnerships, because it helps partners understand how they can develop more collaborative and responsive ways of managing partnerships. The paper is based on experience with the Enabling Rural Innovation (ERI) in Africa programme. Results highlight the dynamic process of partnership formation and the key elements that contribute to success. These include: (i) shared vision and complementarity, (ii) consistent support from senior leadership; (iii) evidence of institutional and individual benefits; (iv) investments in human and social capital; (v) joint resources mobilization. However, key challenges require coping with high staff turnover and over‐commitment, conflicting personalities and institutional differences, high transaction costs, and sustaining partnerships with the private business sector. The paper suggests that institutionalizing multi‐stakeholder partnerships requires participatory reflective practices that help structure and enhance learning, and incrementally help in building the capacity of research and development organisations to partner better and ultimately to innovate.     

Garnering input for recycling communication strategies at a Big Ten University

With increasing environmental challenges confronting our planet, colleges and universities are trying different approaches for minimizing their adverse environmental impacts. Among the approaches being used to revitalize campus sustainability efforts, new waste management strategies have included attempts to improve campus-recycling programs. This paper presents select findings from a comprehensive study at a large, Tier I university aimed at, among other things, informing university administration and decision makers working on the planning and implementation of a new campus-wide recycling facility and program. The researchers used a mixed-method approach to help them develop an understanding of the campus community's (1) perceived barriers to recycling, (2) recycling knowledge, (3) program preferences, and (4) environmental attitudes. The results from a web-based survey (n = 3896, RR1 = 24.9%) suggest, communication efforts for recycling programming should focus more on messages concerning what, how, and where to recycle rather than messages on why to recycle. Furthermore, the results suggest recycling-related publicity approaches should differentiate their mode and content for different segments of the community.     

Hunting, Livelihoods and Declining Wildlife in the Hponkanrazi Wildlife Sanctuary, North Myanmar

The Hponkanrazi Wildlife Sanctuary, North Myanmar and three contiguous protected areas, comprise some of the largest expanses of natural forest remaining in the region. Demand for wildlife products has resulted in unsustainable exploitation of commercially valuable species resulting in local extirpation of vulnerable species. Camera trap, track and sign, and questionnaire-based surveys were used to examine (a) wildlife species targeted by hunters, (b) the importance of wild meat for household consumption, and (c) the significance of hunting as a livelihood activity for resident villages. Certain commercially valuable species highly preferred by hunters were either completely absent from hunt records (tiger, musk deer and otter) or infrequently obtained during actual hunts (bear, pangolin). Species obtained by hunters were commonly occurring species such as muntjacs with low commercial value and not highly preferred by hunters. Fifty eight percent of respondents (n = 84) indicated trade, 27% listed subsistence use and 14% listed human-wildlife conflict as the main reason for hunting (n = 84). Average amount of wild meat consumed per month is not significantly higher during the hunting season compared to the planting season (paired t-test, P > 0.05). Throughout the year, the average amount of fish consumed per month was higher than livestock or wild meat (Friedman test, P < 0.0001). Hunting is driven largely by trade and wild meat, while not a critical source of food for a large number of families could potentially be an important, indirect source of access to food for hunting families. Findings and trends from this study are potentially useful in helping design effective conservation strategies to address globally prevalent problems of declining wildlife populations and dependent human communities. The study provides recommendations to reduce illegal hunting and protect vulnerable species by strengthening park management through enforcement, increasing the opportunity costs of poaching, establishing no-take zones and research to determine the economic significance of hunting for livelihoods.     

Evaluation of unmitigated options for municipal waste disposal site in Tehran,Iran using an integrated assessment approach

It can be difficult for assessors and decision-makers to compare different options for a project, and thus come to a reasoned and objective decision concerning the impacts and its sustainability at the local level. Therefore, using integrated assessment becomes crucially important for evaluating proposed different options. In this paper, we apply the Rapid Integrated Sustainability Assessment Method (RISAM) to evaluate the proposed unmitigated options for a municipal waste disposal site in Tehran, Iran. The results obtained showed that all of the alternative unmitigated options to the current method of open dumping were indicated as being consistent with very weak sustainability. The RISAM method demonstrated offers potential considerable benefits with respect to improved efficiency, reduced need for resources, and improved consistency and transparency in evaluation and reporting.     

How inclusive is inclusive recycling? Recyclers’ perspectives on a cross-sector partnership in Santiago de Chile

Inclusive recycling is the inspiring slogan of a project relying on a cross-sector (public–private–civil society) partnership implemented in Latin America with the objective to improve the socioeconomic conditions of recyclers. Through a qualitative study in Santiago de Chile, this paper seeks to understand how inclusive inclusive recycling is, by assessing how organised recyclers perceive the goals, the process, and the outcomes of this project. The main findings converge in observing a general low inclusion of recyclers, but they also enable to decompose the notion of inclusion into three dimensions: “inclusive goals” refers to the extent to which the goals of the recyclers are taken into account when designing the collaboration project; “inclusive process” refers to the extent to which recyclers are involved in the process of implementing the project; and “inclusive outcomes” refers to the capacity of the partnership to acknowledge the achievements of recyclers organisations before (and during) the project and to take into account the ongoing local dynamics when evaluating the project. These findings contribute to better understand the position and challenges of recyclers in this type of partnership and more generally to shed light on the potential power imbalance in waste management cross-sector partnerships.     

Exploring the co-benefits (and costs) of home gardening for biodiversity conservation

ABSTRACT

Despite growing evidence pointing to the multiple benefits of home gardening, few studies have considered the health and well-being benefits perceived by gardeners who are principally motivated by biodiversity conservation (i.e. home gardening for biodiversity conservation). This study explores the environmental, social and economic co-benefits (and costs) of home gardening for biodiversity conservation in the City of Winnipeg, Canada. A total of 42 semi-structured interviews (30–60?min each) were conducted with 50 home gardeners who were formally certified or locally recognised for undertaking multiple gardening activities that promote biodiversity conservation. Thematic analysis revealed that study participants self-reported a range of environmental, psychological, physiological and social outcomes associated with their home gardening experiences. Despite home gardening often being a solitary activity, most gardeners valued the multiple forms of social interaction that occurred during important social events in their garden, or when connecting with passers-by. Home gardeners also cited benefits related to connection to nature and place attachment; attention restoration; reduced stress and anxiety; improved mood; satisfaction and pride; increased self-esteem and courage to do things differently in life; and, important education or learning opportunities. However, conflicts relating to the nexus between biodiversity and perceived tidiness of gardens emerged, which raise important ethical and social justice issues for sustainability planning. We compare key insights to the benefits (and costs) of community gardening and make some recommendations for future research, including how to engage more disadvantaged groups in gardening for conservation.     

The importance of context for effective public engagement: learning from the governance of waste

This paper takes a new look at the importance of context – institutional and political – in effective public engagement processes. It does so through a rare comparative opportunity to examine the effectiveness of processes of public engagement in two UK waste authorities, where the same waste company was involved as both the primary contractor for the delivery of the waste management service (including new energy-from-waste facilities) and, furthermore, the same staff delivered the public engagement. Interrogating these cases affords the opportunity to place flesh on the bones of the sometimes ‘abstract’ skeleton of context. While engagement processes support effective local governance in an era of partnerships and deliberative democracy, the paper identifies that the methods adopted cannot be played out devoid of detailed understanding and response to local context, including the strength of partnership working between the public and private sector, the degree of political support for engagement, and the extent to which a traditional institutional paternalism still dominates.     

Sustainability Assessment for Agriculture Scenarios in Europe’s Mountain Areas: Lessons from Six Study Areas

Sustainability assessment (SA) is a holistic and long-range strategic instrument capable of assisting policy-making in electing, and deciding upon, future development priorities. The outcomes of an SA process become more relevant and strengthened when conducted with multi-stakeholder engagement, which provides for multiple dialogues and perspectives. This was the object of research of the SA team in the context of BioScene (Scenarios for Reconciling Biodiversity Conservation with Declining Agriculture Use in Mountain Areas in Europe), a three-year project (2002–2005) funded by the European Union 5th Framework Program, which aimed to investigate the implications of agricultural restructuring and decline for biodiversity conservation in the mountain areas of Europe, using three distinct methodological streams: the ecological, the socio-economic, and the SA approaches. The SA approach drew on the previous two to assess the importance for biodiversity management of different scenarios of agri-environmental change and rural policy in six countries (France, Greece, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), develop causal chains, include stakeholder views, and identify potential contributions for, or conflicts with, sustainability. This article tells how SA was used, what sustainability meant in each study area through different objectives of sustainability considered, discusses the methods used in SA, and the benefits arising. The SA was conducted by a team independent of any study area, who developed and oversaw the application of the SA methodology, assisting national teams, and developing a cross-country understanding of the sustainability of proposed scenarios in the different geographical and social contexts, and their implications for policy-making. Finally, it reflects on the persistent challenges of interdisciplinary research, compounded by multi-cultural teams, and concludes on the BioScene’s lessons for the further development and application of SA.

A discussion to promote global sustainability techniques for motivating plastic waste to minimize carbon footprints

This paper emphasizes the significant challenges facing the sustainable environment, including managing and handling plastic waste and reducing carbon footprints. To tackle these challenges, it is essential to identify people's awareness levels of waste handling techniques and their pro-environmental behaviors. The study focuses on Guwahati, one of the most important cities in Northeast India, which generates increasing plastic waste daily. The paper aims to identify the factors contributing to the reduction of carbon footprints resulting from plastic waste management activities. The data collected from 1326 respondents was analyzed using factor analysis, and the reliability of the dataset was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha (0.84 for the awareness level of waste management techniques and 0.780 for the prevalent mode of plastic waste management techniques). KMO (0.796), Bartlett's test of sphericity (p < 0.001), and determinant score (0.019) were used to assess the data adequacy and factorability of the dataset, and the results were found to be satisfactory. Principal component analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and varimax orthogonal rotation method were used to identify high-loaded factors by reducing the number of variables. The results showed that two highly loaded components, namely awareness level of waste management techniques (AWMT) and prevalent mode of plastic waste management techniques (PWMT), explained 27.53% and 24.34% of the total variance, respectively, with eigenvalues of 3.35 and 2.88. The regression model confirmed the statistical significance of these factors (p < 0.001) and their relationship with the dependent variable, greenhouse reduction (GHGR). The study proposes that minimizing carbon footprints in the environment can be achieved by focusing on a limited number of controllable factors such as AWMT and PWMT. This study provides valuable insights to the authorities in controlling waste generation and achieving a pollution-free environment.     

Incorporating Recreational Users into Marine Protected Area Planning: A Study of Recreational Boating in British Columbia, Canada

Marine protected areas (MPAs) and zoning plans require an understanding of stakeholders if they are to be successful at achieving social and biological objectives. This study examines recreational boaters in a proposed MPA in British Columbia, Canada, using the recreation opportunity spectrum (ROS) and models of recreation conflict as a basis for investigation. Boaters (n = 543) visiting the region during the summer completed face-to-face surveys. Results show variability in boater setting preferences, supporting an ROS-based approach to MPA planning and zoning. While boaters as a whole placed the greatest importance on natural settings, sailboat operators expressed stronger preferences for natural and quiet settings relative to motorboats, and motorboat operators expressed stronger preferences for settings characterized by built facilities and extractive activities relative to sailboats. Several marine activities emerged as sources of perceived conflict for boaters, including personal watercraft, commercial whale watching vessels, and shellfish aquaculture. Our analysis indicates that while some of these may be addressed through zoning, others are better addressed through education and communication. Recommendations for both MPA management and future research are made.     

Household income,living and working conditions of dumpsite waste pickers in Bantar Gebang: Toward integrated waste management in Indonesia

This paper clarifies household income, living and working conditions of dumpsite waste pickers at Bantar Gebang final disposal site for municipal solid waste generated in Jakarta, and investigates the feasibility of integrating the informal sector into formal waste management in Indonesia. The first author did fieldwork for totally 16 months at the site and quantitative field surveys were conducted twice during the period. All respondents in the first round quantitative survey (n = 1390) were categorized as follows: waste pickers, family workers, wage labors, bosses, family of the bosses, housewives, pupils/students, preschoolers, the unemployed, and others. Based on the results of the second round quantitative survey (n = 69 households), their average household income was estimated to be approximately US 216 dollars per month (n = 59 households), which was virtually equivalent to the minimum wage in Jakarta in 2013. Living conditions of scavengers at the site were horrible, and their working conditions were dangerous due to medical waste and other sharp waste. Polluted groundwater was one of the serious environmental problems at the site. Despite the social, health and environmental problems, they were attracted to the freedom of entering the informal recycling system in Bantar Gebang and withdrawing from the system, in which a lot of opportunities were provided for the people having few marketable skills to obtain cash earnings. The freedom of their choice should be guaranteed as a prerequisite before integrating the informal sector into formal waste management. Furthermore, special attentions are required when incomes of scavengers are the same level as minimum wages and the national economy is rapidly growing, because scavengers cannot easily change their jobs due to few marketable skills. Indonesian national waste laws and regulations should be properly applied to facilitate a socialization process at final disposal sites. Measures need to be taken to prevent children from working as informal recycling actors, especially for waste pickers aged 15 or younger.     

The influence of institutions and organizations on urban waste collection systems: an analysis of waste collection system in Accra, Ghana (1985-2000)

Urban waste collection system is a pivotal component of all waste management schemes around the world. Therefore, the efficient performance and the success of these schemes in urban pollution control rest on the ability of the collection systems to fully adapt to the prevailing cultural and social contexts within which they operate. Conceptually, institutions being the rules guiding the conduct of public service provision and routine social interactions, waste collection systems embedded in institutions can only realize their potentials if they fully evolve continuously to reflect evolving social and technical matrices underlying the cultures, organizations, institutions and social conditions they are designed to address. This paper is a product of an analysis of waste collection performance in Ghana under two different institutional and/or organizational regimes; from an initial entirely public sector dependence to a current mix of public-private sector participation drawing on actual planning data from 1985 to 2000. The analysis found that the overall performance of waste collection services in Ghana increased under the coupled system, with efficiency (in terms of total waste clearance and coverage of service provision) increasing rapidly with increased private-sector controls and levels of involvement, e.g. for solid waste, collection rate and disposal improved from 51% in 1998 to about 91% in the year 2000. However, such an increase in performance could not be sustained beyond 10 years of public-private partnerships. This analysis argues that the sustainability of improved waste collection efficiency is a function of the franchise and lease arrangements between private sector group on the one hand and public sector group (local authorities) on the other hand. The analysis therefore concludes that if such franchise and lease arrangements are not conceived out of an initial transparent process, such a provision could undermine the overall sustainability of private sector initiatives in collection services delivery in the long term, as in the case of the Accra example.     

Partnerships for local sustainability and local governance in a Tasmanian settlement

This research is concerned with effects and actions at the local level, where it is argued that local governing processes are key to developing sustainable communities. The roles of the citizen and of formal government are changing such that the implementation of sustainability praxis at the local level requires that citizens and governments reconsider both the meaning and techniques of governance. Indeed, how we are governed, participate in governing processes and internalise and accept the need for change will affect how local communities make constant and lasting a dynamic praxis of sustainability. Actors in local governments and communities may be crucial in this task—especially as facilitators, enablers, leaders and partners. In this paper we focus on the Huon Valley Council and some members of one of its communities. We examine how they are experimenting with partnerships as a form of governance to unify, control, mobilise and regulate the conduct of various actors, and how such partnerships may foster sustainability praxis in the Valley's diverse communities of place and interest.     

Institutional,Individual, and Socio-Cultural Domains of Partnerships: A Typology of USDA Forest Service Recreation Partners

Federal land management agencies, such as the USDA Forest Service, have expanded the role of recreation partners reflecting constrained growth in appropriations and broader societal trends towards civic environmental governance. Partnerships with individual volunteers, service groups, commercial outfitters, and other government agencies provide the USDA Forest Service with the resources necessary to complete projects and meet goals under fiscal constraints. Existing partnership typologies typically focus on collaborative or strategic alliances and highlight organizational dimensions (e.g., structure and process) defined by researchers. This paper presents a partner typology constructed from USDA Forest Service partnership practitioners’ conceptualizations of 35 common partner types. Multidimensional scaling of data from unconstrained pile sorts identified 3 distinct cultural dimensions of recreation partners—specifically, partnership character, partner impact, and partner motivations—that represent institutional, individual, and socio-cultural cognitive domains. A hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis provides further insight into the various domains of agency personnel’s conceptualizations. While three dimensions with high reliability (RSQ = 0.83) and corresponding hierarchical clusters illustrate commonality between agency personnel’s partnership suppositions, this study also reveals variance in personnel’s familiarity and affinity for specific partnership types. This real-world perspective on partner types highlights that agency practitioners not only make strategic choices when selecting and cultivating partnerships to accomplish critical task, but also elect to work with partners for the primary purpose of providing public service and fostering land stewardship.     

Partnerships for local sustainability and local governance in a Tasmanian settlement

This research is concerned with effects and actions at the local level, where it is argued that local governing processes are key to developing sustainable communities. The roles of the citizen and of formal government are changing such that the implementation of sustainability praxis at the local level requires that citizens and governments reconsider both the meaning and techniques of governance. Indeed, how we are governed, participate in governing processes and internalise and accept the need for change will affect how local communities make constant and lasting a dynamic praxis of sustainability. Actors in local governments and communities may be crucial in this task—especially as facilitators, enablers, leaders and partners. In this paper we focus on the Huon Valley Council and some members of one of its communities. We examine how they are experimenting with partnerships as a form of governance to unify, control, mobilise and regulate the conduct of various actors, and how such partnerships may foster sustainability praxis in the Valley's diverse communities of place and interest.     

A comparison of two models for dealing with urban solid waste: Management by contract and management by public–private partnership

In work, we compared two models for dealing with urban solid waste in Brazil, namely, management by contract and management by public–private partnership. Management by contract, which is widely used by the public sector (municipalities) for urban solid waste collection and disposal and for acquiring goods and services for periods not greater than 60 months, is governed by Federal Law 8.666/93. Management by public–private partnership is governed by Federal Law 11.079/04 for contracts worth more than US$11,000,000 and involves costs for the private partner and public partner. The financial return for the private partner must be clearly delineated and the contract should last from 5 to 35 years. Management by public–private partnership that involves the management of municipal solid waste is very recent in Brazil. For this reason, the comparison between the two forms of management of municipal solid waste (management by contract and management by public–private partnership) described in this work is unprecedented in this country. Both of these models are used in the municipality of São Bernardo do Campo in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. For this study, information was gathered through semi-structured interviews with public works managers in São Bernardo do Campo, with members of an Association of Recyclable Material Collectors and with managers of a company contracted by the São Bernardo do Campo city hall, and also by researching public documents provided by the city hall. The interviews with the managers of the municipality of São Bernardo do Campo, the Association and the company were held in the headquarters of each institution. The documents analyzed, such as the plan for dealing with municipal solid waste, contracts and bids were made available electronically. Analysis of the results indicated that management by a public–private partnership was more advantageous for dealing with urban solid waste than management by contract since the former provided a strong selective collection program, reduced the amount of solid waste sent to sanitary embankments, led to the recovery an area of land previously degraded by the incorrect disposal of urban solid waste and stimulated the installation of an energy recovery unit.     

Valuing Recreational Benefits of Coral Reefs: The Case of Mombasa Marine National Park and Reserve, Kenya

A contingent valuation study was conducted with adult Kenyan citizens and foreign tourists to estimate the value of recreational benefits arising from coral reefs at Mombasa Marine National Park and Reserve (MMNPR), and to assess the implications for local reef management. Citizen and foreign visitors to MMNPR were willing to pay an extra $2.2 (median = $2.2 (median = 1.6) and $8 (median = $8 (median = 6.7) per visit respectively, in addition to current park entrance fees, to support reef quality improvements. By aggregating visitors’ willingness to pay bids over the number of visitors to MMNPR in 2006–2007 the value of benefits was estimated at 346,733, which was more than twice the total annual operational expenditure of346,733, which was more than twice the total annual operational expenditure of 152,383 for MMNPR. The findings indicate that annual revenues from citizen and foreign visitors may be increased by 60% to 261,932 through the implementation of proposed higher park fees of261,932 through the implementation of proposed higher park fees of 3.10 for citizens and $15 for foreign visitors. However, any fee increase would serve to intensify concerns among citizens that only relatively affluent Kenyans can afford to visit MMNPR. Park managers need to demonstrate that the extra revenue would be used to fund the proposed conservation activities. This valuation study demonstrates that visitors are prepared to pay higher user fees for access to the marine protected area revealing considerable untapped resource to finance reef quality improvements.     

Participatory development for regional sustainability in Western Australia: an enabling state?

Regionally specific sustainability processes that account for diverse environments and populations and that integrate social, economic, political and ecological spheres are being developed in Western Australia. A coordinated commitment to sustainability principles and a participatory philosophy by the state and local governments is necessary. This requires a transformation of the public service, from a director of passive programmes and laws to a facilitator of community projects and outcomes, towards an enabling state. An international participatory paradigm provides an array of concepts and methods for local and regional communities in partnership with government and industry to achieve this. Participatory methodologies are utilised successfully around the globe to create an institutional framework that facilitates a process of dialogue, partnership, networking, learning and managing change. This paper examines the potential contribution of a participatory approach to improve the participatory capacity of regional communities and both local and state governments towards the facilitation of regional sustainability processes.