Policy progress with REDD+ and the promise of performance-based payments: A qualitative comparative analysis of 13 countries

Policy progress with REDD+ and the promise of performance-based payments: A qualitative comparative analysis of 13 countries
Author: Maria Brockhaus
Publisher: CIFOR
Total Pages: 41
Release: 2015-11-06
Genre:
ISBN:

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and enhancing forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+) has emerged as a promising climate change mitigation mechanism in tropical forest countries. This paper examines the national political context in 13 REDD+ countries in order to identify the enabling conditions for achieving progress in the implementation of countries’ REDD+ policies and measures. The analysis builds on a previous qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) of various countries’ progress with REDD+, conducted in 12 REDD+ countries in 2012. A follow-up survey in 2014 was considered timely because the REDD+ policy arena, at international and country levels, is highly dynamic and undergoes constant evolution, which affects progress with REDD+ policy making and implementation. In this paper, we examine whether the ‘promise’ of performance-based funds has played a role in enabling the establishment of REDD+. The results show a set of enabling conditions and characteristics of the policy process under which REDD+ policies can be established. Two key findings of our analysis, the importance of already initiated policy change and the relevance of available performance-based funding in combination with strong national ownership of the REDD+ process, may help guide other countries seeking to formulate REDD+ policies that are likely to deliver efficient, effective and equitable outcomes.

Harvesting Feminist Knowledge for Public Policy

Harvesting Feminist Knowledge for Public Policy
Author: Devaki Jain
Publisher: IDRC
Total Pages: 395
Release: 2011-11-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 8132107411

Harvesting Feminist Knowledge for Public Policy brings together 14 essays by feminist thinkers from different parts of the world, reflecting on the flaws in the current patterns of development and arguing for political, economic, and social changes to promote equality and sustainability. The contributors argue that the very approach being taken to understand and measure progress, and plan for and evaluate development, needs rethinking in ways that draw on the experiences and knowledge of women. All the essays, in diverse ways, offer proposals for alternative ideas to address the limitations and contradictions of currently dominant theories and practices in development, and move towards the creation of a socially just and egalitarian world.

Transformations in Higher Education Governance in Asia

Transformations in Higher Education Governance in Asia
Author: Darryl S. L. Jarvis
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2019-08-06
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9811392943

This book documents experimentation with various policy and governance approaches that produce structural differences in the composition and organisation of Asia’s higher education systems. In view of the wide variation in the public and private provision of higher education, it showcases how issues of access, equity and modes of participation are addressed, how institutional and programme quality are managed and how academic labour is treated and developed. The book both maps these differences and analyses the country-level dynamics, policy approaches and the problems faced by a variety of states in Asia in the race to develop competitive higher education systems. Focusing on the intersection of governance and higher education policy, it addresses the challenges facing higher education in Asia and the national responses of governments in terms of the organisation of the sector.

Politics Is for Power

Politics Is for Power
Author: Eitan Hersh
Publisher: Scribner
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2020-01-14
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1982116781

A brilliant condemnation of political hobbyism—treating politics like entertainment—and a call to arms for well-meaning, well-informed citizens who consume political news, but do not take political action. Who is to blame for our broken politics? The uncomfortable answer to this question starts with ordinary citizens with good intentions. We vote (sometimes) and occasionally sign a petition or attend a rally. But we mainly “engage” by consuming politics as if it’s a sport or a hobby. We soak in daily political gossip and eat up statistics about who’s up and who’s down. We tweet and post and share. We crave outrage. The hours we spend on politics are used mainly as pastime. Instead, we should be spending the same number of hours building political organizations, implementing a long-term vision for our city or town, and getting to know our neighbors, whose votes will be needed for solving hard problems. We could be accumulating power so that when there are opportunities to make a difference—to lobby, to advocate, to mobilize—we will be ready. But most of us who are spending time on politics today are focused inward, choosing roles and activities designed for our short-term pleasure. We are repelled by the slow-and-steady activities that characterize service to the common good. In Politics Is for Power, pioneering and brilliant data analyst Eitan Hersh shows us a way toward more effective political participation. Aided by political theory, history, cutting-edge social science, as well as remarkable stories of ordinary citizens who got off their couches and took political power seriously, this book shows us how to channel our energy away from political hobbyism and toward empowering our values.

Well-Being: Expanding the Definition of Progress

Well-Being: Expanding the Definition of Progress
Author: Alonzo L. Plough
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2020-10-22
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0190080493

Cities and countries around the globe are starting to incorporate a well-being approach by reorienting policies and budgets to benefit people and long-term sustainability. With insights from an international group of scientists, practitioners, and innovators, Well-Being considers the measurement focus of conversations surrounding well-being, then moves beyond to action: shifts in policy, narratives, and power, and alignment with other movements acrosssectors.

Progress for the Poor

Progress for the Poor
Author: Lane Kenworthy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 171
Release: 2011-08-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0199591520

One of the principal goals of antipoverty efforts should be to improve the absolute living standards of the least well-off. This book aims to enhance our understanding of how to do that, drawing on the experiences of twenty affluent countries since the 1970s. The book addresses a set of questions at the heart of political economy and public policy: How much does economic growth help the poor? When and why does growth fail to trickle down? How can social policy help? Can a country have a sizeable low-wage sector yet few poor households? Are universal programs better than targeted ones? What role can public services play in antipoverty efforts? What is the best tax mix? Is more social spending better for the poor? If we commit to improvement in the absolute living standards of the least well-off, must we sacrifice other desirable outcomes?

The Power of Progress

The Power of Progress
Author: John Podesta
Publisher: Crown
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2008-08-19
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0307405699

AMERICA IS FACING UNPRECEDENTED CHAL LENGES—new threats to our economic well-being, our environment, and our security. The American people are looking for real answers; the next president must mobilize our government and our citizens in ways that no president has done since FDR. America needs the power of progress . . . once again. At the turn of the twentieth century, the American Dream was beginning to dim in a nation riven by growing inequalities in wealth and run by a powerful network of privileged industrialists and their political allies. But that era also gave birth to a renaissance in American political thought that forever changed our nation. At a time when conservative ideology served as an excuse for the accumulation of wealth and privilege, the original Progressive movement created a new political order built on America’s basic principles—justice and equality for all, economic opportunity, and a commitment to the common good. The lives of all Americans have been profoundly improved by the achievements of progressive reformers, from the eight-hour workday and voting rights to our victory in the Cold War and the economic gains middle-class Americans enjoyed under our most recent progressive president, Bill Clinton. Today’s challenges demand a second great Progressive era. America needs an economy in which workers at every income level share in our riches; a climate policy that stops global warming and ends our addiction to fossil fuels; and American leadership in the global fight against terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and poverty. In The Power of Progress, John Podesta—former Clinton chief of staff—along with his colleague, John Halpin, explains how progressive values changed America in the wake of the Gilded Age and how these values will reshape America after the Bush presidency. Tapping the spirit of great progressive leaders from Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt to Martin Luther King Jr., The Power of Progress provides the road map toward a government responsive to the needs of its citizens; one that is focused on our generation’s greatest challenges: combating global warming, growing our economy and expanding the middle class, and meeting America’s twenty-first-century security challenges.

Gender Equality and Public Policy

Gender Equality and Public Policy
Author: Paola Profeta
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2020-04-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1108423353

This book offers a comprehensive and in-depth overview of how public policy is shaping gender equality in Europe.

Progress in Bioethics

Progress in Bioethics
Author: Jonathan D. Moreno
Publisher: MIT Press (MA)
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2010
Genre: Law
ISBN:

Leading scholars debate politically progressive perspectives on bioethics and the implications for society, politics, and science in the twenty-first century.