title: Wellbeing and public policy: Can New Zealand be a leading light for the ‘Wellbeing Approach’?

authors: Weijers, Dan M.

abstract: Delegates left the Third International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy with great expectations following three days of inspirational addresses by some of the world’s most prominent thinkers and policymakers. In this article we ask: what is required for a wellbeing approach to public expenditure to be successfully implemented and sustained?
The wellbeing approach arose out of concerns about whether the current suite of measures used by policymakers provides sufficient information on the full range of contributors to or components of the good life. Sometimes divided on what wellbeing is and how to measure it, proponents of the wellbeing approach agree that the ultimate goal of public policy should be to improve wellbeing for all citizens. In order for this wellbeing approach to be successful, we believe it must address three main challenges: measurement, representation and engagement. We must be clear about how wellbeing will be measured, whose wellbeing we will assess, and the extent to which all New Zealanders are represented in the conversations that will determine the first two issues.

text: Wellbeing and public policy: Can New Zealand be a leading light for the ‘Wellbeing Approach’? Delegates left the Third International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy with great expectations following three days of inspirational addresses by some of the world’s most prominent thinkers and policymakers. In this article we ask: what is required for a wellbeing approach to public expenditure to be successfully implemented and sustained?
The wellbeing approach arose out of concerns about whether the current suite of measures used by policymakers provides sufficient information on the full range of contributors to or components of the good life. Sometimes divided on what wellbeing is and how to measure it, proponents of the wellbeing approach agree that the ultimate goal of public policy should be to improve wellbeing for all citizens. In order for this wellbeing approach to be successful, we believe it must address three main challenges: measurement, representation and engagement. We must be clear about how wellbeing will be measured, whose wellbeing we will assess, and the extent to which all New Zealanders are represented in the conversations that will determine the first two issues.

year: 2018

title: Towards Comprehensive Policy Integration for the Sustainability of Small Islands: A Landscape-Scale Planning Approach for the Galapagos Islands

authors: Pazmino, Andrés

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Accomplishing and implementing sustainable development goals in the context of insular socio-ecological systems requires effective policy integration—i.e., the integration of policy actors across multiple sectors and levels of government to improve policy outcomes. However, achieving policy integration entails significant challenges because it is highly context-dependent. This study investigates policy integration within the complex socio-ecological context of the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador. The paper analyses Galápagos legal and planning documents to evaluate the extent to which they support comprehensive policy integration. The analysis found that recently adopted institutional arrangements have strengthened government institutions at the provincial level, and started to consider concepts relating to socio-ecological and land–sea management. Nevertheless, key policy actors and pressing issues remain unattended, due to policy inconsistencies, institutional arrangements limitations, and fragmented approaches to conservation and development control between provincial and local governments. Insights are presented to improve the comprehensiveness of policy integration in Galápagos based on a landscape-scale planning approach.

text: Towards Comprehensive Policy Integration for the Sustainability of Small Islands: A Landscape-Scale Planning Approach for the Galapagos Islands Accomplishing and implementing sustainable development goals in the context of insular socio-ecological systems requires effective policy integration—i.e., the integration of policy actors across multiple sectors and levels of government to improve policy outcomes. However, achieving policy integration entails significant challenges because it is highly context-dependent. This study investigates policy integration within the complex socio-ecological context of the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador. The paper analyses Galápagos legal and planning documents to evaluate the extent to which they support comprehensive policy integration. The analysis found that recently adopted institutional arrangements have strengthened government institutions at the provincial level, and started to consider concepts relating to socio-ecological and land–sea management. Nevertheless, key policy actors and pressing issues remain unattended, due to policy inconsistencies, institutional arrangements limitations, and fragmented approaches to conservation and development control between provincial and local governments. Insights are presented to improve the comprehensiveness of policy integration in Galápagos based on a landscape-scale planning approach.

year: 2018

title: A Journey Beyond the Bars: Participants' Experiences of Psychological Treatment in a Prison Setting

authors: Terrill, Damian James

subjects: Prison

abstract: This study explored the experiences of high-risk male offenders at varying stages of a prison-based residential rehabilitation programme. Information was elicited by means of 1:1 semi-structured interviews with three adult offenders: one programme completer, one approaching completion and one non-completer. The opinions of three members of unit staff (two programme facilitators and one custodial officer) were also included. Having identified a lack of process-focused qualitative research in the criminological literature, this thesis has attempted to provide an insight into the lived experiences of offenders undergoing a residential rehabilitative intervention. The results are presented through a combined postmodernist, social constructionist discourse. They identify a series of coherent themes which emphasise the importance of numerous contextual, linguistic and communicative variables in dictating the participants’ self-perspectives and engagement with treatment. I will examine in particular, the role of motivation, the importance of the therapeutic bond established between participants and therapists, the relevance of the therapeutic environment, and the impact of both bi-cultural therapy and notions of individual stigmatisation. The overall findings are related to the broader penological literature in order to inspire further experiential analyses of offenders undergoing treatment, and to offer points for consideration in the application of prison-based rehabilitative interventions.

text: A Journey Beyond the Bars: Participants' Experiences of Psychological Treatment in a Prison Setting This study explored the experiences of high-risk male offenders at varying stages of a prison-based residential rehabilitation programme. Information was elicited by means of 1:1 semi-structured interviews with three adult offenders: one programme completer, one approaching completion and one non-completer. The opinions of three members of unit staff (two programme facilitators and one custodial officer) were also included. Having identified a lack of process-focused qualitative research in the criminological literature, this thesis has attempted to provide an insight into the lived experiences of offenders undergoing a residential rehabilitative intervention. The results are presented through a combined postmodernist, social constructionist discourse. They identify a series of coherent themes which emphasise the importance of numerous contextual, linguistic and communicative variables in dictating the participants’ self-perspectives and engagement with treatment. I will examine in particular, the role of motivation, the importance of the therapeutic bond established between participants and therapists, the relevance of the therapeutic environment, and the impact of both bi-cultural therapy and notions of individual stigmatisation. The overall findings are related to the broader penological literature in order to inspire further experiential analyses of offenders undergoing treatment, and to offer points for consideration in the application of prison-based rehabilitative interventions.

year: 2010