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ISSUE ADDRESSED In 2017, the New South Wales Healthy School Canteen Strategy (Strategy) was introduced into primary and secondary schools. Studies have reported that secondary schools have a lower level of compliance with healthy canteen policies compared with primary schools. This study aims to identify and describe the barriers and enablers to implementing the Strategy in Department of Education (DoE) secondary schools in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven regions. METHODS The framework underpinning the study was the systems theory. Canteen managers (CM) and principals from the 21 DoE secondary schools in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven regions were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews. The interviews were structured around the five focus areas of the Strategy, including questions on school nutrition policies and the role of the canteen. Data were collated using the interview guides as a framework and qualitative content analysis, using manual coding, was undertaken. RESULTS Eight (38%) schools participated with seven CMs and six principals interviewed. Barriers to implementing the Strategy included the changing role of the canteen, the increased demands placed on CMs and inconsistencies between the school food environment and the Strategy. Enablers included monitoring implementation, and internal and external support. This study also recognised that previously identified barriers to healthy canteen strategy implementation are ongoing. CONCLUSIONS The school canteen is an integral part of the school environment and therefore needs whole-of-school support if successful implementation of the Strategy is to occur. SO WHAT Addressing the barriers and promoting the enablers identified in this study will support better nutrition policy implementation in secondary schools.

There are ample studies that document the tourism-led growth for single countries and/or a specific region. The nexus on international tourist arrival-induced pollutant emissions and energy consumption has been ongoing in the related literature. This is pertinent, given its inherent implications for environmental sustainability. This study explores the growth impact of international tourist arrivals on quality of the environment in terms of a causality relationship for 16 selected Mediterranean countries by a multivariate framework; this is based on tourism-led growth and the tourism-induced pollutant emissions model for annual data from 1995 to 2014. Our model, therefore, explores the dynamic causal links between tourism, growth, energy, and the environment. We employ the panel causality technique (Emirmahmutoglu and Kose 2011) that allows for heterogeneity and correlations across cross-sections. The data shows correlation among international tourism, economic growth, energy consumption, and pollutant emission. The findings from the causality analysis support the evidence on tourism-induced pollutant emissions and energy consumption as well as the validity of the tourism-led growth hypothesis. The findings also suggest that international tourism is a catalyst for energy consumption and economic growth, which translates into pollutant emissions, implying insightful policy prescriptions. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

New diagnostics and treatment options for the radical cure of Plasmodium vivax malaria are now available. At the 2019 annual meeting of the Vivax Working Group of the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network, participants took part in a roundtable discussion to identify further evidence required to introduce these new tools into policy and practice. Key gaps identified were accuracy and reliability of glucose‐6‐phosphate‐dehydrogenase deficiency tests, health system capacity, and feasibility and cost effectiveness of novel treatment strategies in routine clinical practice. As expected, there were differences in the priorities between country partners and researcher partners. To achieve the 2030 target for the regional elimination of malaria, evidence to address these issues should be generated as a matter of priority. Review of global guidelines alongside locally generated data will help to ensure the timely revision and optimisation of national treatment guidelines that will be vital to meet regional elimination goals.

This paper discusses the limitations and risks associated with the use of output-oriented measures to assess public school performance. In particular, it questions the capability of the performance measures set by external institutions, with respect to schools, to support sustainable educational outcomes. To this end, the ‘street-level bureaucracy’ theory is used in the paper as a basis to analyse the behavioural distortions generated by perceived public service gaps at school level policy implementation. Such unintended behavioural effects are often a major cause of disappointing outcomes when test-based accountability systems are adopted. In the second part of the paper, an insight model referred to a hypothetic medium-sized public school located in a poor area in Colombia is used to illustrate how a feedback approach to school performance measurement can support decision-makers to pursue sustainable education outcomes and to prevent behavioural distortions from perceived public service gaps at ‘street-level’ policy implementation. This analysis outlines an alternative approach to school performance measurement that might help policy makers in extending the domain of governmental benchmarks to performance measures and collaborative efforts that reflect the challenges of holistic education in the context where public schools are located.

This article examines the role of entrepreneurial behaviour, property rights and state effectiveness as determinants of national innovation. Entrepreneurial behaviour reflects not only risk‐bearing and risk‐sharing attitudes but also the capacity to undertake innovation activities. Besides, institutions also play an important role in formalising entrepreneurial behaviour that is crucial for a country's innovation. A comparison is made among three groups of countries—that is, factor‐driven, efficiency‐driven and innovation‐driven economies. Panel‐data econometric techniques are applied to undertake empirical analysis, using macro‐level data covering a time period of 7 years (2010–2016). It is observed that entrepreneurial attitudes and entrepreneurial activities play an important role in determining innovation but the impact varies with the level of economic development. A U‐shaped relationship is observed between innovation and entrepreneurial activities. Innovation‐driven economies have strong property rights and effective policy implementation that help build the confidence of prospective entrepreneurs who are attracted by perceived opportunities. Therefore, perceived opportunities have a significant impact only in innovation‐driven economies. Moreover, innovation is highly suppressed in fragile countries, that is, factor‐driven economies that face serious market distortions and inefficiencies caused by weak property rights and state ineffectiveness. However, no significant relationship is found in efficiency‐driven economies.

This policy analysis reviewed the current legislation and policies on the economic empowerment of people with disabilities in Uganda and explored the views of national stakeholders on the implementation of these policies in practice. The analysis was conducted through a document review and in‐depth stakeholder interviews. The study found that anti‐discrimination policies can only do so much for disability inclusive recruitment. Questions about policy implementation, stakeholder ownership, trust and efficiencies within the system and sufficient accountability mechanisms need addressing, if the existing framework is to be effective and positively impact the lives of people with disabilities in Uganda. © 2020 The Authors. Journal of International Development published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

© 2020 The Authors. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice published by Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd This article offers a multilayered analysis of the subjective perspectives and experiences of key youth justice stakeholders; exploring the inherent dynamism, contradiction, non-linearity, and contentiousness of youth justice policy implementation. We interrogate how professionals make sense and meaning of policy in the real world and how professional perspectives drive and shape their contributions to policy implementation nationally and locally. Contemporaneously, these analyses enable us to critically examine the caricatures, stereotypes, and assumptions that can (mis)inform common constructions, representations, and understandings of youth justice policy trajectories, including those relating to contextual stability, conceptual clarity, robust evidence bases, and purported foundations in stakeholder consensus.

BACKGROUND: This study examined implementation of district sun safety policy in schools and tested correlates of implementation in California public school districts. METHODS: Principals (N = 118) and teachers (N = 113) in California public elementary schools (N = 118) were recruited and completed a survey on sun protection policies and practices. The sample contained schools whose districts subscribed to the California School Boards Association and adopted Board Policy 5141.7 for sun safety. Principals and teachers reported on implementation of ten school practices related to BP 5141.7 indicating which practices were implemented in the school. RESULTS: Years in public education (Exponentiated Score (ES)=0.51, p < .001), years worked in the current district (ES = 0.49, p < .001), perception that parents should take action to protect children from the sun (ES=0.43, p < .01), and personal skin phenotype (Low Risk ES = 0.55; High Risk ES = 0.09, p < .05) were associated with number of practices implemented in the school using multiple Poisson regression. CONCLUSIONS: Policy implementation is more likely among schools with experienced faculty, when parents are seen as important partners in student skin cancer prevention, and when school principals and teachers have a lower personal risk phenotype.

Much of agricultural and agri‐environmental policy is concerned with influencing the behavior of farmers in adopting new practices. An ability to understand and predict adoption of practices is useful for agricultural policy in several ways, including assessing additionality, selecting policy mechanisms, targeting policy to practices, farmer types or regions, and assessing likely policy success. Clear thinking about adoption is sometimes clouded by ambiguous and inconsistent language. We suggest a number of terms that are more specific than “adoption.” Research needs include collection of long‐term data sets on adoption of a variety of practices, understanding what determines continuous, sustained adoption of conservation practices and a better understanding of why adoption varies between farms.

Liberal and republican political theorists have not paid much attention to a theory of public administration or policy implementation. To the extent that they have, they have tended to endorse an ideal‐typical Weberian model of bureaucracy and impersonal ethics of rules to limit street‐level discretion. This article argues that the Weberian bureaucratic ethics is inconsistent with core liberal and republican values and, in fact, dominating at the street level. In order for laws and policies to be implemented in a manner consistent with liberal and republican principles, an alternative public ethics is proposed—a public ethics of care. Building on earlier research, this article argues that a public ethics of care represents an important supplement to liberal and republican ideals, as well as a better alternative to Weberian bureaucratic ethics, for implementing laws and policies at the street level in limited and responsive, nondominating ways.

In this article, we investigate factors affecting hate crime policies by examining anti‐LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) hate crime reports as a type of policy implementation. Analyzing state‐level data drawn primarily from the US Census between 1995 and 2008, we examine how structural and social movement mobilization factors explain hate crime reporting. We find that anti‐LGBT hate crimes are more likely to be reported in more urbanized states and in states with both split political elites and a greater number of LGBT social movement organizations. We discuss the implications of our findings for separating the drivers of policy passage from policy implementation and for complementary criminological and social movement explanations for hate crime reporting.

Author(s): Dickson, Elizabeth; Parshall, Mark; Brindis, Claire D | Abstract: BackgroundComprehensive sexual health education (SHE) reduces risky sexual behavior and increases protective behavior in adolescents. It is important to understand how professionals responsible for implementing SHE policy interpret state and local policy and what influences their commitment to formal SHE policy implementation.MethodsThis descriptive study explored content and delivery of SHE policy in a rural, southwestern state with high levels of poverty, unintended adolescent pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections. The social ecological model (SEM) was used to better understand levels of influence on the implementation of SHE policy.ResultsWe conducted telephone surveys with 38 teachers, 63 nurses, and 21 administrators in public secondary schools. There was substantial local variability in the scope and content of SHE curricula. Respondents identified significant barriers to the delivery of SHE content and minimal evaluation of whether educational objectives were met. Based on participant responses, community and organizational SEM levels had the greatest influence on SHE policy implementation, although examples of all SEM levels were identified.ConclusionsGiven perceived challenges regarding subject matter, successful SHE implementation at the local level requires committed stakeholders working in concert at the school and community levels, backed by strong policy commitment at the state level.

In this paper, I focus on how national policy implementation affects policy revision at the EU level. The main argument is that when policy is implemented in a decentralized manner, it affects the current situation or status quo in member states. This affects the possibilities of any further legislative change at the EU level. The analyses suggests that heterogeneity in national preferences and homogeneity in national status quo points make it less easy to adopt a revised policy. This result is illustrated by the recent discussion on revising the Posting of Workers Directive. Having rather different views on this policy while faced with limited possibilities to shape this policy nationally, makes it difficult to change the Posting Directive. The rather long and difficult negotiations, especially among the member states, about its revision support this implication.

How do states realize social reforms for marginalized groups in settings of entrenched inequality? This article argues that reform implementation is a conflict-ridden process driven by the institutional activism of street-level bureaucrats. Through an ethnographic case study of Mahila Samkhya, a novel government program for women's empowerment in Uttar Pradesh, India, I find that local fieldworkers committed to reform promoted girls' education by mobilizing marginalized citizens and mediating local conflicts. Organizational processes of gender-based training and deliberation enabled fieldworkers to challenge village patriarchy and exclusion and forge programmatic ties with lower caste women. By altering rules to address the practical needs of households, fieldworkers effectively integrated disadvantaged girls into the education system. Institutional activism also engendered conflicts over rules within the bureaucracy, prompting senior officials to advocate for marginalized groups. The findings suggest that institutional commitment to activism is critical for agencies working on the front lines of reform.

Who blames whom in multilevel blame games? Existing research focuses either on policymakers' preferences or their opportunities offered by the institutional structures in which policymakers operate. As these two strands of literature barely refer to each other, in this article we develop an integrated theoretical model of blame‐shifting in multilevel governance systems and assess it empirically. In line with the first strand, we assume that policymakers have a preference for shifting blame onto actors on a different level from themselves. In line with the second, we suppose that opportunities for doing so depend on institutional responsibility for policymaking and policy implementation. We check the plausibility of our integrated model by examining policymakers' blame attributions in three cases where European Union migration policies have been contested: border control, asylum, and welfare entitlements. We find that our integrated model does better in explaining blame‐shifting in these cases than the isolated models.

Commitment or political will is often notable by its absence. While lack of commitment is a key factor in policy failure, it has been challenging to identify and operationalize how commitment can shape successful implementation. This article applies Brinkerhoff's (2000) framework of expressions of commitment to explain how commitment of policy elites shape policy implementation processes. Evidence for five characteristics of commitment traces these expressions from two types of policy elites — politicians and bureaucrats. Primary data from four Indian states were used—Chhatisgarh, Assam, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh—to examine the case of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MGNREGA). The data were collected through interviews with state‐level elites, supplemented by secondary data on the political economy of these states. In explaining how successes and failures of the MGNREGA are attributable to the commitment of these actors, the article considers the politics of policy implementation. It argues that commitment is critical at the sub‐national level in India, and explains the different outcomes of MGNREGA in the four states. The article considers how to strengthen policy implementation, and demonstrates that this can be done through capitalizing on positive feedback loops between different strands of commitment, as well as between commitment of administrative elites and political party leaders. The paper concludes that commitment and capacity feed off each other, improving implementation of social policies.

The introduction of the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) reforms were hailed in 2014, by the then Government, as the most significant change to SEND policy for 30 years. Despite the changes introduced, the 2015 Code continued to place responsibility for the co‐ordination of provision for children with special educational needs within the remit of the SENCo. This article forms part of a wider study which examined the role of the SENCo at this time of significant reform; the study aimed to understand the role of the SENCo as a policy actor tasked with policy implementation, as well as their perceptions of the impact during the first year of reform. This article discusses the themes that arose from the in‐depth semi‐structured interviews carried out with SENCo participants during 2014/2015, which explored reflections on the SENCo role, SENCo activities undertaken across the year, and how SENCos facilitated the implementation of the 2015 Code. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Author(s): Mittal, Maria L; Artamonova, Irina; Baker, Pieter; Strathdee, Steffanie A; Cepeda, Javier; Banuelos, Arnulfo; Morales, Mario; Arredondo, Jaime; Rocha-Jimenez, Teresita; Clairgue, Erika; Bustamante, Elaine; Patino, Efrain; Gaines, Tommi; Beletsky, Leo | Abstract: Background and objectivesPolicing practices do not reflect recent decriminalization of drug possession in Mexico. We assessed knowledge of cannabis law as part of a police education program (PEP) post-drug law reform in Tijuana.MethodsOfficers took pre-/post-PEP surveys; random subsample (n = 759) received follow-up assessments. Longitudinal logistic regression (pre-, post-, 3-months post-PEP) measured knowledge of cannabis law.ResultsPEP increased conceptual knowledge of cannabis law from baseline to post-training (AOR = 56.1, CI: 41.0-76.8) and 3 months post-PEP (AOR = 11.3, CI: 9.0-14.2).Conclusion and scientific significancePEPs improve police knowledge of cannabis law. Reforms should be bundled with PEPs to improve policy implementation. (Am J Addict 2018;XX:XX-XX).

To control the spread of COVID-19, the government of India imposed a nationwide lockdown on all nonessential activities from 22 Mar. to 3 May 2020. Daily ambient particulate matter ≤10 µm in diameter (PM10 ), particulate matter ≤2.5 µm in diameter (PM2.5 ), NO, NO2 , and O3 concentrations in Delhi and Kolkata from 1 March to 3 May in both 2019 and 2020 were collected from different monitoring stations along with meteorological data to study the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on ambient pollutant concentrations. In 2020, average ambient concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 were significantly decreased (Delhi: 59 and 43%, respectively; Kolkata: 49 and 50%, respectively) during the lockdown period compared with the same period during 2019 in both cities. Average ambient O3 concentration in Delhi was significantly lower in 2020 (38.5 µg m-3 ) compared with 2019 (44.7 µg m-3 ) during the study period. However, average ambient O3 concentration was significantly higher during 2020 (46.9 µg m-3 ) compared with 2019 (31.4 µg m-3 ) in Kolkata. Effect size analysis of different predictive variables reveals that the lockdown period explains maximum variation in ambient concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 during 2020 in both cities. However, maximum variation in ambient O3 concentrations in both cities was explained primarily by spatial variation rather than by the lockdown period. This study suggests that major policy implementation related to the transport and industrial sectors that aims to address the ambient air pollution problem in India may reduce the ambient particulate matter concentrations, although it may not have a significant effect on other ambient air pollutants such as O3 in major Indian cities.

Contemporary conservation must address social well-being while still protecting biodiversity. Accordingly, the objective of the Convention on Biological Diversity's recent Zero Draft Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework is to sustainably meet the needs of people while reducing biodiversity loss. However, frequent “failures” in achieving this social-ecological balance necessitates more holistic, systematic, and adaptive post-2020 conservation interventions. The Theory of Change (ToC) approach provides a useful and flexible tool to support this endeavor. However, debate persists over its usefulness, and “best” manner of use. This paper explores the elements of, and proposes a framework for developing robust conservation ToC pathways. The framework emphasizes the importance of producing a shared vision of desired results and actions, and associated causal assumptions, among actors. Furthermore, evaluation is considered key to informing required ongoing adaptation to better achieve desired results. The paper also critically explores the challenges associated with ToC, and makes recommendations for its improved use in post-2020 conservation. In particular, we aim to inform the implementation and mainstreaming of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, especially at a national- and local-level. The framework and discussion should be relevant to a broad range of conservation actors at various scales that must address linked social and ecological objectives.

Normalisation Process Theory (NPT), used nationally and internationally to explore implementation within health services research, is used for the first time within policing to understand profound policy implementation failure and to generate broader discussion of policy implementation theory. The policy in question (Police to Primary Care [P2PC]) was an intervention designed to notify GPs when women are assessed by police as at high risk of future domestic abuse. Designed to improve interagency communication, it took place amidst radical organisational change.\ud \ud Using qualitative interviews with domestic abuse specialist and frontline officers, this paper addresses how NPT helps to explain the (non)implementation of P2PC, how such an analysis differs from other policy implementation approaches, and what this means for our understandings of policy implementation more broadly.\ud \ud NPT proved useful in understanding mechanisms leading to (non)implementation of the intervention: fuzzy alignment with existing practice, faulty communication of purpose, and inattention to discretionary implementation spaces. It helped us understand why the intervention came to be invisible. Dwarfed by its organisational context, made institutionally hard to read by a lack of formal protocols, and given restricted view to police officers, it was compromised by a failure to instigate systems of organisational learning.\ud \ud More broadly, NPT helped reveal practices intersecting top‐down and bottom‐up implementation theory. The paper concludes by asking how NPT and theories of street‐level bureaucracy might be better used in tandem and, particularly, how this might help explorations of policy implementation where human actors are joined by technological actors in interpreting and making policy in vivo.