Civil society says G20 growth must look to inclusive, balanced, string, sustainable outcomes

The G20 forum closed in Australia on Sunday, with agreements to close multinational tax loopholes, boost growth and infrastructure spending, improve trade, step up climate change action, strengthen banks, and better respond to the Ebola outbreak in west Africa.

The G20 brought with it a number of partner meetings, which have delivered their responses to the official communique: See the statements from L20 (labour) and B20 (business).

See below for the full statement from the C20 (or ‘Civil Society 20’).

Policy and governancePower to Persuade18 November 2014politics and democracy

Doing Development Differently: Report back from the two mind- blowing days at Harvard

Duncan Green, strategic adviser for Oxfam GB and author of ‘From Poverty to Power’ offers some tips, observations and concerns about 'Doing Development Differently' that are likely to strike a chord for readers in the social and health sectors too.

Thanks to Duncan for permission to republish the article, originally published on his blog.

Whats the problem? ComplexITY and social policy

The push to collaborate has increased the complexity of the policy-making and policy-implementation processes.

To collaborate effectively, the right supports and platforms are necessary. In this post, Dr Gemma Carey from Australian National University reflects on this problem, and what she and others are doing to remedy it.

Creating using evidence, Policy and governanceDr. Gemma Carey16 November 2014policy research, policy making

What it means to defund the Indigenous Law Centre

Dr Leon Terrill is a lecturer in the UNSW Law School and a Fellow of the Indigenous Law Centre (ILC). He outlines how Federal Government cuts tofunding mean the ILC is seeking community support to continue its important work – including the only two Indigenous-specific law journals published in Australia .It is rare for a week to go by in Australia without some Indigenous legal issue making the news. Just this week examples include the introduction of Koori Youth Courts in NSW, native title negotiations in Queensland, reforms to land rights in the Northern Territory and Constitutional recognition in Western Australia and at a national level. Complex issues, right? Complex and significant, which is why community legal education is so important.

Advocacy, Finance and economics, IssuesPower to Persuade14 November 2014social justice, funding models, indigenous issues

Violence against women: prevalent, serious and preventable

In today's post, Kate Hauser, Health Promotion Worker at Women’s Health West, the women’s health service for the western metropolitan region of Melbourne, explores the implications of VicHealth's recently released National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey.

Creating using evidence, IssuesPower to Persuade12 November 2014violence against women

The future of welfare: Social policy no longer the 'Poor Cousin'

I was fortunate to chair Day Two of The Conversation\ Informa ‘Future of Welfare’ conference on October 31st. It showcased what is emerging as a brave new world of social policy research and advocacy in Australia. As Labor MP Jenny Macklin observed in the concluding address to the conference: social policy is no longer ‘the Poor Cousin’ to economic policy in the Australian political scene. What struck me as distinctive features of this brave new world?

Welfare Reform and Young People: Policy v evidence

Supporting people into paid work has many positive benefits, but are current 'earn or learn' policies in regards to young people going to help or hinder their economic participation? In this post, Tanya Corrie and Susan Maury from Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand reflect on what the evidence says, and ways policy can be built to enable better outcomes.

Creating using evidence, IssuesGood Shepherd5 November 2014evidence-based policy, social inequalities, young people

FRIDAY FUN- what type of program Evaluation are you? Take this easy quiz to find out!

I know it's the question that keeps you awake at night...'If I were a program evaluation' you think to yourself, 'what kind would I be?'

Creating using evidencePower to Persuade31 October 2014research

"it's like being caught in a whirlpool" participant musing on creating change, from the 2014 Power to Persuade symposium

The 2014 Power to Persuade Symposium was held in Melbourne on the 16th of September. One of our afternoon sessions, ‘Practical Strategies for Implementation’ focussed on a participatory workshop process, where the symposium attendees were asked to reflect on their work. This article summarises the key themes that arose from this workshop process.

Creating using evidence, Social Policy WhispererGuest User29 October 2014research, lauren siegmann

The progressive ideals behind Open Government Data are being used t further interests of the neoliberal state.

The LSE Impact Blog knows the secret to brightening any Monday...a bit of neoliberalism and Big Data.

A range of social actors are pushing for Open Government Data, from open research advocates to the private sector, resulting in a complex and contested landscape. Jo Bates examines recent developments on how the government have been able to use the rhetoric of transparency for political ends, paving the way for the implementation of long term austerity. She argues we cannot make assumptions about the benefits of ‘openness’ and must continue to revisit the data infrastructure and governance framework.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade27 October 2014politics and democracy

Negative stereotypes and evidence-based policy

Cynicism has been creeping into debates over evidence-based policy. We've certainly noticed this in the last two PTP symposiums, with speakers urging a more realistic adoption of 'informed policy'. Below,Kathryn Oliver, Simon Innvær, Theo Lorenc, Jenny Woodman, andJames Thomas examine some of the on-going barriers to evidence-based (and even evidence-informed) policy. This post originally appeared on the LSE Impact Blog.

Whats wrong with impact agenda?

Dr James Rees (@JamesRees_tsrc) from the Third Sector Research Centre examines the challenges of emerging 'impact agendas' with regard to funding community sector organisations. This is the second of three blog posts from James which tackle different aspects of this issue.Part one, Taming the monster', examined the value add of the community sector in service delivery and policy implementation.

Creating using evidencePower to Persuade23 October 2014outcome and impacts

Sponsored policy research: getting the right balance between academic policy and its 'usefulness'

This post originally appeared on Professor Christina Boswell's personal blog, but we felt it was highly relevant in Australia particularly given the recently announced review of the ARC's Cooperative Research Centre program. Christina in a Professor of Politics at the University of Edinburgh, her research explores the use of knowledge in policymaking and politics.

What should we be paying attention to in policy, cause or effect?

When we think about policy and politics, we tend to gravitate to the elite - concentrating on the efforts of a select few in shaping the process. In today's post, Dr Kemran Mestan provides a timely reminder to not lose sight of policy effects.

Kemran is a senior research officer at La Trobe University, you can read more about his research here.

Creating using evidencePower to Persuade20 October 2014outcome and impacts

A closer look at policy targeting and its role in addressing inequality

Policy that targets those groups most in need is the fairest way to distribute limited resources, right? Not necessarily, writes Dr Gemma Carey.

What do we do when the public services market fails?

What happens when outsourced contractors are no longer able or willing to continue with the provision of public services? In this post below from the London School of Economics and Political Science blog British Politics and Policy, Bob Hudson explores the downsides of outsourcing public services and writes that public services should be seen as something more than a contract put out to the market to secure ‘value for money’.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade17 October 2014markets in public services

From Choice to voice in Social Service Reform

In his latest Social Policy Whisperer column below, Prof. Paul Smyth from the University of Melbourne says we should not be looking for advice on the future of our social services from a quasi market perspective.

Nuances of evidence-based policy

Creating using evidencePower to Persuade10 October 2014evidence-based policy

The future of the public service: generalist or specialist roles?

The 21st Century Public Servant project is examining the major changes occurring for public servants and the concomitant skill and knowledge base required to adjust to them. These include cuts to budgets, increased localisation, greater demands for service user voice and control, increased public expectations and a mixed economy of welfare provision. The project builds on the findings of the 2011 University of Birmingham Policy Commission into the ‘Future of Local Public Services’ which identified the need to pay attention to the changing roles undertaken by public servants and the associated support and development needs.It is a Knowledge Exchange project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council in partnership with Birmingham City Council.

This year, Associate Professor Helen Dickinson (@drhdickinson) and Professor Helen Sullivan (@helenCsullivan) from the Melbourne School of Government have been conducting a number of interviews in Australia exploring similar issues to the English project. Below, Helen provides some early reflections from this analysis (first published on the 21C blog). Their findings suggest that soft skills (communication, brokering and so on) are increasingly critical for an effective public sector.

Policy and governanceDr. Gemma Carey9 October 2014policy making

Embracing the messy: systems-thinking in public policy

In many fields, from healthcare to social policy, we are experiencing a renaissance when it comes to embracing the ‘messy’. ‘Systems thinking’ – where we learn to look beyond objects to embrace the relationships between them and the messy ‘whole’ they create – has seen significant advances in recent years, particularly in relation to how we can extend these concepts from the natural sciences to explore social problems, such as obesity, crime and tobacco control. Below, a real life story of what systems thinking can bring to public policy provided by Joseph A. Curtatone and Mark Esposito (and first shared on the LSE Impact Blog). For more on systems thinking check out 'Systems Change' and 'Thinking in Systems'.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade7 October 2014policy making

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