Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Regional government model'

There have been numerous proposals to reform Australia's government structures, both prior to and since Federation in 1901, including calls for New Colonies and New States, Unification plans, Regional Government models spanning across the federal-unitary continuum, and proposals to transfer functions between Commonwealth and State governments, such as the modern day attempts by the Commonwealth government to establish a national Industrial Relations system. But while several functions have been transferred from the States to the Commonwealth since Federation, major changes sought by supporters of New States, Regional Governments and Unification have never been achieved. The financial benefits possible through various reformed government structures are first examined in terms of claims and estimates that have accompanied past reform proposals. Financial benefits are then estimated for the four years from 1998-99 to 2001-02 using population and expenditure data, per capita expenditure comparisons, and various linear and non-linear regression techniques. New States appear likely to cost in the order of $1 billion per annum per New State, and possibly more if costs associated with State-Territory borders are taken into account, but their financial viability could be vastly improved if New State formation follows or is accompanied by functional transfers to achieve national systems in areas such as health and education. It is estimated that Unification and some Regional Government models could achieve financial benefits in the order of five to ten per cent in both public and private sectors and the economy as a whole, which, in June 2002 dollar terms, would amount to some $15 billion to $30 billion per annum in the public sector, $25 billion to $50 billion in the private sector, and hence $40 billion to $80 billion per annum across both public and private sectors and the entire Australian economy. It is also estimated that for several functions, including education and health, unitary national systems under Commonwealth control could generate significant financial benefits, whereas for other functions, notably transport and communications, national systems could prove more costly. Additional research could clarify estimates, but ultimately the only way to fully check estimates is to observe and measure actual reforms in action. If all State-Territory level health care functions, for example, were transferred to the Commonwealth government to achieve a fully national health system, then the benefits and costs of such reform could be assessed with much more certainty than is possible through pre-reform empirical estimates. The establishment of a national health system could also diminish concerns that New States or Regional Governments might exacerbate problems associated with separate State laws, regulations and systems - problems likely to be tolerated least in health care given its life-and-death gravity. And for Unification advocates, a national health system would represent a significant step towards complete Unification across all functions. Estimates appear to be robust when assessed in light of Commonwealth Grants Commission methodologies, differential levels of tax expenditures and privatisation across the current States and Territories, and Australia's economic and industrial geography, and on balance suggest that intelligent government structure reforms have the potential to significantly enhance Australia's financial and economic strength, and hence provide the financial capacity to achieve significantly improved social and environmental outcomes as well.

Thesis (M.C.P. and S.B. in Planning)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2010.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 78-84).
Puerto Rico, an island in the Caribbean, has long sought to develop a high-tech economy and has struggled in the process. Two initiatives, Puerto Rico TechnoEconomic Corridor (PRTEC) and the Eastern Central Technological Initiative (INTECO) seek to encourage local firm formation, attract foreign capital, and improve infrastructure to develop a high-tech economy and an innovation culture in the island. The efforts of the initiatives focus on cooperation from the private sector, the government, and academia. Henry Etzkowitz's triple helix model of university-industry-government relations explains the synergies and organizational infrastructure needed to ensure a sustainable economic growth based on technology and innovation. This thesis focuses on the two initiatives in Puerto Rico whose goal is to promote a high-tech economy in the island. The analysis focuses on the initiatives' relationship with the triple helix's three sectors and how they have been working together to achieve their goals. While the initiatives have made significant progress in firm formation through incubators and community outreach programs to educate about technology, organizational barriers such as lack of transparency in the local grant seeking process and the lack of an entrepreneurial culture have not allowed the initiatives to solidify themselves as the generators of the new knowledge-based economy in Puerto Rico.
by Ana Lorena Ramos-Maltés.
M.C.P.and S.B.in Planning

In recent years, one of the most significant pieces of environmental legislation in New Zealand has been the Resource Management Act (New Zealand Government 1991) that has empowered local government agencies to manage the use of natural resources in their regions. Three Government Departments have been responsible for developing policies directly relating to the use of natural resources in New Zealand. The Department of Conservation has been mainly concerned with the management of natural resources on public land. The Ministry for the Environment has particularly addressed environmental policy issues of national significance. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has worked with New Zealand's agricultural, horticultural and forestry industries to encourage sustainable resource use and development for the benefit of all New Zealanders. In general, local and central government agencies carrying out policy analyses have drawn upon highly goal driven theories such as Rational Choice or Incremental Policy Theories or alternatively they have applied more loosely framed theories such as Systems Policy Thinking or Garbage Can Theory. Policy formulation and instrument selection may have been based upon instrumentalist, proceduralist, contingentist or constitutivist selection criteria, depending upon the assumed influence of peoples' behavioural and social contexts in addition to the technical characteristics of the tools themselves. However, there has been a limited range of policy theories to guide the integration of policy analysis, and formulation and operational planning into a management strategy for effective policy delivery. Such theories would have assisted policy agencies to identify the human and social behaviours most closely related to policy issues and to better match policies to differences in the political and social context of each of the issues that they were dealing with. In academic articles a number of behaviour models from social psychology have been used to explain and predict human behaviour. One of those, the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) has a long history of use in research and application. It has been adapted to suit the needs of policy makers in human health, marketing, and education. Applications of the TRA have been reported to have achieved coefficients of determination for behaviour of on average, 53% in one study and 71% in another. Some of the modified models based upon the Theory such as the Theory of Planned Behaviour, have in themselves been able to make additional contributions to peoples' understanding of how to explain and predict human behaviour in more complex situations. In this report, unless otherwise stated, references to the TRA are inclusive of all associated models, such as the Theory of Planned Behaviour. This thesis has examined the application of the Theory of Reasoned Action in the formulation of environmental policy. Five research questions were considered. 1. Could a human behaviour model based upon the Theory of Reasoned Action be developed sufficiently for environmental policy makers to explain landowner behaviour associated with managing indigenous vegetation? 2. How well could the social psychology model of human behaviour based upon the TRA have predicted public responses to a policy programme? 3. How well could the social psychology model of human behaviour based upon the TRA have distinguished between the policy-intervention needs of different stakeholder groups? 4. How much have peoples' values, attitudes and beliefs affected their behaviour? 5. What would be the immediate antecedents to peoples' behaviour and how have they led to behaviour change? This has been a quantitative study to develop and test models of human behaviour specific to the preservation of indigenous vegetation. Three data sets were compared from surveys of peoples' bush protection behaviour, the establishment of indigenous woodlots and the protection and planting of riparian areas with indigenous vegetation. The results from the analyses have shown that accounting for peoples' intentions could have been used to improve the estimates of peoples' use of policy-desired practices. The coefficients of determination in multivariate equations to predict peoples' natural resource behaviour based upon non-specific (external) variables, varied between 3 - 10%. By including intentions in the models, the level of explanation increased to 10 - 17%. The results may have been lower than expected from other examples in the literature due to poorly specified measures of behaviour relative to the measures used for intentions. When it came to estimating intentions (rather than the actual behaviours), the TRA variables in regression equations achieved coefficients of determination of 55 - 75% and these provided a measure of how well the underlying values, attitudes and beliefs could have given policy makers an understanding of peoples' behaviour. Comparing the beliefs of people with high and low intentions to perform the behaviours, clear differences have been identified that could have been the basis of policy strategies for behaviour change. After analysing and considering these examples, this thesis has argued that the TRA could be used in the future to provide policy agencies with an increased level of understanding of human behaviour and so enable them to formulate policy interventions for achieving predictable levels of behaviour change.

Collaboration is a potential for companies to mitigate risk and use different competencies to create possible solutions. This paper identifies that the automotive industry is going through a rapid transformation and needs collaboration as a way to keep up with the fast pace of change. Using a case study based on the automotive industry in the Stockholm region and with a focus on small and middle-sized enterprises (SMEs, companies with less than 250 employees), this paper aims to address how the regional government can facilitate cooperation 1) within the automotive industry and 2) between the regional government and the automotive industry to keep up with the industrial transformations in the year 2030, by identifying the needs of the industry, highlighting potential collaboration engagement practices, and addressing how the regional government can facilitate collaboration. The paper has identified the needs based on product and production development, business model development, and skill development. For product and production development, SMEs need to create new products or find new markets, adapt products to environmental pressures, produce new products quickly, work closer to the customer, move production closer to the customer, and digitalize and automate production. For business model development, companies need to use sustainability as the core of the business model and include services as part of their portfolio. Finally, for skill development, SMEs need to find skills that meet the market, upskill continuously, develop more problem-solving and analytical skills. This study concludes that there are various activities that the regional government can perform, but need assistance from other actors. Firstly, they could strategize with other regional stakeholders, simplify collaboration within the industry, and increase communication and transparency with all industry actors to facilitate collaboration within the industry. Secondly, they could contribute to infrastructure, foster cluster expansion, and contribute to international competitiveness to aid collaboration between the regional government and the industry. The regional government should aim to execute these activities, but need support from relevant stakeholders, to help with the transition to a different industrial environment.
Samarbete är en möjlighet för företag att mildra risker och använda olika kompetenser för att skapa möjliga lösningar. Denna studie identifierar att fordonsindustrin genomgår snabb omvandling och behöver samarbete som ett sätt att hålla jämna steg med den snabba förändringstakten. Med hjälp av en fallstudie baserad på fordonsindustrin i Stockholmsregionen och med fokus på små och medelstora företag (SMF, företag med färre än 250 anställda) syftar denna studie till att undersöka hur den regionala verksamheten Region Stockholm kan underlätta samarbete 1) inom fordonsindustrin och 2) mellan regionala myndigheten och fordonsindustrin. För att industrin ska kunna hålla jämna steg med de industriella omvandlingarna mot 2030, görs detta genom att identifiera branschens behov, lyfta fram potentiella samarbetsaktiviteter och föreslå hur den regionen kan underlätta samarbete. Studien har identifierat behoven i fordonsindustrin baserat på produkt- och produktionsutveckling, utveckling av affärsmodeller och kompetensutveckling. För produkt- och produktionsutveckling måste små och medelstora företag skapa nya produkter eller hitta nya marknader, anpassa produkter till miljöpressen, producera nya produkter snabbt, arbeta närmare kunden, flytta produktionen närmare kunden och digitalisera och automatisera produktionen. För utveckling av affärsmodeller måste företag använda hållbarhet som kärna i affärsmodellen och inkludera tjänster som en del av sin portfölj. Slutligen, för kompetensutveckling, måste små och medelstora företag hitta färdigheter som möter marknaden, fortlöpande utveckla kompetens samt utveckla mer problemlösnings- och analytiska färdigheter. Denna studie drar slutsatsen att det finns olika aktiviteter som regionen kan utföra, men att de behöver hjälp från andra aktörer. För det första kan de skapa strategier med andra regionala intressenter, förenkla samarbetet inom industrin och öka kommunikationen och transparensen med alla branschaktörer för att underlätta samarbete inom fordonsindustrin. För det andra kan bidra till infrastruktur, främja klusterutveckling och bidra till internationell konkurrenskraft för att underlätta samarbete mellan den regionala verksamheten och industrin. Regionen bör sträva efter att genomföra dessa aktiviteter, men behöver stöd från relevanta intressenter för att hjälpa till med övergången till en förändrad industriell miljö.

El presente trabajo de investigación propone un modelo que analiza el desarrollo del “open government” con el objetivo de mejorar la gobernanza en las regiones del Perú; el modelo propuesto se compone de dos grupos, el primero, el contexto de la información divulgada compuesto a su vez por las categorías de diseño y navegabilidad y el de usabilidad; el segundo grupo, integrado por el contenido de la información divulgada, compuesta por las categorías de transparencia, participación, colaboración y rendición de cuentas. El modelo es aplicado a las páginas web oficiales de las 26 regiones del Perú, los resultados preliminares nos muestran que el Perú se encuentra en un grado inicial de implementación de la transparencia con un incipiente desarrollo en la rendición de cuentas

The work presented here gives a summary of territorial division and public administration development in Slovakia as the bases for present reform of public administration. This work deals with realization of this reform of public administration and territorial division in Slovakia and evaluate process and fulfillment of purposes of this reform. Key words: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The analysis of jobs and roles is one of the most important techniques in personnel management. It provides the information required to produce job descriptions and person- and learning / training specifications. It is of fundamental importance in organisation and job design, recruitment and selection, performance management, training management development, career management, job evaluation and the design of pay structures. These constitute most of the key processes of personnel management. In terms of the Local Government: Municipal System Act, a municipal manager, within a policy framework determined by the municipal council and subject to any applicable legislation, must - • approve a staff establishment for the municipality ; • provide a job description for each post on the staff establishment ; • attach to those posts the remuneration and other conditions of service, as may be determined in accordance with any applicable labour legislation ; and • establish a process or mechanism to regularly evaluate the staff establishment and, if necessary, review the staff establishment and the remuneration and conditions of service. The overall purpose of the research was to develop a model for the implementation of the Tuned Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (T.A.S.K.) job evaluation system at municipalities, in the Eden/Overberg/Central Karoo region. The research methodology comprised of the following steps: • a literature study on job evaluation and a discussion of the different job evaluation systems with special reference to the T.A.S.K. job evaluation system ; • the development of a model for the implementation of the T.A.S.K. job evaluation system in the Eden/Overberg/Central Karoo region ; and • the empirical data required to achieve the research objective which was obtained by means of postal and electronic questionnaires to employees of the various municipalities in the geographical area that will be covered by this research. The following recommendations are made regarding the data obtained from this study: Firstly, briefing sessions at municipalities must include employees of all levels and the following methods must also be added to the process - • Insert articles in the in-house newsletter ; and • Attach a memorandum to employees’ pay advice, informing them about the T.A.S.K. job evaluation system and later on about the progress of the process. Secondly, all disputes regarding placement must be resolved before employees are allowed to draw up their relevant job descriptions.

An increasing national focus on problems related to urban sprawl has fueled debate on the best way for urban areas to accommodate increasing populations. Portland, Oregon has attracted international attention for its growth policies, which are among the most stringent in the United States. Metro, the area's regional government in charge of long-range planning, has designated certain locations as regional centers where increased density and development are to occur. A logical question is whether or not these centers are developing as intended; do Metro's plans match reality on the ground? This study of Washington County, Oregon analyzes land value, building volume, road intersection density, and public transportation availability using ArcGIS to locate potential regional centers in the county to answer that question. Subjective criteria are used during field visits to these locations to determine whether potential centers identified in the ArcGIS analysis are truly regional centers. Change over time is analyzed from 2000 to 2010 to see if the variables mentioned above contribute to regional center development. This study's results show Metro's designated regional centers are, in fact, regional centers or emerging regional centers using the above criteria, meaning this aspect of Metro's plans do match reality on the ground. Commercial land value tends to be the strongest indicator of regional centeredness. This study's findings aid in the understanding of urban areas. They help urban planners in their efforts to create viable plans that accommodate population growth and future development.

The success of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's (HKSARG) e-government initiatives is dependent on the government employees' acceptance and use of the underpinning information, internet and communication technologies (IT). Unfortunately, only a few empirical researches have been conducted to investigate the drivers of IT usage in government workplaces.To predict IT usage, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been tested and demonstrated its predictive power in various contexts. But it does not provide guidance to managers because Davis grouped the antecedents to the TAM constructs as "external factors" so as to focus on the main part of the model and to keep it robust. Hence, these factors are the ultimate drivers that determine the users' behaviors.This research aims to improve the explanatory power of TAM by identifying and including resistance to change (RTC) as a relevant external factor with the assistance from Max Weber's Theory of Bureaucracy (TB). To test the augmented TAM, an email questionnaire survey to 700 randomly selected HKSARG IT users was conducted. Additional information was gathered from senior management to validate the survey results. The results show that the IT users in HKSARG are not valuing usefulness and ease of use of IT in the same manner as employees in most other contexts. In addition, the results confirm that RTC is a relevant and strong external variable to TAM. In line with theories, HKSARG employees, as a whole, tend to have above average level of resistance to change. But statistical test results also revealed that there are heterogeneous behavioural groups within HKSARG. Specifically, younger or more educated users are more willing to change. The existence of these groups has both practical and managerial implications for implementing change.In particular, it is argued that the government should not be viewed and understood monolithically. A better strategy for management to implement change is to target the younger or more educated users first for piloting and to build up sufficient user mass and exert peer pressure to older or less educated users for a more successful implementation of IT across all staff. Because of the weaknesses of the established policies, the HKSARG has an undesirable structural composition (high percentage of older and less educated employees) in the face of change. To tackle the high level of resistance to change, it is suggested that continuous training is a must. Moreover, the training packages should be tailor-made for various groups in the civil service to suit their specific needs and to enhance their capabilities. In the long term, it is recommended that the human resources management policies should be reviewed and modified with an aim to adjust the structural composition of the civil service toward a more change ready workforce. In addition, more research on the characteristics of the public sector is required for a better understanding of the real nature of these large bureaucratic organizations.

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The classic innovation system consider university, firm and government as key elements of the innovation process and the social, economic and environmental sustainability of municipalities, regions and countries. However, relationships between these three actors do not always occur in a simultaneous and coordinated way, so that bilateral relationships between government and university, between academia and firm, and between government and firm are more common. In this context, based on a constructivist and qualitative approach, through an action research, this study presents, analyzes and details the model of innovation system of the Southwest region of Paraná, called Innovative Gear, which has a fourth element as a facilitator of the innovation process. The organization was the Instituto de Desenvolvimento Tecnológico, de Pesquisa e Inovação do Sudoeste do Paraná (IDETEP), a private not-for-profit entity whose function is to connect universities, companies and government and stimulate cooperative innovation in the Southwest Territory. Finally, a framework was defined for essential elements of an innovation system, composed of culture and values, institutions and people, leadership, processes and tools, and results, which could inspire other territories to replicate or adapt the model of innovation, according to their needs, allowing further studies on the subject to be developed in order to perfect the Innovative Gear
Os clássicos sistemas de inovação consideram a universidade, empresa e governo como elementos-chaves do processo de inovação e da sustentabilidade social, econômica e ambiental de municípios, regiões e países. Contudo, nem sempre as relações entre esses três atores ocorrem de maneira simultânea e coordenada, de modo que são mais comuns os relacionamentos bilaterais entre governo e universidade, entre academia e empresa e entre governo e empresa. Nesse contexto, a partir de uma abordagem construtivista e qualitativa, mediante pesquisa-ação, esse estudo apresenta, analisa e detalha o modelo de sistema de inovação da região Sudoeste do Paraná, denominado Engrenagem Inovativa, o qual possui um quarto elemento como facilitador do processo de inovação. A organização objeto de intervenção foi o Instituto de Desenvolvimento Tecnológico, de Pesquisa e Inovação do Sudoeste do Paraná (IDETEP), entidade privada sem fins lucrativos, cuja função é conectar universidades, empresas e governo e estimular a inovação cooperada do território sudoestino. Por fim, delineou-se uma estrutura (framework) de elementos essenciais a um sistema de inovação, composta por cultura e valores, instituições e pessoas, liderança, processos e ferramentas, e resultados, que poderá inspirar outros territórios a replicar ou adaptar o modelo de acordo com suas necessidades, permitindo que novos estudos sobre o tema sejam desenvolvidos a fim de aperfeiçoar a Engrenagem Inovativa

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2003.
Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 268 p.; also includes graphics (some col.). Includes abstract and vita. Adviser: Donald Haurin, Dept. of Economics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 256-268).

Advances in medical technology have altered the need for certain types of surgery to be performed in traditional inpatient hospital settings. Less invasive surgical procedures allow a growing number of medical treatments to take place on an outpatient basis. Hospitals face growing competition from ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). The competitive threats posed by ASCs are important, given that inpatient surgery has been the cornerstone of hospital services for over a century. Additional research is needed to understand how surgical volume shifts between and within acute care general hospitals (ACGHs) and ASCs. This study investigates how medical technology within the hospital industry is changing medical services delivery. The main purposes of this study are to (1) test Clayton M. Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation in health care, and (2) examine the effects of disruptive innovation on appendectomy, cholecystectomy, and bariatric surgery (ACBS) utilization. Disruptive innovation theory contends that advanced technology combined with innovative business models—located outside of traditional product markets or delivery systems—will produce simplified, quality products and services at lower costs with broader accessibility. Consequently, new markets will emerge, and conventional industry leaders will experience a loss of market share to “non-traditional” new entrants into the marketplace. The underlying assumption of this work is that ASCs (innovative business models) have adopted laparoscopy (innovative technology) and their unification has initiated disruptive innovation within the hospital industry. The disruptive effects have spawned shifts in surgical volumes from open to laparoscopic procedures, from inpatient to ambulatory settings, and from hospitals to ASCs. The research hypothesizes that: (1) there will be larger increases in the percentage of laparoscopic ACBS performed than open ACBS procedures; (2) ambulatory ACBS will experience larger percent increases than inpatient ACBS procedures; and (3) ASCs will experience larger percent increases than ACGHs. The study tracks the utilization of open, laparoscopic, inpatient and ambulatory ACBS. The research questions that guide the inquiry are: 1. How has ACBS utilization changed over this time? 2. Do ACGHs and ASCs differ in the utilization of ACBS? 3. How do states differ in the utilization of ACBS? 4. Do study findings support disruptive innovation theory in the hospital industry? The quantitative study employs a panel design using hospital discharge data from 2004 and 2009. The unit of analysis is the facility. The sampling frame is comprised of ACGHs and ASCs in Florida and Wisconsin. The study employs exploratory and confirmatory data analysis. This work finds that disruptive innovation theory is an effective model for assessing the hospital industry. The model provides a useful framework for analyzing the interplay between ACGHs and ASCs. While study findings did not support the stated hypotheses, the impact of government interventions into the competitive marketplace supports the claims of disruptive innovation theory. Regulations that intervened in the hospital industry facilitated interactions between ASCs and ACGHs, reducing the number of ASCs performing ACBS and altering the trajectory of ACBS volume by shifting surgeries from ASCs to ACGHs.

Cities and regions contribute to global and regional ecological degradation and there is a need to focus sustainability efforts at a scale suited to understanding and mitigating their impacts. In Greater Vancouver, as the trajectory of economic and population growth, and over-consumption of materials and energy (and production of their associated wastes) continues unabated, local and regional government practitioners are professionally called upon to take preventative measures within their own jurisdictions. With new sustainability responsibilities and some regulatory authority, their democratic legitimacy and resources as public institutions, and their technical expertise and coordinative capacity, local and regional governments in Greater Vancouver have key opportunities to demonstrate leadership on sustainability. This study focuses specifically on what I term corporate ecological responsibility as a means to lend credibility to service provision and regulation roles and model sustainability processes and activities for replication in the community by other actors. Managing for sustainability performance demands a clear definition and understanding of ecological sustainability as a physical condition rather than simply a principle or an idea, and an effective system for managing institutional performance. A review of the literature on sustainability and performance management reveals that a practical model has not yet been devised to assist North American local and regional governments in adopting a strategic and systematic method to make a corporate contribution toward achieving ecological sustainability milestones. To fill this gap, I advance a Sustainability Performance Management (SPMS) model that is comprised of distinctive system components and recognizes five fundamental sustainability principles and organizational conditions of culture and capacity. In the study, I focus on corporate purchasing policies and building policies and projects as key tools for sustainability performance management. I then apply my SPMS model as a tool to assess what I term the sustainability performance management activities of four case organizations in Greater Vancouver: the Greater Vancouver Regional District, the City of Vancouver, the City of Richmond, and the City of Burnaby. The case presentations and assessments with a qualitative scoring tool demonstrate that the SPMS model has practical value for use in local and regional governments as a first template to encourage the development of a strategic, systemic, and sensitive approach to sustainability performance management where it does not yet exist and to correct organizational "blind spots" in existing approaches. The best practices of the case organizations enrich the model with specific examples of how to put the five sustainability principles into practice. In addition, the use of the model as an evaluation tool reveals specific areas in which each case organization can its sustainability efforts. Assessed against the SPMS model, the City of Richmond is the clear sustainability performance management (SPMS) leader, although the GVRD and the City of Vancouver are more prolific in implementing performance management tools. To date, the GVRD has experimented most aggressively with ecologically responsible and innovative facility development, while the City of Vancouver has recently adopted ambitiously scoped purchasing and building policies. The City of Burnaby's efforts are rated least effective of the study organizations when compared to my model.
Applied Science, Faculty of
Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of
Graduate

Agriculture is crucial to the economic and social wellbeing of the Republic of Cameroon. A national need for increased productivity, farm incomes, food security and rural development requires more effective agricultural extension and advisory systems. The need is persistent. This study analyzed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that existed within the current national extension program and examined how form, function, and policy influenced two regions in Cameroon. Analysis focused on 15-year time changes using a comparative case study design. Four regional focus groups and 28 individual interviews bounded 59 cases from four stakeholder groups of farmer leaders, non-governmental organizations, extension representatives, and governmental counterparts. Eighteen primary themes emerged with overlap of opportunities and threats among stakeholders. Incentives to program performance included staff competence and innovative technology transfer. Barriers included infrastructure, postharvest technology, market incentives, financial sustainability, and feedback. A lack of vision for sustainability, inadequate government funding, poor collaboration and linkages, uncoordinated parallel programs, and ineffective management systems reduced program potential. Four themes framed recommendations for improved programs: government investment, trainings, market incentives, and management. Options to improve program sustainability included subsidies that benefit all farmers, more council and private sector engagement with extension, rural infrastructure development, price standardization, and fees for service. Medium and large-scale farmers were willing to pay for extension services when and if available whereas small-scale farmers relied heavily on subsidized services. Accessibility to markets, farm size, and cash crop production are associated with farmers’ acceptance of fees for service. These findings highlighted areas where changes in the nation’s agricultural extension service could improve its relevance in meeting performance targets. Stakeholders’ recommendations for more effective agricultural extension and advisory systems included: 1) providing an autonomous extension service that focuses on specific needs and market opportunities and coordinates all support/parallel programs while collaborating among research and private advisory services; 2) implementing holistic government policies that integrate technology transfer, innovation, health, value-chains, and markets to benefit all farmers; 3) redesigning subsidies that equitability incentivize production and sound environmental practices that benefit all farmers; 4) increasing in-service trainings related to innovations; and 5) updating innovations and harmonizing program activities.