While crises accumulate in the developing countries, major donors decrease their aid budget. Consequently, understanding determinants of aid effectiveness is crucial to improving health around the...Show moreWhile crises accumulate in the developing countries, major donors decrease their aid budget. Consequently, understanding determinants of aid effectiveness is crucial to improving health around the World. Previous research has put forward the positive influence of democratic regimes on health improvements. Nonetheless, little is known about the role of recipients' political regimes on the success of aid project implementation. This paper seeks to clarify this relationship by answering the question “What is the effect of regime type on the effective implementation of project-aid targeted to health?”. The study focuses on the World Bank projects in the health sector in Africa. An OLS approach is chosen to investigate democratic mechanisms, data is retrieved through the Independent Evaluation Group and Freedom House. The results show a positive but weak non-significant effect of democracy on aid effectiveness. Hence, findings do not provide evidence that democracies are better at implementing health aid projects. Using a larger sample is recommended for future studies.Show less
This paper examines the case of successful implementation of electronic public procurement platform known as, ‘ProZorro’, in Ukraine. In order to do so, as opposed to existing scholarly work on the...Show moreThis paper examines the case of successful implementation of electronic public procurement platform known as, ‘ProZorro’, in Ukraine. In order to do so, as opposed to existing scholarly work on the topic, this investigation proposes a novel theoretical paradigm that seeks to identify critical success factors that contributed to the success. Accordingly, these are determined through an analysis in relation to existing barriers to electronic procurement implementation in the public sector. Notably, the literature identifies four of those, namely, technical, organizational, social, and financial. Moreover, the results are further examined by taking into account Ukraine’s complex system of governance, which academia brand as ‘neo-patrimonial’. As such, this inquiry builds upon a theory generated by Joel Hellman (1998) in which he explores the conventional reasons of reform backsliding in post-Communist transition countries. Ultimately, the assessment comes to the conclusion that the following success factors were key in overwhelming the aforementioned barriers to implementation, (1) business model, (2) re-engineering of procurement process, (3) successful pilot project, (4) political non-interference at initial stages, and (5) change management. Consequently, a closer examination indicates the first and the fourth factors as key to overcome the hurdle of neo-patrimonial resistance. Such is mainly attributable to the fact that it legitimized ‘ProZorro’ among the wider segment of stakeholders thus, allowing for the creation of a broad coalition in favor of reform, thus e-procurement implementation.Show less
The existence of a shift in the power structures at the international level functions as a stepping stone for a plethora of additional transformations. Among these are the duration of...Show moreThe existence of a shift in the power structures at the international level functions as a stepping stone for a plethora of additional transformations. Among these are the duration of internationally endorsed norms. In this light, this thesis has set out to uncover the magnitude of the influence that rising powers have on the normative status of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). These rising powers, which are referred to as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), are known to value the protection of state sovereignty, which plays a large role in framing their views and subsequent implementation of R2P. With use of the norm life cycle theory, the consequences of their rationale on the norm internalisation of R2P were identified. While Brazil and South Africa attempted to further develop the norm, China, Russia and India attempted the opposite by seeking to prevent the further use of the doctrine in its current form. This has led to the realisation that rising powers hamper the internalisation of R2P as a norm.Show less
Background: Serious games for mental health purposes is a young but rapidly growing concept, however, implementation in clinical practice lags behind. Knowing the characteristics and attitudes of...Show moreBackground: Serious games for mental health purposes is a young but rapidly growing concept, however, implementation in clinical practice lags behind. Knowing the characteristics and attitudes of the users, mental health professionals, will aid in seeking the optimal design and more efficient implementation. Objective: We wanted to gain more insight on what professionals want from the games, and if knowledge about games or practicing different therapeutic modalities is related to attitude on serious games. Method: We surveyed 123 MPHs via a cross-sectional online survey about technology usage, gaming knowledge, and attitudes towards serious games. Data were analysed using a t-test, chi-square test, exploratory factor analysis, and an ANOVA. Results: The results showed that overall interest to implement serious games with their own clients was high (75.6%), and perceived benefits outweighed perceived disadvantages, but current implementation rate was very low (.8%). The biggest reason for not wanting to use serious games was lack of knowledge (14.6%). Knowledge about gaming was significantly positively correlated to overall attitude, and with willingness to implement. There was no significant relationship between any specific therapeutic modality and the overall attitude towards serious games, which contradicts results from previous studies. Conclusion: Knowledge about games increases the attitude and willingness to try serious games with clients. Most mental health professionals reported to have beginner knowledge, thus educating them about (serious) gaming could help with implementation and adherence. More research is needed to map out why the professionals who are interested have not yet tried serious games. User-centred design (UCD) should be widely implemented when developing serious games for mental health purposes.Show less
