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Botswana has a policy of contraception for all that is delivered through a rights‐based family planning program. The program combines a "rights‐based family planning approach" with "supportive policies for contraception," and "a commitment to promote equitable access to modern contraception, and expand availability, method mix and uptake of modern contraceptive methods for all women and girls." However, abortion is legally restricted up to 16 weeks of pregnancy provided that provisions of Section 160–162 of the Botswana Penal Code Amendment Act 1991 are met, and that the termination of pregnancy is carried out by a registered medical practitioner in a health facility approved for the purpose. In 2020, the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Botswana, in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund and World Health Organization, conducted a strategic assessment of unintended pregnancies, contraception, unsafe abortion, and abortion services in Botswana. A consensus operational plan to address these issues was developed during a national stakeholder meeting in Gaborone, Botswana. The consensus reached was to avert unintended pregnancies, improve access to modern contraception, and open nationwide discussions around abortion in the community to enable positive change and decrease maternal morbidity and mortality from unsafe abortion. This article describes the findings of the assessment and outlines the foundation for new or modified services or practices to be developed and pilot tested. Synopsis: A strategic assessment led to consensus on priority interventions to address unintended pregnancies, reduce unmet need for contraception, and accelerate reduction of maternal mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To overcome the challenges faced by the energy sector, policymakers need to prioritize the development of strategic policies that promote the adoption of waste-to-energy technologies, Tidal energy, solar power systems, and wind farms. These policies should emphasize the integration of renewable energy sources into the existing energy infrastructure, ensuring a more sustainable and resilient energy supply for urban areas. The study underscores the importance of collaboration between various stakeholders, including government bodies, private sector entities, and local communities. By fostering partnerships and creating incentives, it becomes possible to mobilize resources and expertise towards the implementation of renewable energy projects. This collaboration would not only address the energy crisis but also contribute to job creation and overall socioeconomic development. Proper utilization of renewable energy resources can resolve the dilemma of energy crises in the country. According to our results, solar stood first in the overall ranking followed by Tidal, waste-to-energy, and wind energies. Solar performed better in indigenous manufacturing and development, resource potential, and technological development. Pakistan has abundant green energy resources which could be utilized by the formation of a proper policy roadmap and mitigation of policy pathways to overcome the hazardous dependence on fossil fuels for energy requirements. The implementation of policies adopted should be assured to achieve energy sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores shortcomings in military effectiveness in the war in Afghanistan. It focuses on three sets of problems: the failure to resolve internal contradictions in the training effort, the failure to integrate political considerations with military activity, and poor strategic and operational/tactical integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: In order to better adapt to the constantly changing global and local environment, the main priority of the healthcare system is the stable functioning of the hospital sector, for which it is necessary to constantly execute efficient strategic management processes. The purpose of the research is to study the barriers to effective implementation of strategic plans in healthcare organizations in Tbilisi (Georgia). METHODS: As part of this quantitative research, a survey of 23 senior managers of 10 large hospitals in Tbilisi was conducted using a pre-structured questionnaire. RESEARCH RESULTS: None of the hospitals employed external consultants for strategic planning. A relatively small number of hospitals had representatives attend strategic planning lectures and training (13%), and only one of the hospitals surveyed had a strategic planning committee (4.3%), with the majority of surveyed hospitals (87%) had a documented strategic plan. Strategic planning was primarily engaged by the management board (69.6%), with doctors participating to a lesser extent (30.4%). Only one-third (34.8%) of hospitals develop their budget according to the strategic plan. Resources (43.5%), allocation of budget funds (47.8%), and identification and acquisition of additional financial resources (47.8%) are not done in accordance with the goals and priorities of the strategic plan. The majority of hospitals are less likely to compare the results of the evaluation of goal achievement indicators with those of other hospitals (52.2%), Only a few of them report the values of actions taken to accomplish the strategic plan's goals to the hospital (43.5%), Most of the hospitals rarely do benchmarking of other hospitals' goal -achieving measures to assure the effectiveness of strategic projects (78.3%). DISCUSSION: Only a small number of healthcare organisations have a strategic management process that as a consequence affects their status and success in the healthcare market. Hospitals may develop a strategic plan, but its implementation is poorly monitored and not based on scientifically solid methods. Due to inappropriate competence, a lack of knowledge, and a misperception of strategic importance, physicians' strategic planning skills are at a low level. In order to master such skills, it is necessary to conduct systematic training. CONCLUSION: It is reasonable for the State to impose a legislative requirement that the health care organisations must produce a written strategic plan and employ a strategic management manager. It is essential to provide educational training on hospital strategic management processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study is to develop priority tools for assessing the financial condition of a corporation by different categories of stakeholders, both actual and potential. The study identifies the main areas of financial activity of the corporation from the perspective of actual and potential stakeholders, implements the traditional tools of their assessment by actual stakeholders – owners, financial managers, creditors, landers, investors, suppliers, etc. It is determined that the universal indicator of assessing the financial condition of a corporation for all categories of stakeholders is the stability of its sources of financing in the current and strategic period. As a result, the choice of a priority universal indicator for assessing the sustainability of the corporation's funding sources is justified, which has practical significance for actual and potential stakeholders in conditions of uncertainty and risk.

Strategic assessment is an important tool and means for achieving sustainable urban development, as it is a scientific approach used to crystallize the developmental priorities and goals of cities, and to identify programs and projects capable of achieving these goals within a certain period of time, in line with the current and future aspirations of the population, taking into account the available resources and potential obstacles. The practical framework of the research included a review of the requirements of sustainable urban development, which contains a set of proposals for it, through the application of its evaluation in a strategic evaluation method, based on a developed reference tool proposed by the researcher and with it. Multiple scopes, which makes it possible to understand the performance of the city and determine the conditions for its sustainable urban development, and also identifies weaknesses, strengths and imbalances in the way cities behave in their application of the requirements of sustainable urban development. This tool or specification was designed by the researcher and incorporated the Delphi method In the selection of criteria, the second method is Gap analysis Which was applied to the city of Boussaada, and the results were as follows, the actual matching percentage of the recipe was 4.46%, Which indicates the existence of a non-conformity gap of 95.54%, which indicates the existence of a clear and large gap for the city of Boussaada, which is very limited, divided according to the four sections of the standard, and accordingly, after diagnosis and examination, it achieved a conformity rate of 8%, with a record size of the gap 92%, As for management and vision, it achieved a matching percentage of 7%, and accordingly, the size of the gap reached 93%, and the tools and means achieved a matching percentage of 2%, and the size of the gap was 98%. While the actions and procedures recorded a matching rate of 1%, accompanied by a gap of 99%, all this indicates that the city of Boussaada It suffers from shortcomings in its management methodology for the requirements of sustainable urban development according to the stages of preparing its plans for this, as many factors that have important effects on the sustainability of the plan in the medium and long term are neglected, and therefore it is closer to a traditional development plan that is unable to accommodate the rapid changes it is going through and the challenges it faces, which constitutes a major challenge in achieving sustainable urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As global environmental pressures grow, the need for delivering relevant and sustainable capacity building in conservation has never been greater. Individuals, organizations and communities need the skills, knowledge and information that allow them to address environmental issues at a variety of spatial scales and in diverse contexts. Capacity is currently built through a range of activities, including tertiary education, training courses, online learning, mentoring and continuing professional development. However, a significant proportion of the current capacity-building provision is non-strategic, project-based and reactive. The conservation sector still lacks a coordinated approach to capacity building linked to broader conservation goals. Without an assessment of current capacity-building provision and future capacity needs, the delivery of capacity building in conservation will remain fundamentally ad hoc. The need for strategic conservation capacity building in sub-Saharan Africa has been identified and here we report on the first collation of online material to assess current conservation capacity provision in Kenya (the country with the greatest online capacity-building presence). We reviewed a total of 177 capacity-building initiatives delivered during 2014–2019 and recorded 55 separate metrics for each initiative. We present: (1) a broad overview of the data collation methods developed, (2) examples of data that will support strategic capacity-building strategies, and (3) the lessons learnt from this assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several authors report a transition from lower to higher complexity in the environmental assessment politics, from an originally sectoral approach to a systemic and strategic perspective. However, as in any political process, these shifts are neither homogeneous nor linear. In fact, there are significant differences in the environmental assessment systems of the global North and South. This theoretical essay analyzes the tensions that the economic growth causes on the design and application of the environmental assessments in Latin America and Chile; and how the economic pressures have hampered the construct of a systemic, strategic and democratic environmental assessment, with the urgency that the critical Anthropocene context demands nowadays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition from fossil fuel to a green economy has led to the rise of renewable energy sources. Wind energy stands out because it is free, clean, inexhaustible, has the capacity to generate greater power, and has lower energy costs. From local to global scales, the environmental effects of wind power are frequently positive, in contrast to the negative impacts associated with fossil fuel technologies. These include air pollution, climate change, health risks, high mortality rates, especially in infants, and greenhouse gas emissions. However, all energy sources have an impact on the environment and the economy including wind energy. With the rapid growth of wind energy over the last decade and the future potential of wind power generation, strategic assessment of these environmental and economic impacts, both positive and negative, and developing ways to mitigate these negative impacts are prerequisite operations to be carried out in the overall development of human-, economically- and ecologically-friendly wind energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is proceeding gradually throughout the world. For sustainable development purposes, international financial institutions require sectorial or regional – or even strategic – environmental assessments as a condition for loans. The context of this article focuses on the demonstrative aspect of this concept, which is used to examine proposed policies, plans or programs and is useful for diagnosing and correlating economic gains with socio-environmental issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impact assessment (IA) is under pressure to respond to increasingly complex environmental challenges. This paper reflects on the future of IA and argues for a larger and more deliberate role for strategic assessment in response to the complexity and scale of problems being brought to the IA table. It also posits that the drivers for transformation in IA are likely to emerge from creative governance solutions external to IA, more so than from new IA tools, more data, or 'better' IA legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theory of change links a strategy's theory about the source of the conflict and the intervention philosophy to the implementation of programs and activities in the field. This paper focuses on strategic assessment at the national level, a step above the operational assessment at the departmental or agency level. The paper first discusses the importance of understanding a strategy's theory of change and how policymakers at the national level think about the problem and how to intervene. The paper uses counterterrorism and conflict resolution strategy as examples. The author discusses two special challenges: how policymakers frame the desired outcome, and multiple theories. The author argues for strategic assessment officers to discuss a strategy's theory or theories of change so that policymakers and national-level leaders can better understand how different theories drive their intervention plans and strategies. By improving policymakers' understanding of their theory of change, and improve the clarity of the desired outcomes, strategic assessment officers can better measure the effectiveness of national-level strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the Government of Mauritius has launched a 'smart city' initiative in Mauritius, there has been no effort to improve existing cities. The emergence of new cities supported by strong governmental fiscal incentives are leading to an environment of increasing urban competition with existing cities. The capital city of Port Louis is being challenged to attract and retain business. The fiscal incentives pose an unfair competitive business advantage for commercial operations in new smart cities. Coupled with governmental policies to relocate administrative functions away from the capital, this economic environment supports the slow urban decay of Port Louis. This study showcases the findings from a focus group discussion, aimed at finding recommendations for 'smarting' the existing city of Port Louis, while identifying and supporting avenues for urban regeneration. Thirty-one participants from public, private and foreign institutions in the fields of urban planning, urban governance and policy were invited to participate in this study and the findings reveal six emergent priorities that need to be coupled with fiscal incentives for regenerating the urban fabric of Port Louis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: When analyzing the results, hypotheses were tested for the presence of a statistically significant relationship between the studied variables with a 5% error risk. The chi-square method was used to test for a statistically significant relationship, and the Cramer coefficient was used to determine the strength of the relationship. A survey conducted in Azerbaijan found mostly moderate statistically significant relationships between individual variables. Purpose of the article: The article discusses the most important aspects of the contemporary global problem of coronavirus infection COVID-19, shows the distribution of coronavirus across countries, analyzes the ability of different countries to counteract epidemics and pandemics by the Global Health Safety Index, shows the real situation of the effectiveness of the health systems of some countries in the fight against a pandemic. The aim of this study is to examine several aspects in connection with the pandemic and its impact on the education and tourism sector. The work also shows the impact of the pandemic on the global economy in general and on international tourism in particular. To activate the tourism market, the development of virtual tourism is proposed, which has great prospects in terms of quarantines and border closures. Methods: The article applies such general scientific research methods as analysis and synthesis, a systematic approach, methods of comparisons, expert assessments, as well as a method of analyzing hierarchies. Findings & Value added: Universities - many of which rely heavily on revenue from their foreign intakes - are being pushed to the brink. Around the world, international students and their parents are weighing their options as the pandemic wreaks havoc like never before on the overseas university education business. What was relevant this morning is already outdated by noon. Our task is to track existing trends, moods and suggest some prospects for getting out of the situation or adapting to it.

We propose an impact evaluation framework for biodiversity offsetting that can be used to determine the impacts attributable to developments and their associated offsets under a range of assumptions. This framework is used in conjunction with two hypothetical models of the offsetting process to illustrate a number of issues that can arise when conducting impact evaluations of biodiversity offsetting, where the ‘intervention’ comprises a development and its associated offsets. We establish that including gains due to avoided losses (i.e. development that would have otherwise happened) in the intervention impact calculation results in a reduction in the offset requirements per unit of development. This occurs regardless of whether the biodiversity at the development or offset sites is declining, stable, or improving. We also show how including gains due to avoided loss requires the consideration of offsets that might otherwise have occurred. These ‘avoided offsets’ increase the offset requirements per unit of development regardless of the background site dynamics. Finally, we examine offsetting as part of a larger, spatially strategic scheme and show that when the development and offset regions are separated, including avoided loss in the impact calculations can result in a situation where the development impact goes to zero and a system that attains ‘net gain’ regardless of the development and offsetting activities. The proposed framework can be used to inform offset policy by providing a transparent and logical methodology for the determining the offset requirements for the impacts attributed to development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to test the broader utility of the sustainability assessment effectiveness framework of Bond et al. (2015) by applying it to a controversial strategic assessment case study. The effectiveness framework comprises six dimensions: procedural effectiveness, substantive effectiveness, transactive effectiveness, normative effectiveness, pluralism, and knowledge and learning. It was originally developed to evaluate sustainability assessment at a system-wide level and it has not been previously applied to a specific case study. The analysis was conducted through document review and the first-hand experience of two of the authors who were involved in the case study in different capacities. The case study selected was the strategic assessment of the proposed Browse Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Precinct in Western Australia, which was conducted over the period 2007–2015 under the strategic assessment provisions of both the Western Australian and Australian Commonwealth environmental legislation. The framework provided a useful structure within which this complex case study could be explored, its strengths and weaknesses brought to light, and the interactions between the dimensions highlighted. We also found opportunities for refinement of the framework. As a result of this analysis we propose to replace the final three dimensions of the framework with legitimacy, where a legitimate process is one which all stakeholders agree is fair and which delivers an acceptable outcome for all parties, though we acknowledge the need for further conceptualisation of this dimension. We also suggest that the concept of substantive effectiveness should be expanded to incorporate the unintended consequences of impact assessment. Our research thus makes both a useful addition to the literature already published on the Browse case study, as well as to the literature on impact assessment effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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As the environmental issues, complexity and cost of technology implementation increases, the need and guidance approach for assessing technologies is becoming increasingly important for gaining competitive advantage in the market. A framework for assessment of far-reaching technology for clean power and heat generation is proposed in this paper. It is based on a case study of the dip-galvanizing process, in which the well-known and widely used Combined Heat and Power technology is evaluated. A set of 10 criteria was applied for the evaluation. Results show that the technology assessment of far-reaching technology – Combined Heat and Power technology – reveals strategic advantage with respect to the criteria external – technological attractiveness and internal – technological competitiveness providing a basis for understanding energy markets and making business decisions. The strategic assessment of far-reaching technology shows potential to enhance the roles of science and technology towards achieving cleaner production and cleaner technologies. The framework could be tailored to specific needs, dependent on technology, company, market, etc. It could be useful for practitioners and potential industrial adopters to evaluate other cleaner production technologies before their implementation. The assessment of far-reaching technology would facilitate the decision process by providing critical, strategic information and insights for them to reduce technology implementation risks, thus to facilitate the smooth technology transfer to industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperative was one of the most successful economic and social patterns in the world and one of the most major institutions that have major effect in sustainable development and justice.In developing countries،cooperative considered as a tool for promoting national programs.The main purpose of this study was to analyze strengths،weakness،opportunities and threats of active agricultural cooperatives using SWOT analysis in the poultry sector in the Hamedan province in 2010.The research type was the applied-descriptive that data were gathered by admeasurment method.To determine the validity of the questionnaire،opinions of professors and spicialists were used and its reliability using Cronbach Alpha were confirmed(0.89).sample size is 56 which are selected using the census.SWOT analysis show that cooperatives despite having considerable strengths،but they have weaknesses and threats which attaining their goals are faced difficulties.Factors such as Grotesqueness of the product purchase price with final price ،high cost of poultry equipments،Inability of cooperatives to repay funds and Lack of the capital are weaknesses.However the main strengths and opportunities including proper hygienic position in poultry units high level of technical cognition and knowledge of members،timely access to a veterinarian and vaccinated poultry،members participation in various stages of decision makhng in cooperative،increasing the consumption of poultry instead of red meat،importance of poultry products as food in consumption pattern،and strong scientific support in the field of poultry sciences.Finally،based on results،the four strategies SO،ST،WO and WT ARE PRESENTED.

Most of the business model depends on big data adoption and development as a major strategy to gain valuable insights and business value for competitive advantages. The trend and rapid growth of data required top management to assess the impact of big data development outcomes towards business value. An appropriate strategic assessment model should be developed to measure the capabilities of big data ecosystem during the implementation environment. This review paper presents the systematic literature review of big data assessment models were encompassed with capability components which are customized for assessing big data development. Eight models for big data readiness based on maturity model perspective were assessed and reviewed in detailed. The finding showed that big data strategic assessment model is still lacking and at its infancy stage in Information System (IS) research in helping the organization to maintain their business performance of big data implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protection, improvement and rational utilization of the environment becomes more and more primary task in modern society's struggle for more ecological healthy and humane living and working conditions. In order to living conditions satisfy man's social, economic, health and other needs protection, improvement and utilization of the environment must be in accordance with principles of sustainable development. Fact that planned solutions have great influence on quality of some environmental elements imposes importance of spatial planning for providing healthy environment as one of basic human needs. As in many planning documents environmental aspect was not considering in the way that it was needed to be, there arose a need for Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment in aim to verify are the planning documents in coherence with environmental protection and sustainable development.