Comparative Approaches To Program Planning

"As a practitioner in the field for over thirty years, I have been exposed to endless 'planning' sessions that are prescriptive to the point of being oppressive. Thistext 'gives permission' to the practitioner to allow for emergence, uncertainty, and ambiguity in the planning process. Comparative Approaches to Program Planning provides a guide for the manager, administrator, executive director, strategic planner, and CEO to embrace multiple planning strategies and the understanding of each. This is extremely worthwhile in a dynamic environment and an ever- changing landscape and worldview." —Paul D. McWhinney, ACSW, Director of Social Services City of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia "This is the book I've been waiting for. It provides not only a linear approach to program design, but gives language to the tacit knowledge many planners have of the circular nature of their work. Both linear and circular thinking are important to planning processes and now we have a resource for teaching." —Jon E. Singletary, PhD, MSW, MDiv, Baylor University, School of Social Work The first text on program planning to guide readers in selecting program planning approaches appropriate to setting, culture, and context Valuable for students and practitioners in the social work, public administration, nonprofit management, and community psychology fields, Comparative Approaches to Program Planning provides practical and creative ways to effectively conduct program planning within human service organizations. Written by leaders in the social work education community, this innovative book explores program planning as a multi-layered and complex process. It examines both a traditional linear problem-solving model as well as an alternative emergent approach to program planning, helping professionals to successfully develop and enact effective and culturally competent planning in organizations and communities.

Dorothy N. Gamble and Marie Weil differentiate among a range of intervention methods to provide a comprehensive and effective guide to working with communities. Presenting eight distinct models grounded in current practice and targeted toward specific goals, Gamble and Weil take an unusually inclusive step, combining their own extensive experience with numerous case and practice examples from talented practitioners in international and domestic settings. The authors open with a discussion of the theories for community work and the values of social justice and human rights, concerns that have guided the work of activists from Jane Addams and Martin Luther King Jr. to Cesar Chavez, Wangari Maathai, and Vandana Shiva. They survey the concepts, knowledge, and perspectives influencing community practice and evaluation strategies. Descriptions of eight practice models follow, incorporating real-life case examples from many parts of the world and demonstrating multiple applications for each model as well as the primary roles, competencies, and skills used by the practitioner. Complexities and variations encourage readers to determine, through comparative analysis, which model at which time best fits the goals of a community group or organization, given the context, culture, social, economic, and environmental issues and opportunities for change. An accompanying workbook stressing empowerment strategies and skills development is also available from Columbia University Press.

Conducting a systematic and comparative review of energy and environmental issues, especially at the regional and national levels, can improve communication among different disciplines and be helpful for managers, politicians, and stakeholders involved in energy and environmental systems. Sustainable Systems and Energy Management at the Regional Level: Comparative Approaches provides an interdisciplinary look at the possible relationships which exist between energy and the environment. Relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical research findings on the impacts of regulation policies, market-facilitation policies, and communication models and policies are reviewed with the aim of improving understanding and strategy.

The Second Edition of Health Program Planning and Evaluation will help you to systematically develop, thoughtfully implement, and rigorously evaluate health programs across a variety of health disciplines. This thorough revision includes updated examples and references throughout, reflecting the major changes within the field. This outstanding resource prepares students and professionals to become savvy consumers of evaluation reports and prudent users of evaluation consultants. It presents practical tools and concepts in language suitable for both the practicing and novice health program planner and evaluator.

Encompassing community development, organizing, planning, & social change, as well as globalisation, this book is grounded in participatory & empowerment practice. The 36 chapters assess practice, theory & research methods.

People all over the world are confronted by issues such as poverty, a lack of access to quality education, unaffordable and or inadequate housing, and a lack of needed health and mental services on a daily basis. Due to these issues, there is a need for social workers who have access to relevant and timely scholarly materials in order to meet the needs of those facing these issues. The social, psychological, and biological factors resulting from these issues determine the level of a person's mental health at any given point in time and it is necessary for social workers to continue to evolve and develop to the new faces and challenges of the times in order to adequately understand the effects of these issues. In the first and second editions of the Social Workers' Desk Reference, the changes that were occurring in social work practice, education, and research were highlighted and focused upon. This third edition continues in the same tradition and continues to respond to the changes occurring in society and how they are impacting the education, research, and practice of social work as a whole. With 159 chapters collaboratively written by luminaries in the profession, this third edition serves as a comprehensive guide to social work practice by providing the most recent conceptual knowledge and empirical evidence to aid in the understanding of the rapidly changing field of social work. Each chapter is short and contains practical information in addition to websites and updated references. Social work practitioners, educators, students, and other allied professionals can utilize the Social Workers' Desk Reference to gain interdisciplinary and interprofessional education, practice, and research.