Over the past 40 years, social work in Northern Ireland has been responsive to a number of changing contexts and environments. Throughout 'the Troubles,' social workers had to develop methods of ensuring services were delivered in spite of the surrounding violence and civil disturbance. At the same time, they developed imaginative and creative new services in response to needs and demands. This book outlines the historical development of social work in Northern Ireland, looking at what has been achieved and analyzing the challenges for the future. It considers the role of social work in a society emerging from conflict, facing demographic, technological, and economic changes. Social work in Northern Ireland has been dismissed by policy makers and academics as unique, special, or different, and therefore not worthy of attention. This book demonstrates that international audiences have much to learn from the social work response to a changing political landscape.

The provision of health care services for children is central to improving the nation's health and remains a key feature of every government's policy. This concept has been recognised in the United Kingdom since nineteenth century visionaries prompted increasing interest in the welfare of the country's school children. Successive generations have built upon these foundations and have been diligent in promoting effective service development. It is right that we follow their example, for the young have only one chance of a healthy upbringing. They are totally dependent on others to provide the right services, which are sensitive enough to address individual needs, yet sufficiently comprehensive to enable as many children as possible to reach adulthood with their potential uncom promised by illness. Our objective must be to enable today's children to enjoy a healthy childhood and to equip them to maximise the benefits of a healthy lifestyle in the years to come. We are making an essential investment in the future and must appreciate the challenges which come with that commitment. We need a multi-professional approach, positive management skills and the adoption of good management practice. I therefore welcome this book on managing child health services and commend the initiative of its editors in bringing together such an impressive team of contributors from different disciplines.

This book is concerned with the civil services of the United Kingdom, examining their characteristics and trends since 1970. It provides a map of the British civil service beyond Whitehall, giving an individual country-by-country analysis of the civil services of the UK. It considers the implications of the changing nature of the civil services for our understanding of British governance, especially in the context of the public sector management reforms of the 1980s and 1990s and the impact of constitutional change (chiefly devolution) since 1998. Given that devolution has been characterized as a process rather than an event, the book brings to bear evidence of how existing longstanding differences within some parts of British public administration may come to be replicated elsewhere in the UK. The authors also explore two controversial propositions. First they ask whether Britain is moving from the unitory, strong executive of the 'Westminster model' to a 'differentiated polity' characterized by institutional fragmentation. Second, they consider whether an unintended consequence of recent changes is a 'hollowing out of the state'. Is the British executive losing functions downwards to devolved governments and special-purpose bodies and outwards to regional offices and agencies with a resulting loss of central capacity? Substantial empirical data (both quantitative and qualitative) has been amassed here in order to give answers to these questions. Decentralizing the Civil Service assesses the UK's changing civil services in the wake of two decades of public sector management reforms and New Labour's constitutional reform programme, most notably devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This assessment has significant implications for how we view governance in the UK.

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How can leaders use strategic planning to strengthen their public and nonprofit organizations? In this fourth edition of his perennial bestseller Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations, Bryson provides the most updated version of his thoughtful strategic planning model and outlines the reasons public and nonprofit organizations must embrace strategic planning to improve their performance. Introduced in the first edition and refined over the past 18 years, the Strategy Change Cycle--a proven planning process used successfully by a large number of nonprofit and public organizations--is the framework used to guide the reader through the strategic planning process. Bryson offers detailed guidance on implementing the process, and specific tools and techniques to make the process work in any organization. In addition, he clarifies the organizational designs through which strategic thought and action will be encouraged and embraced throughout an entire organization. In addition to updated examples, new cases, and additional information on boundaries, distinctive competencies, Actor-Network theory, Bryson will creat an instructor's manual with sample syllabi, PowerPoint teaching slides, and additional cases.