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The Devolved Service Delivery Study (DSD) is the product of an agreement between the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the Department for International Development (the United Kingdom), in response to a request from the Government of Pakistan that the agencies review progress toward improving service delivery through decentralization. Pakistan's far-reaching devolution initiative has been designed with three broad and inter-related objectives in mind: To inject new blood into a political system considered to be the domain of historically entrenched interests; to provide positive measures enabling marginalized citizens--women, workers, peasants-to access formal politics; and to introduce a measure of stability into a turbulent political scene by creating a stronger line of accountability between new politicians and local electorates. Underpinning the political strategy were other technical objectives: improved delivery of social services; better determination and enforcement of property and labor rights and regulation of economic activities; and access to justice in the form of improved performance by local administrations, courts and police, with greater awareness of basic human rights protected under devolution. Based on an empirical study of 6 districts and 12 municipalities (Tehsil Municipal Administrations) (TMAs), this paper evaluates the extent to which the new structure has succeeded in creating the incentives necessary for local governments to achieve at least some of the service delivery objectives. This report notes that remarkable progress has been achieved. New local institutions with new structures for local government, new arrangements for intergovernmental sharing of resources, new electoral arrangements, new rules for government formation and dismissal and new opportunities for citizens to participate in the affairs of government have all been created. At the same time as the devolution initiative was being implemented, the government also implemented significant reforms in tax, trade, ...

While artificial intelligence (AI) is often presented as a neutral tool, growing evidence suggests that it exacerbates gender, racial, and other biases leading to discrimination and marginalization. This study analyzes the emerging agenda on intersectionality in AI. It examines four high‐profile reports dedicated to this topic to interrogate how they frame problems and outline recommendations to address inequalities. These four reports play an important role in putting problematic intersectionality issues on the political agenda of AI, which is typically dominated by questions about AI's potential social and economic benefits. The documents highlight the systemic nature of problems that operate like a negative feedback loop or vicious cycle with the diversity crisis in the AI workforce leading to the development of biased AI tools when a largely homogenous group of white male developers and tech founders build their own biases into AI systems. Typical examples include gender and racial biases embedded into voice assistants, humanoid robots, and hiring tools. The reports frame the diversity situation in AI as alarming, highlight that previous diversity initiatives have not worked, emphasize urgency, and call for a holistic approach that focuses not just on numbers but rather on culture, power, and opportunities to exert influence. While dedicated reports on intersectionality in AI provide a lot of depth, detail, and nuance on the topic, in the patriarchal system they are in danger of being pigeonholed as issues of relevance mainly for women and minorities rather than part of the core agenda.

Water, light, plants and animals: the interplay of these factors in a natural ecosystem is an excellent role model for state-of-the-art value chains within economy, as ecosystems are characterized by the fact that not one of the systems members is able to optimize their well-being on their own. Any ecosystem has to come together and act as a whole, in order to gain profits. Thus, ecosystems create a balance between the reciprocal benefits of its members. But what do ecosystems have in common with the digital economy? The proliferation of digital technologies and artificial intelligence solutions is accelerating business models that are characterized by steadily increasing data traffic. In this sense, a data ecosystem is an ecosystem in which data is the strategic resource for the success of the entire system. Making the most of this valuable resource must be the goal of business ecosystems. The Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST is setting standards for a (controllable) data sharing. Its scientists are researching the value of data as well as handling data sovereignly. With many other Fraunhofer institutes, Fraunhofer ISST closely collaborates with partners from industry, research and politics within the initiative International Data Spaces to design and implement the framework for sovereign data sharing of the future. Within this endeavor, Fraunhofer ISST focuses on four application sectors: Healthcare, Logistics, Data Business and Automotive. This paper will elaborate on the rising topic of data ecosystems and how organizations can generate more value of existing data assets by using inter-organizational cooperations.

The excessive consumption of alcohol and associated behaviour is a potentially intractable issue with no easy policy solutions. Altering drinking behaviour will inevitably involve changing attitudes over the long term and indeed will need generational change. Such change must come from the individuals who make up the 'demand' side of the drinking equation. However, change must also come from the 'supply' side of the equation, from those who sell and serve alcoholic beverages, since the availability of alcohol affects attitudes and behaviours at both the individual and community levels. Above all, change of the sort that could make a difference will require a degree of political will. It will take bipartisan political determination to bring about the changes that could contribute to a long-term improvement in the amounts, type and style of alcohol consumption that are now commonplace in Alice Springs (and in other parts of the Territory). We must face up to the fact that Alice Springs has an unusually high density of liquor outlets. According to Lyon (1990), in 1988 it had 40 per cent more licenses per head of population than the rest of the Northern Territory, itself high by Australian standards. While by 1998, the total number of licenses in Alice Springs per 100,000 population over the age of 15 years had dropped marginally, there is little doubt that the ready availability of alcohol can be linked to the high per capita consumption levels (see further discussion on p. 6). Opposing views as to 'solutions' The first point to make is that disagreements and controversies over what needs to be done to address alcohol problems usually arise from quite different views as to what is the underlying nature of the grog problem, and as a result what action is needed to 'solve' the problem. It is most unlikely that these deeply held opinions in the Northern Territory and Alice Springs contexts could be reconciled in any simple fashion. Thus, one approach is to adopt public health programs or other interventions targeting the whole community, which seek to reduce overall alcohol consumption. These can include, for example, education programs which aim to encourage responsible drinking practices across all sectors of the community, or changes in the availability of alcohol (for example, through restrictions on hours or numbers of outlets) which affect all consumers. Such approaches often produce opposition from those who consider themselves 'moderate' drinkers, or 'average' members of the community, who may claim that they will have to pay for what they see as the sins of the few. This is despite the fact that the available aggregate consumption figures for all sectors of the Alice Springs community suggest that a long-term and broadly based public health strategy is required to reduce alcohol consumption levels. Furthermore, broad restrictions on alcohol availability can also alienate licensees who may lose significant income as a result of restrictions when, arguably, their cooperation (as a group) is required for long-term improvements to the situation. The other widely held set of views focus on what is seen as the 'problem drinker'. From this perspective, most of the alcohol-related problems in Alice Springs are seen as being associated with a relatively small group of people who habitually drink to excess and cause themselves and others harm. According to this view, interventions should be aimed at the identified problem drinkers, not at the community as a whole. This approach often allows for a focus on Aboriginal drinkers which can be seen as discriminatory or even racist, and leads to opposition from Aboriginal individuals and organisations. It tends to alienate those people in a position to coax cooperation from both the 'grassroots' and from umbrella organisations. It is clear that the differences of opinion in Alice Springs about what to do about the problem of public drunkenness and other alcohol related problems is, in fact a struggle over which of the two above approaches is going to be the dominant one: the generalised approach on the one hand, or the targeted approach on the other. The struggle between proponents of these two views has merely succeeded in polarising the Alice Springs community, and making it extremely difficult to propose actions which are acceptable to all or even most stakeholders. It is also difficult to persuade people who drink in a low-risk manner that they should drink less, or have less easy access to alcohol, but most people seem willing to support sensible strategies that are focused on reducing alcohol-related harm, or on deterring behaviour which renders such harm likely (Stockwell et al. 1997). Furthermore, all the research supports the finding that drinking large amounts of alcohol on particular occasions is a strong predictor of subsequent intoxication-related problems such as disputation, violence, and accidents. This suggests a focus on particular high-risk situations and practices may be the most useful but, before returning to this point, we wish to discuss some of the options raised with us. Organisation of the report This report aims to provide a broad overview of possible policy directions to address the particular alcohol problems in Alice Springs. It seeks to do this in the context of international and national best practice, while recognising the considerable steps in this area already undertaken at a number of levels, including community-based organisations. The report, therefore, is organised around a number of core themes which emerge in the literature on alcohol policy and, where appropriate examines these in the light of international best practice, relevant examples from the wider Australian situation, and circumstances in the Northern Territory and Alice Springs in particular.