Place-based Governance in Newfoundland and Labrador: A Wicked Concept

• Main Authors: Fran Locke, Patti Powers, Larry Felt, David Close
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2006
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.552.1422; http://www.envision.ca/pdf/cura/Wicked_Concept_final.pdf

The British refer to wicked issues as those which are complex, non-linear, span conventional boundaries, require the gaze of many stakeholders, cannot be managed by single agencies acting autonomously, and depend on systemic change for real progress.3 Young people these days refer to wicked ideas, games, fashions, etc., meaning excellent, amazing or cool. We may interpret place-based governance as wicked from both angles, but in no way do we intend to imply that it is wicked in the biblical sense. Collaborative, more devolved initiatives have become a keystone of government policy across a wide range of jurisdictions in the last twenty years. In the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Strategic Social Plan (SSP) is best viewed as a single jurisdiction’s attempt to achieve this in the areas of social policy development and program delivery. A critical component of the SSP was meaningful involvement of both the voluntary, community-based sector and citizens. Implicit in the Plan was a significant overhaul in the way Government did its business. It was not an integrated set of policies but a process to strengthen social planning and make services more responsive to the needs of people and communities. SSP implementation began in 1998 and finished in 2004. A case study of its origins, structure, political and cultural