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There is persistence of rural poverty in African countries despite efforts by governments to implement community development projects to curb poverty in impoverished rural communities. Zimbabwe adopted the Poverty Alleviation Action Plan (PAAP) under which community development programme was initiated. Community development projects by NGOs and government did not manage to meet the needs of the impoverished communities in Mvuma rural communities. More so, the incremental approach to policy making adopted by the government of Zimbabwe failed to embrace the principles of community development, for example, participation of community projects beneficiaries on everything that impact to their way of living. Despite all the efforts to alleviate rural poverty in Mvuma rural district there is still persistence of rural poverty, characterized by poor roads and struggling of most families to meeting basic needs. Mvuma rural communities are rich in mineral resources and water sources that can be utilized instead of relying on external resources through NGOs. This therefore, calls on the government and NGOs to collaborate towards capacitating Mvuma rural dwellers in order to help alleviate poverty. This study employed qualitative approach to research as it was aimed at describing and understanding rather than explaining human behaviour. Purposive or judgmental sampling was applied. This technique was used as the researcher wanted to get hold of the people who are directly or indirectly linked to implementation of community development projects. However, quantitative method was used to gather demographic information. The PAAP policy relevance to poverty reduction in Mvuma rural district and in Zimbabwe in general was the heart of this study.

Governments, naturally, pursue social and political as well as economic objectives. The degree to which economic and non-economic objectives harmonise with one another without government interference, however, obviously varies a good deal according to time and place. For instance in the nineteenth century, the priorities of British governments made possible a high degree of individual freedom in the economic sphere. This century, however, as Robbins suggests, has seen a great extension of state activity in the economic sphere, for both economic and non-economic reasons. This tendency, then, is not peculiar to South Africa, but the border industries policy, largely because of its ideological associations and the degree of intervention which it seems to imply, is a particularly controversial example. Chapter 1 para 2.

In this thesis, I explore the ways in which Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) have met a declared policy intention to create greater democratic accountability around policing and crime. I conceptualise PCCs as a piece of a broader democratic puzzle and explore both how they have been positioned and shaped within the broader policing and crime nexus across England and Wales. In considering the positioning of PCCs, I use data from case studies and interviews with 32 (out of 41) PCCs to identify how they have begun to develop relationships with the public and local, regional and national partners. The findings suggest that with the exception of their abilities to join up local crime reduction services, PCCs occupy an awkward space - not local enough to be meaningfully representative of the public they serve, but not outwardly-facing enough to manage wider co-ordination of policing. Subsequently, I investigate the shape of the PCC model to deliver greater accountability by focusing on the ways in which PCCs have begun to envisage the role and develop relationships with other key stakeholders. Varied responses from PCCs across the country reflected the broad-ranging nature of the role, which in some cases appeared to undermine their ability to fully perform all aspects of the job. I argue that this became particularly accentuated in emerging relationships with chief constables and Police and Crime Panels, where the single PCC model exposes accountability to dangers of personalities and politics. I conclude by arguing that while many PCCs have facilitated various components of democratic accountability within the management of policing and crime-reduction services, the PCC model appears to be misplaced and misshaped to effectively complete the puzzle of democratic policing.

Collaboration has been a central feature of Welsh Government policy in respect of delivering effective public services for over a decade yet continues to be difficult to achieve in a meaningful way across sectors, organisations and boundaries. The report of the Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery in Wales (2014) reinforced the importance of pursuing collaborative initiatives and offered proposals for approaching collaboration more consistently and effectively. This thesis adds new knowledge to understanding the complexities of collaboration through a critical overview of three research outputs relating to collaboration in social services in Welsh local authorities. By reviewing the literature on collaborative theory and practice and applying it to the research outputs which constitute the portfolio, a conclusion is reached that collaboration will remain an elusive objective unless action is taken to improve its chances of successful implementation. A new strategy is proposed for obtaining the necessary increase in the scale and pace of collaboration to justify its position as a continuing part of Welsh Government policy.

This thesis studies the emergence of financial exposures between banks and introduces a novel game of financial network formation. It shows empirically that governance structures influence how banks use the interbank market to manage liquidity and that strategic factors are additional drivers of interbank lending for private banks (Ch. 2). It further develops a model of optimal bank behaviour in the absence of liquidity shocks considering the effect of an exogenous bailout probability (Ch. 3), and introduces a model of endogenous liquidity co-insurance formation (Ch. 4). The first chapter, The Purpose of Interbank Markets, tests competing theories of interbank lending using 43 quarters (2002-2012) of confidential data on the German banking sector and interbank market. It shows that banks use the interbank market for liquidity co-insurance as traditionally assumed. However, the importance of the liquidity management function is higher for regionally-focused credit cooperatives and savings banks than for private commercial banks. A distinct effect for private banks is identified; for private banks, increases in interbank liabilities are shown to correlate with a proxy for the bailout probability of banks. The chapter thus offers empirical support for an emerging literature on strategic behaviour in interbank markets and highlights the need to extend the traditional model of liquidity co-insurance. The second chapter, The Emergence of Interbank Exposures, develops a model showing that, even in the hypothetical absence of liquidity shocks, under some conditions the presence of conditional liability guarantees can lead to interbank exposures as an equilibrium outcome. It shows that such an equilibrium is characterised by banks of different sizes and asymmetric bank behaviour. Some banks are active only as lenders with others investing in a productive technology while borrowing in the interbank market. An equilibrium interbank rate is derived which depends on parameters characterising the bailout probability, including different parameters of government behaviour. The third chapter, Coordination and Competition in the Formation of Financial Networks, introduces a generalisation and extension of the seminal work of Allen and Gale (2000). It studies liquidity co-insurance between deposit-taking banks in an n-region economy. Both a static and a dynamic model of the endogenous formation of interbank liquidity co-insurance links are examined. Using a novel approach to model liquidity co-insurance, it is shown that contrary to previous findings it is not possible for banks with limited information to insure optimally against liquidity shocks. However, in a dynamic formulation of the model with best-response dynamics and learning, socially optimal insurance is an evolutionary stable equilibrium. The chapter also studies an extension to the model that introduces non-zero bailout probabilities, which endogenously leads to interbank networks consistent with the structure of interbank exposure networks documented empirically.

Thesis (MTech (Public Management)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011 / In South Africa’s two-tiered health system, some enjoy health care based on ability to pay and others utilize services in an under-funded sector. The rift in the two, public and private sectors, primarily exists because income categories either curb or allow the necessary contributions. This thesis reports on the various contributing mechanisms, through which health care can be ensured universally, without causing impoverishment. The framework or criteria selected for this study includes feasibility, equity, efficiency and sustainability of a contributing mechanism. Furthermore, the contributing mechanisms – tax-funded, NHI, voluntary health insurance and out-ofpocket – are resident within four health care models namely, Beveridge, Bismarck, NHI and Out-of-pocket. These models are discussed as well as relevant country examples are provided. In the pursuit of answering whether the NHI scheme is suitable for South Africa, the study shows that government or tax-funding and NHI provides the contributing mechanisms that are applicable to the South African situation within the context of different challenges. It is recommended that, in the government’s discussions about health care reform, prepayment, universalism and health care expenditure, amongst others, be considered.

M.B.A. / Since the first democratic elections of April 1994, the government of South Africa has been grappling with a wide range of social and economic development issues. The development and promotion of small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) is one of these critical issues. This is seen as vital for job creation, income generation and the promotion of sustainable and equitable economic growth. It is the view of government that the SIVIME sector also deserves attention because it has been neglected in the past. It is also widely acknowledged that SMMEs play a vital role in absorbing labour, penetrating new markets and expanding the economy in creative and innovative ways. The stated general objective by the government was the need to create an enabling environment in which small businesses would flourish. There was an intensive process of consultations with key stakeholders on the SMME sector. This took the form of the 1994 White Paper (discussion paper) on Strategies for the Development of an Integrated Policy and Support Programme for Small, Medium and Micro-Enterprises in South Africa, the President's Conference on Small Business in 1995 and the Second National Conference on Small Business in 1997. The highlight of these efforts was the enabling of the institutional support framework via the National Small Business Act of 1996 which aimed at providing a supportive environment for small business development. Several institutions were created under this act at national, provincial and local levels with the following aims and objectives: To coordinate the overall national policy on small business development. To mobilize the maximum involvement by all stakeholders. To facilitate the provision of financial and non-financial support services. In general, to represent the interests of the SMME sector. The aim of this study was to investigate how effective the government policy on the development and promotion of small business has been. The focus was the Northern Province, one of the nine provinces in South Africa. The researcher was specifically interested in looking at the establishment of the institutional framework at provincial and local government level, whether the products developed for small business support have been well-marketed to the SMME sector and whether the small business sector was benefiting from these products. There were three main aspects to the conduct of the study. Government officials in the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the Northern Province were interviewed. Institutions that have been set up to provide support services to small business were also visited and officials at these institutions were also interviewed. Further information was obtained from existing documentation at the DTI and from the institutions offering support services to small business. A survey of the SMME sector in the Northern Province was conducted. A designed questionnaire was presented to a representative sample of small businesses. The data obtained from interviews and existing documentation has been summarized descriptively. The data from the questionnaires has been analysed statistically. Graphical illustrations have been used to enhance the presentation. Conclusions, recommendations and some final reflections are also included.