This research appraises the impact of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme at three resettled communities in Kadoma District, Zimbabwe. In particular it assesses the livelihood practices of land recipients and their effects on the natural environment. Two of the communities, Lanteglos and CC Molina were resettled under the A1 villagised and self-contained settlement scheme and are found in the Natural Farming Region III. Pamene, the third community, was resettled under the A2 small-scale commercial settlement scheme and is found in the Natural Farming Region IIb. Multiple research methods including household surveys, interviews, observations, reviews of literature and map construction through the use of Geographic Information Systems, allowed for the collection of empirical, descriptive, and spatial data to provide for the appraisal. The land use practices included dry land crop production, livestock rearing, vegetable gardening and exploitation of the natural environment for a variety of purposes. Farming was mostly subsistence with the use of traditional equipment by all three communities. Tenure was perceived to be insecure by beneficiaries and although a variety of papers to show ownership were held, none provided for leasing or freehold tenure. Despite acquiring natural capital from the resettlement process, the findings of this research show low levels of financial, physical and social capital amongst beneficiaries. Moreover climatic variability, the declining macro-economic and unstable political environment and little support from government have adversely affected the livelihoods of beneficiaries. The implication of all this has been a reduction in livelihoods that are based solely on agricultural production, leading to off-farm practices primarily exploiting the natural environment. The long term effect would be increased degradation of the environment, leading to reduced arable and grazing land, and thereby hindering sustainable livelihoods from farming. Recommendations are proposed based on this research’s findings being typical in Zimbabwe. Central to this is the need for government to revise its present land policy and, provide for a comprehensive and holistic land policy that should be based on the vision of how agriculture should evolve in Zimbabwe

Job creation and poverty eradication have been the top priority of the South African government over the past few years and continues to be on the agenda. The government is making numerous efforts to aggressively address poverty levels and create jobs. In 1994 the African National Congress (ANC) led government inherited an economy that had glaring disparities. Most of the important economic resources of the country are concentrated in urban areas, while very few economic activities and resources are found in the rural areas. While about 70% of the country’s poorest people live in rural areas, the abundance of economic resources in towns and cities has led to minimal growth taking place in rural areas. High poverty levels continue to manifest itself in various forms and shapes in communities. The negative effects of unemployment continue to threaten our societal well-being and stability. It is evident that in poverty stricken communities there are limited economic development opportunities and have thus become trapped in a poverty cycle, and economic growth is the only sustainable approach of addressing poverty and unemployment. Local economic development (LED) is but one intervention that could be used to create jobs and eradicate poverty at a given locality. LED has been regarded as an approach towards economic development and growth whereby local people are encouraged to work in collaboration in order to achieve sustainable economic growth, bringing economic benefits and improved quality of life for all community members in a municipal area. LED is an intervention solely based at a local level being driven by local people to realise economic benefits that would improve their quality of life. A qualitative study was conducted at Alfred Nzo District Municipality to assess the contribution of LED on job creation and poverty eradication. The target population included LED managers, Project Practitioners, LED Project Beneficiaries, LED Portfolio Councillors in the Alfred Nzo District Municipality and its Local Municipalities as well as relevant sector departments and Public Entities. The study examined the contribution of LED funded projects in job creation and poverty eradication. The project also assessed the problems, issues and challenges in LED and how they are being addressed. The study found that the implementation of LED in Alfred Nzo continues to be ineffective and confronted with numerous challenges. LED has been viewed as one of the tools for job creation targeted at unskilled and unemployed members of the community. Municipalities seem to be under utilising the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) and Equitable Share for funding the LED programme. In most municipalities LED is still regarded as an unfunded mandate. Most municipalities rely heavily on grant funding from sector departments and state owned enterprises for LED. A point of concern is the lack of regular and structured discussions on LED issues within municipalities which continue to re-enforce uncoordinated planning, insufficient budgeting and poor implementation of programmes within the municipality. The study noted serious skills shortages within the project beneficiaries which hamper effective implementation of LED projects. These skills include financial management, project management, conflict resolution and business management. These are core skills for the sound and viability of management of LED projects. Access to markets has been raised as an on-going concern for LED practitioners. It is recommended that a change is made from project-based LED to a business-based approach in LED. This would require all LED projects to be registered business entities, be liable for tax and require them to produce sound business plans before receiving grant funding.

Until the introduction of the trade liberalization initiatives of 1989, the wine producers of British Columbia appeared to have operated in an environment that fostered less than competitive behaviour. Two factors in particular may have been responsible for creating such an environment: (1) the structure of the industry was inherently oligopolistic; and (2) protection from foreign competition was afforded by the British Columbia government in the form of a wine policy that effectively created non-tariff trade barriers against foreign wine producers. This study econometrically tests the hypothesis that British Columbia wine producers behaved non-competitively during the years 1957 to 1986. A model of the British Columbia wine industry is developed and used to estimate the degree of non-competitive pricing behaviour in the industry, and tests are undertaken to determine whether the estimate of behaviour is consistent with competitive or with other well known behavioral specifications. the main structural components of the industry are described in a model of oligopolistic behaviour using a linear system of equations, in which both demand and pricing equations appear. The parameters which affect each of these equations are estimated using the appropriate estimation technique. The econometric results, and the subsequent statistical tests, support the hypothesis that the domestic wine industry in British Columbia operated in a non-competitive manner between 1957 and 1986. Specifically, the hypothesis of competitive behaviour is statistically rejected, whereas, the hypotheses of Cournot and collusive-type behaviour could not be rejected. These results suggest that British Columbia consumers may have been sacrificing to firms at least a portion of the surplus they would have obtained in a perfectly competitive industry. In addition, it appears that the wine policy of the provincial government helped create a non-competitive industry that will likely have difficulty competing in today's global market for wine. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

This thesis examines women's issues and the political agenda. Several factors affect the likelihood of a women's issue getting onto the formal political agenda of government (municipal, provincial, and federal). The nature of the issue (the degree to which it challenges the status quo) affects the political outcome: those issues which have fit into current and historical legislative patterns (such as welfare state guidelines) have been more successful. A patriarchal family ideology places limitations on the proper role of women: women have held primary responsibility for the care of children and family. Women's labour force participation creates parameters for government involvement in issues such as childcare. The lobbying and organizational skills of the political actors involved are prerequisites for gaining access to government decision-makers. While the entry of women into the political arena has not insured the entry of women's issues onto the political agenda, female politicians have been especially important in bringing women's issues forward for debate and action. However, government bureaucracy has often been a barrier in the implementation of legislation concerning women's issues. I present a case study of a particular women's issue (childcare) at the municipal level of government. Five locations are examined in the Greater Vancouver area, using a combination of qualitative methods (personal interviews) and quantitative research techniques (government statistics, official documents, and reports from a variety of community organizations). In spite of the steadily increasing labour force participation of women in all locations, the response of local governments to the childcare issue has varied greatly — childcare is on Vancouver's political agenda but not that of the four district municipalities examined. Vancouver's involvement has been more comprehensive and longterm (more childcare spaces, an involved Social Planning Department, two task forces, a Children's Advocate, and buildings and sites for childcare purposes). The response of municipal councils continues to reflect patriarchal notions of the family (where childcare is a private, family responsibility). Alternatively, Vancouver council has recognized a permanent restructuring of the family and the ongoing involvement of the larger community in childcare. At the same time, the lobbying approach of Vancouver childcare advocates has followed long established patterns concerning childcare and governments -- the argument has been based on child welfare, not the rights or welfare of women. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

This study examines how the unprecedented placement of blame on social workers in B.C., following the Report of the Gove Commission into Child Protection in 1995, has affected those workers, by exploring the phenomenon from the point of view of the social workers themselves. By using structural social work theory, with a feminist perspective, the conceptual context is explored in terms of how risk and blame have been constructed and how the relationship between clients and workers, and the treatment of social workers by management have been impacted by that construction. Purposeful criterion sampling was used, applying a snowball approach of recruitment. Ten social workers participated who are or have been recently employed by the Ministry for Children & Families. Data collection occurred through one focus group session as well as individual interviews. Transcripts of the interviews were made from audiotapes. Categorical and holistic content analysis led to identification of participant themes. Findings confirmed fear of blame as a significant contributor to high stress levels but, surprisingly, social workers expressed their belief that a similar fear was frequently behind management decisions. This research provides unique insight into the factors which motivate individuals to do the difficult work of child protection. It also offers an explanation for the ongoing difficulty which government experiences in recruiting and retaining skilled, trained staff, which, if unaddressed, is a serious impediment to the effective delivery of child welfare services in B.C. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This paper gives an overview of the historical changes in the budgets of the U.S. and U.A.E.; discusses the nature of national government spending and outlines how and why government budgets in both countries have changed ove time.

The purpose of this study is to examine if in the accommodation situation, coworkers are likely to use the need rule when determining whether an accommodation is warranted or not, and if they do, if using the need rule is likely to result in more positive justice judgments.

While visiting preschools in rural areas of the southern region of Ethiopia, I became aware of the early childhood education (ECE) problems that emanated from ECE policy and its implementation. The problems I observed included that the school building was not well constructed for it had broken doors and windows, unclean and narrow rooms and the school campus had not enough space to allow kids to play freely. In addition, there were no learning materials and playground facilities and teachers did not have qualifications at all. From my subsequent observations that I had made with other preschools in a rural area, I observed the same problems. This situation triggered me to carry out this research. The overall purpose of this study was to establish the nature of ECE policy implementation at school-based Grade R classes of schools in southern Ethiopia. To achieve this aim, I employed the qualitative descriptive design for it helped me to capture and describe in-depth views, perceptions, meanings and practices of ECE policy practitioners. The major theories that informed this study are maturation, learning and interaction theories that promote holistic development of children via ECE programmes. There were 38 purposively selected subjects who participated in the study. The findings of the study revealed that practitioners had a lack of knowledge about policy implementation and did not teach correctly in the classrooms. Teachers taught Grade R with inadequate material resources and support; there was a lack of policy guidelines, standards, common curriculum, teamwork and supervision. Based on the findings, I recommended an interaction model of policy implementation that integrates bottom-up and top-down approaches to promote positive and active interplay between the policy managers at the top and implementers at the local level. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

This non-experimental, descriptive, quantitative survey attempted to evaluate IMCI implementation in the eThekwini district of KwaZulu -Natal. The study focused on IMCI implementation by IMCI trained registered nurses, health facility support and follow-up and supervision. The research population comprised of all IMCI trained registered nurses working in health facilities in the eThekwini district. The convenient sample consisted of 40 research subjects. Data was collected by means of an interview schedule and a checklist, and analysed using Microsoft Excel 2007. Findings of the study revealed that many of the IMCI trained registered nurses were unable to assess, classify and treat the sick child comprehensively and consistently. The recommended follow-up visit at six weeks after completion of IMCI training, and lack of on-going supervision remains an area of concern. Recommendations were that district or clinic supervisors can enhance the skills of IMCI trained registered nurses through recommended follow-up visits and on-going supervision and the provision of updated IMCI chart booklets. / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)

Entrepreneurship education and training ensures economic development by enabling the creation of thriving new businesses and jobs by entrepreneurs. The Business Management Training Programme is tasked with training young entrepreneurs in South Africa. However, the youth unemployment rate has been exceedingly high in recent years. This study seeks to explore the implementation challenges being experienced by the Business Management Training Programme at the National Youth Development Agency. Using a qualitative approach, this study made use of semi-structured interviews with a carefully selected sample of those involved in the management and implementation of the Business Management Training Programme. A thematic analysis of the semi-structured interviews indicated that the challenges experienced in the implementation of the programme did not stem solely from operational issues within the National Youth Development Agency, but from the conceptualisation and design of the Business Management Training Programme. On this basis, it is recommended that the National Youth Development Agency use the Design and Architecture Framework for Entrepreneurship Education and Training to conceptualise and design their own Business Management Training Programme. The study concluded that by conceptualising and designing its own programme, the National Youth Development Agency will be able to address the unique entrepreneurial education and training challenges being experienced in South Africa. / Public Administration and Management / M. (Public Administration)