As a recipient of Official Development Assistance (ODA), the Republic of Zambia is considered one of the aid-dependent nations in Sub-Saharan Africa. Development assistance has been said to have had made absolutely no contribution to economic growth and development in the country on observation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita figure over the years which indicates periods of stagnation in growth despite ODA receipts. Generally, this conclusion has in the past been drawn without consideration for, and appreciation of, the variations in the objectives and disbursement channels of ODA. Consequently, this study sought to investigate the separate impact of multilateral and bilateral ODA on GDP per capita which served as a proxy for economic growth and development in Zambia. Based on a modified neo-classical economic growth model that incorporates multilateral and bilateral ODA as determinants of economic growth, this study employed the ARDL model to investigate the long-run and short-run relationship between GDP per capita and ODA from 1975 to 2016. Two similar growth models were analysed substituting the net ODA variable with multilateral and bilateral ODA in order to assess the relationship. In addition to net ODA, the model included the variables investment, trade openness and the labour force as determinants of economic growth. Findings from the study show that multilateral ODA had a significant negative impact on GDP per capita, while the bilateral ODA model showed a statistically insignificant negative relationship. The findings of the study support the notion that different types of foreign aid cannot be expected to have a uniform impact on growth and development in terms of effectiveness. The recommendations point to the importance of re-evaluation of modalities by donors to ensure that development assistance is more effective in achieving sustainable development goals.

According to Stroh, Northcraft and Neale (2001:297-300) "an organisational culture is a system of shared values about what is important and beliefs about how things work that produce the norms and expectations of performance. Whether weak or strong, an organisation's culture has a profound influence on how work gets done. It can affect many aspects of organisational life, from who gets promoted and what decisions are made to how people dress, act and play at work. Barker (2003:141) defines EAP as services offered by employers to their employees to help them overcome problems that may negatively affect job satisfaction or productivity. EAPA-SA (2005:6) on the other hand defines EAP as a worksite- based program designed to assist work organisations in addressing productivity issues and employee clients in identifying and resolving personal concerns, including, but not limited to, health, marital, family, financial, alcohol, drug, legal, emotional, stress, or other personal issues that may affect job performance. The study was aimed at determining as to whether there is any influence of organisational culture on utilisation of the EAP in Rand Water. It was a quantitative study with a sample of 155 employees selected across all sites. The data collection method used was in the form of questionnaires. In this study, the findings suggest that the organisational culture promotes employee well being and that employees are encouraged by their managers to make use of the Employee Assistance Programme. / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Social Work and Criminology / MSW / Unrestricted

Chinese relations with African countries have increased significantly during the last two decades. In recent times, a large number of Chinese nationals have temporarily relocated to parts of the continent to engage in trade, mining and other businesses. The limited to no approach on Sino-African relations has created mixed feelings among Africans and especially scholars. A wide range of academic publications on Sino-African relations in recent times have especially focused on the impact of China on African economies. However, there is scant research on Ghana's partnership with China. The purpose of this study was to examine the challenges and opportunities of Ghana-China relations through the lenses of realism and liberalism as theoretical frameworks. The study adopted a qualitative approach. Data was collected through interviews with purposively selected respondents, along with field observations, archival reviews and relevant literature. The aim was to examine the impact of Chinese relations on Ghana, in the areas of development, governance, trade, aid and investment. A total of 35 respondents participated in the study. These included academics, market women, members of civil society and traditional leaders. The study found that some of the perceptions of ordinary Ghanaians about China were inaccurate and misplaced. However, the study revealed the tension that exists between local communities and Chinese investors. At the governmental level, it was found that the economic and trade relations between Ghana and China have become stronger. However, it was noted that, consistent with China's realist foreign policy orientation, and in spite of China's growing trade, aid and investment in Ghana, Beijing has on the whole enjoyed more benefits than Accra in the relations between the two countries.

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This thesis contributes new knowledge to discussions of inequality in three arenas and two methodological syntheses that might inform future statistical analyses. Methodologically, the application of unconditional quantile regression in a two-stage model is used to determine whether response bias plays any role in the patterns observed in survey responses (Chapter 2), and, a recent development in the program evaluation literature (the synthetic control method) is combined with flexible parametric survival models to identify treatment effects where stratification is perfectly correlated with treatment (albeit under restrictive assumptions). The analyses undertaken herein have discovered: that self-assessed unmet need for healthcare has an empirical basis for application as reporting behaviour statistically predicts decline in health, that the likelihood of reporting unmet need conditional on health and healthcare utilization is correlated with the dimensions along which social scientists might map inequality, that government programs intended to provide a minimum level of utility are unresponsive to regional poverty-relief efforts, and that household bargaining outcomes regarding number of children can be predicted by exposure to a parental divorce. The implications of these findings are manifold. First, while self-assessment of healthcare access is a valid metric on average to overcome limitations of needs-adjusted utilization, its use in cross-sectional analysis as it is currently obtained in survey across many different jurisdictions is suspect. Second, the patterns of fertility conditional on parents’ divorce suggest that household bargaining in Canada does not likely belong to several different theoretical frameworks. Specifically, bargaining most likely exists in an environment where women still bear the cost of children in the event of a divorce, or bargaining exists without commitment. Finally, while the theoretical literature makes compelling claims about interactions between different levels of government policy, in practice this may not be the case even if policy-wordings seem to suggest this would be particularly relevant. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis explores three separate dimensions of inequality. First, a method of improving measurement of inequity in healthcare is demonstrated in a world of heterogeneous preferences where traditional methods exploiting observed utilization are shown to be inadequate. Potential issues resulting from response bias in the metric used in the method from chapter 1 are investigated in chapter 2. Next, the experience of a parents’ divorce as a child is correlated with adult fertility showing that the intergenerational transmission of marital instability may influence decisions on family size as an adult, specifically, only women show a change in fertility outcomes after the exposure to their parents’ divorce. Finally, the effect of a regional transfer intended to improve living standards for the poor is examined for its effect on the workfare program in Ontario. The transfer is found to increase the duration of welfare benefit receipt by two months, representing a welfare improvement for eligible recipients.