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Poverty is the single greatest burden of the South African nation, with estimates that at least seventeen million of the population survives below the minimum basic income level. The socio-economic and environmental impacts of these alarming poverty levels are worsened by ineffective service delivery in South Africa, which has been fraught by administrative, legislative and financial incapacities. Despite clear commitments outlined in the South African constitution, legislation, mandates and policies to provide environmentally sustainable services to all South Africans; the first chapters of this dissertation argues that the situation in terms of service delivery is reaching a crisis point and reinforces claims that government alone cannot address this calamity. The residents of the Marikana Township are no strangers to the hardship of poverty and futile attempts at service provision by the Rustenburg municipality. The on-going lack of service delivery has resulted in increasing levels of diseases, environmental pollution and degradation. The effects of these traditional environmental hazards are exacerbated by modern environmental hazards emanating from mining activities in close proximity to the community, by one of the largest platinum producers in South Africa. The consequences of these combined forces necessitates that urgent action is taken and that the problem of service delivery is addressed effectively and efficiently. The waste management services to the communities of Marikana, supplied by Rustenburg Municipality, typify service delivery. In recent years, the South African government has sought alternative service delivery mechanisms as solutions to inadequate and ineffective service provision to communities. This is a clear imperative in the broader context of a post-apartheid society. One organisational arrangement for service provision, which is becoming increasingly popular on a worldwide scale, is tri-sector partnerships. In tri-sector partnerships, a relationship is established to the point where corporations ‘pool’ complementary resources, knowledge and skills from across the three sectors of society namely business, government and civil society to jointly address complex social impacts. Although there have been instances where tri-sector partnerships have been initiated, there is limited evidence and experience of tri-sector partnerships being actively managed and sustained over time. In developing countries, in particular South Africa, the concept of these partnership formations is relatively novel and is an option worthy of future exploration. The waste management tri-sector partnership in the Moses Kotane municipal district is an example of an unconventional ‘successful’ tri-sector partnership in the North West province of South Africa. The communities within the Moses Kotane municipal district illustrate characteristics of poverty in the same magnitude of the communities within the Rustenburg Municipality, both entities within the Bojanala Platinum District. To date, the partnership has achieved all strategic objectives of the partnership in terms of improving waste collection, the realisation of employment for local community members and establishing selected community members as business owners. Despite these objectives being achieved by all sectors, aspects of implementation can be enhanced to further the success of the approach. This dissertation attempts to provide solutions to the waste management concerns of the Marikana community by assessing and adapting the tri-sector partnership approach as it was implemented in the Moses Kotane district. Strategies are also recommended to solve the concerns plaguing the Moses-Kotane waste management tri-sector partnership. The recommendations are primarily aimed at improving the success and sustainability (financial and environmentally) of the tri-sector partnership with the aim of improving the replication feasibility of this approach. This dissertation concludes that the model based on tri-sector partnership arrangements has a definite potential to not only improve on service delivery, but be more effective in tackling problems related to the degradation of water, soil and land resources and therefore minimise health impacts on nearby communities. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / Unrestricted

As educators are held accountable for student outcomes more frequently, more stringently, and more fully throughout the school organization, service delivery systems have become a focus. Not only are teachers being held accountable for students' learning, but also principals and other administrators are beginning to feel the pressure from public concerns regarding the education of children in the United States. The quality of student instruction can be addressed through practical service delivery models, while administrators' support of the model chosen for their schools is a pivotal variable for effectiveness and efficiency. Students with identified disabilities are being served more frequently in general education classrooms for all or most of their school day. The percentage of students with disabilities served in heterogeneous classes has increased from 32.8% in 1990-1991 to 44.5% in 1994-1995 (U. S. Department of Education, 1997). The more service delivery options available, the more likely an appropriate education will be delivered to these students with disabilities who are placed in heterogeneous classrooms. Cooperative services between general and special educators such as consultation and co-teaching, which include both direct services to students and indirect services through the classroom teacher, offer unique and malleable options for service delivery. To fully understand the process of administrative support for this innovative model, it is imperative to study the interactions between the innovation, the context in which it is being implemented, and the individuals involved with the innovation (Corbett, Dawson, & Firestone, 1984). The study of a process is difficult because it involves investigating the factors that affect the likelihood that there will be change in the individuals who are involved. It necessitates the need to identify what they do, think, and believe in relation to the demands outlined by an innovation (Fullan, 1982). Researchers suggest the necessity of on-site case studies to gain insight and to investigate processes (Fullan; Hall & Hord, 1987; Huberman & Miles, 1984; Patton, 1990). The intent of this qualitative study is to explore how principals view their ability to support the cooperation between general and special educators for the benefit of students with disabilities. Specifically, the goal is to gain a deeper understanding of the facilitators and inhibitors that principals face when attempting to support this cooperation and to describe methods that principals have used, successfully and unsuccessfully, to avoid barriers to cooperation. Interviews will be conducted with principals who have previously been the special or general educator in a collaborative consultation process, as well as with both general and special educators currently working with this principal. This unusual perspective is designed to give rich descriptive information to educators who choose to use this promising practice of service delivery for at-risk students and students with disabilities at the K-12 level. / Ph. D.

Context: Partnerships are emerging as critically important vehicles for addressing health in local communities. Coalitions involving local health departments can be viewed as the embodiment of a local public health system. Although it is known that these networks are heavily involved in assessment and community planning activities, limited studies have evaluated whether health coalitions are functioning at an optimal capacity. Objective: This study assesses the extent to which health coalitions met or exceeded expectations for building functional capacity within their respective networks. Design: An evaluative framework was developed focusing on 8 functional characteristics of coalitions previously identified by Erwin and Mills. Twenty-nine indicators were identified that served as "proxy" measures of functional capacity within health coalitions. Setting and Participants: Ninety-three County Health Councils (CoHCs) in Tennessee. Main Outcome Measure(s): Diverse member representation; formal rules, roles, and procedures; open, frequent interpersonal communication; task-focused climate; council leadership; resources; active member participation; and external linkages were assessed to determine the level of functionality of CoHCs. Scores across all CoHCs were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency distributions, measures of central tendency, and measures of variability. Data were analyzed using SAS 9.3. Results: Of 68 CoHCs (73% response rate), the total mean score for the level of functional characteristics was 30.5 (median= 30.5; SD = 6.3; range, 18-44). Of the 8 functional characteristics, CoHCs met or exceeded all indicators associated with council leadership, tasked-focused climate, and external linkages. Lowest scores were for having a written communications plan, written priorities or goals, and opportunities for training. Conclusion: This study advances the research on health coalitions by establishing a process for quantifying the functionality of health coalitions. Future studies will be conducted to examine the association between health coalition functional capacity, local health departments' community health assessment and planning efforts, and changes in community health status.

Informal or non-contractual partnerships between nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and government entities are becoming more common in America, opening up new possibilities for NPOs to function as equal partners in the decision-making process and implementation of community services. The problem concerns the challenges that NPOs face in achieving equal partner status with their local government counterpart, a problem which has received limited attention in research. The purpose of this study was to explore the dynamics behind successful informal partnerships between NPOs and local governments, translating into effective and efficient service delivery. The theoretical framework was based on Davis's stewardship theory and Schelling's game theory. The research questions examined the dynamics that enable the NPO and government partnerships to be successful, specifically the development and sustainment of trust, power balance, open and transparent communication, and level and frequency of interactions. This qualitative case study included interviews with nonprofit executives (n = 5), recruited through a pre-interview questionnaire, and review of NPO published documents describing the informal partnerships. The data were coded and analyzed by creating mind maps. Findings revealed that the actions and decisions of the NPOs and local governments reflected a shared mission and desire to achieve positive social change. The results indicate that NPOs and local governments may function as equal partners if certain dynamics are present such as trust, transparent communication, influence, and goal alignment. The implications for social change include establishing successful models of informal partnerships between NPOs and local governments that impact the social and economic well-being of communities.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In the global age, grass-roots religious organizations seek to better collaborate across national and cultural borders. Through the theoretical lens of mutuality, this dissertation explores the nature and quality of interpersonal relationships inherent in faith-based, philanthropic partnerships between the United States and Cuba. Mutuality is a framework for understanding human relationships; it describes when people regard one another as whole persons and a relationship as something of inherent value. This study explores the value of relationships, the processes by which they form, how they relate to institutional structures, and the role of a common faith in bridging other cultural differences. Religious communities are considered the primary civil society institutions with national reach in Cuba. The research site for this study is a Protestant civil society organization on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba called Campo Amor. Campo Amor operates both nonprofit and for-profit activities and receives substantial American donations through a foundation in Spain. Over the past 20 years, Campo Amor has multiplied from two to more than 120 house churches. Before COVID-19 it welcomed more than 500 American partners each year. Using a co-created, phenomenological qualitative design, this study will provide knowledge into the role of relationships in philanthropic, faith-based partnerships, particularly between regions of geopolitical hostilities. It advances understanding of the role of religion and relationships in philanthropy across a variety of cultural differences. Among other findings, interviewees described mutuality as 1. the commitment to sharing; 2. Intersubjective relationships which enter into and care about the thoughts and feelings of another; and 3. the habitual approach that emphasized living one’s way into patterns of thought, versus thinking one’s way into patterns of life.

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