Many poor households in South Africa rely on social grants for their survival, forcing the government to spend on the programme, to the detriment of other socioeconomic programmes necessary for poverty alleviation and economy growth. This study investigated the impact of the South African social assistance policies and programmes on the human capacity development of beneficiaries, especially households affected by HIV/AIDS, residing in informal settlements. Following a qualitative approach, exploratory and case study techniques were used to collect and analyse data. In-depth interviews and observations at research sites uncovered rich data elucidated by social capital theory and the capability approach. The thesis commenced with social assistance as implemented in OECD and BRICS countries, including South Africa. The notion of human capacity development, as linked to social assistance, poverty alleviation and economic growth, was presented. Conditional social programmes directed at human capacity development via educational assistance were contrasted with universal social assistance systems. Findings revealed that South Africa, despite its low level of economic growth, has a welldeveloped, selective social assistance system. Social grants assist beneficiaries to meet urgent needs, such as food and transport to hospital and for job seeking. It is insufficient to meet other basic needs, including capacity development. There is a shortage of educational facilities and training programmes in poor communities, which sometimes exclude adult men and youth without Grade 12. There is no guarantee of a job or business opportunities for graduates from skills development centres. Many who have completed their training are placed in entry-level jobs that earn salaries below the social grant exit requirements. Recommendations to increase the array of social grant instruments and to introduce conditional grants for vulnerable adults were made. In particular, the provision of scholarships to needy youths and adults was recommended, augmented by more educational facilities in poor communities, more training programmes, and the establishment of structures that will provide decent job placement and business opportunities for graduates. Urgent provision of decent housing for the poor and improvements in public health infrastructure, roads, water and electricity, in order to facilitate the human development of needy people is further needed. / Development Studies / Ph. D. (Development Studies)

This qualitative study aimed to explore and describe the experiences of women living with HIV and Aids in Centurion, Gauteng Province. The study was conducted at Lyttleton clinic and 12 women living with HIV and Aids were selected for the study using a non-probability, purposive sampling technique. In-depth, individual semi-structured interviews were used during data collection. A thematic content approach in data analysis yielded the following main themes: experience of being diagnosed HIV positive, disclosure of an HIV positive status, physical signs and symptoms of HIV and Aids, stigma/ emotional stress well experiences in services rendered. The study highlighted the need for a well-established health system, assisting women living with HIV and Aids on how to cope and to raise awareness on HIV and Aids. / Health Studies / M. A. (Public Health)

HIV/AIDS is the biggest challenge facing humankind today and can no longer be compared to other health disasters. One of the greatest challenges it presents is that of nurturing healthy children to become competent, adaptive adults despite the numerous negative effects of the pandemic. Of concern is the lack of interventions that address the psychosocial needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS, poverty and violence. The present research study aims to evaluate a group therapy programme that has been developed to address this lack. The therapy programme used in this study is embedded in Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological model, which focuses on the interaction between person and environment. The model proposes that this interaction is two directional and reciprocal. It also draws on the literature concerning risk and resilience in children, which aims to understand personal, familial and social factors that create and sustain resilience in children. Thus, the programme aims to intervene on many levels and to give the children the opportunity to deal with and gain mastery over their past experiences and feelings. In addition, it aims to develop resilience, self-esteem and internal coping resources and enables them to access external support systems in the future. In order to evaluate the programme, a sample of 43 vulnerable children was drawn from a peri-urban community in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. The sample was randomly divided into a control group and two experimental groups, that later merged into one experimental group. Pre-test data was collected from all the participants in the form of a questionnaire consisting of 4 quantitative tools: the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC), the Culture Free Self Esteem Inventory (CFSEI), the Reynolds Child Depression Scale (RCDS) and a Social Support Scale (SSS). The group therapy programme, consisting of 15 sessions was then run with the experimental group. The control group engaged in 15 sessions involving games, singing, III drawing and other activities. Post-test data using the same questionnaire was collected from all the participants. The data was analysed quantitatively. No statistically significant differences were noted between any of the overall pre- and post-test data, except that of the TSCC. The graphical representations of the results showed a reduction in trauma symptoms and depression, and a raise in self-esteem, however the p-values were not significant. This is thought to be the result of the small sample size. The result also indicated that the CFSEI cannot be considered a reliable tool in this study. This study emphasises the need for further research in the field of vulnerable children in South Africa and the development, implementation and evaluation of interventions for this subgroup. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

In recent debate within education, the notion of barriers to learning has been reconceptualised to focus on systemic issues rather than deficits in individual learners. These barriers are factors which contribute to learning breakdown and exclusion. HIV / AIDS has been recognised as one of the factors which contributes to preventing children from participating in and benefiting from learning. In South Africa HIV/ AIDS has reached pandemic proportions. There has been a call for in depth qualitative micro-studies to supplement the numerous macro, quantitative studies on HIV / AIDS to explore contextualised experiences of HIV / AIDS and barriers to learning. This study was aimed at mapping barriers to learning in a context of HIV and AIDS amongst grade 6 and 9 learners in the Richmond district of KwaZulu-Natal. The study used semi- structured interviews and focus groups with participative methods of data collection. The total sample was 60 with an equal number of male and female participants. The data was analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis and the framework provided by Bronfenbrenner's theory with a particular focus on contextual factors to describe and analyse the barriers to learning in the study. The study found that psychosocial exclusionary factors that were located at different system levels in terms of Bronfenbrenner's theory exacerbated the impact of mv/ AIDS in the context of the study. The interconnectedness of, and the ripple effects amongst, these barriers to learning create additional challenges for the current education policies to minimize the impact of HIV / AIDS in formal education / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

Thesis (M.B.A.)-Business Studies Unit, Durban Institute of Technology, 2005 xii, 127 leaves / The knowledge, attitude and training needs of line managers at the South African Sugar Association (SASA) with regards to the management of HIV/AIDS infected employees. Background: The rapid spread of HIV/AIDS is having an increasingly adverse impact on the operations of companies. Due to the changing environment in which line managers have to operate as a result of HIV/AIDS, line managers will increasingly be faced with handling HIV/AIDS infected employees and all the issues surrounding this epidemic. The research investigates the knowledge, attitude and training needs of line managers in SASA with regards to the management of HIV/AIDS infected employees. Objective: The goals of the research are; 1). To ascertain the prevailing level of knowledge, attitude and training needs of line managers at SASA with regards to the management of HIV/AIDS infected employees. 2). To establish the relationship between the biographic variables and knowledge, attitude and training needs with regards to the management of HIV/AIDS infected employees.

The purpose of this study was to investigate coping strategies employed by low-income households of Sweetwaters KwaZulu-Natal, who have members who are infected with HIV in ensuring food security when dealing with HIV/AIDS. This study was based on households who have members living openly with HIV/AIDS and who were members of a support group of HIV positive people. This study was conducted between July 2003 and June 2004. Focus group meetings were conducted with a support group of 26 members (Philani Support Group). Questionnaires, group discussions and observations were used to collect data from households. In order for the study to investigate coping strategies, the following sub-problems were investigated to measure changes before and after illness or death in household: changes in finances, changes in food habits, social aspect of studied household which included infrastructure (housing, roads, water, sanitation and energy); external and internal support. There were no major differences in coping strategies, but the structure, resources and size of households informed their coping strategies. Food was the centre of all activities of households. As the ability of the household to produce food or earn income decreased, the need for food increased. Government social grants have been shown to be the main resource for coping (they enabled households to cope or survive). It is recommended that low-income households affected by HIV/AIDS and totally dependent on grants should be helped not to develop a dependency syndrome by implementing strategies that will encourage active participation and deal with passiveness that exists within low-income households of Sweetwaters affected by HIV/AIDS. As this study indicates that there are no resources on which concerned households depend, it suggests a greater need for capital to boost the household and strategies for households to be able to sustain themselves. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

This thesis formulates and argues for a composite conceptual framework of ethics for strategic and sustainable corporate benevolence as a means of addressing HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The template consists of the following theoretical elements: modern virtue ethics, contemporary Western communitarian ethics, the African philosophy of Ubuntu and a feminist ethic of care. This template is applied to relevant pragmatic ends through the proposition that the King I I Report - as it explicitly advocates a universally communitarian and essentially African code of ethics for a business response to HIV/AIDS - offers a viable and valuable model to both understand and transcend the tensions between profits and caring in the post-apartheid era of the South African experience of the pandemic. Specific features of the thesis include contextual perspectives on the ethical variances of HIV/AIDS stigma and behaviour change, cached as the thought-form of " I and We" as opposed to "Us and Them", and the psycho-social linguistics of re-interpreting "the wounded other" as "the wounded us". This is drawn together conceptually in discussion around the individual in and of, rather than as opposed to, the community, stressing how the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic is compelling our society to integrate this reverence into our disposition and conduct. In the spirit of this Afro-European communitarian ethic, and to apply this postulated theory for a concrete social morality in the wake of HIV/AIDS, the thesis argues that there is an ethical role for businesses in restoring the balance between nurturing and selfinterest - an equilibrium that is essential for both human expression and human survival. This involves underscoring the elderly and young women, as well as children, who head households and care for orphans of AIDS in circumstances of great vulnerability, (particularly the nation-wide body of informally organised volunteer home-based caregivers), as target beneficiaries for a gravely urgent and massive empowerment effort by the business sector. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

Women in the Mutima Church in Zambia have for some years had the highest HIV rate in the church, but because this is one of the African Indigenous Churches (AICs), not much is known about the behavioural and other risk factors that predispose these women to the virus. One of the reasons is that some members of the Mutima Church cannot make their own decisions when getting married. The church founder makes marital decisions for some of the church members. This problem raises serious questions for HIV health practitioners, activists and some of the church members. Informed by some of the Mutima Church members that HIV testing in their church is not considered a norm, this dissertation demonstrates theological teachings on polygamy and HIV and Aids employed by the church founder. In this dissertation, some church members from the Mutima Church were asked to describe and explain what polygamy and HIV and Aids meant to them and how they theologically perceived and understood them. While the major results indicate that polygamy in the Mutima Church contributes to the spread of HIV and Aids, the other new research findings are that the Mutima Church members' theological understanding on polygamy is that it is a blessing from God; and that HIV and Aids is a punishment from God. These responses are analysed and discussed in this dissertation. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.

This thesis seeks to outline the HIV epidemic in Nigeria and understand the response of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) to the epidemic. In evaluating the Church of Nigeria's policy document, it also seeks to understand how the response needs to be strengthened. The thesis looks at the history of HIV and AIDS in Nigeria and the impact of the epidemic on the Nigerian society. It further identifies some of the factors that contribute to the spread of HIV in Nigeria and the government's response to the epidemic. For the Church to respond appropriately to the epidemic there is a great need to start by theologizing the epidemic in a more helpful way. It is based on this that this thesis further attempts to theologize the epidemic by discussing sexuality, the notion of imago dei and shalom as well-being. The thesis examines the six thematic areas of the policy document and presents a critical analysis in which it discovers that though there are good things in the policy document, it however, needed a more solid theological foundation and employment of an educative tool that is more inclusive. Central to the argument of the thesis is that no one factor drives the epidemic, but rather a complex interaction between several factors. Therefore, to strengthen the policy document the thesis suggests a number of things to do which include a more solid theological foundation and employing of the 'SAVE' approach as an educative tool in response to the epidemic. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

African widows experience physical, emotional and spiritual traumas induced by cultural/psycho-social factors, which are further exacerbated by environmental and socioeconomic determinants. These circumstances make both the mourning process and its aftermath - coping with life after the death of their spouses - extremely difficult. Oppressive cultural practices and perceptions can aggravate or intensify the suffering for many of these women. Certain rituals expose women to possible HIV infection, and in the case of Christian widows, are also incompatible with their faith. Compounding this is the cultural stigma attached to widowhood, and the added possibility of the AIDS stigma whether or not her husband did indeed die of HIV and AIDS. This dissertation examines the experiences of Christian widows from multicultural and multi ethnic backgrounds and proposes the way in which the Church can respond, given a context of African cultural practices and HIV prevention initiatives. It responds to the question of the implications of the transition into and the state of widowhood in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zambia. This is a church operating in an environment where African cultural practices are esteemed, and some widowhood cultural practices have turned out to be risky in a context of HIV and AIDS. Chapter 1 introduces the study giving the background to and motivation for the study. It discuses the feminization of HIV and AIDS in Zambia, and that situation in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zambia which gave the impetus to undertake the study. It also elaborates on the methodology used to conduct this research. Chapter 2 reviews the literature on related research that has already been done on widowhood, showing the reason to study a subject that has received so much attention. It also shows how strands of African Christianity have contextualized the gospel in Africa. Chapter 3 describes Lutheran theology on widowhood and the theology that Lutheranism has developed from Luther's views on widowhood. Chapter 4 describes the methods used in collecting data from the sampled interviewees and informants. Chapter 5 presents the results of the research and these are interpreted in Chapter 6. Chapter 7 presents a proposed Christianized cleansing ritual, giving justification and the procedure for the ritual. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.