M.A. / The environment is being degraded and disturbed continuously by the activities of man. This has lead to the threat of the environmental health and quality. The quality and health of the environment is determined by man-environment interaction, which depends on the knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and ethics man has about and towards the environment. This is basically the concept of environmental literacy. Environmental literacy entails the ability to perceive and interpret the relative health of environmental systems and to take appropriate decisions and actions to restore, maintain and improve the health and quality of those environmental systems. Therefore, environmental literacy serves as the key to the improvement and protection of the health and quality of the environment by man. It also provides people with elementary knowledge, skills and motives to cope with environmental needs, and contribute to sustainable development. Environmental literacy may be developed through Environmental Education, which may be offered either formally or informally. This study describes what environmental literacy is, its main types and how it may be developed among people. This is when the concept of Environmental Education is introduced. The main purpose of Environmental Education is to develop awareness, knowledge and skills among people, in order to be able to work, defend, improve and sustain the quality and health of the environment on behalf of the present and future generations of all living organisms. This study also assesses the necessity of environmental literacy among community leaders to enhance their contribution towards the improvement and protection of the health and quality of the environment of Malamulele location. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used for the collection and analysis of data to assess the necessity of environmental literacy among community leaders. Thereafter, conclusions were drawn and recommendations were made regarding the findings. Concepts that form part of environmental literacy were also discussed in this paper. These concepts include Environmental Awareness, Environmental Ethics and Environmental Education. The concept of Caring for the Earth was also discussed as it consists of the principles of sustainable development. / Prof. H.G. van Rooyen

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Youth participation and communication for social change have been at the heart of debates in academic and development circles over the last thirty years. In response to criticisms that young people were merely seen as “beneficiaries” by local and international organizations, the latter have tried to readapt the way they frame, engage and strategize with the former in order to align with a new discourse in international development driven by the motto “nothing about us without us”. In 2011, UNICEF launched U-Report, a social platform available through SMS and social media, to understand the concerns of young people, amplify their voices and foster dialogue between youth and decision-makers. In Côte d’Ivoire, the initiative has been particularly successful. Since its launch in 2018, more than three million youth used the platform. Using the example of Côte d’Ivoire, considered a UNICEF “success story”, this study will analyse U-Report as a Communication for Development (C4D) tool that seeks to empower young people as agents of change in their communities. The research focuses on a specific modality of engagement available to young people through U-Report, that is, the possibility to mobilize and launch U-Actions: youth-led community actions for social change. Through surveys, interviews conducted with U- Reporters and UNICEF staff, and a case study analysis, this study will use the ecological system theory to uncover the multiple layers and influences that shape an individual’s decision to take action and question how youth engagement and participation online translate into social change offline. Findings from this research will underline that social media, the creation of personal and professional opportunities and a renewed sense of accountability are all factors influencing youth civic engagement through U-Actions. But while U-Report has been effective in developing a hybrid engagement model for young people by combining online and offline processes of participation, there are limitations as to the inclusive and representative aspect of the platform and its sustainability over time. The study will argue that these limitations present a unique opportunity for UNICEF to strengthen its C4D model and the way it engages with young people as agents of change.

This diploma’s thesis deals with a problem of the project management in connection with the founding of non-profit organizations. The aim of this thesis is to create a project proposal, which would allow founding of a non-profit organization and ensuring its financing. The non-profit organization will be founded in order to arrange the leisure activities of children and youth. During the making of the project proposal the methods which are being used in the project management by the international organization IPMA were used.

The Vietnamese have been resided in Czech Republic since 1950s. Literature claims that the Vietnamese is a rather successfully integrated group in Czech Republic comparing with other minority. Hence, the master thesis aims at exploring the political participation as well as civic engagement of university students with Vietnamese ethnicity and are conceived as second generation of the Vietnamese group in Czech Republic. Based on a review on literature on theories and relevant studies on political participation, the research employed qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews with 15 Vietnamese university students in Prague. Analysis of the responses demonstrates that most of the participants perceive political participation as their duty of citizenship and do not link their political participation with minority identity. Meanwhile, a distinction of attitude towards civic engagement and political participation for the target group and the trend of replacing political activities with civic activities is discovered. At the end of the research, this study indicates that conventional theories of political participation are not be able to cover the complexity of political participation in the modern society. Keywords Vietnamese minority, political participation, civic participation, minority...

EVC , Martina. Ob anské postoje a participace ák v eské republice. Praha, 2011. 120 s. Diplomová práce (Mgr.) Univerzita Karlova, Fakulta sociálních v d, Institut sociologických studií. Katedra sociologie. Vedoucí diplomové práce PhDr. Ing. Petr Soukup. Abstract This thesis focuses on civic participation of Czech pupils in the realm of civil society. The main task is to find out which factors influence civic attitudes and engagement of youth in current society. There has been an increased interest in concept of civil society since the fall of Communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe with respect to political, economic and social changes. These changes resulted in a need to rethink the content of civic and citizenship education. Firstly the author describes civil society as a context for civic participation with special emphasis on Czech civil society and then she deals with the theory of political socialization, which helps her to identify the key determinants of civic engagement. Family, school, peer groups and media are seen as the main agents of this socialization. Using data from the International Civic and Citizenship study the author concludes that context of schools and classrooms and motivation are the most important direct factors in civic engagement.

The study is based upon five research questions which seek to determine service workers’ perceptions of black life experiences, the causes of black clients’ problems, and possible ways to alleviate these problems. Service workers are asked if present modes of intervention are effective in working with black clients. They are further asked if training regarding black issues would help facilitate their working with black clients, and if so, what areas of training would be most useful. The researchers could have chosen any from among several client groups for this project. It was decided to limit the study to one group, however. Blacks were chosen because: 1.) the researchers have an interest in exploring the issue of racism. It is an assumption of the researchers that racism exists and that all non-white groups are affected by it. Blacks had the unique experience of .being enslaved and colonized in the United States and it is believed that this history of enslavement exacerbated black people’s experience of racism; 2.) blacks represent the largest racial minority group in Portland; and 3.) blacks have had more contact with the urban social service system than other racial minority groups and more literature is available regarding their contact with the system.

Donald Trump’s tweets have become prevalent in today’s society. Because college students use social media so often, it would be incumbent for the researcher to examine the impact Donald Trump’s tweets might have on these young adults’, civic engagement and how the tweets may be affecting his perceived credibility and expertise. The researcher administered a questionnaire to 350 college students from a private medium sized west coast university using various modified scales examining credibility, expertise and civic engagement. Civic engagement was measured using an adapted version of several civic engagement instruments. The researcher used a correlation analysis to offer answers for the proposed research questions. It was found that Donald Trump’s tweets have a significant positive impact on the way college students perceive him to be credible while also effecting their perception of his level of expertise. The tweets did not indicate a correlation to civic engagement, but further research concluded that specific tweets have the ability to have a significant negative correlation on civic attitudes and behaviors. The correlation analysis also found that there was a significant negative correlation between which form of media students use the most and their civic engagement. A regression analysis was performed to see if the tweets had predicting power on college student perception of his credibility and expertise. The tweets demonstrated predicting power. A regression analysis was done to see if the tweets had predicting power on college student civic engagement; the regression results showed no significant predicting power between the two. These results suggest that tweets from a United States President have a significant influence on how he is perceived to be credible, the perception of his level of expertise and how his tweets may be affecting civic engagement on college campuses.

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