xvi, 139 p. : ill. (some col.), col. maps. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / This thesis explores the empowerment effects of arts-and-crafts programs targeting women in Johannesburg, South Africa, focusing mainly on one case study: Boitumelo Sewing Project. Interviews with participants, facilitators, and management reveal that empowerment manifests in Boitumelo Project primarily in individual and collective forms, though also on an economic level to a limited degree. While many development projects focus on economic empowerment, this research suggests that other forms of empowerment may be even more important in the long term. Economic empowerment helps people meet short-term responsibilities, but it is through individual and collective empowerment that personal and community forms of healing take place, enabling people to engage more successfully in society overall. In light of this, I argue that development projects should focus on engendering genuine participatory empowerment on both the individual and collective levels in order to increase sustainability and development success in the long term. / Committee in Charge: Dr. Anita M. Weiss, Chair; Dr. Dennis Galvan; Dr. Michael Hibbard

There is an overall consensus that the poor governance and corruption plaguing many developing nations are main inhibitors to progress. These inhibitors also lead to the overwhelming feelings of desperation, apathy, and determinism. International development assistance programs utilizing capacity building have been created to deal with sustainable development issues in the developing world. Often these programs are fragmented and address results, not the causes, of problems. This study assesses how existing community development approaches could be aided through a strategic sustainable development perspective. A majority of the research involved creation of a holistic innovative community development approach, which encourages transformational change and effective leadership, and comparison of that to an existing community development approach. Strengths and limitations were observed through this comparison and generic recommendations were created to support current approaches. The study found that existing development assistance strategies are effective at building capacity and helping communities, but encompassing a more holistic perspective could align planning and decision-making with socio-ecological sustainability and thereby support mid- and long-term progress.

Building capacities of sustainability change agents is primordial to increase the effectiveness and to accelerate the process towards a sustainable society. This research investigates the current challenges and practices of sustainability change agents and analyses current research in the field of leadership development. A Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development is described as a means to overcome and address the complex challenges that society faces today. Furthermore the development of leadership capacities of sustainability change agents is suggested as a strategic factor for the process of sustainable development. A literature study highlights the new dimension to leadership development and defines its characteristics. Interviews and focus groups with sustainability practitioners and students are analysed. From this analysis a set of methods and approaches to professional and personal development is derived. The research points to the need of developing leadership capacities, of sustaining them and of having the ability to be self-aware. It is mentioned that the development of these capacities will depend on the supporting environment, the methods employed and on the candidate itself in order to achieve best results.

Magister Artium - MA / The birth of democracy in South Africa in 1994 not only meant the end of apartheid, but also served as the catalyst for community participation in the affairs of local government. Despite the creation of an enabling environment, i.e. the adoption of the concept of Developmental Local Government and Integrated Development Planning Framework to ensure the participation of communities, public participation remains contested today and still does not achieve its expected results. A range of problems besets public participation in governance and development planning. Accordingly, this thesis presents a case study of the barriers to meaningful public participation as well as exploration of the context and extent of public participation in Ward 28, Elsies River, Cape Town, South Africa. The investigation examined the link between public participation, development planning and service delivery. In order to achieve the stated aim, the researcher employed a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods including secondary analysis, observation, informal interviewing, focus group discussions as well as the administration of a structured questionnaire to various stakeholders. Based on the empirical results of this research, the study provides a number of developmental guidelines and public participation recommendations to enhance planning and service delivery, especially in poor communities. / South Africa

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / This study focused on the developments of Civil Service Reform (CSR) in Mozambique, and the priority issues pertaining to human resources management in the country. This research investigation performed an assessment of the human resources management priorities and its effectiveness in civil service reform in the Government of Mozambique. / South Africa

One of the most important issues facing the South African democracy is that of breaking the grip of poverty on a substantial portion of its citizens. In South Africa, Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) play a major role in the development of assistance for the poor and in reducing poverty. As an NPO, the Greater Midrand Development Centre (GMDC) has played an important role in supporting and encouraging the development aspirations of Region A of the City of Johannesburg community in the areas of Agricultural projects, bakery, poultry and paper making. The aim of the study was to determine the impact of the Development Centre Approach (DCA) on poverty alleviation in the Region A of the City of Johannesburg community and to make recommendations on policy priorities and challenges that will fast track developmental social service delivery within a Development Centre Approach. The study focused on the GMDC poverty alleviation projects in five selected areas. The study followed a qualitative research approach. Data was collected by means of one-on-one interviews and focus groups by means of semi-structured interview schedules. The participants of the focus groups involved both those beneficiaries who were still attending the GMDC poverty alleviation projects, and those who have exited the development centre poverty alleviation projects. The one-on-one interviews involved five project leaders, members of the board, staff members, and officials from the Department of Social Development. The findings indicated that the GMDC has played a crucial role in terms of poverty alleviation of the beneficiaries. From the study it was concluded that the poverty alleviation projects of the GMDC appear to be alleviating the poverty of the beneficiaries by addressing some of their basic needs to a certain extent by improving a livelihood, but nonetheless still not reducing their poverty levels. The study recommends the development of a clear exit strategy which is understood and supported by beneficiaries. The exit strategy should include factors and elements which will promote sustainability, such as business and entrepreneurial skills; knowledge on equipment; material; a marketing strategy; and a strategy or guidelines on networking, including donors and financing institutions. / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

There is a shortage of information systems (IS) professionals in South Africa. This IS skills shortage is growing, as attempts to reduce the scarcity of IS skills through (i) ICT-enabled education-focussed development and (ii) IS education initiatives are not increasing IS skills levels in South Africa fast enough to keep up with global growth trends in IS skills. The South African demand for tertiary-level IS skills continues to outgrow the supply. This study aims to explain the nature of this skills shortage, and to address this shortage by finding ways to increase the quantity and quality of students enrolling for and graduating in IS [and IS-related] graduate courses at tertiary education institutions in South Africa. This study, in three sequential parts, finds (i) ways to improve the impact and sustainability of existing ICT-enabled education-focussed development projects, (ii) reasons and solutions for the lack of tertiary level IS students (and graduates) from a human capacity-building perspective, and (iii) meaningful results from two case study projects engaged in by the researcher that suggest short transition and reskilling courses as a workable solution to the mentioned skills shortage. The findings from these three parts lead to practical considerations for South African IS departments, informed by a graduate development framework, that will guide IS departments towards optimising the quality and quantity of tertiary-level IS students in South Africa. The resulting framework, the IS Graduate Development Framework, includes a sensitivity towards increasing the employability and entrepreneurial potential of IS students. The results from using the framework as measuring tool include several new insights regarding the kind of IS development project [or course] that best facilitates the development of more high-quality, industry-ready IS graduates, and lead to practical improvements in existing IS courses at a local university. These improvements include the development of a mobile application, as part of one of the case study projects, to facilitate higher levels of industry involvement, sufficient information delivery, changing popular perceptions of IS, and long-term relationships with students that can be used to motivate student career choice. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / lk2013 / Informatics / unrestricted

I investigated the experiences of teachers as co-researchers in a long-term partnership with university researchers in an asset-based intervention project known as STAR1. The goal of STAR is to investigate how teachers can promote resilience in scare-resource and high need schools. To inform participatory research methodology, I explored and described how coresearchers (teachers) experience power relations. I conducted the participatory reflection and action (PRA) study by using feminist standpoint theory as guiding epistemological paradigm, Gaventa’s power cube as theoretical framework and participatory research as methodological paradigm. I conveniently chose two cohorts (schools) in the STAR project to partner as the unit of analysis. I thus applied convenience sampling to select information-rich cohorts. The schoolcohorts included a primary school in the Eastern Cape Province and a secondary school in a remote area in the Mpumalanga Province. I then purposefully selected participating coresearchers (n=15: 14 females, 1 male) from the participating schools. Over a two year period, I employed multiple PRA data generation techniques (observation, four focus groups and two semi-structured interviews) and documentation procedures (field notes, research journal, visual data and verbatim transcriptions). I used thematic analysis and categorical aggregation for data analysis, with three themes emerging. In terms of the nature of power in participatory partnerships, co-researchers expressed factors which influenced power and partnership in a participatory project. For co-researchers, these factors enabled them to experience a sense of power-sharing. Regarding the role of agency in relation to power and partnerships, co-researchers indicated that agency resulted from power-sharing and partnerships they had established. The agency meant that they took action through leadership to empower others in school-communities. Co-researchers’ meaning-making of power and partnerships culminated in their construction of power in a participatory project as both a way in which their working environment enabled them to do what they wanted to do, and also as a personal space where they felt capable and had initiative to coordinate project activities. Findings of this study correlate with existing literature where (i) power is seen as the ability of actors to express and act on desires, (ii) power can be redistributed as action for inclusive benefits, (iii) partnerships imply balancing time, and (iv) partnerships evolve over time, are dynamic and involve issues of trust and confidence. In contrast to existing knowledge on power in participatory research, I found that teachers did not view power as dominance or as exclusively owned. I developed a framework of power sharing partnerships to extend Gaventa’s power cube theory. This framework, and its five interrelated elements (leadership as power, identifying vision and mission, synergy, interdependent role of partners, and determination), provide insight into the way co-researchers shared their experiences of participatory research methodology. I posit an evidence-based conceptualisation of power as leadership where community partners play influential roles as co-researchers. I theorise power sharing partnerships as a complimentary platform hosting partners’ shared strengths, skills and experience, creating synergy in collaborative projects. I argue that synergy in power sharing partnerships relies on recognition, appreciation and mutual respect inherent in interdependent roles of partners. Furthermore, the power sharing partnership framework explains how power and partnership depends on determination amongst partners which manifests as agency to drive social change. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) is an important tool to disseminate energy efficiency measures. This study focuses on the main barriers and success factors for EPC market in order to build capacity in this subject. A pilot study of questionnaire took part among the local authorities of four countries within the European Union; Croatia, Denmark, Czech Republic and Slovakia. The results of this pilot study were combined with the results of a literature research to identify common disadvantages and key points of the market. Afterwards, the most important actions to be taken on national and international level in European Union were discussed. According to this study, the supportive legal framework for the energy efficiency measures, access to financial resources, reliable energy consumption data and trust in Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) were remarked as the essential factors for increasing the capacity of the EPC. / Intelligent Energy Europe, ManagEnergy

This thesis examines the role of ENGOs in inter-Korean environmental cooperation and how together with experts, they rely on scientific knowledge to influence South Korea’s policies towards North Korea. More specifically, the empirical focus is on how ENGOs contribute to the reconciliation and peacebuilding process in the Korean Peninsula. In contrast to previous scholarship, this thesis approaches the topic through a constructivist lens. Thus, to explore What is the role of environmental non-governmental organisations in the peacebuilding process and reconciliation of inter-Korean relations?, this study applies Quantitative Content Analysis to selected NGO publications and on the whitepapers of the South Korean Ministry of Unification, and finds evidence of the complementary effects of environmental cooperation to humanitarian cooperation and a deepened cooperation of the South Korean government with NGOs on humanitarian and environmental issues. Moreover, the study demonstrates the significance of activities supporting reconciliation and international integration and cooperation in environmental cooperation that enable the spill-over effects to other areas and thus nullify the possible side effects, such as costs for the economy in the long run.