This study is designed to evaluate the impact of citizen participation in the Goals for Dallas program on the establishment and accomplishment of the goals. Also evaluated are the impact of community leaders on the program, the extent and degree of citizen participation, factors which encouraged and discouraged participation, the impact of local media, and the impact on citizen participants of participating. Twenty-five specific findings are presented, based on the compilation and analysis of inputs received from the citizens and community leaders. Among the most important of these are as follows. 1) The extent of participation on the part of those citizens who did participate in the program was significant. 2) Related to the total adult population of the city, the extent of total citizen participation was small. 3) The program as designed and implemented did have a substantial impact in assisting to overcome citizen apathy in the city. 4) The key items which tended to encourage citizen participation were publicity, civic duty, neighborhood meetings, and personal rewards. 5) The general factors which discouraged citizen participation were general suspicion of the program, general apathy, lack of publicity, and a general suspicion of government. 6) Citizen participation had a significant impact on the establishment of goals, and citizen action did modify 60 percent of the originally proposed goals and created twelve new goals. 7) Citizen participation did have some. Impact on the accomplishment of goals, but this impact was relatively small. 8) The citizenry by a substantial majority believes that a misunderstanding exists between the citizens and the leadership concerning the role of citizen involvement in this program. 9) The citizen participants in this program believe that participation in this effort increased their competency as citizens. Based on the analysis and interpretation of data, comments, and opinions gathered during this study, ten conclusions are drawn. These conclusions cover the impact of citizens in the program, the favorable impact of the program process (bringing people together in pursuit of common goals), the degree of media support, and the lack of citizen knowledge in how to participate.

Pang, On Hei Bonnie. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-168). / Abstracts in English and Chinese; appendix also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgements --- p.v / List of Figures --- p.x / List of Tables --- p.xi / Chapter CHAPTER ONE --- Introduction --- p.1 / Background of the Study --- p.1 / Summary --- p.6 / Purposes of the Study --- p.7 / Hypotheses --- p.8 / Definition of Terms --- p.9 / Delimitations of the Study --- p.10 / Limitations of the Study --- p.11 / Significance of the Study --- p.11 / Chapter CHAPTER TWO --- Review of Literature --- p.13 / Introduction --- p.13 / Theoretical Literature --- p.14 / Overview of the Expectancy Value Model --- p.17 / Expectancy Value Model Constructs --- p.19 / Expectancy Value Model Assumptions --- p.24 / Empirical Research --- p.27 / Parental Socialization --- p.27 / The Social and Cultural Milieu of Hong Kong Parents and Children --- p.37 / Summary --- p.45 / Chapter CHAPTER THREE --- Method --- p.46 / Participants --- p.46 / Children --- p.46 / Parents --- p.47 / Procedures --- p.48 / Instrumentation --- p.49 / Children Measures --- p.49 / Parental Measures --- p.51 / Interviews --- p.53 / Data analysis --- p.55 / Questionnaire Data --- p.55 / Interview Data --- p.57 / Chapter CHAPTER FOUR --- Results --- p.58 / Confirmatory Factor Analysis --- p.59 / Exploratory Factor Analysis --- p.61 / Descriptive Statistics................................................................- --- p.63 / Gender Differences in Children´ةs STV and Sport Participation --- p.66 / Parental Differences in Perceived-Sport Value in Children --- p.67 / Correlations and Regression Analyses of Parental and Children´ةs Variables --- p.68 / Mediating Effect between Parental Influence and Children´ةs Sport Participation --- p.75 / Interview Results --- p.77 / Experiences in terms of STV Components in Sport (High STV group) --- p.78 / Experiences in terms of STV Components in Sport (Low STV group) --- p.83 / Parental Influences on Children´ةs STV and Sport Participation (High STV group) --- p.88 / Parental Influences on Children´ةs STV and Sport Participation (Low STV group) --- p.97 / Chapter CHAPTER FIVE --- Discussion --- p.107 / Chapter Part One: --- Quantitative Inquiry --- p.109 / Theoretical Expansion on Eccles，STV Components Work --- p.109 / Gender Differences and Correlations in Children´ةs STV Components and Sport Participation --- p.111 / Differences in Parental Value Placed on Children´ةs Sport --- p.116 / Relations between Parental influences and Children´ةs STV Components and Participation in Sport --- p.117 / Chapter Part Two: --- Qualitative Inquiry --- p.121 / Understanding Children´ةs Experiences and their influence on their STV in sport: a Social and Cultural Milieu Approach --- p.121 / Understanding Children´ةs Perceptions on Parental Influence on their STV Components and Participation in Sport --- p.132 / Chapter CHAPTER SIX --- "Conclusion, Limitations and Recommendations" --- p.141 / Conclusion --- p.141 / Practical Recommendations --- p.142 / Limitations and Theoretical Recommendations --- p.143 / REFERENCES --- p.146 / Appendix A --- p.169 / Appendix B --- p.170 / Appendix C --- p.171 / Appendix D --- p.172 / Appendix E --- p.173 / Appendix F --- p.175 / Appendix G --- p.177 / Appendix H --- p.178 / Appendix I --- p.180 / Appendix J --- p.182 / Appendix K --- p.184 / Appendix L --- p.186 / Appendix M --- p.187 / Appendix N --- p.188 / Appendix O --- p.189 / Appendix P --- p.190 / Appendix Q --- p.191 / Appendix R --- p.192 / Appendix S --- p.193

An increasingly popular way for global citizens to contribute to communities around the world is through international volunteering. In tandem with this growing trend, academic research in the field has increased to explore the goals, motivations, and impacts of international service on volunteers, host communities, and volunteer-sending organizations. One of the larger gaps in our understanding of global civic engagement though is the specifics of how and why, as well as the overall impact of international service on, host organizations that seek and/or accept international volunteers. Using an exploratory research design to collect and analyze survey data and open-ended email inquiry responses from almost 250 organizational representatives in 50+ countries, this dissertation expands the breadth and depth of knowledge on the relationship between host organizations and international volunteers. Findings include a broad and varied range of potential motivations for hosting international volunteers, from direct benefits to the host organization like leveraging organizational capacity to benefits extended to the broader community and volunteers themselves such as providing opportunities for cross-cultural interaction. In addition, host organization characteristics and opinions were compared between two global regions - Africa and Asia - and statistically significant relationships identified between characteristics and opinions of host organizations and their reported satisfaction with international volunteers. This study contributes new data on and from organizations that host international volunteers. Research findings also support and expand the field's understanding of international volunteer engagement as it relates specifically to organizational capacity and social capital theory.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2014 / The aim of the study was to determine whether Members of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature misrepresented members of the public in the policy and decision making process. The Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Act, No. 213 of 2008, when passed in Parliament, might have had good intensions, but has instead led to unintended consequences. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used in this study. Questionnaires were used to collect the primary data from MPLs, staff of the Limpopo Legislature and members of the public in districts of the Province while the secondary data was collected from online databases and through literature reviews. A random sampling method was used to collect primary data for this research by using various data collection methods such as questionnaires, face to face and telephone interviews. The collected data was captured in Ms Excel 2007, and then analysed and presented using graphs and tables. Results of this study indicate that the majority of people in Limpopo were not in favour of the bill in question. This was evident in the video recording that was taken at the public hearing held in the Vhembe District where the emotions and expressions including the language used by members of the public was witnessed. The Committee Report that was tabled in the House by the Chairperson of the Committee stated that all districts in the Province were not in favour of the bill. It also became evident that indeed MPLs did not debate the report in the House and also did not consider inputs of the masses made during public hearings before a provincial mandate was given to Permanent delegates at the National Council of Province (NCOP) to vote in favour of the bill. It can thus be concluded that MPLs can take a decision on a bill even if the masses are against it. This clearly indicates that the voices of the people are indeed heard since public hearings are conducted, but all is merely done to comply with the Constitutional mandate.

在這個新媒體時代，人人都有機會成為公民記者。本研究旨在探討一群不為金錢、不僅是為了組織發言的高參與度公民記者，試圖了解其形貌，以及持續不斷發文的原因。採用人本心理學之父Maslow的動機階層理論做為研究梗概，以PeoPo公民新聞平台中的公民記者為研究對象，從符合研究條件的公民記者中，隨機挑選八位公民記者進行探究。 本研究採用文本分析及深度訪談做為研究方法。透過文本分析，分析八位高參與度公民記者在平台上發表的所有報導，了解發文頻率、型態、文章與Tag分類、節目採用與讀者回應狀況…等五個類目，並輔以半結構式深度訪談，達到主客對照，進行探討。 經由研究後發現，這群高參與度公民記者有三個特色：（1）中壯年；（2）上班族；（3）社區大學成員、課程培訓學員、志工。他們對於報導公民新聞保持著相當積極的態度，主要採用影音方式呈現，其新聞常受到媒體採用，且有一定的讀者回饋。在製作公民新聞的過程中，「歸屬和愛」、「自尊」、「自我實現」三個需求，是高參與度公民記者最主要的參與動機，其中，「自我實現」更以Z理論中「健康型自我實現」為主。 / Everyone has the opportunity to become citizen journalists in this new media age. This study focused on a group of PeoPo’s citizen journalists who participate highly not just for money or organization. In order to figure out the “shape” and reasons why they keep posting on PeoPo, the study based on the Maslow’s Theory of Needs Hierarchy. This research used Contextual analysis and Semi—Structured Depth Interview as approaches. Contextual analysis helped to figure out their report on PeoPo, and to understand posting frequency, patterns, articles and Tag classification, media adopted and audience response. Also, the research interviewed eight PeoPo’s citizen journalists by simple random sampling to realize the group. Through the research found that these high participatory citizen journalists has three common characteristics: (1) middle age; (2) white-collar workers; (3) members of the community college, course trainees, and volunteers. They maintain a positive attitude toward reporting and always use video to present. Their reports usually are adopted by media and obtain audience feedback. These high participatory citizen journalists in the process have three major needs, included" belongingness and love needs"," esteem-needs "and “healthy-self-actualization needs”. Keywords: High participatory citizen journalists, Motivation of report, PeoPo, Citizen journalism

近年來各國政府無不追求成為更好的政府的途徑，電子化政府(e-government)的規劃與發展儼然成為一條終南捷徑，從一開始的電子化政府演進至今，當下最新發展趨勢則是「電子治理(e-governance)」，背後所蘊藏的意涵，其中很重要的一點乃在於孕育新的公民精神，強調民眾需求與責任，在數位治理的時代下，政府不再只是唯一權威價值分配者，一個更完善的政府治理應該是由多元的角色來投入公共治理參與網絡的建置。在良善治理成為當今公共行政的治理典範脈絡下，此一終極目標將引領各國的電子治理走向電子化民主(e-democracy)，電子化民主中缺一不可的即是電子化參與(e-participation)課題，UN、世界經濟論壇(WEF)、國際電信聯盟(ITU)、早稻田大學(Wasada University)、布朗大學(Brown University)等諸多國際組織皆將電子化參與列為主要評估項目，顯示電子治理不再只侷限於一國電子化政府的整備度，如何創造新的電子化參與途徑而提升民眾對公共事務的涉入，已成為當務之急。 有鑒於電子化參與的重要性已不言可喻，但現今對電子化參與的評估多以UN的架構為主，但其指標架構並未進一步明確指出在該參與層次下如何對各國進行評估，因此，本研究旨在建立與持續深化UN電子化參與指標架構，之二在於提出與分析現今為各界所採用的電子化參與機制，並探究其對公民參與的重要性與貢獻度。本研究藉由文獻回顧來建立評估電子化參與的架構，之後透過專家德菲法問卷來確認與建立指標，並分析現今電子化參與機制的重要性，最後將受訪專家分成兩大群體，比較兩類專家對指標看法的意見差異。 本研究透過德菲法建立電子化參與指標架構，第一層架構包括3大構面：電子化資訊(e-information)、電子化諮詢(e-consultation)與電子化決策(e-decision making)，第二層則共有20個次項指標。並整理出13項現今較常使用的電子化參與機制，建構出其與電子化參與層面間的關聯性，此外，依據研究結果對我國未來電子化參與政策提出提升政府資訊公開的內容豐富性與來源多元性、重視並善用社群媒體傳播訊息與溝通聯繫之效等建議。 / E-government has been a necessity for the countries aiming for “better” governance. The latest development of e-government is “e-governance”, which puts emphasis both on citizenship and the needs and responsibility from the publics. In the context of digital governance, government acts not merely as a player which is authoritative allocation of values, but as a actor creating more public values that will bring varieties of utility for multi-stakeholders. Moreover, good governance has become the paradigm in public administration, leading every government towards e-democracy with e-participation as its core. Undoubtedly, e-participation is adopted to assess e-government/ e-governance development by many international organizations, such as United Nations (UN), World Economic Forum (WEF), and International Telecomminication Union (ITU). It implies that e-governance refers not only to e-government readiness but also the extent to which governments promote citizens’ participation in public affairs. However, the assessment framework from UN currently used doesn’t include sub-indices further. As a result, the goal of this research is to establish and deepen UN’s framework and analyze the relationship between existing e-participation mechanism and citizen participation through literature review and methodology of Delphi questionnaire. The research results involve two main parts. One is e-participation assessment framework with 3 dimensions (that is e-information, e-consultation and e-decision making) and 20 indices (such as accessibility, completeness and currency). The other one is the integration of 13 e-participation mechanism. Based on research results, this research made few of suggestion for our future e-participation policy, such as the promotion of content and source diversity of government information and utilization of social network for information spreading and communication.

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

abstract / toc / Geography and Geology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

The abolishment of apartheid government, brought a new era of democratic government in South Africa, which sought to recognise the rights of all people and restored their dignity. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa was promulgated in 1996. Fundamental to this is the Bill of Rights which is a cornerstone of democracy in South Africa. It enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom. Chapter 7 of the Constitution, as part of the objects of local government, encourages the involvement of communities in the matters of local government. Besides the Constitution, there are various pieces of local government of legislation, which deals with the administration component of the municipality and which provides for the political establishment of municipalities. Legislation calls for municipalities to develop a culture of community participation and requires municipalities to encourage and create conditions for participation in the affairs of the municipality in formulating Integrated Development Plans. Using Umzumbe Municipality under the auspices of Ugu District Municipality as case study, the study critically examined the effectiveness of youth participation in municipal ward Integrated Development Plan (IDP) formulation process. It focused on examining the attitudes and experience of youth in participating on IDP formulation processes. The study also examined the extent to which the youth participation guiding principles have been implemented and evaluate the effectiveness of existing youth structures. This study also investigated the level of youth understanding on the powers and functions of different spheres of government. The lack of youth participation in service delivery projects will defeat the democratic constitutional imperatives, which are also enshrined in municipal legislation. The issues raised by this study determines as to whether the regulatory and legislative frameworks are understood by the youth, and also this study will evaluate, the effectiveness of the existing youth participation mechanisms at a municipal at a ward level. / Thesis (MPA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.