Using a qualitative and interpretive approach, this research focuses on the training and support needs of crisis interventionists volunteering at an organisation for the abused. This research developed out of a need identified by the board for recommendations to be made in order to compile a new training manual as well as to explore and improve the support services offered to volunteers at the organisation. The research used a thorough examination of the current literature available dealing with crisis intervention and intimate partner violence both nationally and internationally to provide a framework and standard for all recommendations. This was then supplemented with a participatory and interpretive approach to understand the experiences of the crisis interventionists themselves currently volunteering at the organisation. The major themes that emerged from the data included an understanding of the current training process, the impact of volunteering for the desk, the impact and importance of organisational culture and the organisation and self care techniques used by the volunteers. These were then interpreted in terms of their relevance to the training and support needs of the volunteers looking specifically at the training process to ensure an ideological shift and information retention as well as explore supportive services that would be the most beneficial and accessible to the volunteer. The research was then able to provide the most appropriate recommendations for the organisation going forward. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

The purpose of the study was to describe and analyse community participation in attempts to start a community garden project in the Shakashead community. A key focus of the study was to identify the level of participation of the community in all aspects of the project cycle, that is, the planning, implementation monitoring and evaluation phases. The study was carried out in an informal settlement situated in the North Coast about 75km from Durban. The community garden project was funded by the Luthuli Education Trust and initiated by the Borough of the Dolphin Coast as an endeavour to address abject poverty and unemployment in the community. Qualitative research methodology guided the evaluative nature of the research. The case study research strategy was used as the community garden project in the Shakashead community served as an example of a development programme in action. The data collection methods included participant observation and semi-structured, individual interviews. Purposive sampling was used to obtain respondents for this study. This process involved the deliberate selection of members who played significant roles in the attempts to start a community garden project in the Shakashead community. These research respondents included members of the Shakashead Civic Resident's Association, a Development Consultant who represented the funding organisation and the client liaison officer employed by the Dolphin Coast Borough. The overall aim was to document their perceptions and understanding of the attempts to start the community garden project and the reasons for the unsuccessful operation of the project. Four major themes emerged from the data to exemplify the significant elements of community involvement experienced in the attempts to start a community garden project in the Shakashead community. These themes included: a) the structural components required for full community participation; b) the importance of support and training for community members; c) local leadership and its impact on development; d) the hierarchical procedures of organisations. The recommendations included areas for further research and several changes ID working practices. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

The aim of this study was to determine the role of Ward Committees in facilitating community participation in municipal planning. The main objective was to identify challenges currently faced by Ward Committees in discharging their responsibilities and to make recommendations that would improve Ward Committee's participation in municipal planning. A qualitative approach was adopted and data was gathered through focus group discussions and interviews. The findings indicated that one of the key impediments to Ward Committees having an influence on council decision making appears to be limited power that most Ward Councilors have within the deliberation processes of municipal councils. Moreover, the tensions around respective powers and functions of Ward Committees also highlight a larger fundamental issue affecting public participation and local government. This study found that the role of Ward Committee members in the Integrated Development Planning process is unsatisfactory. The findings indicated that the Ward Committees had limited knowledge of the Integrated Development Plan process despite the fact that they were expected to facilitate and take part in decision making. The study recommends training for Ward Committees on municipal process, clarity on their role and access to information on municipal planning. Ward Committees have a great potential to facilitate bigger community involvement and should be more integrated into municipal processes the study has established. It is therefore necessary that the role of Ward Committees be understood as being an instrument of community participation within a broader context of municipal governance. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

International debates in the field of development have redefined housing as sustainable housing. Thus, housing no long refers to the delivery of physical products. The introduction of the concept of sustainability has far reaching consequences for the delivery of housing, which now amounts to the creation of viable communities. Moreover, the delivery of housing now takes place within the context of a policy framework that is indicative of a complete reversal of past policies towards developmentally-oriented, integrated approaches aimed at bringing about the long term sustainability of a vibrant and organic civil society. Significantly, the conception of housing as a process prioritises community control of projects at the local level with the assistance of external role players. Unfortunately, this long awaited component of housing projects is often marred by capacity constraints on the part of beneficiary communities who cannot participate and lor negotiate with other stakeholders in the delivery of housing. Therefore, the level at which this investigation is focused is on the mediation of community participation by all the relevant stakeholders in order to unravel the influence that this has on the quality of the housing products that are received. In this respect, an inquiry into the concepts of participation is tested against a case study of a community involved in a housing project and concludes that community participation is indeed mediated by many role players and that their influence has a determining effect on the quality of the social and physical products received. / Thesis (M.Sc.U.R.P)-University of Natal, Durban, 1996.

Health and social policies identify empowerment as a guiding ideal for health promotion, yet there is little theoretical understanding of youth empowerment. The need for theory to guide practice and research in working with youth in a health promotion context led to this grounded theory study to develop a theory of youth empowerment. A community health nurse acting on BC Ministry of Health's adaptation of the World Health Organisation's Healthy Cities Initiative initiated a community organising project in an inner city community of Vancouver, which merged with the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation Blueprint for Youth Services policy. The study was based on 32 months of participant observation where the researcher was a co-facilitator of a community organising effort aimed at engaging youth in identifying their quality-of-life issues, and developing and implementing their solutions. Of the ,123 youth entering the process, 66 attended at least three meetings of which 18 demonstrated ongoing commitment to the community action process. Partnering between adults and youth as the process of empowering youth emerged as the core category in the analysis, comprised of two sub-processes, Creating an Empowering Environment for Youth and Becoming Empowered. An empowering environment allowed youth to take responsibility in a welcoming social climate with enabling support from adults. The adults demonstrated their belief in the capacity of youth to act in the community, expected youth to take responsibility, cared for youth, and offered encouragement through acting-with interactions with young people. Youth felt welcome and participated in the process, taking responsibility for voicing, decision making and action on their qualityof- life issues. The adults transferred the power to youth by giving up their responsibility for voicing, decision making and taking action. By taking responsibility and acting in the community with enabling support, the youth became empowered by controlling the process and incrementally developing their competence, self-esteem, confidence and understanding, which cultivated their belonging to the community. Participating in an empowering process enhanced their development and set in motion a social change process that raised the consciousness of adults and influenced organisational practice. The theory identifies youth empowerment as an ecological construct and a capacity-building process.

This thesis examines the role of environmental non-government organizations in relation to the role and responsibility of government for wetland conservation in British Columbia. The role of a small community-based environmental organization called the Burns Bog Conservation Society in decisions about Burns Bog, a large privately-owned wetland located in the Lower Mainland, is analyzed. Drawing from a broad range of literature on environmentalism and conservation, the thesis begins with an historical account of the environmental movement, giving a broad view of environmental conservation and the role of environmental organizations. A typology of roles and analytical framework is subsequently derived from a study of environmental non-government organizations involved in managing water resources in British Columbia's Fraser River Basin. Three main roles, advocacy, supplemental and transformative, are discussed as they relate to activities prior to and during the Burns Bog Analysis, a provincially established land use study of Burns Bog. This research found that a small community-based environmental organization, through advocacy, can ensure that ecological integrity is not neglected as a result of poor planning and decision-making. The case study demonstrates that a small environmental organization can pressure governments to broaden their view of land-use and environmental issues, assuring more informed decision-making. An environmental organization can also supplement the regular roles and responsibilities of government, first by supplying a service that government is unable or unwilling to provide, and second by participating in and legitimizing consensus-based decision-making processes. The case study demonstrates how a small environmental organization can provide and review information and participate in creating options and solutions in land-use decisions. Finally, an environmental organization can influence, overtime, the fundamental restructuring of government planning and decision-making processes and transform the way society thinks and operates. The thesis concludes that environmental non-government organizations have an important role to play in ensuring the recognition and conservation of British Columbia's wetlands in government planning and decision-making processes; in informing and educating government and the public about ecological systems and their values; and in counter-balancing strong economic, political and development interests.

The purpose of this thesis is to critically examine elements of public participation in environmental decision-making and to propose that public participation processes may be made more meaningful through the provision of comprehensive and flexible procedural mechanisms coupled with a true ability to affect the outcome of the process, rather than through simply granting more rights. Over the years, natural resources management has grown as a response to ecological concerns over the state and future of our environment. The law too, has developed to accommodate environmental concerns and define legal rights and procedures. Public participation becomes a vehicle for ensuring that affected interests are taken into account in environmental decision-making. In Chapter 1, the established and traditional means of involving the public in environmental decision-making such as litigation and public hearings are examined; however, they have been characterized as too restrictive, not only in terms of the parties who are included, but also the issues. Furthermore, agency administration of complex resource management issues has fuelled public discontent, as many groups understand it is an inherently political process and doubt its legitimacy. In exploring this phenomenon, this paper is first placed in a theoretical context, drawing upon ecological, legal, and ethical philosophies. However, it is also informed by the perspectives of local environmental groups and residents. The turn to other techniques, or Alternative Dispute Resolution, may seem a logical and appropriate evolution, suggesting ways for all affected parties to be involved. Chapter 2 reviews different forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution which provide some principles about the use of mediation and agreements to supplement the regulatory processes of resource management. It is important to consider the mediation process itself, the desire to remedy what is considered to be the failings of the traditional adversarial system, the psychological dynamics of the process, and the parameters for successful negotiations leading to implementation. Chapter 3 commences with an analysis of the legal context of public participation in British Columbia. It determines the discretionary authority of the administrative agencies, and the formal window of opportunity for public input, under the (federal) Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the (provincial) British Columbia Environmental Assessment Act. This chapter also discusses an additional and interesting vehicle for public participation, although not yet implemented in British Columbia - the Environmental Bill of Rights. Chapter 4 provides a more concrete setting for the use of public participation processes, through the use of a case study - the British Columbia Transit Sky Train Extension Project. The "NIMBY", or "Not In My Backyard" scenario involved has the potential to facilitate negotiation; however, real inroads will be made through improving existing legal avenues of participation such as consultation. In fact, this key concern has been the sore point with respect to the Sky Train Project for many residents of Vancouver. In conclusion, the utility of public participation processes expressed in environmental legislation is reliant not only upon the ability of the law to be flexible enough to serve the various natural resource interests of all stakeholders, but also to be conducted in a manner that is inclusory and substantive.

This thesis presents the story of what members of a low-income and marginalized community see as appropriate community development for them, an understanding of which involves appreciation of the words AND music of community development. In presenting this story, the thesis explores the role of community development in addressing social exclusion in inner-city areas and identifies how the knowledge and experiences of lowincome communities can inform theory and practice. Based on qualitative research undertaken in Downtown Eastside Strathcona, an innercity neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, this thesis also endeavors to exemplify research that is situated in the practice of the researcher, in my own community practice. To achieve this, I, a practitioner-researcher, worked with a community group with which I was already involved to develop a guide to community development from their perspective. The guide, entitled Getting the Words AND the Music, and the conversations that informed the preparation of it, were analyzed to determine the contributions that are made to community development theory and practice. In this research, I identified four key principles to which these residents of Downtown Eastside Strathcona make a unique and valuable contribution: community development needs to be inclusive of all community members, particularly the marginalized; resident involvement in decision-making should be promoted; social justice through the equitable distribution of goods and services should be pursued; and the contribution of residents and agencies working together to strengthen their community should be celebrated. While these principles are clearly evident in community development theory, the analysis suggests that fulfillment of these principles requires a commitment to resident-centred approaches, to learning to listen to residents, to promoting the voice of the voiceless, to ensuring access to services to meet basic needs, and to redefining community to be inclusive of all. I conclude this thesis by showing that, in the experience of this researcher, a commitment of this nature may require personal change and a comfort level with messy, unpredictable practice. This change, while at times uncomfortable, may also be a gift - an ability to discern the music of community development as understood by low-income communities.

Many transportation and other social problems would be eased or solved if the automobile dependency which is now so pervasive in North American cities were reduced. Many planners, transportation engineers, and other professionals and activists are advocating walking, among other things, as a viable transportation alternative. Various measures and programs are being applied in an attempt to get people out of their cars and onto their feet. This thesis discusses an addition to the pro-pedestrian tool kit: community-based social marketing. Adapted from marketing concepts which have been remarkably successful in influencing the consumption of goods and services, social marketing is a bundle of techniques intended to influence the adoption of socially desirable behaviours. A demonstration of community-based social marketing in the community of West Point Grey in Vancouver, British Columbia shows how social marketing can be used to encourage walking within neighbourhoods. The demonstration shows social marketing to be a promising new tool in the hand of those eager to promote walking, although more work needs to be done to verify this conclusion.

Public involvement in planning processes is increasingly expected and demanded by members of the local community and it is also a key method that the planner can use to gain insight into a community. The challenge which professional planners face is in finding effective methods for involving the public in complicated and technical decisions which planners have traditionally made in isolation. Specifically, technical zoning law can be overwhelmingly complicated for members of the public. Today's planners are challenged with establishing processes which are inclusive and which generate consensus-based solutions. This thesis examines the use of collaborative planning to address the issue of compatible single-family infill housing. Specifically, this thesis addresses three questions: what are the elements of a collaborative public involvement process which can assist in creating a new single-family infill-zoning category; what are the limitations of using collaborative public involvement processes in neighbourhood re-zonings; and how does the Delbrook case study exemplify the use and implications of collaborative public involvement? These questions are examined via two avenues: a literature review focusing on public involvement, collaboration and monster house infill construction; and a case study analysis examining the Delbrook neighbourhood zoning project. The major findings of this thesis define evaluation criteria, emerging from the literature that can be applied to analyzing collaborative public involvement processes and also extract key lessons learned from the Delbrook case study. Significant conclusions of this thesis are that the public expects inclusive processes; the public is capable of rising to technical zoning challenges; it is important that the levels and opportunities for involvement are appropriate to the planning process; it is important to identify and periodically re-visit the roles of those involved in public involvement processes; and a clear and attainable goal must be set for collaborative public involvement processes. The Delbrook case study further illustrates that issues which inspire a great degree of controversy and which are complex in nature will require a more collaborative public involvement framework; the time spent on collaborative processes can cause the public to burn out; consensus building among those involved must always consider the larger community; and that collaborative processes are dynamic. In conclusion, it is noted that more research should be conducted on how the increasing empowerment of groups may or may not affect the power of the individual, the impact which the process chosen may have on the product or results; the extent to which limitations exist for lay persons involvement in technical planning subjects; and an exploration of other practical applications for dealing with large house infill construction.