Name of Dissertation: Civil Participation in Social Planning: Limits and Possibilities Name: Petr Čech Field of Study: Sociology Leader of Dissertation: PhDr. Richard Růžička, CSc. Keywords: citizen, community, participation, social service, social/community planning The dissertation focused on participative element of democracy. The author aimed at the way of participation in the selected districts and attempted to analyze the way of communication of the events relating to the social planning process. The theoretical part of the dissertation began with the chapter "Citizen and Society". This chapter dealed the citizenship concept and the civil society concept. The general and the participation was dealed in connection with the citizenship and the civil society. The next chapter "Community and Change" defined in particular sections the term community and the incidental terms - community work and community care, community developement. The considerable part of this chapter was the treatise on community planning with regard to community planning of social services. The non-profit sector and social services were the themes of the final chapter. The section community planning of social servical was placed as concluding section as the terminological unravelment. The research within the framework of...

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / This study examined the role of regional councilors in consultation and communication regarding rural service delivery in Namibia, with specific reference to the Oshana region. The research includes a case study that assessed the degree and the extent to which consultation and communication takes place between regional councilors and community members at constituency level in the region. It also examined the inevitability of consultation and communication concerning basic services provision such as water and electricity in the Oshana region. / South Africa

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / This study focused on participatory governance in the form of involvement of communities and community organisation in matters of local government in general, and citizens participation in the local budget process in particular. The study therefore aimed to assess the theoretical and policy framework for citizens participation in South Africa; and evaluated the perceptions of councillors and civics and ratepayer organisations on participation in the local budget process at the eThekwini Municipality. / South Africa

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / Enacted in 1998, the New South African Water Act has introduced a new approach to water resource management, founded on the principle of decentralization of the management of water resources to regional and local levels and the public participation. The approach has been captured in the new National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998), which allows the establishment of Catchment Management Agencies. The overall purpose of this study was to understand the trends of public participation in the establishment of Catchment Management Agencies in South Africa, by presenting the case of the Berg Catchment Management Agency. / South Africa

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / While the term participation is widely used by development agencies and government alike, its meaning is still widely contested. An emerging consensus on citizens' participation is the active involvement of the people in the planning process, the communication of their preferences, demands, interests, needs, and collective problems and aspirations in relation to those in charge of democratic development policies. For many, particularly in the rural areas, citizen participation has proved problematic as it is often tied up to the implementation of development projects conceptualized and spearheaded by outsiders. Participatory approaches provide few insights as to how to go about resolving the contradictions and paradoxes that participation unveils when introduced into systems with long histories of top-down approaches to decision-making. In Uganda, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government introduced a participatory development programme of National Agriculture Advisory Services (NAADS) which entails contracting Agricultural Extension Services (AES). This was done to boost participation, expand coverage andimprove agricultural performance in rural areas. The objective of this dissertation was to analyse elites and grassroots understandings of democracy and citizen participation using the case study of NAADS programme. To achieve this objective, a variety of research assessment criteria – qualitative and quantitative interviews with elites and grassroots – were employed. The results demonstrate that Uganda has made strides towards encouraging inclusive and meaningful participation through NAADS in Bushenyi district. Yet the research also illustrates that there are salient mismatches in terms of perceptions that exist between elites and grassroots conceptualisations of citizen participation in NAADS. The majority of elites interviewed were concerned with getting NAADS programme right as required by the legislative frameworks, rather than creating ties with grassroots with a view to promoting participatory development and empowering grassroots communities. The grassroots communities exhibited willingness to participate in the NAADS programme, although the research findings illustrate that it has been implemented in a top-down fashion. There is also proof to show that NAADS participants were barely consulted in making decisions and no effective mechanisms are in place to handle complaints inclusively. Although there is evidence to show participation in the NAADS programme improves the socioeconomic reality of farmers elsewhere in Uganda, this has not been consistently the case in Bushenyi. The dissertation concludes by underlining the benefits of democracy and citizen participation, but cautions that the findings show that the discourse on democracy and citizen participation, like any other discourse, contains many practical limits. / Flemish Inter-University Council (VLIR)

Rural community participation in tourism-based developments in and around protected areas has emerged as a major trend in the Developing world during the last three decades. The basic design of rural community participation in tourism-based developments involves the empowerment of rural communities to participate in such a way in the planning and management of these developments that they have a greater level of control on the effects that these developments have on them and on their environment. The motivation behind the popularity of the approach towards participatory development stems from the dissatisfaction with the centrally driven, top-down type of development that originated during the previous century and out of a desire to purposefully involve rural communities to the extent where they can effectively and sustainably develop and manage their resources. The research of this study presents an analysis of the participation of the Mbila community of the Sodwana Bay National Park in the tourism-based developments of the region. The literature in the study revealed that the principal fundamentals of rural community participation in tourism-based developments reside in the empowerment of the community to be able to involve themselves sufficiently in the tourism-based developments of their region. The focus of the research was therefore on determining the quality of the empowerment that the Mbila community enjoy and on the subsequent levels of control that this empowerment provides them with. The research results revealed however, that although the community seems to be sufficiently empowered to legally participate in the tourism-based developments of their area, they are still not involved to the degree that this participation generates meaningful changes to their overall livelihood. The reasons for these low levels of participation include aspects such as the harshness of the physical environment and the subsequent limited development opportunities in the area; the prevalence of insufficient levels of education and training; difficulties experienced in the communication between some of the institutions and the presence of certain forms of restrictive legislation. The study argues that satisfactory levels of participation can only be achieved if these difficulties are overcome to the extent where they permit community participation that achieves the enhancement of the quality of life for the Mbila community. Copyright / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / MSc / Unrestricted

The South African Constitution of 1996, as amended, provides for three spheres of Government, namely National, Provincial and Local Government. The local sphere of government is mandated to provide developmental and accountable local government and to ensure the provision of basic services to communities in a sustainable manner. The Department of Provincial and Local Government Community-Based Workbook and Guide provided that local government legislation has been put in a place to enable South Africa to constructively work towards providing basic services and improving the social and economic lives of citizens. As local government is the sphere of government where delivery takes place at community level, it is important to ensure and secure the support and participation of communities. It is critical to mention that local government faces many challenges in providing services that will contribute to developing a peaceful, stable and healthy environment. In adherence to Local Government legislation, which includes, inter alia, the Municipal Systems Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act, the local authorities are required to provide systems and processes to enable public participation processes in the affairs of the municipalities. This requirement is mandatory to ensure that citizens contribute by making input in the planning of the municipality. Amathole District Municipality adopted a Public Participation and Petitions Policy to ensure that citizens participate in the activities of the municipality. The main purpose of this study was to establish whether those structures are effective and whether the municipality, in its planning processes, considered the views and input of the communities. The study investigated the extent of community participation in municipal planning and performance and also investigated the effectiveness of ADM community participation strategies. Quantitative research methods were used to collect data for the study. The research questionnaire covered a wide range of council related activities ranging from knowledge of local government legislation relating to public participation, understanding of public participation processes by councillors, compliance of the municipality with public participation processes and related legislation and feedback to communities on the input they make to the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and the Budget planning processes. The questionnaires were administered to all Councillors within the municipality to ensure that all municipal programmes were covered, and the Executive Mayor, Council Speaker who ensures that council resolutions are implemented and the Chief Whip of Council, who is responsible for the welfare of all political parties in Council. There was also the inclusion of the Chairperson of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee who is responsible for oversight and monitoring the performance of the Executive. The sample group was carefully chosen to represent a wide range of councillors who serve in the ADM Council. The positive response rate therefore provided an acceptable scientific basis for analysis and objectivity to the study.

In this case study, an effective community-police partnership in the Thornhill area is described and explored as a function of the successful application of conflict management approaches. The partnership was implemented in a quest to solve the problem of increasing suicides at the Van Stadens Bridge. Indications are that partnership between government agencies and the community have generally failed in democratic South Africa with respect to the education, health and policing sectors. Partnerships between the community and policing system are challenging because the South African Police Service (SAPS) is continuously plagued by incidents of police brutality, police killings and leadership crises.In order to understand the context of the Thornhill community-police partnership and establish if the operation of the partnership is successful, a wide-ranging conflict management approach is taken to evaluate the partnership. The literature review includes the history of conflict in SA, SAPS and Community Policing, leadership in conflict management, theories of social conflict, and suicidology.

The purpose of this study was to review ward committee structures and the role of Community Development Workers (CDWs) in terms of service delivery, with special focus on the Kouga Local Municipality in the Cacadu district. For the study to be successful main objectives were to be highlighted. The study sought to highlight and explain the correlation between ward committee structures and Community Development Workers with regard to basic service delivery. Taken further the study will review the kind of service delivery that communities expect and an analysis was undertaken to establish if there is any link between said structures and the expected service delivery by selected communities who fall under the jurisdiction of the Kouga Local Municipality. The literature review assisted in understanding the concepts of public participation, Ward Committees, Community Development Workers and Ward Councillors and their roles and responsibilities in the Local Government Sphere. In essence, the qualitative approach applied in this study has revealed the casual relationships that may be obtained between variables or events, in order to explain or predict particular phenomena in terms of specific causes. The selection of a qualitative and interpretative approach for this research is justified. The main purpose of the study was to determine the level of effectiveness of Ward Committees, as well as the Community Development Workers in co-ordinating and facilitating public participation process in the Kouga Local Municipality. The study has revealed that there is a need for renewal of the operations of the operations of formal structures, especially the ward committees, as they represent the communities at ward level. The study has revealed that the man reason why national programmes deploying community based workers fail is because of inadequate attention to the provision of institutional support such as adequate training, technical expertise and close supervision. It is recommended that a comprehensive support structure ranging from national to local level is a pre-requisite in order for the CDW programme to succeed.

Water resource management has become a pertinent issue of global environmental concern in response to the conditions of a growing global population, increasing development and a limited freshwater supply. It is against the backdrop of such conditions that effective water resource management has gained popularity in seeking to ensure that the needs of the growing population will be met and secured for future generations. The notion of integrated water resource management (IWRM) is a perspective on water resource management that has evolved out of the global opinion that social and ecological systems are linked and therefore cannot be managed separately. The department of water affairs (DWA) in South Africa highlights the importance of approaching management of water resources from a catchment perspective which forms the basis for a particular integrated approach to management called integrated catchment management (ICM). ICM recognizes the catchment as the correct administrative unit for management. It integrates water resources and the land that forms the catchment area in planning and management. Researchers have described the implementation of ICM as being complicated and difficult. This is no exception to South Africa. Principles of ICM have received widespread prominence in South Africa as they have been incorporated into national water policy. Actual implementation however is still in its infancy. The study is therefore a case study of ICM with respect to factors influencing implementation amongst different stakeholders. The study aims to explore the theme of implementation of ICM within the context of the Gamtoos River Catchment with a view toward identifying and addressing challenges that may be more broadly applicable. The study adopts an inductive, exploratory approach to the connection between theory and practice. A systems-based framework characterized by sequential steps similar to that employed in a case study conducted by Bellamy et al. (2001) in Queensland Australia is used to facilitate the evaluation of ICM in the Gamtoos River Catchment. The evaluation is achieved through a three step process of exploration in the current study. Triangulation is applied to the choice of methods of analysis which involves the use of a global analysis method, the use of learning scenarios and a grounded theory method. Findings reveal seven core themes which help to provide a detailed, contextual understanding relating to the status quo for ICM in the catchment. Results from a grounded theory analysis summarized the main challenges to implementation into five broad categories. Based on this analysis method and the application of the three learning scenarios for the Gamtoos River Catchment, the extent to which these challenges exist was discovered. The state of ICM in the catchment was classified as falling within a condition of a level of success being achieved with room for improvement to a condition of optimal ICM. The study concludes that based on the context of ICM being an example of a Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS), this state of ICM in the Gamtoos River Catchment is subject to change. This therefore necessitates the consideration of approaches to implementation that are adaptive to change. Findings may serve to inform decision making on how ICM can be effectively implemented elsewhere in a South African context.