In this dissertation, I use a single qualitative case study methodology, participant observation, focus groups, and semi-structured interviews to explore how a rural school’s closure influenced the lives of residents in one rural farming community: Limerick, Saskatchewan, Canada. Three “stand alone” papers comprise this dissertation. In the first paper, I investigate the impacts of the school’s closure on rural families. In the second paper, I explore the ways Limerick School’s closure affected adults without school-aged children. In the final paper, I assess school closure’s impact on gendered volunteer roles. Using social ecological theory and socialist feminist theory, I argue that the school’s closure had far-reaching implications for community members and that these implications varied depending on stage of life, gender, and roles within the family and community contexts. Together, these papers not only make a contribution to filling the gap in existing literature pertaining to rural school closures, but they also strengthen our scholarly understanding of the school-community relationship in the rural context.

Communities throughout Canada have been faced with economic problems as a result of global restructuring, national and regional recessions, and a reduced demand for primary resource commodities. Over the course of the past decade those communities have begun to utilize various forms of community economic development (CED) strategies to overcome local economic problems. Although CED has been interpreted in various ways, resulting in no single readily identifiable definition of the term, a few concepts seem to prevail throughout most of the interpretations. Generally, CED is a process which involves community members banding together to initiate their own solutions to their common economic problems. There are, however, several impediments to this bottom-up approach to economic development Community Futures, a program sponsored by the federal government, has been designed to promote and facilitate CED by helping to remove some of those impediments. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the extent to which a government program, namely Community Futures, can promote CED. A three part methodology has been used to accomplish this goal. First, a review of the relevant CED literature was performed to determine the goals of this approach to economic development and the impediments which exist. Four goals were identified: self-reliance, local control, institution-building, and equity. Self-reliance can be achieved through policies which decrease the level of economic leakages from the community and by recognizing the significance of the informal economy. Local control is a key element of the CED model. The goal is to increase the broader community's political control over the local economy through increased participation in community affairs. Local control manifests itself in institution-building processes. Community-based institutions allow the community to better control its collective economic destiny and ensure equitable access to resources by all community members, through policies which decrease the level of economic leakages from the community and by recognizing the significance of the informal economy. Local control is a key element of the CED model. The goal is to increase the broader community's political control over the local economy through increased participation in community affairs. Local control manifests itself in institution-building processes. Community-based institutions allow the community to better control its collective economic destiny and ensure equitable access to resources by all community members. The impediments to bottom-up CED are: difficulty accessing financial resources, difficulty accessing information, and underdeveloped human resources. These are the impediments which government programs should attempt to overcome to facilitate the CED process. The second part of the methodolgy consisted of a historic review of Canadian regional and local economic development policy to determine the nature of top-down economic development in Canada. This study found some of the relevant trends which have developed throughout the past decades, thus placing Community Futures into its appropriate historical context. Among the trends which emerged, we witness that policy: has been slow to develop; has lacked significant innovation; has traditionally been firmly controlled by the federal bureaucracy; has been influenced by political disputes at all levels; has been subject to the quantifiable, efficiency indicators which characterize the policy analysis approach to planning; and has regularly failed to meet its prescribed objectives. Having analyzed the relevant theory and practice, the third part of the methodology studied the policy design of Community Futures to determine the program's ability to overcome the impediments to bottom-up CED and thereby facilitate the acheivement of the goals described by CED writers. Eligibility requirements of the program, such as unemployment and minimum levels of economic infrastructure, restrict the ability of the program to operate comprehensively and be universally available. Other eligibility requirements, such as minimum population requirements and ministerial approval requirements tend to be counterproductive to the local control objective of CED. A positive effect of the program is its ability to facilitate institution-building through the use of a community-based Community Futures Committee. However, the ability of that committee to develop a community-based plan is restricted by the limited nature of the program and by the onerous procedural guidelines set by CEIC. Five broad conclusions concerning government involvement in CED programs are drawn from the literature review, the historical review, and the Community Futures case study. First, top-down strategies do, to a degree, have the potential to promote the goals of CED by addressing the impediments to the bottom-up approach. Second, the state's potential ability to promote comprehensive CED is impeded by the scale and national focus of top-down programs. Third, the government's sectoral structure also acts as an impediment to comprehensive top-down CED. Fourth, programs which are considered to be bureaucratic innovations may not be substantially different from those programs which preceded them. And finally, quantitative techniques of analysis and evaluation which characterize the policy analysis approach to planning are not capable of assessing the success of communities in achieving the ‘softer’ goals advocated by CED proponents. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

For many Indian bands across Canada, community development planning has emerged as an important approach to change. By forging close economic and political links with one another, small bands can accelerate their development through new economies of scale, heightened political influence, more innovative capacities and other advantages of cooperation. In practical terms, however, the initiation, formalization and consolidation of close inter-band cooperation presents several problems. Native culture lacks traditions in institutionalized inter-community cooperation, internal disharmony in many Indian villages frustrates unity on such Important decisions as whether or not to cooperate, and many. Indian communities are poor in organizational skills essential to planning and implementing cooperative strategies. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the factors responsible for apparently successful cooperation in the case of five Indian bands in the Nicola Valley and to assess the applicability of findings to other groups of Indian communities across the country. A literature review guides the selection of research questions and criteria used in assessing the case. Fifteen factors for effective inter-communlty cooperation are isolated from a literature review and grouped into three general categories: those Important to the initiation of cooperation, those relating to the delivery of the rewards of cooperation, and those affecting the capability of the cooperative organization. Six factors for Initiation include the presence of a common crisis or threat, inter-community similarity and familiarity, consensus, committed leadership, a propensity to cooperate and preliminary planning. Successful cooperation was also found to be linked to the capture by cooperating communities of four types of rewards, each representing a factor: Improved resource acquisition, adaptabli1ity to change, efficiency in community resource use and ability to achieve common goals. Finally, ongoing success was found to be reflected in the capability of inter-community cooperative organizations to accomplish five tasks: build community and staff commitment, plan harmonious inter-community relations, manage its environment, exploit common geography and culture, and solve problems. Case research focuses on five Indian bands in the Nicola Valley of southern British Columbia and is based on forty-one Interviews held in the valley. These bands are represented by the Nicola Valley Indian Administration CNVIA), a centralized bureaucracy which coordinates on behalf of the five communities a wide range of administrative services. Fifteen questions - each corresponding to a success factor derived from the literature - were asked in Interviews with people representing a broad spectrum of the native communities. Responses were compiled and analyzed to assess the degree to which inter-band cooperation conformed to expectations from the literature on successful inter-community cooperation. Analysis led to the conclusion that despite deficiencies in preliminary planning, ongoing planning and problem-solving, NVIA is a successful inter-community cooperative enterprise which has delivered many significant benefits to its member communities. While NVIA's existence suggests a successful initiation process, better planning in the formative years would likely have avoided several problems encountered in later years. Some of the rewards of cooperative effort have been inequitably distributed to member bands and various cooperative programs have been adversely affected by political interference. Perhaps most seriously, NVIA itself was found to be deficient in building broad commitment and designing mutually acceptable solutions to internal difficulties. Effective planning in the early stages is vital to establishing and, more importantly, ultimately maintaining inter-community cooperation. Incomplete planning during the formation of NVIA led to lack of clear consensus on the purpose of cooperation, the nature of inter-band power relations, the obligations of each band, and ways of distributing rewards and minimizing risks to participant bands. NVIA provides evidence that Indian communities can establish close formal relations with each other and thus capture certain Important benefits. Problems encountered suggest, however, that bands ought to temper enthusiasm with deliberation when considering formal copperatlve relations. Analysis of the Nicola Valley story confirmed that consensus, early planning, reward delivery, ongoing planning and problem-solving capacity are especially Important factors in establishing and maintaining lnter-communlty cooperation. The case makes a key contribution to interorganizational relations theory by highlighting the importance of Informal cooperation as a means of preparing Indian bands for more structured cooperation. It also reveals the critical role of persistent and far-sighted leadership in the formalization of inter-band cooperative relations. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The term 'community development' used in this thesis applies to an urban neighborhood. Incorporating the ideology of community development into community planning would make community planning developmental., Community developmental planning implies the realization of human potential; the concentration on the strengths of different community organizations as well as the mobilization of organized human resources for a balanced social and physical development, The NIP/LAP (Neighborhood Improvement Program / Local Area Planning) program of the City of Vancouver is chosen as an example to illustrate this concept. The purpose of NIP/LAP, as viewed from a developmental perspective, would be to help local residents identify their needs, mobilize them for active participation and develop local leadership for future local initiative in neighborhood planning. When NIP funding is exhausted, community developmental planners can leave behind a team of organized and mobilized local leaders capable of making future initiations for community betterment. The focus of the thesis is on the organizationa1 process of achieving community developmental planning. Voluntary and governmental organizations can complement each other to bring about this kind of developmental planning in local areas. This thesis looks into why and how they ought to be blended. The Riley Park NIP Committee and the Kitsilano Neighborhood House were chosen to represent respectively governmental and voluntary agencies for community developmental planning. Two research studies are conducted to identify the unique strengths and weaknesses of each type of organization. The first research investigates the role of local mobilization through the generation of social network. The second research attempts to understand the tactics of citizen participation adopted in achieving locally-initiated goals and plans. Two blending models, static and dynamic, are recommended at the end of the thesis for guiding developmental planning in urban neighborhoods. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

This dissertation is an examination of what the elements of responsive planning are, how they can be applied, and why existing planning conditions at the time of this research prevented such an approach from realizing its full potential in community planning for Kota Bharu. The goal of the research was to determine whether community planning in Kota Bharu, Malaysia, could be made more responsive to the residential needs of low-income groups. As a participant-observer, I applied concepts from the planning literature on Third World urbanization, low-income housing and community development to the realities of the planning process I worked in. A survey framework was applied which sought low-income residents' participation in the planning process so that government efforts in urban renewal could be more responsive to community needs. Based on this information, two planning scenarios proposing redevelopment and rehabilitation strategies for the Buluh Kubu site were presented. For planning to be more responsive, it is my conclusion that a change in attitude, not technology, is what is demanded. Depressed neighbourhoods, such as Buluh Kubu, must be seen as organic parts of the total environment, not slums disassociated from the rest of the town. Indigenous planners must realize that substandard housing is only a symptom, not the cause, of the societal in- equality they can work towards solving. Necessary to such an understanding is a redefinition of commitment by indigenous planners regarding their responsibility to serve low-income groups through participatory planning. A major theme of this work, therefore, is that planners should reinforce, rather than destroy, attempts by low-income groups to house themselves. By concentrating on the delivery of communal infrastructure, planners can best utilize their efforts towards community development as a partner with low-income residents who, with the proper assistance, have the potential to provide their own shelter. In terms of Canada's global response to the problems of planning in developing nations, it is the conclusion of this study that foreign aid programs which only stress technological assistance tend to create Third World dependence, not development. It is recommended that more self-help, participatory planning programs be adopted by those concerned so that development responsive to the basic community needs of Third World Nations can be realistically achieved. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

M.A. / In 1994 the South African government provided a framework and a philosophical context for social development in the form of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). This programme serves as a basis for policy-making across a wide spectrum of social institutions, among them social welfare. The White Paper on Social Welfare (1997) provides a framework in which to debate the future of social work in the developmental welfare system it advocates. It is a system that requires a sincere commitment to working towards minimising poverty in South Africa. Community development is one of the methods used to address poverty, inequality and developmental problems. From this new dispensation, the Department of Social Work at RAU developed a community development training programme to help social service workers become more community oriented in their daily service approach. Although this programme was developed eight years ago, no formal evaluation has been done on the effectiveness of this programme. The study was undertaken among social workers and community developers employed by the City of Johannesburg Social Services department, Regions 7, 9 and 11. It was undertaken in order to empower them with knowledge of community development for implementation in their work setting. The goal of the study was to evaluate the impact of the Community Leadership Training Programme on the staff in the Social Services department in the City of Johannesburg. The objectives were to: „X Conduct a literature study on community development. „X Conduct a process evaluation of the programme. „X Conduct an outcome evaluation directly after the completion of the programme and 12 months later. „X Make recommendations based on the research findings for trainers, social workers, community developers and any related profession working in the community. The evaluation research model followed in this study is programme evaluation as described by De Vos, (1998:368). In order to execute this study, the model as proposed by McKendreck in De Vos (1998:368) is applied.Evaluation research is chosen because a programme is evaluated. The study is qualitative and quantitative in nature and focuses on phases of evaluation, namely process evaluation and outcome evaluation. From the main findings, it was found that: The application of the Integrated Model of Programme Education (IMPE) as described by De Vos (1998:368) was successfully applied in evaluating the training programme. From the process evaluation, it was found that: - Managers lack participatory management and leadership skills and this leads to mistrust and conflict in the workplace. - Adults preferred experiential learning rather than writing or submitting assignments. - The majority of the participants felt that the objectives of the workshop were clear and that the workshop met their expectations. They indicated further that the workshop was practical enough to implement what they learned in their work. - The participants were satisfied with the facilitating skills of the facilitators in that they were not prescriptive but patient in understanding the content of the modules at their own pace. - Skills demonstrations improved their skills in relation to community development, for example, problem-solving skills, giving feedback to the community, and conflict handling. The skills demonstrations assisted them with their own personal growth and to be positive about themselves. - The results of the tests, assignments and skills demonstrations indicated that they had broadened their knowledge base and could feel empowered to implement what they had learned. From the impact evaluation, it was found that: - A new approach to Community development exists called the asset-based model that focusses on the anticipatory needs, assets, capacity building and visionary leadership development in communities. It means that this development strategy starts with what is present in the community, the skills of the residents, and the institutions. It does not start with what is problematic or absent or what the community needs. - The participants felt that the time frame of presenting the programme was appropriate because it did not have a negative impact on their day to day work. The two full days during the week once a month suited the participants. - The participants indicated that the content was relevant to the workplace and that they could implement what they had learned in the community. - The facilitators were excellent in facilitating, but the participants were not happy with the facilitator in project management due her soft-spoken voice and she could not express herself clearly. - The first venue was not appropriate for the workshop due to its impractical setting. However, the second venue was practical and appropriate for the workshop. The following main recommendations were made: (1) The Integrated Model of Programme Education (IMPE) is recommended for programme evaluation not only to evaluate programme monitoring or outcome evaluation, but also for all the phases in the model. (2) The asset-based model is recommended to replace the so-called expert model, not only to bring improvement, but also change. (3) Staff including management must attend the community leadership programme to have a better understanding of participatory management and leadership. (4) Adult learning principles and experiential learning techniques must be applied in the implementation of the programme and minimise written assignments. Hope and Timmel (1994:103) stress that education should stress learning more than teaching in situations where adults could discover answers and solutions for themselves. / Prof. J.B.S. Nel

M.A. (Social Work) / The objective of this study was to provide guidelines for the training of professionals and others in community development for South West Africa/Namibia. The primary purpose was to establish how training programmes for both community consultants and workers nearer the grass roots levels could be developed. With this objective in mind, an exploratory study was undertaken in six countries, viz.• Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Bophutatswana and Lesotho•. Interviews were conducted with various categories of trainers in these countries, utilising an interview schedule designed to cover the basic principles of curriculum design. The researcher concluded that prospective professionals and others should be trained at four levels, viz. the unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and academic and professional levels.- Specific curricula were proposed to serve as guidelines for the development of training courses for these different categories of trainees and students, in preparation for service in the field of community development. The envisaged indexes of successful community development are an ultimately improved quality of life, enhanced social functioning and stimulated but controlled modernization.

M.Ed. / The Sinthumule/Kutama water project in the Northern Province was initiated as one of the RDP Presidential Lead Projects with an approved budget of R4 7, 75m. The Presidential Lead Projects were those projects which were funded by an emergency fund channelled by the former president Nelson Mandela through the RDP to address the problem of shortage of water as well as the associated diseases which were prevalent in the Sinthumule/ Kutama area early in 1995. The main objective was to provide 25 litres of water for each person per day, within a distance of not more than 200 metres from their homes. Residents had to pay 8c for 20 litres of water through a pre-paid system. But more importantly, as an RDP project, the aim was to educate, train and build the capacity of the targeted communities thereby bringing about community upliftment. However, the project collapsed. Communities destroyed water meters and made illegal connections in 18 villages. The reported failure of the Sinthumule/Kutama water project raised serious questions inter alia: );> was there an effective education, training and capacity building strategy and programme for Sinthumule/Kutama? );> if there was, how was it executed? Roge(s (1996) view on development which emphasises the central role of education in development formed the theoretical framework of the research. Against the preceding background the aim of the study was to investigate whether education and training of adults played a significant role in the Sinthumule/Kutama development project. A case study approach was employed to establish the role of adult education in the success or failure of the project. Purposive sampling was utilised to select a sample. Interviews were carried out and various founding documents were analysed to collect data.

This thesis examines the contribution made by "alternative" tourism towards community development in the provinces of Phuket, Phangnga, and Krabi in southern Thailand. Aside from providing novel, adventurous, and presumably authentic travel experiences, "alternative" tourism promotes forms of community development characterized by equitable distribution of resources, quality of life, and environmental sustainability. Alongside conventional, mass tourism development in southern Thailand, nature-based "alternative" travel activities such as sea kayaking and jungle trekking have grown increasingly popular among foreign tourists and have emerged as measures of diversification within a slowly stagnating regional tourist trade. This study assesses "alternative" tourism along the lines of the tourism industry, tourist, and host perspectives, and addresses three key issues, or themes: "alternative" tourism as a theoretical and practical "alternative" to conventional, mass tourism; the role played by authenticity and ethical concern in distinguishing "alternative travellers" from mass tourists; and "alternative" tourism's contribution to community-based economic, social, and environmental development in southern Thailand. The results of this study are based upon several types of data, including selfadministered surveys, analysis of statistical and other documentary sources, field observations, and interviews with tourists, government officials, company owners, and Thais working in the tourism industry. Three central findings emerge from this research. First, "alternative" tourism in southern Thailand shares many structural and conceptual links with the existing mass tourism industry. Rather than signalling a true departure from conventional, packaged tourism, "alternative" tourism constitutes a regenerative niche in Phuket's mass tourism industry. Second, discrepant expectations of, and levels of desire for, authenticity serve to differentiate categories of "alternative" tourists, many of whom display insensitive behaviour and place inappropriate demands on their Thai hosts. Third, certain forms of "alternative" tourism, such as "mass ecotourism," foster equitable community development, while others, such as backpacking and adventure travel, remain limited as engines of economic development. In addition to discussing theoretical and policy implications, the thesis concludes with a localized model of "alternative" tourism in southern Thailand. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Ecotourism has emerged as one of the fastest- growing sectors of the tourism market, influenced primarily by public demand for more environmentally responsible tourism. When planned properly, it has been asserted that ecotourism can integrate conservation of biodiversity with socio-economic development of local communities. For this reason, many governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are eager to develop ecotourism in protected areas in order to maximize these benefits. However, ecotourism can have significant negative impacts when poorly planned and managed including severe environmental degradation, negative cultural changes and decreased welfare of individuals or communities. Ecotourism should not be regarded as a panacea for harmonizing rural development with environmental conservation until the industryâ s influence on developing countries has been thoroughly analyzed. This paper shall explore whether ecotourism has proven to be an effective tool for integrating conservation and development. Through the examination of existing literature pertaining to ecotourism, I investigate the environmental, economic and social impacts of 14 ecotourism development projects in seven developing countries: Belize, Costa Rica, Dominica, Ecuador, Indonesia, Nepal and Peru. The case study analysis reveals that local communities adjacent to protected areas are often not fully involved in the tourism development planning process. Ecotourism as a mechanism for achieving local conservation and development goals is more successful when projects prioritize local involvement and control. Through the identification of trends emerging from the case studies, this paper contributes to the ongoing discussion of ecotourism as a development strategy and suggests that local participation should be encouraged in ecotourism development. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning