The traditional theories of development concentrated on stimulating economic growth and ignored the social aspects involved. Despite the massive injection of donor funds, the situation of the poor deteriorated. The projects in Tembisa are an example of this, as the community was not involved in the assessing of needs or designing of interventions and were only the implementers. The evaluation offers an alternative developmental paradigm that has been used with success in other similar circumstances – the sustainable livelihood approach (SLA). The SLA contends that urban communities should become planners, initiators and executors of local development in order for any transformation to occur. Urban communities have to change their behaviour and attitudes, be willing to accept change, and to take ownership of the projects. The facilitators, NGOs and government have to be willing to unlearn their traditional ways, listen, and accept that they are not the only experts in the field. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

This study investigates the use of telecentres for educational purposes in telecommunications under-serviced regions of South Africa. The problem addressed by this research has both equity and efficiency aspects. In particular, the thesis examines the impact of telecentres on the formal and non-formal education outcomes of recipient communities - four telecentres, two in townships and two in rural areas. The urban telecentres are Siyabonga in Orange Farm near Johannesburg and Mamelodi Communication and Information Services (MACIS), in Mamelodi township, near Pretoria in Gauteng Province. The rural telecentres are Tombo near Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape Province and Hoxani near Bushbuckridge on the Mpumalanga-Limpopo Province border. The main aim of the research is to conduct a quantitative survey of the telecentre users’ use of telecentres in the above mentioned locations. On the basis of this, the thesis seeks to come to some conclusions about the use and effectiveness of the South African telecentre program. The quantitative analysis of users is supported by a qualitative report and analysis of data gathered through personal interviews of telecentre operators and employees. The thesis reports on the outputs of the centres, limitations in their function, inhibitors to their economic performance, and recommendations for improving their operations. Some of the findings are that telecentres established through public-private partnership (PPP) funding are more effective and successful, computer literacy is a major resource offered, Hoxani telecentre offers outcomes-based education management skills training for local teachers, while Tombo, MACIS and Siyabonga telecentres offer additional business and electronic courses. The thesis also reviews the South African telecentre program against the background of similar programs in selected Asian and Latin American countries, Australia, Canada, and Europe and against the background of an analysis of South African post-apartheid telecommunications sector reforms (1996 to 2007). Insights into the unique nature of challenges facing geographically located telecentres as well as a new model for understanding telecentre operations in South Africa are offered. / Communication Science / D.Litt. et Phil.(Communication Science)

The Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) is a government programme targeted at unemployed individuals. Public entities at the national, provincial and municipal level implement the EPWP. The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (CTMM) is one of the entities implementing the EPWP at the local level. This study investigated the implementation of the EPWP within the CTMM with a view to understand the current implementation approach. The CTMM has been unable to achieve their EPWP annual targets since 2009. The CTMM experienced the lack of attaining targets mainly in relation to persons with disabilities (2%), and indigents (50%). Other challenges include the lack of training EPWP participants in specialized skills; the unsustainable nature of the EPWP projects; and un-approval of the draft EPWP policy. This study proposes interventions with regard to the coordination of the EPWP, improved monitoring of projects, training, indigent criteria, and approval of the EPWP policy within the CTMM. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

Apartheid left a legacy that is spatially skewed. This is reflected in the present patterns of poverty and inequality in South Africa. While a number of global and national initiatives are in place to reduce the levels of poverty and inequality in rural South Africa, this research aimed at the development of a tool that would be able to assist communities themselves in reducing their own levels of poverty and inequality. This research was undertaken in collaboration with the Greater Rustenburg Community Foundation and a variety of rural communities in South Africa. The Community Asset Mapping Programme (CAMP) has as its purpose the achievement of sustainable and responsible high impact social change within communities. CAMP enables community members to map their own assets and empowers them to use these assets sustainably to create a better life for themselves. Communities are empowered to identify their own entrepreneurship and livelihood strategies and opportunities in an attempt to generate their own wealth. Unlike many existing asset mapping applications, CAMP advocates that the success of any roots-driven change depends on the inclusion of processes that will provide a cognitive shift in terms of a variety of processes such as wishes, fears, trust, self-worth, and power mapping, all providing different components that ensure a process of sustainable change within communities. The research presents an argument that if communities are to achieve effective roots-driven change they would require partnerships with Non Profit Organisations, government, civil society, business, and institutes of higher learning, who are willing to stand aside and allow communities to decide their own priorities in their journey to achieve their own wealth, but who would be willing to provide funding, mentorship, skills, and a continuous monitoring process over the medium to long term. / Sociology / Ph.D. (Geography)

This thesis is an account of how a networking approach may assist participatory community development. The author undertakes naturalistic action research into how she can improve her social practice with a view to gaining equal participation amongst university and community members in a community development practicum. She describes how efforts to maximize group participation are typically countered with various forms of non-participation, analogous to a rebellion against authoritarianism. Dialogue with her doctoral peer group about tacit meanings from her personal history reveals that she is too heavily invested in community involvement. A stance of irreverence gives her the freedom to realize that her politically correct approach is conveying the message that "MY way of participation is THE way". She embarks on a networking programme of action in the hope of achieving more balanced participation. A multidisciplinary workshop and a study tour show her that openness to multiple inputs may free people from restrictive views and problematic styles of participation. She initiates the formation of a local network and finds that this is a more free-flowing structure that encourages fluid problem solving among community, government and university participants. The author's original anxieties are, however, revived when networking, too, becomes entangled in organizational complexities. She eventually realizes that she tends to base her actions on premises of power and justice and that it may be helpful to base new ventures on information flow and creativity instead. Her new approach to group facilitation elicits creative inputs from others. She finds that deliberate debate of the assumptions on which collective undertakings are based releases an awareness of alternative approaches to addressing unequal resource utilization in the commons. A review of the local Network's development over six years draws attention to networking resources, and its uses, structuring and management. The author's experiences continuously demonstrate that the assumptions of independence and freedom of choice may provide a more satisfactory basis upon which to manage community participation. / Social Work / D.Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

Social Science / M.A.(Social Science: Mental Health)

Text in Afrikaans / Summaries in Afrikaans and English / Hierdie verhandeling beskryf 'n taalkonstruktivistiese benadering tot die behoeftebepalingsproses in gemeenskapswerk. Taalkonstruktivisme vorm dee! van konstruktivisme. Taalkonstruktivisme word verduidelik in terme van 'n aantal beginsels en hoe dit toegepas kan word op die behoeftebepalingsfase. Dit fokus op die volgende: - Die belangrikheid van taal en betekenis in die gemeenskapswerker se eie denke en interpretasies van 'n gemeenskap se behoeftes. - Die belangrikheid van taal en betekenis en die verbalisering van 'n gemeenskap se behoeftes. - Die versigtigheid waarmee die kommunikasieproses met 'n gemeenskap benader moet word. - Die skep van idees wat in taal plaasvind en ook verander kan word wanneer daar behoeftebepaling in 'n gemeenskap gedoen word. Hierdie beskrywing van die taalkonstruktivistiese beginsels vind plaas aan die hand van 'n gevallestudie vanuit die navorser se praktiese werk wat uitgevoer is as gedeeltelike vereiste ter vervulling van die Meestersgraad. Dit beklemtoon die implikasies van die toepassing van taalkonstruktivisme op gemeenskapswerk. / This dissertation describes a language constructivist approach to the phase of needs assessment in community work. Language constructivism is part of constructivism. Language constructivism is explained in terms of certain principles and how they can be applied to needs assessment. The focus is on the following: - The part language performs in the community worker's own thoughts and interpretations of a community's needs. - The importance of language and meaning when a community verbalises its needs. - The care with which the communication process with a community should be approached. - The creation of ideas which can take place and change in language when a community's needs are being assessed. This description of the principles of language constructivism is done according to a case study of the researcher's practical work which was done as part of the requirements in fulfillment of the Master's degree. It emphasizes the application of language constructivism to community work. / Social work / M.A. (Social Sciences)

The Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) is a government programme targeted at unemployed individuals. Public entities at the national, provincial and municipal level implement the EPWP. The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (CTMM) is one of the entities implementing the EPWP at the local level. This study investigated the implementation of the EPWP within the CTMM with a view to understand the current implementation approach. The CTMM has been unable to achieve their EPWP annual targets since 2009. The CTMM experienced the lack of attaining targets mainly in relation to persons with disabilities (2%), and indigents (50%). Other challenges include the lack of training EPWP participants in specialized skills; the unsustainable nature of the EPWP projects; and un-approval of the draft EPWP policy. This study proposes interventions with regard to the coordination of the EPWP, improved monitoring of projects, training, indigent criteria, and approval of the EPWP policy within the CTMM. / Development Studies / M. A. (Development Studies)

Apartheid left a legacy that is spatially skewed. This is reflected in the present patterns of poverty and inequality in South Africa. While a number of global and national initiatives are in place to reduce the levels of poverty and inequality in rural South Africa, this research aimed at the development of a tool that would be able to assist communities themselves in reducing their own levels of poverty and inequality. This research was undertaken in collaboration with the Greater Rustenburg Community Foundation and a variety of rural communities in South Africa. The Community Asset Mapping Programme (CAMP) has as its purpose the achievement of sustainable and responsible high impact social change within communities. CAMP enables community members to map their own assets and empowers them to use these assets sustainably to create a better life for themselves. Communities are empowered to identify their own entrepreneurship and livelihood strategies and opportunities in an attempt to generate their own wealth. Unlike many existing asset mapping applications, CAMP advocates that the success of any roots-driven change depends on the inclusion of processes that will provide a cognitive shift in terms of a variety of processes such as wishes, fears, trust, self-worth, and power mapping, all providing different components that ensure a process of sustainable change within communities. The research presents an argument that if communities are to achieve effective roots-driven change they would require partnerships with Non Profit Organisations, government, civil society, business, and institutes of higher learning, who are willing to stand aside and allow communities to decide their own priorities in their journey to achieve their own wealth, but who would be willing to provide funding, mentorship, skills, and a continuous monitoring process over the medium to long term. / Geography / Ph. D. (Geography)

Text in English, Appendice 9 (pages 253-264) the isiZulu version of the corresponding English version. / The discourse on youth in South Africa’s post-apartheid era attempts to explore black African youth as agents for social change in their locale. Various perspectives define methods that are utilised by the youth to overcome the social challenges in this era. A case study approach was adopted in conducting this research. The role(s) played by the youth to influence social change were also investigated. The term youth in this research, refers to black African youth between 18 and 29 years of age, living in the township of KwaMashu in the KwaZulu-Natal Province. This investigation attempted to unravel the contributions made by youth towards community development, as well as the strategies that they adopted to secure their day-to-day livelihoods. In addition, various stereotypes and attitudes connected to youth were examined and were also documented. This study also investigated the role played by social agencies such as government institutions, education sector and also non-governmental and faith-based organisations in relation to the empowerment of young people in defining their futures. This investigation enabled the exploration of the impact of contemporary cultural value system(s) in shaping youth’s identities and their perceptions. The findings revealed that there is a need for relevant stakeholders and policy makers to consider interventions that will ensure support of youth initiatives, to curb the scourge of unemployment and poverty. It also recommends that the academic sphere needs to consider the decolonisation of the curriculum towards an Afrocentric Indigenous Knowledge orientation to enhance the aspirations of the Constitution of South Africa. The study also discovered evidence that suggests that the youth have a critical role to play in the development of their locales. Finally, the findings of this research acts as the baseline that could assist future studies in identifying possible themes that can provide [a fuller] understanding of the role played by black African youth in different social settings, i.e. township life, academic and political spheres in the post-apartheid era. / Sociology / D.Litt.et Phil. (Sociology)