This study pertains to the provision of learning support to remote distance learners from the Basarwa and Bakgalagadi communities in Botswana who enrolled for a secondary school-leaving certificate. The purpose of this case study was to document these learners’ perceptions and experiences of learning at a distance and to improve service delivery. The literature on distance learning support emphasises the importance of making learners’ voices audible as these help gauge the efficacy of learning support. The study was informed by an interpretive paradigm using a mixed-methods approach and is underpinned by Holmberg’ theory of conversational learning (2003). Qualitative data methods collection involved semi-structured interviews, journals, document analysis and observations while a questionnaire provided nested quantitative data. Data sets were triangulated and trustworthiness was enhanced by using Atlas.ti® for qualitative analysis and SAS version 8 software to generate percentages. The key findings showed that distance learners exhibited high intrinsic motivation and 72.1% of them were satisfied with the learning support provided. This substantiates that learner motivation remains a key attribute for successful distance learning in any context. However, policy and managerial flaws did frustrate and unintentionally disadvantage these remote distance learners. Despite their adverse circumstances positive perceptions and experiences were exhibited where learners had access to personalised academic and affective support from empathetic tutors. Implications for practice include policy reviews, ODL staff training and adoption of best practice. A needs assessment to establish learner needs, expectations and aspirations is critical for the design and development of relevant learning materials, and for the delivery of quality learning support to enhance the academic experience of remote learners from marginalised communities. Recommendations may be applicable in other underdeveloped distance learning contexts. Topics for further research exploration in learning support, policy and curriculum issues have been suggested. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

The purpose of my study was to explain how adult learners in distance education experienced short message service (SMS) technology as a learning support tool. The study focused on a single unit of analysis, namely a SMS for academic purposes that was implemented in the final module, Practical Experience, of the Advanced Certificate in Education: Special Needs Education. This course is one of three in-service teacher training programmes offered by the Unit for Distance Education at the University of Pretoria (UP). The theoretical framework and literature review were operationalised by the development of a questionnaire. A record of the text message response schedules, and telephonic interviews comprised the other two data collection instruments. These data were integrated to provide an explanation of how learners experienced SMS technology as a learning support tool. Participants who were able to utilise and access the SMS said that it seemed to: motivate them, help them focus on their work and set goals. They could check on their progress and found the creation of flexible learning environments an additional benefit. Interactive learning environments that enabled them to construct new knowledge by actively engaging in the learning process benefited the participants. Constructivist principles of teaching and learning are inherent in this. The SMS did not seem to facilitate the development of interactive learning environments characterised by two-way communication channels for all the participants, as it also establishes one-way communication channels focused on delivering course content. Although participants indicated that this was helpful in giving them more information, they also expressed a need for more contact with their lecturers and with other learners for learning support purposes. Barriers to communication included faulty cellular phones, the cost of the SMS, and the lateness of text messages in relation to the due dates for assignments and projects. An overriding barrier was the difficulty participants seemed to have in understanding the instructions in the text messages. Recommendations are therefore made to improve future short message services in order to overcome this. / Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Educational Psychology / MEd / unrestricted

This thesis deals with the accounting system and the tax system in Sri Lanka and compares these systems with Czech approaches to the issue. The aim is to acquaint readers with selected financial and tax system of a developing Asian country and to determine whether Sri Lanka can have an accounting system at the level of developed countries. In an effort to reconcile the Sri Lankan accounting standards with IFRS Sri Lanka adopted Financial Reporting Standards issued by the IASB. We can say that the financial system of the examined developing country is at the level of developed countries. On the fiscal side, it was found that the country focuses mainly on indirect taxation. Value added tax has the largest share in the tax mix. Unlike the tax mix in the Czech Republic there is a great importance of revenue from taxes on international trade. Contributions to social security, which is the most important part of the tax mix in the Czech Republic, are collected in Sri Lanka on an insignificant degree.

In India poor sanitation accounts for 1,600 daily deaths of children under the age of five (Dasra, 2012). The societal and environmental conditions in India and many other developing countries have continuously stood as barriers to facilitating changes in sanitation behavior. Efforts made to improve hygiene have continuously faced opposing forces including major gaps between the supply and demand of sanitation. This paper will focus on one pilot program conducted in Chennai, India over the summer of 2014. This program was designed to teach school children safe sanitation and hygienic habits by providing a guiding tool to teachers. The study analyzed qualitative observational data collected over the seven-week pilot program period to identify the barriers to implementation experienced in this case study. The results indicate that the school administration was the greatest barrier to implementation in this case study. The results also highlight the contextual sensitivity of each of the barriers and their relationships to one another. The findings suggest that depending on the context of implementation of a health, hygiene, and sanitation program these barriers may be re-ordered in hierarchy to work towards achieving sustainable programs.

The diploma thesis deals with the issue of motivation to volunteer in developing countries. The aim of the diploma thesis was to analyze the concept of volunteering in developing countries, with regard to the motivation of people who choose to volunteer in a developing country. The theoretical part characterizes the main concepts and topics such as volunteering, including its legislative definition, developing countries, motivation to volunteer. The practical part describes the research, which aimed to analyze the motivation of volunteers working in developing countries. The research sample consisted of 75 volunteers who were given a questionnaire of Author's own design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two other volunteers. Volunteers were found to be motivated to help, as well as motivation associated with personal gain. The motivation of volunteers was formed due to the experience with the effectiveness of aid in volunteering. Weaknesses were identified, in particular regarding the preparation of volunteers before leaving for a developing country. Part of the work is a recommendation for sending organizations, as well as for the volunteers themselves. Key words: Civil society, developing country, education, motivation, sending organization, voluntarism, volunteering.

The agri-food sector is responsible for 26% of the total global carbon emissions. This puts the sector under the critical eye of the world, which demands radical solutions to this. For this, alternatives to unsustainable practices have already been implemented and have led to the transformation of the systems into more sustainable ones. And, studies that seek to understand these transformations have been carried out, which belong to the Sustainability Transitions field. However, this branch of studies has been more prominent in countries of the northern hemisphere, and not so much in countries of the south. This is why, this study aimed to extend the knowledge on sustainability transitions in countries from the global south by studying the case of the blueberry sector in Peru, and the possible factors that may be hindering or boosting a sustainable transition. The study focused on the evaluation of secondary data on the context and relevant events within the blueberry sector in Peru from 2004 to 2021, also interviews were held to support the information gathered previously. The study showed that factors that act as a booster for a transition, within the Peruvian context, are the price of a product in the global market, and also the enactment of certain laws that promote certain activities like organic production. Also, those hindering factors were the price of cultivation of the blueberries and the activity of informal institutions called “services”. Moreover, the study shows that two out of the three alternatives for sustainable change that were analyzed lacked consideration for social sustainability aspects. Finally, the insights provided in this study could help to better understand how sustainability transitions could unravel in similar South American regions.

Digitalisation and globalisation have significantly impacted daily life, including taxation, resulting in benefits and disadvantages. One major issue lies in the global context, where tax evasion and erosion have become prevalent issues. To address these challenges, the International Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has introduced a new set of rules known as Pillar Two. These rules aim to address the competition for attracting investors through a “race to the bottom” in tax rates by establishing a standardised Global Minimum Tax (GMT) rate of 15% to be applied to economic activities across jurisdictions. Thailand has recently announced its intention to incorporate these rules into domestic tax laws. Consequently, this thesis examined the implications of implementing Pillar Two on allocating taxing rights within the national legislative framework. The research utilised the dogmatic legal method to identify and analyse the current Thai tax system, Pillar Two model rules, and perspectives on implementation. The findings illustrated the most beneficial approach to allocating taxing rights to Thailand.

This thesis reports research in the Country-of-Origin (COO) area of international business, into the postulated phenomenon of Negative Image. Image has been regarded as a potential purchase decision influencing factor but to date not investigated in-depth. Research was carried out in the business to business area, across cultures and between developed and developing countries, using an example from Zimbabwe. The primary research methodology comprised semi-structured elite interviews with Zimbabwean footwear exporters and UK footwear importers. A questionnaire incorporating sections on topics related to the international image of manufactured goods exporters based in Third World countries was also administered to the UK footwear importers. This dealt with political, commercial and image aspects of importer-exporter relationships and also addressed directly the issue of Third World businessmen's image. Results from the field work demonstrate that the Negative Image of Third World manufactured goods exporters directly affects importer decision making and that Negative Image has an exclusively negative impact. Data from inductive analysis of interviews and supporting correlations arising from the questionnaire were used to construct a model of the relationships and formalise the concepts and constructs of Negative Image. These included disparities in exporter and importer expectations of quality, price, delivery and performance. In addition unreliability, inefficiency, professionalism, lack of both marketing skills and social conversation contribute to the phenomenon. A potential conflict was identified at the individual level between personal and professional perspectives and a reciprocal Negative Image of importers was identified from the Zimbabwean exporters' perspective. Suggestions are made regarding the key factors in exporter-importer relationship development and conclusions are then drawn suggesting that improvement to levels of importer-exporter contacts and information flows can be useful in ameliorating the Negative Image effect. Scenarios for image improvement are offered at government, firm and individual levels. Finally, limitations of the research are discussed and recommendations for further research are given

This thesis aims to analyze the position and influence of developing countries in the WTO. The key points of analysis are the participation of developing countries throughout the history of the GATT/WTO, an assessment of their activity and participation in the WTO bodies and decision-making process, an examination of their bagaining power, suggesting that the position of developing countries may improve through the formation of coalitions. Through a study and analysis of the current round of trade negotiations and its roadblocks, this paper assesses the current position and influence of developing countries in the WTO with an emphasis on the recurring deadlocks of the round. The main phenomena of the current round are an increase in coalition activity and the emergence of a new group of dominant players, namely India, China and Brazil. Owing to these new trends, developing countries in the WTO have been able to vigorously promote their interests. However, these interests clash with those of the developed world, which results in a stalemate of the negotiations.

Business need required a holistic and focussed framework for best practices in the functioning of effective virtual teams, despite the fragmented nature of empirical studies in this field. This study endeavoured to explore the best practices in the functioning of effective virtual teams against four prominent and unique themes linked to purpose, processes, people and technology. The value of this study does not vest in the existence of virtual teams, but in their orderly operation, in terms of best practice and the value proposition of effectiveness. Following an exploratory qualitative strategy, the research was conducted according to the interpretivist branch of the phenomenological tradition, with a transcendental orientation in the social research field. A qualitative multi-case research design for the empirical study was selected, resulting in a non-probability sample within the software sector of the technology industry in South Africa. An original and pre-tested Lime Survey 2.0+ electronic questionnaire instrument was utilised as the instrument to collect information within a cross-sectional time horizon, to work in synchronisation with the collaborative asynchronous electronic architecture of virtual teams. Content analysis was applied to analyse data. The main findings indicated that effective virtual teams purposefully orientate themselves toward excellence through electronic management systems, a specific value system, with a knowledge seeking focus, and a seamless linkage in electronic infrastructure, applications, and platforms which contribute to the functionality of the effective virtual team. The main recommendations were that a pre-existing, functional, collaborative, integrated, electronic management system is regarded as the primary step in founding an effective virtual team. The focus of organisational leadership should be to embrace a holistic value system approach encapsulating specific elements of excellence, such as trust and independence. Human networking practices pursuing and sustaining knowledge are regarded as the key enabler for functioning of effective virtual teams. Lastly, a focussed seamless interface between the various electronic applications, platforms and infrastructures is recommended. / Human Resource Management / D. Com. (Human Resource Management)