It is widely accepted as fact that the creation of a stable financial system is the catalyst which facilitates economic development and prosperity. However, developing countries which embark on a path of change often forget the cardinal rule: addressing the needs of those who suffer from poverty, inequality, and political strife. In other words, change starts from the ground up; not the other way around. First among the challenges facing these countries, is the need to change the lending rules followed by traditional financial institutions- banks and other private lenders- who are unwilling to provide their services to individuals with little income and few if any assets that can be used as collateral. Second, global organizations like the United Nations, World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund have failed to provide aid in a way that forces the creation of positive and sustainable change for fragile and destabilized societies. For this reason, many developing countries which receive financial aid are no better off than they were before the interventions occurred, and in some cases worse. Finally, other aid programs and even well-intentioned government efforts to reduce poverty fail simply because they are misguided. Too much attention and financial resources are devoted to grand schemes of long-term duration and not enough is given to impacting human lives in the present. In 1973, visionary economist Muhammud Yunus witnessed his beloved country of Bangladesh sinking into the deepest realms of poverty; much of its population in despair and left without hope of extricating itself from a bleak existence. The problem was compounded by the fact that its government was preoccupied with matters of State iii rather than those of its people; its financial institutions were oblivious to the pain and hunger which surrounded them, and international donors were simply giving away money without any form of control or direct involvement. Out of this scenario, Yunus started with an idea that would alter not only his life, but the lives of people in Bangladesh and the world over: micro-finance. To this day, nearly every text written on the subject calls micro-finance a weapon in the fight against global poverty, but only a mere few recognize just how much of the gains made in this ―fight‖ are attributable to the direct involvement of women in micro-financing. This thesis posits that while Muhammud Yunus created an idea for the benefit of ―the global poor‖, it actually became a medium for the empowerment of women around the world. In fact, much of the praise awarded to micro-finance as success omit recognition of what should be obvious: the driving force behind the success of microlending is (poor) women. This statement does not seek to diminish the merits of an idea which has put a significant mark on the global economy, or to ignore the accomplishments of millions of men who through hard work have overcome poverty. However, what began as a genderless effort to help the poor of Bangladesh soon changed to one that overwhelmingly favored women. To this day, lending primarily to women has become the modus operandi of the microfinance industry for one reason above all: because women have proven they are a good business risk. The first part of this thesis will analyze the birth and development of the microfinancing system with special emphasis on its creator, Muhammed Yunus and the financial institution he founded for the purpose of implementing his idea, Grameen Bank. The second part will review the growth of micro-financing across the world with iv focus on Kiva, a web-based organization which represents the melding of micro-finance with 21st century technology. Finally, the thesis will look at Pro Mujer, a micro-financing organization which has successfully operated in Latin America for the last 20 years and developed a niche that expands the horizons of empowerment.

The purpose of this study was to explore the deployment of Information Communication Tech-nology to rural communities of KwaZulu-Natal from the perspective of the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), the technology implementers of government. SITA‘s regional of-fice in KwaZulu-Natal is relatively small, with a total of 52 employees who have a direct and indirect role to play with regards to ICT deployment. A quantitative research methodology was utilised in this study. Data was gathered with the aid of a questionnaire. Fifty-two questionnaires were sent out to the targeted employees of SITA and forty-seven responses were received. The response rate was ninety percent. The results of the survey revealed that sixty percent of respondents felt that rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal were not prepared to participate in e-government. When asked to indicate the importance of Information Communication Technology policy and regulatory frameworks that specifically address technology deployment to rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal, sixty per-cent of respondents acknowledged the importance. Over two thirds of respondents indicated that lack of infrastructure was a hindrance to technology deployment while less than one third did not know if this was a hindrance. The study also revealed that the main motivation for ICT de-ployment was social inclusion and to improve digital inclusiveness. Based on the empirical evidence, the researcher recommends that government take these per-spectives of the technology implementers into consideration when formulating Information Communication Technology policies and legislative frameworks that will be used as a basis for technology deployment to these rural communities. It is also recommended that government do more in terms of training and sensitizing technology implementers and end users, and developing support infrastructure, such as the electrification of rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal, in order to create an enabling environment for new ICT initiative deployment and to enable com-munity members to be adequately prepared to participate in ICT initiatives such as e-governance, which was identified as a priority area. Due to the limitations of this study, particu-larly the fact that it is based on one province, KwaZulu-Natal, it is recommended that further research be carried out into deployment of ICT to rural communities. / Thesis (M.Comm.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

Using the assumptions of various schools of thought on development as the theoretical framework, an attempt is made to examine the effects of foreign investment on the socioeconomic growth of 50 developing countries by means of multiple regression models that utilize some external and internal variables assumed to affect the growth rate of GNP. Results from these models indicate that new inflows of foreign investments and amounts of domestic investments are positively related to growth while accumulated stocks of foreign investments have no effect on growth. This suggests that development funds, designed specifically for increased domestic investments, would be the most effective way to increase GNP.

<p>  </p> <p>Over the past decades, adoption and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) has become an area of interest. The advancement of information and communication technologies in rural areas of developing countries offered opportunities to disseminate timely and accurate for rural development. However, the adoption and use of agricultural market information services (AMIS) remained insignificant among smallholder farmers in the rural areas of developing countries. Therefore, a sound understanding on possible factors associated with the use of mobile phone-based services in support of agricultural supply chain is necessary. This study applied an extended diffusion of innovation model (DOI). The study relied on a convenient sample of 200 smallholder farmers in Bungoma County, Kenya. Data was analyzed using descriptive and multinomial logistic regression (MLR) statistics to identify possible factors associated with the adoption and use of mobile phone-based services in Bungoma County, Kenya. The backward selection analysis confirmed that innovativeness, social influence, and compatibility were statistically significant on the use of mobile phone-based services in the study context. Overall, the results confirmed a positive relationship between the final model and the use of mobile phone-based services (M-services). Therefore, the results of this study may contribute knowledge to the domain of ICT4D in the rural context of developing countries. Further, the findings of this study established knowledge that may be useful for practical implications among smallholder farmers and policy makers in the field of ICT4D. </p>

La tesi è finalizzata a indagare l’efficacia dell’imprenditoria sociale quale strumento di contrasto a situazioni di grave povertà e disagio sociale nei paesi in via di sviluppo. Particolare attenzione è rivolta alle principali sfide derivanti dal molteplice sforzo di promuovere lo sviluppo socio-economico locale, garantire la sostenibilità economica delle iniziative e - talvolta - tutelare l’ambiente naturale. La prima parte della tesi fornisce un framework teorico sull’imprenditoria sociale, con specifico riferimento ad alcuni aspetti critici della sua stessa essenza, alle sue potenzialità nella lotta alla povertà e ai caratteri distintivi del suo processo di implementazione. La seconda parte presenta due analisi empiriche sviluppate con il metodo dei casi e afferenti, rispettivamente, gli ambiti del non-profit e del for-profit. La prima esamina i processi di identificazione delle opportunità e di costruzione del business model, al fine di mettere in luce le divergenze esistenti tra le prospettive sociale, economica ed ambientale, e di comprendere come coniugarle; la seconda identifica alcune cruciali variabili - interne ed esterne - che incidono sul processo di implementazione ed implicano la necessità di conciliare finalità, approcci e strumenti tipici degli ambiti filantropico e imprenditoriale, ai fini di una efficace creazione di valore socio-economico. / The thesis aims at investigating social entrepreneurship attitude to truly act as a crucial tool in the fight against deep poverty and social disadvantages in developing countries, with a particular focus on the main challenges faced by social entrepreneurial organizations in their attempt to promote local social-economic development, while ensuring their own economic viability, and (sometimes) preserving global environment. The first part of the thesis provides a theoretical framework about social entrepreneurship landscape, with specific attention to some crucial aspects of its essence, its potentiality against poverty, and some distinctive features of its implementation process. The second part presents two empirically-based analyses carried out by using case-study method, respectively from the for-profit and the not-for-profit domains. The former investigates the processes of opportunity recognition and business model design, with the aim to highlight the divergences among social, economic, and environmental perspectives, and to understand how to combine them; the latter identifies some crucial - internal and external -variables affecting the implementation process and implying the need for a mix between charitable and business aims, approaches, and tools, for a successful blended value creation.

This study analysed the representation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the Mail and Guardian from 2000 to 2007. It drew on perspectives from cultural studies, the constructionist approach to representation and the sociology of news production. Through the use of the quantitative and qualitative research methods, content analysis and critical discourse analysis, this study established first, that few significant changes have occurred within the newspaper's coverage of the MDGs during this period, and second, that the people most affected by the MDGs and affiliated programmes are seriously under-represented and that the manner of representation marginalises and subordinates them.

This study attempts to address the performance of military and civilian regimes in promoting socioeconomic development and providing military policy resources in the Third World. Using pooled cross-sectional time series analysis, three models of socioeconomic and military policy performance are estimated for 66 countries in the Third World for the period 1965-1985. These models include the progressive, corporate self-interest, and conditional. The results indicate that socioeconomic and military resource policies are not significantly affected by military control. Specifically, neither progressive nor corporate self-interest models are supported by Third World data. In addition, the conditional model is not confirmed by the data. Thus, a simple distinction between military and civilian regimes is not useful in understanding the consequences of military rule.

CIDA, the leading Canadian agency in the area of international assistance, is responsible for approximately 78% of the country's aid budget. The Agency's mandate to "support sustainable development in developing countries, in order to reduce poverty and contribute to a more secure, equitable, and prosperous world" indicates that the Agency is concerned with social and cultural factors. However, CIDA does not have any specific mechanisms or tools such as SIA to help achieve its social and cultural sustainability goals. The objectives of this thesis were: a) to develop an analytical framework for undertaking and analysing SIA, and b) to compare CIDA's SIA-related strategies, procedures and mechanisms as they stand now to what is stated in the literature, so as to indicate how and when the Agency uses them, and also to assess their quality and effectiveness. The overarching question that constituted the pillar of this thesis was a two-pronged question: Do CIDA's strategies, procedures and mechanisms equal SIA without being SIA? And are those strategies, procedures and mechanisms adequate to cover issues that are normally dealt with through traditional SIA? This question was answered through 1) the application of the analytical framework on two proposals submitted to CIDA, and 2) an analysis of CIDA's SIA-related procedures based on the framework, key informant interviews, and a review of the literature on the Agency's policies, guidelines, and practices. Based on the literature review, the application of the analytical framework, and on the comments of the informants, the need for an SIA-type procedure for assessing social and cultural effects and impacts for CIDA funding is suggested. Such a practice might very well clarify the Agency's requirements in relation to the consideration of social and cultural factors in the development of projects. Also, it is important to stress that the process should not be reduced to a bureaucratic procedure blindly applied. CIDA could go without formulating a distinct protocol for SIA, as it already has several project planning tools and procedures that could lend themselves very well to the purpose of SIA. Indeed, the Agency's results-based management (RBM) framework could be altered so as to make it more holistic in that it would take into consideration both intended and unintended effects and impacts, and would better take into account social and cultural factors. The application of the logical framework analysis (LFA) can also be expanded to achieve similar goals. Further, the Agency could focus on developing a more integrated and comprehensive type of impact assessment that would touch on all the required types of assessments.

CIDA, the leading Canadian agency in the area of international assistance, is responsible for approximately 78% of the country's aid budget. The Agency's mandate to "support sustainable development in developing countries, in order to reduce poverty and contribute to a more secure, equitable, and prosperous world" indicates that the Agency is concerned with social and cultural factors. However, CIDA does not have any specific mechanisms or tools such as SIA to help achieve its social and cultural sustainability goals. The objectives of this thesis were: a) to develop an analytical framework for undertaking and analysing SIA, and b) to compare CIDA's SIA-related strategies, procedures and mechanisms as they stand now to what is stated in the literature, so as to indicate how and when the Agency uses them, and also to assess their quality and effectiveness. The overarching question that constituted the pillar of this thesis was a two-pronged question: Do CIDA's strategies, procedures and mechanisms equal SIA without being SIA? And are those strategies, procedures and mechanisms adequate to cover issues that are normally dealt with through traditional SIA? This question was answered through 1) the application of the analytical framework on two proposals submitted to CIDA, and 2) an analysis of CIDA's SIA-related procedures based on the framework, key informant interviews, and a review of the literature on the Agency's policies, guidelines, and practices. Based on the literature review, the application of the analytical framework, and on the comments of the informants, the need for an SIA-type procedure for assessing social and cultural effects and impacts for CIDA funding is suggested. Such a practice might very well clarify the Agency's requirements in relation to the consideration of social and cultural factors in the development of projects. Also, it is important to stress that the process should not be reduced to a bureaucratic procedure blindly applied. CIDA could go without formulating a distinct protocol for SIA, as it already has several project planning tools and procedures that could lend themselves very well to the purpose of SIA. Indeed, the Agency's results-based management (RBM) framework could be altered so as to make it more holistic in that it would take into consideration both intended and unintended effects and impacts, and would better take into account social and cultural factors. The application of the logical framework analysis (LFA) can also be expanded to achieve similar goals. Further, the Agency could focus on developing a more integrated and comprehensive type of impact assessment that would touch on all the required types of assessments. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate