Africa is a continent characterised by deepening environmental degradation and increasing loss of natural resources. This has had an adverse effect on human health and well-being in the region. Environmental degradation has also made it impossible for average Africans to enjoy the human right to environment guaranteed under the continent-wide African Charter, and the constitutions and laws of most African nations. Several factors are responsible for perpetuating this state of affairs, namely poverty, lack of political will to enforce or adopt environmental regulations, and weak institutional capacity. An opportunity to reverse this trend has been offered by the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by all United Nations member States in 2000. The MDGs are eight developmental goals with time-bound targets. However, the MDGs are not legally binding despite their global adoption. Despite this inherent legal weakness, the MDGs still have important normative value as they provided a framework for holding governments accountable to their millennium anti-poverty commitments vis-à-vis instituting sound socio-economic reform and strengthening good governance. This thesis proposes that the role of the MDGs in guiding or stimulating national and international policy reform towards the realisation of the right to environment in Africa is, as a framework of accountability, they can be used to promote good governance and socio-economic reform, two ingredients that are essential to creating the enabling environment for implementing the right to environment in Africa. This thesis is therefore an in-depth analysis of this role. The purpose of this analysis is sixfold. First, to provide an overview of the concepts as well as the research methodology used in this study; second, to determine whether there is an established human right to environment in Africa; third, to analyse the extent to which the right has been realised as well as the factors responsible for the non-realisation; fourth, to discuss the relationship between the achievement of the MDGs and realisation of the right in Africa; fifth, to analyse how the MDGs can guide or stimulate policy reform towards the realisation of the right; and sixth, to analyse the major policies adopted for the achievement of the MDGs in Africa to ascertain how they would contribute to the realisation of the right to environment in the region.

The new sustainable development agenda for 2030 was adopted in 2015 with implementation now in progress. This ambitious agenda proposed 17 goals and 169 targets in areas of significance: people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership. Goal 11 of the 17 Goals strive to ‘make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’. With people continuously choosing to live and work in cities despite the congestion and pollution that result from the high concentration of people, due to the economic growth, innovation and opportunities offered by cities. Hence, it is important to acknowledge that without well-managed urban transition the success of the SDGs will be difficult in developing countries. In the context of this research, it was important and applicable to look at how the ambitious global agenda like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), more specifically Goal 11 on cities is being implemented by local government for cities. The research focus on City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (CTMM) as a case study for implementing SDG 11. The appropriate research methodology, based on an interpretivist paradigm coupled with the phenomenological constructivism nature of this research, is qualitative. The goal was to combine document analysis and semi-structured interviews to provide the researcher with a more complex understanding of the role of local government, and thereby help the researcher answer the research questions. The research shows that the national, provincial, and local priorities in policy and programmes in South Africa have a high overlap with the SDGs. It is well recognized that development in South Africa can only take place through collaboration between citizens and government, thus policies and their implementation will have to recognize the importance of collaboration. Strategic partnerships between different sectors; government, private sector, civil society and international organisations will bring a strong blend to different strengths and has proved to have means for knowledge sharing. Thus, for CTMM to reach its goal of adequately implementing SDG 11 they would have to leverage on strategic partnerships, develop a framework for implementation and monitoring progress as a way of focusing on implementing the objectives of the Urban Goal while ensuring that there is integration between its national agenda and the global goals. / Mini Dissertation (MA (Environment and Society))--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / MA (Environment and Society) / Unrestricted

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / This study explores the relationship between companies and society with regards to companies’ social responsibilities. A number of concepts such as Corporate Citizenship (CC), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Social Investment (CSI), articulate the role of companies in society. While these concepts are often used interchangeably, the main argument advanced in this study is that the concept of CC has more political currency than other concepts as CC confers duties and rights to companies in communities where they operate. In developing countries, CC is concerned with the role played by companies in administering the socio-economic rights of people living in communities where they operate. The study seeks to provide an overview of corporations’ obligations towards the socio-economic rights of people through CC, proposing the use of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as a way to find a normative framework for CC.

Yes / Smart cities can help in achieving UN SDG. This research carries out a comprehensive analysis of the role of smart cities on creating sustainable cities and communities, which is one of 17 UN sustainable goals. Current research focuses on number of aspect of sustainable environment such as renewable and green energy, energy efficiency, environmental monitoring, air quality, and water quality. This study provides a valuable synthesis of the relevant literature on smart cities by analysing and discussing the key findings from existing research on issues of smart cities in creating sustainable cities and communities. The findings of this study can provide an informative framework for research on smart cities for academics and practitioners.

Yes / The capability approach (CA), while originally regarded as a ‘thin’ framework relating to an individual’s ‘States’, has been progressively deployed in wider spaces of social welfare and policy development. In general, the CA centralises an individual’s (or group’s) functionings, and the freedom to achieve those functionings. One under-researched area is the expression of capabilities when constraints are imposed hegemonically, that is, when an individual (or group) appears to consent to having their choices limited because of some underlying sociocultural ideology. Hegemonic forces are particularly relevant to the application of the CA against the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs); specifically, reduced inequalities (Goal 10) under its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, since it is generally under large-scale policy regime shifts that sociocultural inequalities are broken and renewed. New, less transparent hegemonies often emerge within policy changes that seek to address inequalities, and they typically embody a mitigating reaction to social risks emanating from policy change. The chapter is fundamentally a theoretical and conceptual paper, approached from an interdisciplinary context, and draws on concepts such as sustainable development, capability approach, and freedom in analysing hegemonic forces with respect to reducing inequalities. / The full-text of this article will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo - 18 months after publication.

Yes / Purpose: Sustainability is viewed as an encompassing perspective, as endorsed by the international policy context, driven by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We aim to examine how women entrepreneurs transform capitals to pursue sustainability, and to generate policy insights for sustainability actions through tourism entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach: Applying qualitative approach, we have generated empirical evidence drawing on 37 qualitative interviews carried out in Turkey, whereby boundaries between traditional patriarchal forces and progressive movements in gender relations are blurred. Findings: We have generated insights into how women entrepreneurs develop their sustainability practice by transforming their available economic, cultural, social and symbolic capitals in interpreting the macro-field and by developing navigation strategies to pursue sustainability. This transformative process demonstrates how gender roles were performed and negotiated in serving for sustainability pillars. Research limitations/implications: In this paper, we demonstrate the nature and instrumentality of sustainable tourism entrepreneurship through a gender lens in addressing some of these SDG-driven challenges. Originality/value: We advance the scholarly and policy debates by bringing gender issues to the forefront, discussing sustainable tourism initiatives from the viewpoint of entrepreneurs and various members of local community and stakeholder in a developing country context where women’s solidarity becomes crucial. / This study is supported by the British Council Newton Institutional Links fund (ID number: 216411249).

The aim of this qualitative interpretive study is to look into SDG implementation in Sweden from a governance for sustainable development perspective. This research is to be seen as a first attempt at mapping the state of governance for sustainable development in relation to SDG implementation in Sweden – further research is both necessary and welcomed in order to get a complete picture of the situation. Seven key components of governance for sustainable development developed by Gibson et al. (2005) are used as a theoretical framework for the study. Those key components are; policy integration; shared sustainability objectives; sustainability based criteria for planning and approval of significant undertakings; specified rules for managing trade-offs and compromises; widely accepted indicators of needs for action and progress towards sustainability; information and incentives for practical implementation, and; programmes for system innovation. Previous research as well as reports from organizations such as the OECD and the European Commission have been used to evaluate the state of these components in Sweden, primarily from an environmental sustainability perspective. Conclusions reached include that the main components relevant for Swedish implementation of the SDGs are: policy integration, shared sustainability objectives and widely accepted indicators for needs for action and progress towards sustainable development. Another conclusion drawn is that the level of fulfillment in some of these key components does not necessarily correspond with the likelihood of successful SDG implementation. Further research is being suggested for   a governance-related mapping of the social and economic pillars of sustainable development. Together with the environmental pillar they are essential for the holistic approach that sustainable development deserves.

Poor sanitation is a huge problem in third world countries today; every year 1,5 million children die due to diarrheal diseases caused by poor sanitation. International policies such as The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which will be replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015, have been set by the international community as tools to decrease the poverty in the world today, and problems that emerged from it such as poor sanitation. Participatory methods are emphasise to receive the goals as well as new working methods to shift the development paradigm from marked oriented towards sustainable development, which means that also the Earth’s well-being must be included in the SDGs. Ecological sanitation (Eco-san) is a system that reuses the human waste back to grooving activities, and can improve the situation in all three areas of sustainable development, i.e. economical, environmental and social development with it’s reusing approach. Participation in implementation of Eco-san system is important for enabling sustainable projects as well as receive better acceptance for the reuse approach. The research presented in this thesis had the aim to improve the sanitation situation by introducing and implementing Eco-san in a rural area in the Northern part of Tanzania by using an action oriented research approach. The participants together with the researcher developed the project to further see the interpretations of Eco-san and possibilities to implement Eco-san in the area as well as if the action research was a convenient way to introduce such a project. The study was conducted in two cycles were critical theory and diffusion of innovation were used as analysis tools for the introduction and implementation of the toilets. The findings from the first cycle showed that the participants were willing to learn about Eco-san by observing the idea through a demonstration toilet. Therefore the second cycle lead to implementation of Eco-san in a school of the area. These toilets are today in use and managed by the students at the school. Participating approach has therefore been a successful working method were the participants gained the knowledge they needed to develop and improve their situation. This can further be argued as a valuable approach for other development projects and to meet the upcoming SDGs. However, further action and education to other village members outside the school and up scaling possibilities in the community are needed.

abstract: Through critical discourse analysis, this thesis explores the construction of poverty and development within and across the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and the proposed post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals texts. The proposed post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals frame the international development landscape for the next 15 years, therefore it becomes imperative for civil society to understand their dominant economic schemes for poverty alleviation in order to adopt or oppose similar methods of poverty abatement. Deductively, this thesis investigates Keynesianism and neoliberalism, the dominant economic discourses whose deployments within the goals have shaped transnational frameworks for interpreting and mitigating poverty. It assesses the failures of the Millennium Development Goals, as articulated both by its creators and critics, and evaluates the responsiveness of the United Nations in the constitution of the proposed post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals in relation to these critiques through the lens of liberal feminist and World Social Forum discourses. These activist and oppositional social discourses embody competing values, representations, and problem-solution frames that challenge and resist the dominant economic discourses in both sets of goals. Additionally, this thesis uses an inductive approach to critically analyze both sets of goals in order to identify any emergent discursive frameworks grounded in each text that assist in understanding the problems of, and solutions to, poverty. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Communication Studies 2015

Magister Legum - LLM / The aim of this study is to critically analyse corporate social responsibility as a tool to accelerate the achievement of development goals in Zimbabwe. The main question is how CSR can be used to speed up the achievement of development goals? The paper will focus on how CSR can be used to achieve national development goals and MDGs that will soon be integrated into SDGs. Attention will be paid to MDG1 which goal is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; and MDG 5 which aims to improve maternal health and national development goals in Zimbabwe. The research is guided by the following objectives: 1. To examine international, regional and national legal frameworks that seek to promote corporate social responsibility in Zimbabwe. 2. To establish the connection between CSR and development goals in Zimbabwe, and explore how CSR can be used as a tool to fast-track the achievement of national development goals and UN development goals. The paper will investigate the efforts made by the Zimbabwean government to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and to improve maternal health. The two MDGs are proving to be difficult to be achieved by the end of 2015. 3. To recommend measures that would facilitate the promotion of CSR into Zimbabwean companies and assist the government in achieving the developmental goals within the specified time frame.