Youth unemployment remains an enduring and significant challenge in South Africa, with 43.2 % of people aged 15-34 and 59% aged 15-24 remaining unemployed, respectively. Similarly, economic discouragement among young people is on the rise. Micro-level barriers contribute significantly to the inability to access employment opportunities. These include the low skills levels of many young South Africans, the high costs of job-seeking, a lack of social capital, a lack of access to relevant job-seeker information, as well as the adverse mental health impacts of alienation, poverty and unemployment. With the rise of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the rise of ICT for Development (ICT4D) interventions, several digital solutions have been developed in South Africa. These attempt to provide low-cost, scalable solutions to youth unemployment by addressing some of the barriers that young people experience. Despite the increased prevalence of such digital interventions, the degree to which they are capable of engaging and transforming the lives of the unemployed youth they target remains unclear. With increasing investments into 4IR interventions to address youth unemployment, closer examination is required. Accordingly, this study appraises one digital work seeker support platform in South Africa that provides skills matching and development opportunities to unemployed youth. The study focuses specifically on their experience of the platform. It uses post phenomenological constructs to analyse how young unemployed South Africans interpret the digital intervention and examines how these interpretations promote or inhibit their sense of agency and wellbeing. The findings suggest that digital youth employment interventions can inadvertently exacerbate some of the existing barriers, while also providing insight into how ICT4D interventions may be reimagined to address some of the factors that drive economic discouragement among young people.

Local and foreign aid and investment has been ploughed into Africa for many years with an intended purpose of eradicating poverty. Despite significant capital inputs, certain parts of Africa continue to suffer from symptoms of poverty evidenced by inequality, hunger and social decay. This study evaluated an alternative approach to investing in poverty eradication, examine the quality of life and economic impacts of family units in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. The study employed the exploratory sequential mixed methods research approach on a sample of seven cases across four sectors. The results of the qualitative analysis identify the Inputs, Activities, Outputs, Outcomes, Measurement and Impact. The results of the quantitative analysis show that in every family unit, their poverty status reduced over the 12- month measurement period. Further analysis on specific aspects of the family's poverty status are discussed, including consumer spending and debt ratios. The findings The findings show significantly positive over the investment period. Income increased, savings increased, monthly spending power increased, and monthly debt obligations decreased. Recommended studies fo further findings are required to determine long-term impact as the investment period for the cases studies was only 12 months. Further study is also required on the internal motivation of each human involved that propels them to escape poverty at different rates using the resources available within their ecosystem. Further research on cases that use differing investment approaches is recommended in order to compare results under each research objective.

It is acknowledged in the literature that investment in human capital, more precisely education, has a positive impact on economic growth. However, studies have shown that this could not be proven in every country or region. As the 4th principle of the Sustainable Development Goals, education can be a contributing factor to development. This paper examines the impact of education on economic growth in Togo, a developing country, using time series data spanning from 1971 to 2018, which were sourced from the World Bank Database. It is set out to explore the existence of a relationship between education variables and economic growth proxied by the GDP per capita growth; the returns of investment in education; and the impact of the quality of education on growth. The study employed the ARDL ECM estimation method to examine the relationship between the variables used. Although the findings establish long-run co-integration among the variables, the long-run coefficients are statistically insignificant. However, it is evidenced that a change in the gross enrolment rate, mainly in primary education, and government expenditure in education, have a negative relation with GDP per capita growth. Key findings in the short-run estimation reveal that there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between enrolment in primary and secondary education, completion rate in secondary education, and GDP per capita. Notwithstanding the significance of the long-run estimates, the study recommends improved investment in education at all levels of education and a higher reliance on professional education that will quickly train students to enter the job market and perform revenue generating activities.

The need for creating sustainable and relatable development projects has placed a sharp focus of the different approaches and methods of achieving development. Traditional development approaches such as top-down theory and the bottom-up theory of development have evolved over the years whilst recent approaches such as Randomised Controlled Experiments (RCE) have also emerged with the aim of creating sustainable and more relatable development projects. All these approaches of development have had their fair share of criticism and applauses in literature. The use of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IK) as a factor of the bottom-up theory of development has been argued as an important element of advancing the developmental agenda and creating sustainable & relatable projects. Many scholars have conducted research around how IK can be incorporated in development projects around the world. Although research has been conducted, much is yet to be discovered around the actual impact or lack thereof of IK as a key factor of the bottom-up theory of development in development projects. This dissertation researched the impact of Rwanda's IK as a factor of the bottom-up theory of development with a focus on Rwanda's Land, Husbandry water harvesting and Hillside irrigation (LWH) project as a unit of analysis. Furthermore, the research assessed whether the Rwandan water harvesting, and irrigation IK played a role in the overall project conceptualization, design and implementation and if so, how this was incorporated in the overall project and finally what role (if any) this IK played in the overall outcomes of the LWH project. A qualitative case study research of the Rwanda's Land Husbandry, Water Harvesting and Irrigation Project was conducted within-depth questionnaires used as data collection instruments from farmers and project coordinators who were immensely involved in the design, development, implementation and monitoring of the project. Data analysis showed that most study participants agreed that the Rwandan water harvesting, and irrigation IK was incorporated in the LWH project and was a key success factor in the bottom-up theory used to implemented in the LWH project. The research found that the incorporation of IK as a factor of the bottom-up theory enabled quicker adoption of the project, increased levels of accountability and responsibility over the project by project beneficiaries and an accelerated attainment of project goals and objectives.

Community Development Finance refers to the vast array of financial services and products created and delivered specifically to those individuals and groups that are not being served by traditional financial institutions. While this is not a new field, with some Community Development organizations in existence for decades, it is certainly an evolving one. There is a wide variety of products and models for this type of work, catering to the myriad needs of different communities. However, almost by nature, these individual organizations remain highly localized and operate on small scales of economic development. This report examines three major types of community development financing, spanning the public and private sector, as well as traditional and evolving products. The models examined will be Community Development Finance Institutions, New Markets Tax Credits and Social Impact Investing. A thorough description of each type of financing will be followed by an analysis of its strengths and weaknesses. Once the merits and challenges of each model are identified, this report will examine different methods of scale, highlighting the adaptability to each model. / text

The purpose of the current study was to assess how RBF performed in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, equity and governance in the Zimbabwean context. It outlines the evolution of health systems thinking and health funding models over time to show the history and changing landscape of health care financing and their actors. General consensus is there is need to focus on results of health care investments against a background of prodigious amounts of foreign aid with marginal or no improvements in heath care delivery for decades of development assistance in developing countries. Health systems in developing countries are beset with burgeoning domestic and foreign debts as well as diminishing fiscal space that has more often put the primary health delivery system in developing nations in "comatose". The research made use of both qualitative and quantitative dimensions. Findings indicate that the pre-RBF era was characterised by poor primary health outcomes, unsound governance and a lack of confidence in the public health delivery system. However, since RBF implementation, access to health care by marginalised groups has increased, with incentives and community participation liberalising health systems to greater efficiency as shown by slight increases in post-natal care visits in rural health care centres. A trade-off between achieving efficiency and equity was found especially when scaling up health programmes under the RBF initiative. Through embracing RBF, the primary health delivery system is poised for future development attributed to community buy-in and people-centric empowerment approaches.

Electricity is a basic infrastructural service necessary for the achievement of developmental outcomes. The use of electricity, specifically, serves economic as well as social needs. It is universally accepted that electrification enhances quality of life at the household level and stimulates the economy at a broader level. Given its substantial benefits, electrification together with other sources of modern energy such as renewable energy, has been identified as essential for fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals (UNDP, 2005). In most cases, the main challenge in the achievement of these goals is the bundled nature of the electricity supply chain in majority of developing countries. This necessitated the need for policy reforms with the aim of unbundling the sector in Kenya. The literature review sets out to consider the main features of the electricity sector to better understand the legal and regulatory reforms that have taken place in the electricity sector and the impact of the liberalization on rural electrification and the poor in society. It takes note of the changing role of government in the sector with the liberalization and privatization, which has entailed the unbundling of the vertically integrated state-owned utility that has led to the introduction of competition in some segments of the electricity sector value chain such as generation and distribution. In addition, the review considers the classification related issues arising from the reforms that have taken place in the electricity sector and the regulatory imperatives for a competitive electricity services sector. Finally, a review of the reforms in the electricity sector in Kenya is assessed together with the impact of the reforms. Furthermore, the necessary regulatory disciplines instrumental in cross-border trade in electricity services are identified. The rationale of the study focuses mostly on the phenomenological (qualitative) and positivistic (quantitative) types of research. The focus was on identifying, analyzing and reporting patterns (themes) within data to facilitate a clear understanding of the electricity services sector in Kenya. Furthermore, the chapter on methodology presents the research population, sampling strategy, data collection, frame of analysis and a summary of how the data was analysed. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the questions. The findings and discussion sections of the study are focused on the reforms in the electricity services sector in Kenya, the pro-competitive regulations for an effectively liberalized electricity sector, and the resultant electricity-related services. Due to the complexity of the issues in the sector, interviewees preferred to be provided with the questionnaire instead of face-to-face or telephonic interviews. The questionnaire consisted of two sections, namely the respondent's demographics and reforms in the electricity sector in Kenya. The questionnaire targeted key stakeholders in the sector and was sent to eighteen potential respondents, and of these, only fourteen were responsive. The study concludes that reforms in the electricity sector in Kenya have brought about clarity in terms of the services that are embedded in the sector and identified the key regulatory elements necessary to enhance competition in the sector. The new services that have surfaced in Kenya, include geothermal exploration, grid connectivity through KENTRACO, generating electricity from crude oil, and ensuring that more households are connected to the national grid through the rural electrification project.

Sovereign credit ratings affect a country’s financial well-being. The financial markets, at large, have become quite topical within the public space, as well as policy makers and academics. This area has been examined in detail, especially after the global financial crisis of 2008. Rating agencies have been under great scrutiny against their issued ratings and accused of favouring developed economies over developing ones by providing higher ratings to the former. Using a panel of emerging and developed countries over a period of ten years (June 2007 – June 2017), this study examines whether a change in sovereign credit ratings by one of the big three rating agencies has an effect on the volatility of the stock market. This dissertation makes use of an event study over various estimation windows, and the findings depict that changes in sovereign credit ratings do have an effect on stock market volatility. Rating downgrades tend to increase volatility whilst upgrades tend to decrease volatility. Countries that have lower ratings, classified as emerging economies, are no less sensitive to rating changes compared to developed markets and both observe a significant effect on volatility when there is a change in credit ratings. The credit rating agency that had the greatest impact on the volatility of the stock market in response to a rating change is S&P. This was for both upgrades and downgrades. Fitch and Moody’s did not elicit any significant findings. This shows that the market is more responsive to an announcement by S&P than the other agencies. An understanding of the actual effect of this volatility in the equity stock market will have implications for investors, governments, pension funds and asset holders by providing them with country risk assessments and giving them the ability to rebalance their portfolios as required. It also has an impact in determining the cost of capital and evaluating investments, which affect asset allocation decisions. This study has important information, which could help contribute to credit rating agencies’ understanding of the implications that their issued ratings have on the stock market and their contribution to volatility within the market place. The policy implications of this study could affect institutions, especially the Basel committee and banking institutions whom are highly affected by the policies set out by Basel.

South Africa faces a raft of social problems, the enormity of which make it impossible for the government to tackle alone. This has necessitated private sector involvement through socially responsible investments (SRI) and charity. Despite the growth of the SRI industry and years of charitable contributions, social investment into the high-impact areas that need it most remains far too low. This study seeks to understand what is holding back social investment, and how to address this. Using grounded theory methodology, the research finds that traditional SRI investors are inappropriate sources of funding and that charitable funds have largely been deployed inefficiently. The proposed solution is for more use to be made of charitable funders, with the disbursement process employing some commercial investment principles in order to facilitate the recycling of capital, resulting in the growth of social investment over time.

This study seeks to examine the factors that influence Kenyan financial institutions’ lending behaviour towards the agricultural sector. Secondary panel data from 15 licensed financial institutions (commercial banks and deposit-taking microfinance institutions) for a period of 6 years (2011-2016) was used after which a panel multiple regression model was estimated using random-effects to examine the significant determinants of agri-lending by financial institutions. The study found that financial institution equity and risk on credit were negative and statistically significant in affecting the gross agricultural loans ratio while financial institution size, return on credit and financial institution liquidity were insignificant. As a result, the researcher recommends that financial institutions should devise better risk management strategies in order to reduce volume of non-performing loans in agriculture. Furthermore, the Kenyan Government should enforce the requirement that regulated financial institutions should hold a minimum of 10%-15% agricultural loans in their portfolios. This would steer larger banks to increase their investments in the agriculture given the economic benefits that the country would receive as a result.