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Includes bibliographical references.

Includes bibliographical references.

Political conflict in Zimbabwe led to a series of crises that has negatively affected the nation's socio-economic status for over a decade now. The public sector's ability to provide basic services has been affected by a dead economy: the scarcity of resources such as money, water, energy, food, and medical care has meant that a once-desirable system has become dysfunctional and is too incapacitated to meet the needs of the public. The population has been reduced to paupers and forced to adopt informal survival strategies to access services that in a functional economy would have been provided by the government. Little is known about how services that cannot be forfeited, in particular sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, are accessed by the most severely disadvantaged segment of the population: people living in rural areas. This study explores how the economic crisis shapes Tshitshi women's access to and use of SRH services. Specifically, it maps out Tshitshi women's experiences in accessing SRH services, the coping mechanisms, and the non-biomedical alternatives within the socioeconomic deprivation they encounter. Data was collected in Tshitshi village located in Matabeleland South province of Zimbabwe using qualitative methods through focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. In analysing data, I used thematic analysis with the help of NVivo version 12 to identify and sort themes. The study adopted the transnational care framework which was informed by the findings of the research, where I identified transnational medical resources and care as the overarching theme. Findings show that Tshitshi women's access to and use of SRH services is mostly influenced by transnational care resources which is how they improvise and manage the healthcare genocide. To cope with the lack of biomedical services, Tshitshi women improvise and access non-biomedical services which present convenience in availability, affordability, and acceptability. The study results elicited recommending outsourcing of medical supplies as an acceptable measure provided the state can be trusted to commit to meeting the needs of the people in positive sustainable ways.

Includes bibliographical references. / Due to historical and current national and international politico-economic activities, present day south-east Madagascar is characterised by poverty, inequality and underdevelopment. As a result water supply and sanitation provision, as one of the cornerstones of primary and preventative healthcare, has been neglected. A year of participant observation in the rural south-east provided a foundation for developing a strategy to assess the current geography of defecation and sanitation infrastructure, prevailing patterns of latrine use, alternative sources of faecal-oral disease and residents perceptions regarding improved sanitation in the port town of Fort Dauphin.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / It has been shown that educating girls has powerful externalities, which, if scaled, can act as a catalyst for socioeconomic development. However, there are many gender inequality factors that prohibit girls from accessing and succeeding in educational pursuits. This report explores the South African example, looking specifically at the Cape Area Panel Study, to find whether these gender inequality factors are present and if so, what effect they are having on educational outcomes.

Includes abstract. / This dissertation posits that recruitment methods used by businesses in Cape Town are shaped by intricate mechanisms within business spaces. The walk-in recruitment method used by the two restaurants interviewed, is influenced by two distinct social mechanisms. The use of this recruitment method proves to be a geographically limited and it therefore reduces the prospects of employment for those living on the periphery of the city. Therefore, the walk-in recruitment method has exacerbated the spatial mismatch within Cape Town. However, there are Cape Town businesses that have specific mechanisms within their businesses that have shaped their use of word-of-mouth recruitment. The use of this method, has lessened the effects of the spatial mismatch, creating 'passages' into employment for those living on the periphery of the city. Once recruited through word-of-mouth, workers living on the periphery face the prospect of long-term employment through the use of in-house recruitment or promotion.

The presence of trees in urban spaces has been identified as providing numerous environmental, psychosocial, and economic benefits. However, rather than being an equally distributed resource which all city residents share, tree cover in Cape Town, South Africa tends to be a marker of environmental inequality and racism, with trees being significantly more prevalent in wealthy, predominantly white, areas as opposed to poor, predominantly black, ones. The present study aims to analyse the potential for urban forestry to address this inequality. In order to gain in-depth understanding, a case study of an urban forestry project at the Lathi-Tha School of Skills in Khayelitsha is conducted. Within this framework, semi-structured and photoelicitation interviews are undertaken with 5 learners and 4 staff members in order to determine participants’ experiences and perceptions of their urban forestry project. The findings suggest that urban forestry does have the ability to redistribute the environmental, economic, and psychosocial benefits of tree cover to poor communities. Additionally, participation in urban forestry in South Africa is shown to have the capacity to tackle social inequalities that continue to recreate green-space inequality.

This paper provides an analysis of xenophobic violence in South Africa. By examining the root of the term 'xenophobia' it is possible to show how the term has evolved to mean something entirely different in the present day. De Doorns, a small farming town in the Western Cape of South Africa is used as a case study, showing how the xenophobic violence that occurred there in November 2009 arose and manifested. Through informal interviews, analyses of available local and regional statistical data a picture of the xenophobia in De Doorns emerges and is then examined in terms of the current theories on xenophobia. The resulting finding provide some new insight into xenophobia in South Africa and how it is evolving. Past assumptions that locate the root of xenophobic sentiment leading to xenophobic action in a 'hatred' of foreigners may be mistaken as xenophobia can (and does) occur in areas with low levels of prejudice towards foreigners. It does so because dissatisfaction with the government sometimes results in a new form of protest that is, to all appearances, xenophobia, but is not necessarily motivated by xenophobic intent. Rather an underlying xenophobic sentiment that exists throughout the nation has opened the door for poor South Africans to target foreign Africans a tool of protest in order to gain government attention. The whole concept of 'xenophobia' has evolved far beyond its roots to refer to actions that are taken against foreigners for the simple reason that they are foreign. As attacks on foreigners occur with increasing frequency in South Africa it is ever more important to gain a deep understanding of each individual outbreak in order to create a holistic and informed picture of South African xenophobia. This research suggests that some of the basic questions underlying research into xenophobia to be questioned.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-92). / Although the churches are engaged in efforts of relief, care and welfare their intervention attempts, do not deal with the fundamental causes. According to Korten their interventions are classified as first generation interventions. They help alleviate the symptoms of a problem; however, they do not deal with the causes. HIV/AIDS is spread in the midst of ubiquitous poverty and deepens poverty by depriving poor families of income and redirecting scarce resources to care for the sick. HIV/AIDS prevention is thus an important development agenda. Development, understood as an improvement in the human condition, therefore implies prevention of HIV/AIDS and tackling poverty. This dissertation will argue that, unable to make a significant contribution to behaviour change at an individual level, churches should seek to play a more effective role in poverty eradication at the structural level. This, it is argued, will contribute indirectly to preventing HIV/AIDS.