This is the first study undertaken into the way in which voluntary workers, untrained in information skills and working in community information services, collect, organise and use the information they provide to assist clients needing it for their day-to-day survival. The study is placed in perspective through a survey of the literature relating to community information services. This is supplemented by a study of documents relating to the Pretoria Citizens' Advice Bureau. Data was collected by means of participant observation at the Pretoria Citizens' Advice Bureau and interviews with voluntary workers in the Bureau. Analysis of the data was carried out according to the grounded theory approach. It was found that untrained volunteers creating information storage and retrieval tools for use by their fellow volunteers, work without a knowledge of information storage and retrieval theory. They tend to make ad hoc decisions and create tools that are not as user-friendly as they could be with some background in the theory of information science. On the other hand, volunteers searching for information make the same kind of demands of the information storage and retrieval system they use as do professional and scientific information users, in that they want direct access to as much relevant information as possible in one place. They want the information repackaged in a manner to suit their purpose. When under pressure, they are reluctant to consult multiple information storage and retrieval tools not within easy reach. The study culminates in a number of recommendations for the improvement of the service of the Pretoria Citizens' Advice Bureau in particular. Recommendations are also put forward for a centralised computerised database providing processed information to community information services in South Africa. Some suggestions are made concerning education and training of volunteers and professional information workers with a view to providing a better understanding of community information services. / Information Science / D. Lit. et Phil.

台灣年齡結構快速老化及子女供養的比例降低，政府對於老人經濟安全的保障逐漸成為重要的議題。然國民年金的推動卻一波三折，而敬老津貼政策成為了目前非軍公教族群老年經濟安全保障的制度，本研究欲從政策利害相關人回應性的角度去評估敬老津貼政策。 　　而本研究的研究焦點，為民國九十一年中央政府所開始發放的全國性的「敬老津貼」，並以領取敬老津貼人數最多的台北縣作為實證研究的範圍，利用了Dunn & Poister所提出的效能性、「效率性」、「公平性」、「適當性」、「回應性」及「充分性」六種政策評估指標去評估敬老津貼政策的現況，並透過對利害關係人深度訪談的分析，匯整及建構出敬老津貼政策評估指標下利害關係人的相關主張、關切與議題。 　　研究發現現行敬老津貼政策之利害關係人的議題產生多集中在公平性指標下，而且利害關係人對於敬老津貼增加金額的需求性主張及滿意度，深受國內其他老人津貼制度的影響。因此政府須重新評估一律排除公務體系退休者領取津貼、排富絛款設立及以職業為劃分的老人津貼政策的適當性；同時須注意國內及地方縣市的福利差異甚大的現象，才能符合照顧國民之公平性。其次，對於老人津貼制度金額不一的公平性爭議，應趕緊實行國民年金加以整合。另外則是雖然領取敬老津貼者對於申領敬老津貼的程序過程的便利性具有共識，然未接到敬老津貼申領津貼通知的老人，很有可能會影響老人請領津貼的時間點。而對於中低收入老人生活津貼的計算方式應考慮放寬未有奉養事實的子女資產部分，以及除了發放津貼的方式，也可規劃增加老人收入的老人福利選項。另外，領取敬老津貼者受訪者普遍對敬老津貼金額為中等的滿意度，而敬老津貼對於解決月可使用生活費9000元以下的老人經濟問題的效能性和充分性較高。 / The acceleration of population aging and diminishing financial support from offspring to senior citizens necessitate the establishment of a senior citizen’s social security system. Faced with the difficulties in implementing the citizen annuity, the government came up with an alternative plan in 2002: the Senior Citizens Welfare Living Allowance. This study shall take Taipei County, currently the administrative region with the largest number of Senior Citizens Welfare Living Allowance recipients in Taiwan, as an example. The six policy evaluation indicators suggested by Dunn& Poister, i.e. effectiveness, efficiency, equality, appropriateness, responsiveness, and adequacy are used to evaluate the current state of the Senior Citizens Welfare Living Allowance policy. The claims, concerns, and issues of the stakeholders of the Senior Citizens Welfare Living Allowance policy are concluded after holding in-depth interviews with the stakeholders. Research results found that stakeholders of the issues are mostly concerned about the equality of the policy. Demands of and satisfaction with the policy is determined by similar senior citizens’ allowance systems. Appropriateness regarding the distribution of allowances to participants of the public servant pension system is also of concern to the stakeholders. Inequality in the varying amount of the allowances between administrative regions is an issue, among many others, that can be addressed by the implementation of a citizen annuity system. In general stakeholders are moderately satisfied with the incumbent Senior Citizens Welfare Living Allowance policy. The policy is more effective and adequate for those with a monthly income of less than NTD$9,000.

This is the first study undertaken into the way in which voluntary workers, untrained in information skills and working in community information services, collect, organise and use the information they provide to assist clients needing it for their day-to-day survival. The study is placed in perspective through a survey of the literature relating to community information services. This is supplemented by a study of documents relating to the Pretoria Citizens' Advice Bureau. Data was collected by means of participant observation at the Pretoria Citizens' Advice Bureau and interviews with voluntary workers in the Bureau. Analysis of the data was carried out according to the grounded theory approach. It was found that untrained volunteers creating information storage and retrieval tools for use by their fellow volunteers, work without a knowledge of information storage and retrieval theory. They tend to make ad hoc decisions and create tools that are not as user-friendly as they could be with some background in the theory of information science. On the other hand, volunteers searching for information make the same kind of demands of the information storage and retrieval system they use as do professional and scientific information users, in that they want direct access to as much relevant information as possible in one place. They want the information repackaged in a manner to suit their purpose. When under pressure, they are reluctant to consult multiple information storage and retrieval tools not within easy reach. The study culminates in a number of recommendations for the improvement of the service of the Pretoria Citizens' Advice Bureau in particular. Recommendations are also put forward for a centralised computerised database providing processed information to community information services in South Africa. Some suggestions are made concerning education and training of volunteers and professional information workers with a view to providing a better understanding of community information services. / Information Science / D. Lit. et Phil.

The civic participation is an active approach of the citizen who has possibility of using more or less formalized tools to influence public affairs. This diploma thesis "Citizens participation in the town life on a case study in Mnichovice" will deal with civic participation in a small town close to Prague - Mnichovice. The level of participation will be analyzed by the OECD (information, consultation, active participation) town hall uses, what factors influence participation rates, what motivates people to engage in participation and what discourages vice versa and which particular forms of cooperation with citizens are effective for local public administration. The theoretical part of this diploma thesis deals with the historical development of civil participation in decision making processes, analyzes legislation of the Czech Republic to describe the theoretical participation and engagement in different types of participation in the various approaches and finally explores options of participation in a small town with 3200 residents, which is located in the suburbia of Prague, 30 km south-east from the center of the capitol city. The practical part of this diploma thesis will be to analyze the various stakeholders in the community, analyze town hall attitude towards civic participation and...

The author considers in this work the organization of the provision of social services to elderly citizens is considered as a certain process, which consists of several stages, from identifying the degree of need of an elderly person to provide social services to the systematic monitoring of their provision. Despite the fact that such an organization does have positive results and is aimed at providing social services to older people in modern conditions, taking into account their capabilities and interests, there are some drawbacks that do not allow us to talk about the completeness and timeliness of their provision. The presence of these problems allows us to say that the problem of organizing the provision of social services to elderly citizens is relevant and requires improvement in this process. The purpose of the research conducted in the research work is to theoretically study the organization of the provision of social services to elderly citizens (for example, GAU “KTSSON Verkh-Isetsky District of Yekaterinburg”, and to develop a project aimed at improving the provision of social services in this organization. The first chapter consists of two sections: the first deals with the concept of “senior citizen”, the border of old age, as well as classifying an elderly person as a social In the second section, the theoretical aspects of the organization of social services, its stages and the legal framework on which it is based are described. The second chapter consists of two sections. The first deals with the organization of the provision of social services to elderly citizens in the Sverdlovsk region. In the second - on the example of GAU “KTSSON Verkh-Isetsky district of Yekaterinburg.” Identified existing problems. The third chapter includes a project aimed at improving existing problems in GAU "KTSSON Verkh-Isetsky district of Yekaterinburg." / Автор рассматривает в данной работе организацию предоставления социального обслуживания гражданам пожилого возраста рассматривается как некий процесс, который состоит из нескольких этапов, начиная от выявления степени нуждаемости пожилого человека в предоставлении социальных услуг до систематического контроля за их предоставлением. Несмотря на то, что такая организация действительно имеет положительные результаты и направлена на оказание социальных услуг пожилым людям в современных условиях с учетом их возможностей и интересов, прослеживаются некоторые недочеты, которые не позволяют говорить о полноте и своевременности их оказания. Наличие данных проблем, позволяет говорить о том, что проблема организации предоставления социального обслуживания гражданам пожилого возраста является актуальной и требует совершенствования в данном процессе. Целью исследования, проведённого в научно-исследовательской работе, заключается в теоретическом исследовании организации предоставления социального обслуживания гражданам пожилого возраста (на примере ГАУ «КЦСОН Верх-Исетского района г. Екатеринбурга», и разработка проекта, направленного на совершенствование оказания социального обслуживания в данной организации. Первая глава состоит из двух параграфов. В первом рассматривается понятие «гражданин пожилого возраста», границы старости, а также причисление пожилого человека к социально-демографической группе. Во втором параграфе раскрыты теоретические аспекты организации социального обслуживания, его этапы и нормативно-правовая база, на котором оно основано. Вторая глава состоит из двух параграфов. В первом рассматривается организация предоставления социального обслуживания гражданам пожилого возраста на территории Свердловской области. Во втором – на примере ГАУ «КЦСОН Верх-Исетского района г. Екатеринбурга». Выявлены существующие проблемы. Третья глава включает проект, направленный на совершенствование существующих проблем в ГАУ «КЦСОН Верх-Исетского района г. Екатеринбурга».

Thesis (MA)-- Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Comparative studies investigating predictors of political participation in new democracies are rare. This study addresses an identified gap in the literature on predictors of political participation in new democracies in order to build on the rich body of literature concerned with political participation and democratic consolidation which already exists, but also to contribute towards understanding the role of citizens and their decisions pertaining to political participation in new democracies. In order to address the identified gap, this cross-national comparative study uses World Values Survey (2006) data for Chile, Poland, South Africa, and South Korea as part of a cross-sectional secondary analysis aimed at ascertaining what predictors of political participation can be identified for these new democracies. Drawing primarily from studies by Shin (1999) and Dalton (2008) which used the Civic Voluntarism Model by Verba, Schlozman and Brady (1995) as theoretical framework, predictors of political participation considered in this study include: personal resources (level of education and self-reported social class), political engagement and motivation (political interest and leftright political ideology), group membership and networks, as well as demographic attributes (age, gender and size of town). Forms of political participation investigated include: voting as conventional form of participation; and boycotts, petitions and demonstrations as forms of political protest behaviour. The relationships between the possible predictors of participation and forms of political participation were determined by multiple regression analysis. The main findings by this study are that political interest is an important predictor of voting and political protest behaviour; age is a strong predictor of voting; and group membership has a greater impact on political protest behaviour than on voting. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Vergelykende studies wat ondersoek instel na voorspellende faktore van deelname aan politieke aktiwiteite in jong demokrasieë, is skaars. Deur indikatore van politieke deelname in nuwe demokrasieë na te vors, spreek hierdie studie dus die geïdentifiseerde gaping in die literatuur aan en brei dit uit op die korpus tekste aangaande politieke deelname en demokratiese konsolidasie. Verder bevorder dit ook ’n beter begrip van landsburgers en hul besluite rakende politieke deelname in jong demokrasieë. Ten einde die aangeduide literatuurgaping te oorbrug, steun hierdie verglykende studie op data van die “World Values Survey” (2006) vir Chili, Pole, Suid-Afrika en Suid-Korea. Dit vorm deel van ’n sekondêre analise om individuele eienskappe as voorspellers van deelname aan politieke aktiwiteite in nuwe demokrasieë, te identifiseer. Studies deur Shin (1999) en Dalton (2008), wat gebruik maak van Verba, Schlozman en Brady (1995) se “Civic Voluntarism Model”, dien as primêre teoretiese begronding. Daaruit word afgelei dat moontlike voorspellers van deelname aan politieke aktiwiteite gelys kan word as: persoonlike hulpbronne (vlak van opvoeding en self-geidentifiseerde sosiale klas); politieke betrokkenheid en motivering (belangstelling in politiek en politieke ideologie); groeplidmaatskap en –netwerke asook demografiese eienskappe (ouderdom, geslag en grootte van dorp). Die vorme van politieke aktiwiteite waaraan daar aandag gegee word, is eerstens stemgedrag tydens nasionale verkiesings as konvensionele vorm van politieke deelname en tweedens biokotte, petisies en demonstrasies as vorme van politieke protesgedrag. Die hoof bevindinge van hierdie studie is dat politieke belangstelling ‘n belangrike voorspeller is vir stemgedrag en politieke protesgedrag; ouderdom is ‘n sterk voorspeller vir deelname aan verkiesings en groeplidmaatskap het ‘n groter invloed op politieke protesgedrag as op die keuse om te stem. / Mandela Rhodes Foundation

Human powers of moral reasoning and motivation are fragile. How should citizens committed to the achievement of liberal justice respond to this fact? This dissertation theorises a class of moral requirements that are central to the practice of liberal democracy but have been recently overlooked by political philosophers: the fortificational duties, which enjoin citizens to design and submit to civic practices that improve both their moral reasoning and the motivational resilience of their sense of justice. It considers the proposition that a conception of justice is unjustified if unlikely to generate its own freely willed maintenance, or stability, in the face of human nature, and it argues that this proposition is false. If justice may face overwhelming resistance unless steps are taken to fortify ourselves against our own fallibility, the right response is to pursue precisely such fortification. Chapter One sketches the orienting ideal of the dissertation: an ideal of a social world in which citizens live together as free and equal. Chapter Two assesses the proposition that we ought to modify or abandon this ideal if we determine that it is unlikely to be freely realised without serious civic or institutional assistance—a move suggested by John Rawls’s “stability test”—and it argues that the candidate arguments for this conclusion fail. The chapter instead argues that citizens are subject to moral requirements to fortify their sense of justice by designing and submitting to measures that increase the likelihood that they will accurately identify and freely comply with their fundamental moral duties. These measures together constitute a liberal democracy’s “stability charter.” Chapters Three to Six explore proposed elements of citizens’ stability charter. Chapter Three discusses the fortification of moral reasoning through democratic deliberation. Chapter Four considers what institutional mechanisms could keep democracy oriented toward the achievement of justice despite human fallibility, and it defends a minimalist conception of judicial review as a case study. Chapter Five argues that the practice of criminal punishment is justified by the duties of wrongdoers to pursue additional fortificational measures in the aftermath of their moral powers’ defective operation. And Chapter Six focuses on the special problem posed to the enduring achievement of justice by “unreasonable citizens” who reject fundamental liberal values. The distinctive contribution of the dissertation lies, firstly, in its novel appropriation of the Rawlsian ideal of stability—reconceiving stability not as a justificatory condition set by reason on our convictions, but as a practical challenge that our own convictions set for us—and, secondly, in its deployment of that insight to motivate novel arguments about the character of democratic deliberation, the limits and role of judicial review, the proper purposes of criminal punishment, and the ideal method of engagement with unreasonable citizens.

18 pp. / Arizona Watershed Stewardship Guide (10 related modules to be published in combined form) / Arizona Watershed Stewardship Guide was created to help individuals and groups build a mutual foundation of basic knowledge about watersheds in Arizona. It is intended to help Arizonans understand and be good stewards of their watersheds. The guide was designed to compliment the mission of Arizona Master Watershed Steward program to educate and train citizens across the state of Arizona to serve as volunteers in the restoration, conservation, monitoring, and protection of their water and watersheds. The guide consists of 10 self-contained modules which teach about important aspects of watershed science and management.

This investigation is concerned with determining the extent of involvement by fifteen Texas municipal parks and recreation departments in providing programs for senior citizens, the mentally retarded, the physically handicapped, and the emotionally disturbed.

Ways in which educational structures can initiate and facilitate older learners' self-directed learning projects are described in this study. The research was guided by questions related to the ways that educational organizations can facilitate the learning process for older learners. This study involved two distinct phases of research. In the first phase, a survey was administered to approximately 100 older learners at four organizations for senior citizens; the four organizations were Hillcrest Center for 55+, Golden Learning Opportunities and Workshop, Tulsa Senior Services, and Retired Senior Volunteer Program. The survey enabled the researcher to identify the 10 most frequented sites for gathering information related to the learning projects of senior citizens in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The survey respondents were volunteer participants from classes, social occasions, and other learning opportunities offered by the organizations. The survey produced three sites where older learners pursued learning activities. Phase two involved ethnographic techniques in order to identify and describe at each three sites specific educational structures that facilitated older learners' self-directed learning projects. The descriptions from each of the identified sites involved three data-collection techniques. The data-collection techniques used included interviews, observation, and artifact collection. The focus of this phase was to describe the educational structures that facilitated the development of learning projects endemic to each site as identified by the older learners. Notes taken during interviews and observations were transcribed, coded, and analyzed. Interviews were also transcribed. The transcripts were transferred to a conceptually clustered matrix for each site. Analyses of the administrator interviews, participant interviews, educational opportunity observations, and artifact collection at each site revealed patterns and trends that represent the educational structures that appeal to older learners as they pursue learning projects. The findings indicate that four patterns or trends were common to each site. These four patterns included accessible materials, service-minded staff, entertainment, and teacher-directed learning style.