Thesis (MDev. (Planning and Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / The purview of this project is to interrogate the alleged rural-urban dichotomy effects of social grants on poverty alleviation. One major problem that sophisticates rural-urban comparative studies is that there is no universally agreed upon definition of "urban" or "rural". By virtue of their contrasting contexts, rural and urban areas are diametrically divergent in terms of their characteristics. These inherent contrasts are critical to the applicability and effects of concerted interventions due to the diversity of actors, agendas, underlying intentions and so on. On one hand, people in rural areas are characterized by socio-economic homogeneity and thus they enjoy communitarianism. On the other, urbanites generally belong to different castes, creeds, religions and cultures, thus they rarely share same social statuses, norms and values. Socio-economic narratives are thereby intrinsically distributed among rural and urban households as well as societies and so are the effects of intervention strategies such as social grants. Literature documents increased blurring of urban-rural distinctions in developed countries, but a multidimensional characterization of settlement type based on style and density of housing, predominant commercial and agricultural activities, and access to services still vividly demonstrates the rural-urban dichotomy in South Africa. The study, thereby, puts the Polokwane Local Municipality on the spotlight to argue that by virtue of contrasting contexts and divergent characteristics between rural and urban areas, social grants have dichotomous effects as strategy for poverty amelioration. The study engages on a scholarship synthesis of characteristics and contexts of the rural-urban dichotomy, roles and types of social grants and dimensions and dynamics of poverty in rural and urban areas prior to a presentation a resume of theoretical and empirical findings from the cross-sectional survey in the Municipality. Employing snowballing to sample a total of a hundred grant-receiving households, the study qualitatively and quantitatively analyses and interprets data from the two study areas. The key finding emanating from the core of the research problem was that despite arguments about modern rural areas across the globe experiencing factors traditionally associated with the urban environment and the ensuing increased blurring of urban-rural distinctions, a multidimensional characterization of settlement type based on style and density of housing, predominant commercial and agricultural activities, behaviour and access to services in South Africa still vividly demonstrates the rural-urban vi | P a g e dichotomy. In the same line of thought, the study concludes that not only are the effects of social grants dichotomous between rural and urban grantees but the effects empirically show dissimilarities at different levels of analysis, including individual, household, location and cash values of various grants.The conclusion also consolidates recommendations revolving around the augmentation of rural-urban effects of social grants so as to synchronize poverty alleviation.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1965 M11 / Master of Science

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Does foreign aid contribute to economic growth? Is the impact of foreign aid conditional on the presence of quality institutions? This issue has attracted much attention over the years from both the donor community and recipient countries given that despite several years of foreign aid flows the increasing high poverty levels raise questions about the effectiveness of foreign aid. Despite several years of study on the relationship between foreign aid and economic growth results have remained inconclusive. Conclusions from various studies on this issue are varied. The conclusions thus far can be summarised as follows: there is a positive relationship between aid and economic growth; there is no relationship between aid and growth; the presence of good governance and institutions is a precondition for aid to have a positive influence on economic growth; and the presence of good governance and institutions is not a precondition for aid to have positive influence on economic growth. The research assignment sought to determine if there is any relationship between foreign aid, economic growth and institutional quality in Zimbabwe for the period 1980 to 2010 using the autoregressive distributed lag approach. In order to determine this relationship, the assignment also examined economic growth theories that have evolved over the years and reviewed existing empirical literature on the subject. An analysis of the economic growth theory revealed a shift from foreign aid being merely assumed to supplement savings to a new approach looking at conditions necessary for it to be effective, with a special focus on institutional quality. To date there has not been any agreement on the definition and institutional characteristics that create an environment conducive for foreign aid. Studies still use indicators that group together a wide range of social structures affecting economic outcomes such as political system, property rights, contract enforcement, and investor protection as measures of institutional quality The research assignment used quality of governance, polity iv and economic freedom of the world index as measures of institutional quality. The empirical results revealed there that there was a positive relationship between foreign aid and economic growth and that all the measures of institutional quality perform best when all are included in the model. This suggests that the effectiveness of aid in Zimbabwe was strongly influenced by the quality of institutions. It is therefore important for the government of Zimbabwe to maintain the rule of law, political stability and economic freedom. This is likely to attract economic agents who can make meaningful investment and resuscitate the Zimbabwean economy.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The role of health foreign assistance in explaining health outcomes remains an unending debate. The study assessed the relationship between foreign health aid and three selected health indicators of interest: infant mortality rate, under-five mortality rate and life expectancy, with control variables such as government expenditure on health and general medical clinics and public health services in Namibia. The data used was from 1990 to 2013 although there was some missing data. It was found that all health indicators improve with an increase in foreign health aid except that it is more impactful (statistically significant) in the case of infant mortality rate. The regression analysis shows that a one percent increase in heath aid will result in a 0.03 decrease in infant mortality rate but this is statistically insignificant. A one percent increase in health aid will result in a 0.01 decline in under-five mortality. A one percent increase in health aid will result in 0.53 increase in life expectancy. The Granger causality test revealed a uni-causal relationship among most variables. An increase in government expenditure to health is accompanied by a decline in all indicators. Overall, based on correlation coefficients, aid is linearly related to health outcomes in Namibia. The study gives a tentative conclusion that foreign health aid slightly improves health outcomes in Namibia.

Since the end of the Cold War, the global development aid scene has evolved rapidly. At the heart of the changing world order is civil society and in particular NGOs, that are tasked to fill in the developmental gaps left by the state in retreat. Likewise, the abundance of foreign funds has also led to a dramatic growth of NGOs in both industrialized and developing countries. Philanthropy, at least in theory, has played a crucial role in addressing the global and regional causes of poverty and in advancing development. In South Africa, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) became visible in the 1980's as these organisations played a pivotal role in the provision of welfare services to communities who were largely neglected by the apartheid regime. However, the transition to democracy in the early 1990s significantly affected the NGO sector. Development aid was mainly channelled to the democratic government; meanwhile NGOs had to diversify funding sources. This situation resulted in uncertainties as NGOs had to compete for limited funds. Many NGOs had to reshape their activities in order to survive the turbulence. The various literatures uncover that, many NGOs became donor-driven as they surrendered their autonomy, very few NGOs managed to adhere to their core business in order to best serve their constituencies. This study explores the perceptions of KwaZulu Natal NGOs regarding the role and effectiveness of development aid, using comparative case study method. The intention in using this method is to compare experiences and opinions of different-size NGOs on how they survive the transition, more than ten years in the post-Apartheid South Africa. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.

This study was an investigation of the relationship between political conditionality and self-determination using Zimbabwe as a case study. The Zimbabwean land issue illustrates the challenges posed by external influences on supposedly autonomous domestic policy decision-making processes.

The global emphasis on human rights has generated a surge of studies into what causes regimes to abuse the basic rights of their citizens. Causes of abuse can be internal or external in nature, based on economics, politics or cultures. This study examines the effects of foreign aid and foreign direct investment on three types of human rights: personal integrity, civil and political, and subsistence. I perform ordinary least squares regression analyses with panel-corrected standard errors on a pooled cross-sectional time series design incorporating 127 countries from 1976 to 1996. While my results are not significant, it is important to observe that there is a tendency toward negative relationships for the majority of the analyses.

Primary sources were provided by the Kenyan Embassy to the U.S.A., Kenya tourist offices in the U.S.A. and West Germany, the Economics Department at the University of Nairobi, the Ministry of Finance in Kenya, the Institute of South Africa, and the United Nations. The first chapter provides a brief explanation of the historical and economic development Kenya has experienced since independence. Chapter II deals with the historical development of Kenya's economy. Chapter III discusses the major countries' donation of aid to Kenya. Chapter IV focuses upon aid from international organizations. Chapter V develops Kenya's efforts to use foreign aid efficiently. Chapter VI looks into Kenya's prospects for development through foreign aid. Chapter VII is the conclusion.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1958 B76 / Master of Science

Submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirements for Masters of Arts in Development Studies by coursework and research report In the Graduate School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2016 / Social cash transfer programmes on the African continent have more than doubled in the last decade, and this signifies a transformation in the perception of social cash transfers as ‘pity handouts’ to how they are seen today, as ‘productive investments’ in human capabilities. Southern Africa has been a pioneer in social protection growth in the last twenty years, but often accounts of these histories focus on pension schemes in places such as South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Lesotho. There is little incorporation of Mozambique’s social protection history, and most histories do not detail that Mozambique ranks fourth chronologically, in introduction of cash transfer programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa. This research puts forth that the Mozambican case of an early adoption of cash transfers in 1990 is a positive and unique example of a state’s active role in social protection despite neoliberal constraints. The state-led adoption of cash transfers in response to rising inequality and economic instability is unexpected at a time when these programmes were unpopular development interventions and when the state was supposedly rolled-back and confined because neoliberalism and the civil war. Tracing the history of Mozambican social cash transfers in the last 25 years illustrates two consistencies of the Mozambican government: 1. A supportive political position towards state involvement in welfare programmes, despite the government’s own political and development sector transformation from Marxist-Leninist orientation to welcoming of privatization; and 2. State financial and political support of social protection throughout a period when cash transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa went from unpopular hand-out interventions during crises, to lobbying for permanent social protection as a mechanism to address chronic poverty. / GR2017