Thesis (MBA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / Entrepreneurship has become an important issue both locally and internationally in recent years due to its contribution to job creation and economic development. The decision to be entrepreneurial is determined by certain factors, as well as individual traits, and it is a planned behaviour that is not engaged in accidentally. Thus, underlying factors that enhance students’ intention towards entrepreneurship as a career option are vital. However, it is not known if the students have the knowledge of the various support measures available to assist them in starting their own businesses and to support existing ventures. This study wanted to find out if students studying entrepreneurship have any intention of starting their own business ventures and whether they have any knowledge of the support programmes at their disposal. Students studying entrepreneurship as one of their modules at the National Certificate Vocational (NCV) level at Capricorn College for TVET constituted the targeted population for the study. Self-administered questionnaires were given to a total of 170 participants and all of them responded. The results mainly indicated that the students do have the intention of starting their own businesses after completion of their course and that their knowledge of the different entrepreneurship support incentives is not adequate. The study recommends that a more concerted effort be made to make students more aware of engaging in entrepreneurial ventures as a career option and making them aware of the support options that are available to them should they need to start their own businesses. In addition, these support initiatives should publicise their services more, especially to the rural communities.

The objective of this work is to determine whether the political instability has had a significant impact on the development of Quebec during the last 35 years. The method of approach is to examine whether there is a correlation between economic indicators and political instability. In the first part the history of French Canadians, from the first settlements to the crucial political events of the 20th century are examined. Since this study is based on a time-correlation between political events and changes in socio-economic indicators, special attention is paid to the reception and interpretation of events by historians, the media and opinion leaders. As a next step the development of economic and socio-demographic indicators during the last 40 years is examined. Factors studied include gross domestic product, investment, consumption, and unemployment as well as demographic and demolinguistic indicators. In order to ensure that changes in factors are linked to political instability comparisons with other provinces, notably with Ontario, and other countries are made in the conclusion it will be summarized that a direct relation between separatism and Quebec's long-term economic development cannot be demonstrated by examining macro-economic indicators. However, the October crisis of 1960 and the referendum of 1995 had short-term negative impacts on Quebec's economic development. Other factors such as the French language legislation of 1977, which further accentuated Quebec's special linguistic status in North America and the historical differences between the development of the French, Catholic society and the English, Protestant one better explain the existing differences between Quebec and the rest of Canada.

Women’s health is measured by many standards and is governed by countless laws. Abortion is one of the most highly-contested medical practices and is also crucial to women’s health and economic development. Planned Parenthood is criticized for providing abortions and as a result is often overlooked for the many other medical services it provides. This paper aims to study the effect Planned Parenthood clinics have on women’s health and economic development at the county level. Data was collected for an overview of all fifty states and for the two most populous counties per state. Planned Parenthood centers tend to be located in areas with a higher percentage of women who are uninsured and need public funding assistance. Statistically significant results from two linear regressions also show that the percentage of clients using publicly funded clinics that are Planned Parenthood clinics is negatively correlated with teen birth rates and positively correlated with the percentage of females over 25 years of age with a bachelor’s degree. It is critical that lawmakers understand the importance and effects of clinics like Planned Parenthood on women’s health and productivity.

Thesis (M.Dev) --University of Limpopo, 2010 / This study focuses on the impact of management on the sustainability of the community development projects in Mutale Local Municipality. Mutale Local Municipality (MLM) is in the Limpopo Province and is about 262km north of Polokwane. MLM is predominately rural and it has two towns, which are: Mutale and Masisi. Fighting poverty is a serious challenge facing the people from this area today. It is interesting to note that poor people in the rural area are mobilizing themselves and start community development projects in cooperation with the government. The Department of Health and Social Development is providing government officers who visit these community development projects with the aim of helping the communities to ensure that these projects are sustainable. The labourers who are attached to the community development projects are then able to look after their families with the money they get from the projects. The communities of Mutale decided to tackle poverty through the establishment of the following community development projects: Tshandama Community Bakery, Thengwe Egg- laying, Mveledziso Catering and Decoration, Matomboni Crusher Stone and Bale Vegetable Garden. The final results from the study show that most of the rural community development projects lack proper management. The main reasons leading to poor performance of community development projects, among others are lack of financial plan, improper management style and lack of active participation of key stakeholders. The study highlighted significant information about the impact of management on the sustainability of the community development projects in Mutale Local Municipality. It was hoped that the recommendation made in this study would assist the community development projects in our country South Africa. Youth should be involved in community development projects. Community projects should be monitored regularly in order to improve the productivity. All the people who are attached to the community development projects should be trained and capacitated toward financial planning, marketing and security management.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2005 / The purpose of this study was to explore women’s involvement in poverty alleviation projects and to examine the benefits that are derived from such projects. The Phutuma Development Project and Gottenburg Women’s Group are the projects which were studied. The methods used to conduct this study involved collecting data through questionnaires and interviews. The various stakeholders, project members as well as government officials from the departments of Health and Social Development were interviewed. This study is significant in that it can help the government in its efforts to assist the poor live a decent life, and to provide better services to communities. This study uncovers the kind of challenges that government departments and communities face when setting up poverty alleviation projects. The study recommends how this should be done to achieve optimum results.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of a community-based agricultural project, the Mabunda Citrus Project in the Greater Giyani Municipality of Mopani District, Limpopo Province, on poverty alleviation and community development within the framework of rural development in the Agricultural Sector. Although there is a general view that community-based agricultural projects have an impact on community development in the literature, very little is known about the impact of community initiatives in Limpopo Province. This study project therefore sought to fill in this knowledge gap and highlight prospects and challenges of these endeavours. Using a qualitative case study design, a series of interviews schedules and focus group sessions were conducted among 21 (n=21) direct beneficiaries who each had about 10 hectares orchard, seven (n=7) civic community structure and seven (n=7) youth structure committee members and one (n=1) Deputy Chief in the Xitlakati Community in the Greater Giyani Municipality. Data collected over a period of a week were captured via field notes and analyzed using thematic and content analyses. The results of the study show three interrelated results. First, the beneficiaries included in the study met the requirements of people below the poverty line, save for one volunteer teacher. Secondly, the findings show that although the project does not meet all the needs of the beneficiaries, it does show many positive impacts on poverty alleviation. This is illustrated by increased employment of the beneficiaries and seasonal workers, donation of uniforms to poor children in both primary and secondary schools in the community, provision of oranges for consumption to workers, deputy chief and schools as well as the acquisition of a community hall in the Xitlakati community. Given these positive findings above, the researcher concluded that community-based agricultural projects in Limpopo are a necessary condition for poverty alleviation in rural areas. However, the researcher has observed that structural and practical challenges, as outlined in the study, may derail the project from reaching its full potential. It is therefore recommended that a full time specialized technician be provided, the beneficiary selection criteria to include more females and disabled persons be revised; budget and salaries be discussed in a transparent way, among other potential threats. Since this is a qualitative research, the conclusions derived are limited due to the sample size. Further quantitative research is necessary to provide quantitative measures of the impact of the project on poverty alleviation.

This dissertation is composed of three essays under the recurring theme of women’s issues, child health and economic development. In the first chapter, I examine the effect of Child Marriage on the health outcomes of offspring in Bangladesh. I use an exogenous variation in drought and flood shocks as an instrument for Child Marriage and measure children’s health outcomes by stunting, from the height-for-age index. I develop a theoretical model to show that the decision to marry a daughter early is driven by the type of income shocks that a household is exposed to. From the empirical estimation, I find that children from Child Marriage unions are more likely to be stunted. I also find that the effect of Child Marriage is concentrated through increases in severe stunting. In the second chapter, I estimate the impact of Child Marriage on the mortality outcomes of offspring in Bangladesh. Similar to the empirical strategy in the first chapter, I focus on the effect of an exogenous temporary shock on the marriage decision, to allow for identification of a causal impact. The results indicate that in comparison to children of later-married women, children from Child Marriage unions are more likely to die before reaching the age of five. Further, I find that the effect of Child Marriage is smaller on infant mortality. By examining the impact by gender, the results suggest that the predominant effect of Child Marriage is focused on increases in male child and infant mortality. In the third chapter, I examine the effect of Sharia Law on the health outcomes of children in Nigeria. The measures of health outcomes are constructed from the height-for-age, weight-for-age and weight-for-height indices. I apply a difference-in-differences estimation strategy and exploit the variation in exposure to Sharia law across time and state of residence. I also explore the effect of Sharia Law on women’s empowerment. The results indicate that Sharia Law substantially increases the probability of stunting in children. In states with high enforcement of Sharia Law, children are more likely to be stunted and underweight. The results suggest a negative association between Sharia Law and women’s empowerment with respect to household and medical decision-making, control over resources and self-worth.

The question that Less Developed Countries have faced since the advent of floating exchange rates among the Industrial Countries is whether they should also adopt a floating exchange rate system. The Less Developed Countries have opted for a pegged exchange rate system, since their economic characteristics and institutional structure indicate that floating for the Less Developed Countries would result in volatile or unstable exchange rates. Since Less Developed Countries peg t heir exchange rates in the presence of flexible rates among industrial countries, the Less Developed Countries pegged exchange rates move in accordance to the exchange rates to which they are pegged. This study examines whether there are differences in the variability of the different effective exchange rate indices or currency baskets. Specifically the export, import and total trade weighted effective exchange rates for three African Less Developed Countries are examined. Currency baskets are varied by changing the number of currencies coefficent of variation included in was used the basket. The to compare the variability in the different effective exchange rates.

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Bibliography: leaves 148-155. This thesis investigates whether cross-country variations in schooling quality (the productivity of the time spent studying) affect the empirical results in studies of economic growth based on an augmented method of Solow. It was found that schooling quality is positively and statistically significantly associated with mean economic growth rates in regressions which control for physical capital investment rates, population growth rates and secondary school enrolment rates. Education levels of parents, hours of homework and the non-teaching duties of teachers were also significant determinants.