This dissertation reports on a formative evaluation of the initial implementation of the Waves for Change coach training programme. Waves for Change is a NPO that combines the sport of surfing with youth care work (what the organisation terms surf therapy) to provide psychological support to at-risk children. The individuals who provide the support (Coaches) are young adults who are employed and trained by the organisation to become youth care workers. Coaches attend a training programme designed by Waves for Change. There are three Coaching teams to reflect the three target communities of the organisation. The aim of this evaluation was to provide data on its implementation so as to improve its design and delivery. Due to the vulnerable nature of the surf therapy beneficiaries it was crucial for the evaluation to be flexible and to provide management with accurate and rapid feedback. The evaluator conducted a utilization-focused formative evaluation informed by a collaborative developmental approach. This meant that data were collected through well-suited methods throughout the evaluation term (February 2015 - October 2015) and, where appropriate, fed back to management for the purpose of remedying concerns. The Waves for Change programme theory was elicited by the evaluator and depicted in a usable format before its plausibility as well as key assumptions were investigated. The evaluator found the theory to be high in utility and plausibility. Following Chen's (2005) approach to formative evaluation, and in order to determine areas of the Coach Training programme on which the evaluation should focus, the evaluator worked with management to identify components deemed crucial to its delivery. These Crucial Components were identified as: the Implementing Organisation; the Programme Protocol; the Target Population; and Programme Implementation. The evaluator investigated Areas of Focus within each Crucial Component. For the Implementing Organisation component these were: Organisational Structure; Funding and Equipment. For the Programme Protocol component these were: the Coach Pathway, and Content of the programme. For the Target Population component: Eligibility Criteria and Recruitment Strategies; and Barriers to Retention and Strategies to address them, and finally, for the Programme Implementation component the focus was placed on Monitoring of the Coach programme. By the end of the evaluation the programme had shown development in several Areas of Focus. The organisation had addressed gaps in staff roles by employing people in key positions and in doing so had developed its organisational structure and improved its competence and cultural diversity. Funding had increased which meant that service delivery had been guaranteed for the next three years. The Coach pathway had become performance-based and due to retention strategies that now include incentives for improved performance Coaches' compliance and engagement had increased. The new pathway also created exit points for Coaches who were under-performing. Monitoring of the programme had developed in terms of revisions to the monitoring documentation and overall system which had led to improvements in data quality. Areas of concern were equipment and recruitment. An occasional lack of equipment meant that Coaches struggled to deliver services to child beneficiaries. Lax eligibility criteria and recruitment strategies meant that poor quality coaches were employed. This led to underperformance, misconduct and dissatisfaction among some of the Coaches and ultimately meant that four of the Coaches (all of whom were recruited through word-of-mouth) left the programme during the evaluation term. This led to one of the Coaching teams being all-female. Future programming needs to address these two areas very strongly as both could become a threat to the successful implementation of the Coach programme as well as the surf therapy programme. Ongoing monitoring of data quality, compulsory requirements to work with children (e.g., first aid and checking against the Child Protection Register) and levels of coach satisfaction are strongly recommended.

The Qhubeka! Youth Development Programme is the first programme launched by the NonProfit Company (NPC), Just Grace, in 2012. The organisation is implementing five community programmes: (1) School strengthening; (2) Community development; (3) Business support; Community projects; and (5) Youth development programme in the Langa township, Cape Town, South Africa. The Qhubeka! Youth Development Programme is not a typical Positive Youth Development programme (PYD). It offers academic support that is not typical of PYD's. They tend to focus on cultivating proficiencies and other life skills and therefore can be fitted in with After-School Programmes (ASP), which focuses on cultivating learning outcomes. The overall goal of the youth development programme is to enable under-resourced youth to escape the cycle of poverty and equip them to become meaningfully involved in society through further education and employment. The programme aims to develop technical and soft skills in high school learners by focusing on study assistance and psychosocial support. The Qhubeka! Programme provides comprehensive material and guidance over four years. Activities of the programme include (1) academic support; (2) computer training; (3) coding and programming; (4) book club; (5) life skills; (6) career guidance; (7) holiday programme; and (8) psychosocial support. The objective of the evaluation was to assess the performance of the programme in reaching its short-term outcomes and the quality of service delivery. I used primary and secondary data to conduct the evaluation. I collected primary data through semi structured one-on-one interviews with the Qhubeka! Programme learners and programme facilitators. Secondary data, I obtained through the review of the programme documents. I used a thematic inductive content analysis to analyse data. The findings on the evaluation of short term outcomes indicate that the programme achieved its desired short-term outcomes and that the programme was implemented with quality. This was the first evaluation of the Qhubeka! programme and provides programme staff with feedback on how well the programme is reaching its intended outcomes and being implemented with quality, which could guide them in making counteractive changes to improve delivery and impact. This study further contributes to the body of knowledge and evaluations of PYD programmes that incorporate academic support in the South African context of PYD programme.

The University of Cape Town (UCT), in collaboration with the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and Middlesex University, London, has been requested by the SACTWU Worker Health Programme to design, implement and evaluate an intervention on workplace breastfeeding support for the clothing and textile industry. This study will form part of the bigger project and the results will be utilised in the planning and designing of an intervention on workplace breastfeeding support. Returning to formal employment has been identified as one of the leading barriers to exclusive and continued breastfeeding, especially among women working in low-income jobs. Women working in low-income, low skilled jobs are often easily replaceable and have little bargaining power to request their breastfeeding rights. South Africa's clothing industry employs mostly black women, who hold low-income positions. Clothing factories tend to have rigid working conditions, which could make it difficult for mothers to continue with breastfeeding once they return to work. Few studies have been conducted of breastfeeding support in the workplace in South Africa and no studies were found of breastfeeding support in clothing factories in South Africa. There is a need for more studies to be conducted in workplaces in South Africa, especially in the clothing industry. International studies have found that workplace breastfeeding support interventions can contribute to increased breastfeeding prevalence rates in factories. To increase the rates of breastfeeding in clothing factories, a workplace breastfeeding support programme would need to be developed and implemented. Before designing an intervention, it is important to first conduct a needs assessment to determine whether there is a need for an intervention on workplace support for breastfeeding in the clothing and textile industry. The purpose of the needs assessment in this study was to determine whether there was a need for an intervention on workplace support for breastfeeding in the clothing and textile industry, and if so, what the nature and extent of the need was and the programme activities that were most suitable to address the need. A convergent parallel research design was adopted, which is also known as a mixed methods approach. Quantitative data was collected through a semi-structured survey that was administered to the employees at the factory. In addition, qualitative data was collected through interviews conducted with employees (mothers) and supervisors at the factory. There were various barriers in the factory that made it difficult for women to express breast milk at work, including a lack of time to express, a lack of proper breastfeeding facilities, a lack of information about mothers' breastfeeding and a lack of support from factory management, supervisors and co-workers. There was also a lack of awareness of the law regarding breastfeeding and there was no breastfeeding policy in place. The study found that there was a need for increased support to breastfeeding mothers in the factory, including the support from factory management, supervisors and co-workers, the provision of adequate breastfeeding facilities and breaks and the provision of information about mothers' breastfeeding to all employees. It is also important to develop a breastfeeding policy in the factory which provides clear guidelines on how to support breastfeeding women. According to the findings of the needs assessment, there is a need to design and implement an intervention on workplace support for breastfeeding, to enable women working in a clothing factory to continue breastfeeding when they return to work. The last chapter will include recommendations for the SACTWU Worker Health Programme to design and implement an intervention on workplace breastfeeding support for the clothing and textile industry. Although this study focused only on a single large factory, the basic principles can still be applied and adapted to other clothing factories.

This dissertation was an outcome evaluation of the Living Through Learning's Coronation Reading Adventure Room Programme. LTL's reading programme objectives include aspects of improving and developing English literacy in disadvantaged schools, teaching learners how to read and write and equipping teachers with the necessary skills to teach effectively. LTL also provides facilitators to offer assistance to the teachers in order to teach effectively in overcrowded classes. The main programme beneficiaries are teachers and grade one learners. This dissertation focuses on 18 schools in disadvantaged communities in Cape Town who received the literacy programme in 2015. Two evaluation questions were formulated, for the literacy programme. The first evaluation question focused on the learners and assessed whether or not the learners who were part of the CRAR programme were better off regarding literacy performance than they were before the programme. For the teacher characteristics, the evaluation question asked if the teachers' language teaching experience, English language proficiency, teaching self-efficacy, perceptions of usefulness of the LTL materials, and usage of the reading room had any influence on the learner's performance. Secondary data provided by LTL was utilised to answer the literacy programme evaluation question. The data included test scores of grade 1 learners from 18 different schools. Primary data was used for teacher's characteristics and this was done through a questionnaire sent out to the different teachers. Data analysis methods included descriptive statistics for the learners' assessments and inferential statistics for teacher characteristics. The results showed that learners who were part of the LTL programme showed improvement in assessment scores. All schools, except one, attained the realistic NGO (60%) standard in their reading assessments. Three schools attained the high standard (85%). Furthermore, all schools attained the 50% Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements standard in the CAPS based-assessments. Therefore, it can be concluded that the LTL programme successfully aided improvement of literacy skills of the learners who were part of the programme. In an analysis of teacher's characteristics, teacher experience in literacy was the only variable that significantly predicted learner performance in literacy. However, the results must be interpreted with caution; the absence of a comparison group makes it difficult to give all credit to the LTL programme alone. At this point I simply do not know whether it was only the programme that led to the improvement in literacy scores or whether other factors had an influence, or a joint influence in combination with the literacy programme (e.g. learners started reading more in their own time as a result of the programme).

Includes bibliographical references. / The South African retail industry is growing significantly and increasingly becoming an important contributor to the country's economic growth. The industry grew by 5.9 percent in 2011, in terms of sales, compared to 3.6 percent decline in 2009. According to figures provided by the Statistics South Africa (StatsSA), the industry contributed six percent to the entire South African economy and 23 percent towards total employment in the country. Despite the growing significance of the industry in the South African economy, the industry is still marred with chronic challenges of poor education and skills shortages. Major players in the industry indicated that these challenges are the main impediments to potential higher growth.

This dissertation reports on an outcome evaluation of The Shine Centre's literacy intervention, Literacy Hour. The Shine Centre is a South African non-governmental organisation that offers literacy support to Grade 2 and 3 learners at risk of reading failure. The programme takes the form of one-to-one or one-to-two tutoring. The learners who are chosen to participate in the Literacy Hour programme are selected based on their results in Shine's diagnostic assessment completed at the end of Grade 1. The selected students work with trained volunteers twice a week for an hour at a time. Each hour of the Literacy Hour programme is divided into four 15-minute components, namely: (a) paired reading, (b) shared reading, (c) have-a-go writing, and (d) wordplay. The evaluation design was a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent group design. The assignment into the experimental/intervention group and the control group was done by means of a sharp regression-discontinuity cut-off. The sample included six Centres and two Chapters in the Western Cape with complete data for the 2011 to 2013 cohort. Learner results were monitored using various assessment tools at the end of Grade 1 and during Grades 2 and 3. The two Shine diagnostic assessments, D1 and D2, tested the learners' literacy skills against the level that they should have acquired by that point in their school career. Additionally, the reading level assessments were used to determine the learners' actual reading level/age.

This dissertation reports an outcome and process evaluation of the Ndinogona ''I Can'' Stimulation Programme. The programme caters for children with disabilities by targeting Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres attended by children with disabilities. The programme facilitators provide training to the caregivers within these centres in terms of the importance of play and how to handle and position children with disabilities correctly. The centres are also provided with stimulation kits including a variety of toys and activities aimed at children with all types of disabilities. The programme aims to encourage stimulation and inclusion of children with disabilities as well as to improve child developmental outcomes. The programme has been implemented in several centres since it began in 2011. This dissertation focused on 18 centres within the Western Cape which received the programme during 2015. The Ndinogona ''I Can'' Stimulation programme theory was investigated for its plausibility in the form of a literature review. The evaluation focused on evaluating programme outcomes to determine the programme's effectiveness as the programme requires an independent evaluation for a funder. This evaluation therefore primarily addressed two outcome evaluation questions and one process evaluation question. The outcome evaluation used secondary data which was set to be collected by the programme's facilitators using data collection forms developed by the evaluator in collaboration with the programme staff. This outcome evaluation could not be realised due to a lack of empirical data stemming from inadequate data collection tools and procedures. The available data was analysed using the SPSS statistical programme. The descriptive statistics and the initial exploration of the data are presented. The results for the outcome evaluation questions are limited due to the lack of empirical data. Preliminary findings for child assessments showed a positive trend however more data is needed to confirm this. As a result of the lack of data the evaluator engaged with additional process questions in the discussion chapter and presents a revised monitoring and evaluation framework for the programme to facilitate an in-depth outcome evaluation in the future. This includes a clear and simple set of data collection tools which cater for all the organisation's information needs whilst taking into account their monitoring capacity.

The need to improve animal welfare and control companion animal populations is necessary for South Africa, especially in impoverished communities lacking resources and education to care for their pets responsibly. These programmes are often multi-dimensional in nature and aim to improve animal welfare in different ways. Sterilisation is often the first step but is not enough. Consequently, education is often used in combination, to teach responsible pet care and ownership to pet owners. By increasing their understanding and knowledge of animals it is hoped that the pets’ overall quality of life and welfare improve. The following dissertation presents the findings of an evaluation conducted for the Mending Mamre Mass Education and Sterilisation Programme. This programme had four components: surgical sterilisation of pets and feral cats, basic veterinary care, education sessions and the rehoming of stray dogs. Three evaluations were performed (as requested by the clients): a programme theory evaluation of the education sessions, a process evaluation to understand why some residents refused sterilisation and an outcome evaluation to measure if the pets’ living conditions and body scores had changed 16 months after the programme. Overall, the results of the programme theory evaluation demonstrated that: the activities and outcomes of the education sessions were consistent with similar programmes but the two causal pathways underlying the programme are not plausible. The results of the process evaluation highlighted that the most common reason why pet owners refused sterilisation was due to fear. Finally, the results of the outcome evaluation indicated mixed results; with an increase observed in the pets’ physical wellbeing but an overall decrease observed in their quality of living conditions. With the results, the evaluator was able to make recommendations to the client and highlight considerations for programme improvement. Overall this study contributes to the paucity of research on evaluations of animal welfare interventions at the community level.

This dissertation examines the City of Cape Town municipality's Waste Wise Programme. It examines one of the three models, namely the Sustainable Education and School Recycling model and consists of a theory as well as a process evaluation. On commencement of the theory evaluation, the evaluator investigated the plausibility of the programme theory. In order to extract this information, a literature review on international and local literature was completed to answer the evaluation questions. The literature review suggests that the programme theory is plausible but that it could be further enhanced by incorporating a few additions to the programme. It investigated the Waste Wise Programme's impact theory, the service utilisation and the organisational plans, and found that, with a few minor amendments, the beneficiaries of the programme may benefit more.

Includes bibliographical references / This dissertation is an outcome evaluation of the Always Keeping Girls in School Programme. The nationally run programme is a series of workshops and educational talks designed to reduce the absenteeism rates of pubescent girls who live and attend schools in underprivileged areas. The programme regularly supplies participants with sanitary products that they would otherwise not have access due to financial constraints and thus prefer to remain at home when menstruating where they can better manage their personal hygiene needs. During this period of absenteeism girls miss valuable teaching time which has a negative impact on their ability to achieve academically leading to grade repetition and ultimately dropping out of school permanently. Without a basic education girls are at a disadvantage in finding meaningful employment. The literature supports the various facets of the programme but also reveals that other influential factors such as access to adequate sanitation facilities (including water), distance and time spent travelling to and from school, and access to pain medication. The evaluations of similar interventions have produced mixed results, but it is clear that the provision of any one of the tools, such as those provided by the Always Keeping Girls in School programme, does make a positive difference in the life of the participants. One school was selected by the programme manager to provide the necessary secondary data to conduct a time - series quasi - experimental design for the evaluation. A cohort of learners was selected and their absenteeism and school performance data was tracked over a three year period from grade 9 in 2012 until grade 11 in 2014 (their current grade). The data from 2012 formed the baseline data as the programme was implemented in 2013. All of the girls in the cohort are programme participants and fell into the experimental group and as a result all of the boys in the cohort formed a non - equivalent comparison group. There are seven outcomes belonging to the programme, but only two outcomes were evaluated: reduction in absenteeism and improved school performance and the existence of a relationship between absenteeism and school performance. A total of 32 observations of absenteeism and 3 observations of school performance were used. The absenteeism observations were made on a monthly basis, while school performance data was taken at the end of December 2012, December 2013, and June 2014. To conduct the analysis a combination of descriptive statistics (measures of central tendency and dispersion) and inferential statistics (Pearson's Correlation and logistic regression analysis) were used. The statistical analysis revealed the programme was successful during the first year when it was implemented (with both the educational workshops and the provision of sanitary products) as the experimental group showed a large decline in absenteeism. However during the second year (only sanitary products were provided) the participants showed an increase in attendance and even surpassed their baseline scores. In terms of school performance both groups showed a small increase during 2013 but in 2014 many learners performed poorly in their June examinations. The logistic regression revealed that there was a very low probability that relationship between absenteeism and school performance existed The finding that the programme is successful when all of its facets are available to the participants is in line with literature that rates the importance of education around puberty and sanitation very highly. The provision of sanitary products alone is important to the well - being and dignity of the participants but it is insufficient to bring about the sustained desired behavioural change.