This thesis addresses indigenous groups agency in trade governance to enhance their ability to affect international decision-making that benefits their capability to sustainable development. It conducts a case study of Articulation of Indigenous People Brazil (APIB) in the EU-Mercosur Agreement and utilizes Eimers (2020) theory of subaltern social movement theory to establish: what strategies the APIB have used in the decision-making processes of the “Mercosur Agreement?  This theory allows consideration of indigenous agency and the effect of post-colonial structures on their capability to keep control over their realties. To collect data on this topic the author uses qualitative semi-structured interviews and qualitative thematic text analysis. The thesis finds that framing strategies of claims enabled alliance-building in Brazil and Transnational Advocacy Coalitions, which used international norms to enhance indigenous interests. However, has post-colonial structures hindered APIB´s ability to enhance interest in Brazil and silenced indigenous interests in governmental representation in the making of the EU-Mercosur.

African curricular reforms indicate major inherent structural defects because only the contents of the curriculum were changed. As a result, the Western cultural influences embedded in the curriculum foundations are transmitted to the students, causing the curricular material to be irrelevant and unrelated to their culture and philosophy. The focus of this study was on making the basic education curricula relevant to the socio-cultural and structural context of the Gamo ethnic group of Ethiopia. The main aim of the study was to critically analyse how the indigenization approach is conceptualized and reflected in the policies and curricula, and in the implementation of the curricula at basic education level since the adoption of the 1994 Education and Training Policy, and to produce a model suited to indigenizing the basic education curricula for the Gamo ethnic group. To this end, the study employed a critical perspective to investigate the problem. The approach and design consists of a qualitative multiple case study. The country‟s constitutions, policies and strategies were treated as one case, while two cases, one from the Gamo Gofa Zone and another from the Addis Ababa City Administration, were treated similarly, so as to study the basic education curriculum planning and implementation process. The findings of the field study disclosed that the indigenization from the ethnic group‟s perspective has some strength, but major deficiencies. In order to keep the strengths up and avoid the weaknesses, a stand-alone indigenization approach, which calls for rooting the curriculum on indigenous foundations, theories, principles and ideas derived from the culture, and a blending approach, which allows for intercultural dialogue, were suggested as feasible. The researcher believes that this approach is an alternative that could contribute towards ensuring the relevance of the basic education curriculum for the Gamo ethnic group. A model which will assist in materialising the curriculum indigenization from the Gamo ethnic group‟s perspective was suggested. The salient features of the constitutional, policy and strategy provisions were outdone by their favour for a standardization approach. They will have to be revisited, either in favour of indigenization, or the standardization thesis, since these paradigms are opposite poles. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

Poverty is a global concern and the implementation of a quality early childhood development (ECD) programme is one of the most powerful ways of breaking the poverty cycle. Although research has been done regarding ECD centres in impoverished, marginalised and predominantly black communities (informal settlements), there is little, if any, similar research regarding predominantly white settlements. The purpose of this narrative study is to explore and understand the experiences of ECD practitioners regarding their work in impoverished and marginalised predominantly white communities. I, therefore, conducted this study from a social constructivist paradigm. The participants constructed their realities based on their lived experiences and interaction with others. The experiences of the participants were also influenced by their entire ecological system – their everyday experiences in their work and lives, as well as more distal influences for example South-Africa’s socio-political dispensation and cultural influences. Consequently the study was framed within the Ecological Systems Theory of Bronfenbrenner. I collected data through narrative interviews with two participants (ECD practitioners), and through field notes from observations, documents, photographs and artefacts. From the coded data, four main themes emerged – social and personal experiences, experiences concerning place, experiences with camp leadership and experiences concerning support infrastructure. These themes will be useful to determine the kind of support that practitioners need to ensure the quality of ECD programmes to support the optimal development of the children. / Armoede is ʼn globale probleem en kwaliteit kleinkinderontwikkelingsprogramme (KKO-programme) is een van die kragtigste maniere om die armoede-siklus te verbreek. Alhoewel daar navorsing omtrent KKO-sentra in verarmde en gemarginaliseerde oorwegend swart gemeenskappe (informele nedersettings) gedoen is bestaan daar min, indien enige, soortgelyke navorsing in oorwegend blanke nedersettings. Die doel van hierdie narratiewe studie is om die ervarings van KKOpraktisyns in hulle werk in verarmde en gemarginaliseerde oorwegend blanke nedersettings te ondersoek en te verstaan. Daarom het ek hierdie studie vanuit ‘n sosiaal-konstruktivistiese paradigma uitgevoer. Die deelnemers het hulle realiteite geskep gebaseer op hulle geleefde ervarings en interaksies met ander. Die ervarings van die deelnemers is ook beïnvloed deur hulle hele ekostelsel – hulle daaglikse ervarings in hulle werk en lewens, asook verwyderde stelsels van invloed soos Suid-Afrika se sosio-politieke bedeling en kulturele invloede. Gevolglik is hierdie studie geformuleer binne die Ekologiese Sisteemteorie van Bronfenbrenner as raamwerk. Ek het data versamel deur narratiewe onderhoude te voer met twee deelnemers (KKO-praktisyns), en deur veldnotas van waarnemings, dokumente, foto’s en artefakte. Uit die gekodeerde data het vier hooftemas navore gekom – sosiale en persoonlike ervarings, ervarings met betrekking tot plek, ervarings met kampleierskap en ervarings rakende ondersteuningsinfrastruktuur. Hierdie temas sal bruikbaar wees om die soort ondersteuning te bepaal wat praktisyns benodig om ʼn kwaliteit KKOprogram te verseker om sodoende die optimale ontwikkeling van die kinders te ondersteun. / Early Childhood Education / M. Ed. (Socio-Education)

This study explored the phenomena of pre-adolescents growing up in an informal settlement and explored how needs and wants influenced their value and moral formation. The research was located within the specific context of a qualitative interpretivist study. A phenomenological research design was used to highlight how these young people construct their personal identities rooted in their unique value and moral structures. The criteria used to choose the participants included pre-adolescents between the ages of 10 and 14 who lived alone without parental care or who were left alone for long periods during the day. The selected participants were young people who were daily exposed to adverse conditions and who had to make real life choices. Data on how these pre-adolescents viewed their situation were collected using stick figures, collages, drawings and observations, followed by in-depth individual and focus group interviews and discussions on moral dilemmas. The aim of interviewing the young people personally was to explore their own views of the realities of their lived experiences and how they perceived the world around them. From the empirical evidence and the theories studied a number of significant themes emerged that indicated a strong need for emotional and social support, besides their obvious material needs. The major themes were (1) family and community, (2) emotional needs, (3) financial and material needs, (4) protection and security, (5) moral choices and needs, (6) education and (7) religion. The findings of the study revealed that individuals progress through various stages of moral growth and development as they grow from childhood to adulthood, and that children are not born with an innate moral or value system. These have to be taught through the process of socialisation whereby they learn social values, morals, attitudes and expectations as these are communicated from one person to another. The findings also showed that these young people are able to act in a caring, concerned, altruistic and resilient manner, just as much as they are able to act in a destructive manner. These young people are as able to do good just as they are able to do bad things. They have a strong sense of moral rightness and wrongness and the values that underpin morality. It showed that even when their basic human needs are unmet they can still make choices that reflect good moral values. They have the capacity to transcend themselves and to make radical change in their personal lives and in turn contribute to the well being of a better society. Since this was an exploratory study of specific marginalised young people in a particular environment which focused more on pre-adolescents’ espoused theory and how they would act if faced by moral dilemmas, it suggests the need for further exploration and research on the theory in action by studying the reasons why preadolescents engage in at-risk behaviour. SEPEDI : Thuto ye e hlohlomiša ponagalo e kgolô ya baswa bofalalelong bjo e sego bja tlwaelo, gomme ya hlohletša ka moo dinyakwa le dihlokwa di tutueditšego popego ya metheo le setho. Nyakišišo ye e ile ya ela khwalithi ya seo se nyakišiswago tlhoko. Go somišitšwe moakanyetšo wa phatišišoponagalo go tšweletša ka fao baswa ba bopago boitšhupo bjo bo letšego popegong ya mehola le boitshwaro bja bona. Kêlo ye e šomišitšwego e aparetše baswa gare ga mengwaga ye 10 go iša go 14; bao ba phelago ba le tee, go se na tlhokomelo ya batswadi goba bao ba tlogelwago ba le tee nako ye telele mosegare. Batšeakarolo be e le baswa bao ba bego ba lebanwe ke maemo a šoro gomme ba swanetse go ikethela tsela. Data ya ka moo baswa bao ba lebelelago maemo a bona, e ile ya kgoboketšwa go šomišwa diphata, dibopego tšeo di gomareditšwego, dithalwa le temogo ye e latelwago ke poledišano le mongwe le mongwe, goba sehlopha ka ga mathata a boitshwaro. Maikemišetšo a poledisano le baswa ke go nyakišiša dikgopolo tša bona ka ga bonnete bja maitemogelo, le ka moo ba bonago lefase. Go tšwa bohlatseng bja boitekelo bjo, le go teori tše di nyakišitšwego, go bonagetše nyakego ya thekgo ya khuduego le leago, gape le tša dinyakwa tša bophelo. Dintlhakgolo di bile (1) lapa le tikologoleago (2) dinyakwa tša moya (3) dinyakwa tša tšhelele le didirišwa (4) tšhireletšo le potego (go lotega) (5) boitshwaro le dihlokwa (6) thuto (7) bodumedi. Dikhwetšo tša thuto ye di utollotše gore mongwe le mongwe o tšwelela dikgatong tše mmalwa tša kgolô ya boitshwaro le tšweletšopele ge ba ntše ba gola go tšwa bjaneng go ya bogolong; le gore bana ga ba belegwe ba na le mokgwa wa maitshwaro wa tlhago. Tšeo di rutwa ka tsela ya phedišano; ka fao ba ithute kagišano, maitshwaro bjale ka ge di hlagiswa ke batho ba bangwe. Khumano e laeditse gape gore baswa ba kgona go hlokomela, ba amege, ba be le phanô, gape ba itshware ka tsela ye e sa swanelago. Baswa ba kgono dira botse, ba fetoge ba dire bobe. Ba na le moya wa setho le moya wa tshenyo; gape le theô ye e laetšago maitshwaro a botse. E bontšhitse le gore, le ge dinyakwa tša bona di sa kgotšofatswe, ba kgono kgetha ba laetše maitshwaro a mabotse. Ba na le maatla a go feta mathateng, ba fetole maphelo a bona gomme ba be le kabelo go kaonafatša tikologoleago. Ka ge se e bego e le fela thutotlhotlhomišo ya baswa bao ba lego mellwaneng ya bophelo tikologong e itšego, gomme ya ikamanya fela go teori ya baswa le ka moo batla itshwarago, ge ba lebanwe le mathata a setho, e laetša nyako ya tlhotlhomišo e tseneletšego, e tšwelago pele ka nyakišišo ya teori ye ka go ithuta mabaka ao a dirago maitshwaro a. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

African curricular reforms indicate major inherent structural defects because only the contents of the curriculum were changed. As a result, the Western cultural influences embedded in the curriculum foundations are transmitted to the students, causing the curricular material to be irrelevant and unrelated to their culture and philosophy. The focus of this study was on making the basic education curricula relevant to the socio-cultural and structural context of the Gamo ethnic group of Ethiopia. The main aim of the study was to critically analyse how the indigenization approach is conceptualized and reflected in the policies and curricula, and in the implementation of the curricula at basic education level since the adoption of the 1994 Education and Training Policy, and to produce a model suited to indigenizing the basic education curricula for the Gamo ethnic group. To this end, the study employed a critical perspective to investigate the problem. The approach and design consists of a qualitative multiple case study. The country‟s constitutions, policies and strategies were treated as one case, while two cases, one from the Gamo Gofa Zone and another from the Addis Ababa City Administration, were treated similarly, so as to study the basic education curriculum planning and implementation process. The findings of the field study disclosed that the indigenization from the ethnic group‟s perspective has some strength, but major deficiencies. In order to keep the strengths up and avoid the weaknesses, a stand-alone indigenization approach, which calls for rooting the curriculum on indigenous foundations, theories, principles and ideas derived from the culture, and a blending approach, which allows for intercultural dialogue, were suggested as feasible. The researcher believes that this approach is an alternative that could contribute towards ensuring the relevance of the basic education curriculum for the Gamo ethnic group. A model which will assist in materialising the curriculum indigenization from the Gamo ethnic group‟s perspective was suggested. The salient features of the constitutional, policy and strategy provisions were outdone by their favour for a standardization approach. They will have to be revisited, either in favour of indigenization, or the standardization thesis, since these paradigms are opposite poles. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

From a feminist theology of praxis the appreciative inquiry used in this research reflected on the constituting role the living of values by facilitators play in transforming the lives of children who suffer the effects of poverty, neglect and abuse. The concretisation or the living of values within the school community linked with the theme of solidarity with the marginalised. The facilitators' solidarity with children as "concrete others" became ways of doing participatory ethics. As part of a postmodern paradigm, a social constructionist discourse made it possible for therapist-researcher and participants to view the facilitators' work and the research itself as part of a relational process. Appreciative inquiry invited a reflective stance towards action, relating and personal knowledge. The research also reflected on poststructuralist theory and practice, and the power of imagination and language to re-describe of the work of facilitators. / Practical Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology, with specialisation in Pastoral Therapy)

From a feminist theology of praxis the appreciative inquiry used in this research reflected on the constituting role the living of values by facilitators play in transforming the lives of children who suffer the effects of poverty, neglect and abuse. The concretisation or the living of values within the school community linked with the theme of solidarity with the marginalised. The facilitators' solidarity with children as "concrete others" became ways of doing participatory ethics. As part of a postmodern paradigm, a social constructionist discourse made it possible for therapist-researcher and participants to view the facilitators' work and the research itself as part of a relational process. Appreciative inquiry invited a reflective stance towards action, relating and personal knowledge. The research also reflected on poststructuralist theory and practice, and the power of imagination and language to re-describe of the work of facilitators. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology, with specialisation in Pastoral Therapy)