Thesis (M.S. in Community Research and Action)--Vanderbilt University, May 2007. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: Roger Kobak, Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references.

<p>The ANC government came to power in 1994 and has had to come to grips with many economic, social and political challenges it inherited from the apartheid regime. A majority of the people were marginalized and subjected to poor standards of living in areas that were inadequately provided for in terms of basic services. One of the biggest challenges the new government is facing is the delivery of services especially housing. Poor policy implementation continues to complicate the existing problems. The study critically examined the extent to which poor policy implementation has affected the provision of housing in Khayelitsha with focus on the respective stakeholders.</p>

<p>This research endeavours to identify existing participatory structures and explore the role of local government officials, community representatives and other role players in the housing delivery process in Joe Slovo / indicate opportunities for the participation of beneficiaries in the housing process as well as the extent and nature of community engagement / highlight existing barriers to effective community participation and other problems related to housing delivery in Joe Slovo / draw general conclusions within the framework of the government&rsquo / s housing policy / and provide recommendations to policy makers, urban planners and other stakeholders. Consequently, this research employs qualitative methodological tools as they are most appropriate in the collection of this type of data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with local officials, and observations were used to gather critical information. In addition, secondary data, with a special focus on newspaper articles, were used.</p>

This research examines how childcare policy in Ontario, Canada assists and constrains low-income urban women’s strategies of provisioning for their children. Childcare policy refers to the range of programs that assist families in reconciling paid work and parenthood. In Ontario, Canada, these programs include childcare fee subsidies, tax deductions, parental leave policies, child benefits/allowances and a program regulating live-in caregivers. Provisioning is used to capture an array of daily work-related activities (e.g. paid, unpaid and caring labour) that mothers perform to ensure their children’s survival and well-being. The qualitative study, based on individual semi-structured interviews with 20 low-income mothers living in an urban community, found that women carry out various activities in provisioning for their children. Some of these are familiar and visible activities such as providing domestic caring labour, engaging in the labour market, and undertaking volunteer work in the community. Others are less visible tasks such as sustaining their health and that of their children, making claims/asserting their rights, and ensuring safety. Low-income urban mothers provision under numerous constraints. A continuous shortage of money and childcare issues are at the core of these constraints. The study also found that the mothers encounter a variety of barriers in the community, such as a limited availability of social and community services and a high level of violence/criminal activity in their neighbourhoods. Issues related to poor health, an inadequate diet, or the necessity of caring for children with special needs further constrain women’s lives. Limited English language skills, racial barriers, and the struggles of adapting to a new country add to the multi-dimensional barriers facing low-income urban mothers. The research indicates that mothers use a variety of strategies to counter these barriers; however, these strategies cost women in terms of their time as well as their physical, mental and emotional energy. Childcare policy assists to a certain extent by providing some support to low-income mothers. Enhancements to the existing policies have potential benefits; however, they are like patches on a leaky bucket. Ultimately, the bucket needs to be replaced with a new way of envisioning family responsibilities, work and childcare.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of economically disadvantaged, Black students attending predominantly White, elite private boarding schools. Data were collected utilizing semi-structured interviews with 9 participants, with each interview lasting approximately 90 minutes. The recursive method of data collection and analysis was informed by six steps outlined by Creswell (1998), as well as Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) methods (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997). Findings revealed 9 themes associated with participants' experiences: classroom experiences, value of Black peer networks, caught between two worlds, racial perceptions, desire to connect with people of all races, socioeconomic challenges, living away from home challenges, impact of peers on level of success, and significance of relationships with Black faculty. Practice and research implications for Black students attending private school, as well as for private school faculty and administrators, are discussed.

Despite some recent economic progress, there is still widespread poverty and severe inequality in developing countries. According to the World Bank there are over 925 million hungry or undernourished people worldwide. More than 80 percent of people in the world live in countries whose income inequality is rising. Over 2.1 billion people globally live on less than two dollars a day, with over 880 million people facing absolute poverty and living on less than one dollar a day. Three out of four people living on less than $1 a day live in rural areas. These impacts have been magnified by the recent global recession, as rising food prices and a decrease in remittances have pushed between 130 and 155 million people back into poverty. 1 Particularly in lower income countries, the impoverished are faced with poor and insufficiently funded health care systems, restricted access to adequate nutrition and potable water, low agricultural yields, and poor soil quality. Not only are the services in short supply for the poor, but the predicament of the poor often limits their capacity to avail themselves of these services. Parents may opt for keeping their children out of school, either to employ their labor or to avoid the costs of transportation and school fees. Healthcare may also entail costs that parents are reluctant to bear. Thus, people are often in poor health which decreases their productivity and learning capacity. These issues combined, along with inadequate education systems, poor school attendance, and teacher absenteeism, all retard human capital accumulation.

Microfinance has become one of the most promising tools for development and poverty alleviation over the past two decades. Millions of borrowers around the globe have utilized microcredit to start or expand their small businesses and raise their household income. One poverty-induced problem microfinance could potentially alleviate is child labor. Despite international legislation prohibiting it, child labor continues to deprive millions of children of their right to education. Without education, there is little hope for a country to increase productivity and wealth in the future. A number of scholars have highlighted a negative correlation between credit rationing and child labor. However, there are no studies that examine whether or not children are less likely to work in households that participate in microfinance programs. In some circumstances, microcredit may increase household income and induce parents to withdraw their children from work while in others, raising the household income level may lead children to work more. In low-income countries with numerous microfinance institutions, many children work despite their parents’ access to credit. In order to examine this paradoxical phenomenon, this thesis presents a number of econometric models which analyze both child labor and credit at the household level. Though these models are vital in explaining the relevant trends, a purely economic analysis fails to capture the political and cultural factors that also engender child labor. To illustrate this complex relationship between economics and mores, this thesis highlights the impact of microfinance on child labor in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is an ideal country for this study because microfinance and child labor are both endemic. Finally, conclusions drawn from this analysis inform policy recommendations to amplify the effectiveness of microfinance on diminishing child labor.

This research examines how childcare policy in Ontario, Canada assists and constrains low-income urban women’s strategies of provisioning for their children. Childcare policy refers to the range of programs that assist families in reconciling paid work and parenthood. In Ontario, Canada, these programs include childcare fee subsidies, tax deductions, parental leave policies, child benefits/allowances and a program regulating live-in caregivers. Provisioning is used to capture an array of daily work-related activities (e.g. paid, unpaid and caring labour) that mothers perform to ensure their children’s survival and well-being. The qualitative study, based on individual semi-structured interviews with 20 low-income mothers living in an urban community, found that women carry out various activities in provisioning for their children. Some of these are familiar and visible activities such as providing domestic caring labour, engaging in the labour market, and undertaking volunteer work in the community. Others are less visible tasks such as sustaining their health and that of their children, making claims/asserting their rights, and ensuring safety. Low-income urban mothers provision under numerous constraints. A continuous shortage of money and childcare issues are at the core of these constraints. The study also found that the mothers encounter a variety of barriers in the community, such as a limited availability of social and community services and a high level of violence/criminal activity in their neighbourhoods. Issues related to poor health, an inadequate diet, or the necessity of caring for children with special needs further constrain women’s lives. Limited English language skills, racial barriers, and the struggles of adapting to a new country add to the multi-dimensional barriers facing low-income urban mothers. The research indicates that mothers use a variety of strategies to counter these barriers; however, these strategies cost women in terms of their time as well as their physical, mental and emotional energy. Childcare policy assists to a certain extent by providing some support to low-income mothers. Enhancements to the existing policies have potential benefits; however, they are like patches on a leaky bucket. Ultimately, the bucket needs to be replaced with a new way of envisioning family responsibilities, work and childcare.

This study concerns the effects of public school redistricting on communities in Atlanta. It is based upon interviews with people in two neighborhoods which are part of the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) system directly affected by redistricting. All schools slated to close are located in low-income, minority areas and serve similar populations. Of the ten schools selected for closing, three were saved during the final APS board meeting in April 2012, and will remain open. I spoke with people who reside in a neighborhood where a local school is slated to close, as well as those in an area where a school was saved from closing. I asked informants why they felt their schools were identified for closure and how they responded to the threat of closing. I learned that both communities organized to save their schools but with different results based on available forms of social and cultural capital.