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Magister Philosophiae (Land and Agrarian Studies) - MPhil(LAS) / The contribution of common property resources to rural people's livelihoods is enormous, yet policy makers overlook it. Wild resources, grazing resources and trees provide an important buffer for most rural households. This study investigates the contribution of common property resources, in particular communal rangeland resources, to rural people's livelihoods in the Maluti District of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Looking at an array of livelihood strategies which people use, the study investigates the proportional contribution of different livelihood strategies with reference to common property resources, specifically wild resources, grazing resources and trees.

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The purpose of this dissertation is to show a yet undiscovered link between identity claims and the survival of political leaders. Diversionary theory posits that starting foreign conflicts during domestic hardship may increase the popular approval ratings of the leader and maintain him in power. I suggest that leaders may resort to initiating identity claims as a diversionary action to stay in power. Indeed, using survival analysis, this study finds a connection between the desire of leaders to protect their ethnic kin in neighboring countries and the leaders' own popularity and survival at home. Yet, identity claim initiation and escalation significantly decrease the chances of leaders to remain in office. At first sight, this is in sharp contrast with the diversionary theory literature, which suggests that leaders may employ foreign wars as a means to distract from domestic problems and increase their survival in office. Yet, the realization that the escalation of conflict may backfire does not necessarily deter leaders from diverting. Therefore, this analysis offers a new perspective in the field of rationalist explanations for war.

"This dissertation will explore the socio-economic and political factors that have prevented the resumption of the human right to land by black Zimbabweans both during the colonial white minority rule and in independent Zimbabwe. It will also point out the international human rights instruments that justify government intervention in land tenure relations in Zimbabwe and conclude with recommendations. Chapter one is the introduction. It outlines the background of the research problem, the prolem itself, research questions, hypotheses, objectives and purpose of the research. It also outlines the theoretical framework, significance and the methodology. Chapter two is about the colonial land tenure relations in Zimbabwe. It discusses the foundations of the inequitable land tenure relations in Zimbabwe, together with the legal and extra-legal responses thereto during the colonial period. Chapter three is about legal responses in post-colonial Zimbabwe to land tenure imbalances. It examines legal responses Zimbabwe embarded upon after independence in 1980, the Lancaster Agreement and its Article 16 and the Land Acquisition Act from 1985-1992. Chapter four deals with the extra-legal resettlement processes in Zimbabwe and focuses on the non-legal resettlement processes including the squatter/war veterans' phenomenon. Chapter five looks at the available international human rights instruments relevant to Zimbabwe's resettlement processes. Chapter six sums up the key issues and illustrations raised in the research in relation to the objectives and hypotheses. It also offers recommendations towards viable policy options available to Zimbabwe." -- Chapter 1. / Prepared under the supervision of Mr. John Kigula, Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Uganda / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2001. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / This study examined the institutional challenges facing the City of Windhoek in the provision of water supply and sanitation in the Havana Informal Settlement. Like most cities in developing countries, Namibia is faced with the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality, even though Namibia after its liberation developed several policies to ensure that equitable service delivery is provided to all its citizens. Approximately 60% of the city’s population resides in informal settlements, with inadequate and poor service delivery such as sanitation and water supply. External factors such as climate change amongst others have a huge impact in a water-scarce country such as Namibia on attaining the sustainability of water resources.

The financial crises experienced worldwide have contributed to the rising importance of corporate governance. South Africa is unique in that it has strong corporate governance structures and as a result, it would prove useful to assess the effects of these corporate governance structures on critical sectors such as the long-term insurance industry, which is the largest insurance industry in Africa. The objective of this study is to examine the effect of corporate governance mechanisms and firm efficiency in the South African long-term insurance industry using data on 73 long-term insurers from 2007 to 2014 in a two-stage analysis. In the first stage, firm efficiency is estimated using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) bootstrapping technique of Simar and Wilson (2007), which corrects for biases associated with non-parametric techniques. In the second stage analysis, the truncated bootstrapping regression technique is employed to examine the effect of corporate governance on the estimated efficiency scores. The corporate governance variables used were board size, board independence, audit committee size, CEO tenure and audit independence, while controlling for firm size, reinsurance usage and leverage. The findings indicate that long-term insurers in South Africa operated at approximately 21% of their optimal capacity which suggests high levels of inefficiency in the provision of life insurance services. The results of the second-stage analysis identify board size, non-executive directorship, CEO tenure and audit independence as the significant corporate governance indicators that impact on efficiency over the study period. In addition, firm size, reinsurance usage and leverage were also observed to be significantly related to the estimated efficiency scores. The findings suggest that non-executive directors are not as effective as expected, which may be due to a myriad of reasons, such as under-representation on sub-committees, a lack of relevant skills, experience or financial expertise. Insurers should use more stringent criteria to screen potential non-executive directors and provide training and regular updates to adequately capacitate the non-executive directors with the necessary skills and knowledge. The positive relationship between CEO tenure and efficiency suggests that frequent CEO rotation is not advisable. Most of the corporate governance indicators have a negative effect on efficiency, which is not the intended effect. This is an indication that corporate governance measures should not be viii enforced on insurers as a 'one size fits all’ measure, rather, a focus should be placed on corporate governance measures that have the intended impact, such as audit committee independence.

The purpose of this study is to examine the Tennessee tenure law by comparing the overall level of effectiveness of teachers who received tenure prior to receiving tenure and the overall level of effectiveness of teachers after receiving tenure. The population of this study includes teachers from districts in the Mid Cumberland region in Tennessee who received tenure after 2012. The major finding of this study was the effectiveness of teachers who received tenure under the current tenure law in Tennessee did not significantly change for up to two years after they received tenure. The lone exception was high school teachers. Their effectiveness significantly declined two years after receiving tenure. This study concluded that the current tenure law in Tennessee had components of effective policies as found in research and had safeguards in place to ensure only effective teachers were awarded tenure.

Academic tenure, introduced by the American Association of University Professors in 1915, is a status that protects employed faculty members from summary dismissal and, thereby, intends to preserve their academic freedom. Initially tied to financial security through salary guarantees, academic tenure has evolved into a concept associated less with monetary support and strict scholarly productivity than at its inception, primarily owing to the growing number of clinician educators with highly competitive salaries at university-affiliated academic health centers. Achievement of tenure continues to require significant additional time and effort, but modifications in the requisite probationary period and the allowance at some institutions of tenure for part-time faculty have offset some costs, while still maintaining leadership opportunities for the individual and academic benefits for both the individual and the institution. How institutions balance their own financial risk and the demands on faculty members is likely to determine the future of tenure.

Central line-associated bloodstream infections continue to be some of the most deadly hospital-associated infections in the United States. Guided by Lewin's change theory which focuses on prior learning, rejection, and replacement, the purpose of this study was to improve the quality of care patients receive in an acute care facility by reducing life threatening central line infections. The research question examined whether additional education using Venous Access Nurse (VAN) customized newsletters and manager coaching of nurses in an acute care setting would improve the quality of care for patients with central lines. This was a quantitative nonexperimental descriptive retrospective study using secondary analysis of a hospital dataset. This dataset included variables relating to nurse tenure and nurse performance after reeducation and coaching on managing central lines. Variables from 450 of 1,300 nurses were analyzed in the current study at a 750 bed system in a southwestern healthcare system in Florida. The pre and post audits consisting of contributing factors were obtained from the VAN audits and post audits consisting of contributing factors were obtained from the Van audits and were calculated with descriptive statistics. There were a decrease from 19.1% of the lines audited having 1 or more deviations from the guidelines to 3.5%. Nurses with 2 to 5 years of tenure had a greater number of deviations from the guidelines' standard for managing central lines as compared to staff with a lesser or greater amount of tenure. Positive social change implications include knowledge useful for staff nurse educators and other researchers who are searching for direction in improving health care associated infection rates to provide a better quality of life, decrease costs, and increase safety.