South Africa is currently experiencing a paucity of skills in certain occupations and high rate of illiteracy. In order to address these challenges, the government promulgated legislations such as the Skill Development Act, 1998, Skills Development Levies Act, 1999, South African Qualifications Act, (SAQA) and other policies aimed at reducing the rate of illiteracy through providing Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET). These are progressive and commendable policies, as part of their implementation, many people (unemployed and employed) have received training in various trades using funds from the National Skills Fund (NSF). The study was therefore undertaken in order to learn about beneficiaries’ experiences and perceptions they hold towards these programmes. This study was conducted at KwaCeza through the Masibumbane community development project. The members of the Masibumbane community development project received skills training which was funded by the Department of Labour (NSF) in 2005. The training was aimed at enhancing their chances of accessing income generating opportunities. They were trained in carpentry, bricklaying, sawing and poultry farming. The study sought to establish how these project members perceived the skills development programme and learn more about their experiences during and after receiving training. The findings of the study revealed that the Skills Development Programme is perceived certainly as one of the effective programmes the government has ever introduced in South Africa. If well co-ordinated, it can play an important role in closing the skills gap that exists in the South African economy. However, the main challenge is that the majority of the people trained could not access job opportunities and have therefore lost hope. It became clear that the training they received was not demand led. The training was not linked to job opportunities available in the community, the people that were trained had no choice, but to take what was offered to them as they were desperate for income generating opportunities. The group that was trained in sewing and poultry farming had no market for their produce. This therefore implies that the Department of Labour as the custodian of skills development cannot successfully create employment opportunities for the unemployed people without the participation of various state departments and private sector. Other stakeholders need to work hand in glove with the Department of Labour in order to ensure that people are equipped with relevant skills and are able to access income generating opportunities in the open labour market. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

The purpose of the study was to describe and analyse community participation in attempts to start a community garden project in the Shakashead community. A key focus of the study was to identify the level of participation of the community in all aspects of the project cycle, that is, the planning, implementation monitoring and evaluation phases. The study was carried out in an informal settlement situated in the North Coast about 75km from Durban. The community garden project was funded by the Luthuli Education Trust and initiated by the Borough of the Dolphin Coast as an endeavour to address abject poverty and unemployment in the community. Qualitative research methodology guided the evaluative nature of the research. The case study research strategy was used as the community garden project in the Shakashead community served as an example of a development programme in action. The data collection methods included participant observation and semi-structured, individual interviews. Purposive sampling was used to obtain respondents for this study. This process involved the deliberate selection of members who played significant roles in the attempts to start a community garden project in the Shakashead community. These research respondents included members of the Shakashead Civic Resident's Association, a Development Consultant who represented the funding organisation and the client liaison officer employed by the Dolphin Coast Borough. The overall aim was to document their perceptions and understanding of the attempts to start the community garden project and the reasons for the unsuccessful operation of the project. Four major themes emerged from the data to exemplify the significant elements of community involvement experienced in the attempts to start a community garden project in the Shakashead community. These themes included: a) the structural components required for full community participation; b) the importance of support and training for community members; c) local leadership and its impact on development; d) the hierarchical procedures of organisations. The recommendations included areas for further research and several changes ID working practices. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

This thesis argues that development requires policies which promote comprehensive human development, rather than simple economic growth. While international law and the human rights system mandate that the individual be the central focus of the development paradigm, there are other reasons in addition to legal obligation to engage in people centred development planning. It also addresses the broad support for participatory processes found in the development planning literature. The World Bank is a multilateral development agency charged with providing low interest loans to developing nations. Frequently the development interventions financed by these loans violate the human rights of neighbouring residents. Such violations are contrary to the Bank's international legal obligations as a member of the United Nations system. This thesis enumerates steps the Bank must take to align its project planning and implementation policies with international human rights law. Chapter One summarizes World Bank history, addresses its structure, and discusses its lending policy then moves on to comment on the human rights system, providing the theory and methodology to be used throughout the thesis. The following chapters address specific Bank policies regulating project planning. Chapter Two discusses the policy regarding involuntary resettlement arising from development, and summarize the Bank's indigenous policy. Chapter Three concerns the Bank's environmental assessment policy. Chapter Four investigates two areas where no Bank policy has been developed, contrary to the requirements of the human rights system: formation of national development policies, and the detriments suffered by project affected people not covered by other policies. Each chapter discusses the nature of the relevant human rights issues, outlines Bank policy (where it exists), and recommends modifications and courses of action to bring the Bank into accordance with the human rights requirements. Chapter five reviews the conclusions reached in earlier chapters and offers a brief case study demonstrating how human rights can be practically applied in development projects. The World Bank must create policies consistent with international civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights to meet the challenges, and the legal obligations, of human development.

Darbe analizuojami e. valdžios projektai, jų rengimo etapai, e. valdžios projektų savybės, specifika, e. valdžios projektų modeliai. Darbo tikslas: išnagrinėti e. valdžios projektų specifiką, rengimo metodiką; aprašyti būtinus bei galimus e. valdžios projektų diegimo etapus, remiantis sėkmingais ir nesėkmingais jau įvykdytais e. valdžios projektais tiek Lietuvoje, tiek užsienyje; išnagrinėti teorinį projekto modelį, jį pritaikyti e. valdžios projektams. Darbo objektas: e. valdžios projektai, e. valdžios projektų diegimui reikalingi etapai, e. valdžios projektų valdymo metodika. / The objectives of the work is to explore the specifics of e-government projects, methods of arrangement, manner of records and potential stages of e-government project implementation, on the ground of already implemented successful or unsuccessful e-government projects in Lithuania and abroad; to look at the theoretical model, apply it for e-government projects. The target is: e-government projects, necessary stages of e-government projects, management methodology of e-government projects.

The exhibition Is There No One in the World Who Can Fly? consists of three connected bodies of works. Life On Earth is a series of photo-performances exhibited on digital screens. Some of the images are still others are animated; they all propose that the body is a transmitter that breaths in content and breaths it out as a visual shape in the form of extensions, armatures or expulsions. Mammal is a large-scale video projection of a multi-breasted female figure projected on a free-standing wall. The breasts are animated and stretch out to explore and search the surrounding space. Worknest is a series of videos about the act of working which are projected onto the floor and appear as a community of guarded openings into tunnels beneath the ground.

Lietuva, kaip ir kitos buvusios šalys kandidatės, prieš įstodamos į Europos Sąjungą, turėjo galimybę pasinaudoti Europos Sąjungos finansine parama pagal Specialiąja žemės ūkio ir kaimo plėtros programą ( SAPARD ), kurios tikslas buvo sumažinti skirtumus tarp šalių kandidačių ir Europos Sąjungos vykdomos žemės ūkio politikos. Šalys – kandidatės, siekusios šios programos paramos, turėjo įvykdyti Europos Sąjungos ( toliau ES ) nustatytus reikalavimus. Lietuva, vykdydama šiuos reikalavimus, parengė ir su Europos Komisija suderino Nacionalinę žemės ūkio ir kaimo plėtros programą 2000-2006 metams ( toliau NŽŪKPP ), kuria remiantis ir buvo įgyvendinama SAPARD programa. Vykdant reikalavimus, taip pat buvo įsteigta Nacionalinė mokėjimo agentūrą prie Žemės ūkio ministerijos ( toliau NMA ), kuri padedant LR žemės ūkio ministerijai ( toliau ŽŪM ) buvo atsakinga už SAPARD paramos administravimą. / The purpose of this work to analyse projects is estimation of SAPARD programs and fourth priority of the national SPD in Lithuania, particulary the mainly attention, paying to NPA(National Paying Agency) sharping the settled acreditation criteria of EU.And offermeasures in order to improve estimation of projects in Lithuania.

Magistrinis darbas susideda iš dviejų dalių. Pirmoje dalyje pateikiama Socrates/Comenius 1 projektų 1998-2006 metais vykdytų Lietuvoje kiekybinė ir tematinė apžvalga. Antroje dalyje pristatomas empirinis projekto dalyvių – mokytojų – tyrimas, kuriuo buvo siekiama nustatyti mokytojų požiūrį į dalyvavimo projekte poveikį mokytojų profesiniam tobulėjimui. Darbo pabaigoje pateikiamos tyrimo išvados bei rekomendacijos. Tyrimo tikslas – ištirti mokytojų požiūrį į Socrates/Comenius 1 projektų poveikį jų profesiniam tobulėjimui. Projekto dalyvių - mokytojų - empirinis tyrimas buvo atliekamas anketinės apklausos metodu. Gauta 110 tinkamų analizuoti anketų. Apibendrinus tyrimo rezultatus daroma išvada, kad dalyvavimas projektuose turėjo didelės įtakos mokytojų profesiniam tobulėjimui. Dalyvavimas projekte praturtino tiek pačius mokytojus, tiek ir mokinius, ką minėjo dauguma apklaustųjų. Dauguma mokytojų patobulino savo užsienio kalbų žinias, vadybinius gebėjimus, praplėtė tarpkultūrinį pažinimą, projekto metu surinktą medžiagą naudojo pamokų metu. Taip pat darbe buvo siekiama atskleisti, su kokiomis problemos dažniausiai susidūrė projektų vykdytojai, bei remiantis dalyvių patirtimi ir literatūros šaltiniuose surinkta informacija, pateikti rekomendacijas esamiems ir būsimiems tarptautinių mokyklų bendradarbiavimo projektų vykdytojams. / This work consists from two main tasks. In first part of it is presented quantitative and thematic review for Socrates/Comenius 1 projects in Lithuania in the year 1998-2006. In second part you can find the empirical research of participants of project – teachers, which was aimed to identify teacher’s point of view to an influence of participating in project to their professional development. And in the end are presented conclusions and recommendations. The subject of this work is to explore the approach of teachers to the influence of Socrates/Comenius 1 projects to their professional development. This empirical research of project participants – teachers was organised on the basic of questionnaires. We have got 110 questionnaires good for analyses. With conclusion of this work we can say, that participating in the projects had strong influence for teacher’s professional development. Work in the project made richer teachers as well as students – many participants mentioned that. Majority of teachers improved their knowledge of foreign languages, abilities of using IT as well as management abilities extended their intercultural knowledge, products of projects they used in lessons. I also wanted to show, what kind of problems had participants of projects, and on the strength of their experience and information of literature sources, to give recommendations for present and future participants of international schools cooperation projects.

According to the Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman, “productivity isn’t everything, but in the long-run it is almost everything”. It is unfortunate that the productivity in the construction industry has lagged behind the manufacturing industry for the last several decades. The research presented in this thesis aims to improve productivity in the infrastructure sector of the construction industry by developing and validating Best Productivity Practices Implementation Index (BPPII) for Infrastructure projects. The BPPII Infrastructure is a check list of practices that are considered to have a positive influence on labour productivity at the project level for infrastructure projects. These practices have been identified through a literature review and consultation with industry experts, and have been anecdotally proven to positively affect productivity. These practices have been grouped together into a formalized set of BPPII’s categories, sections, and elements. Each practice and its planning and implementation levels have been completely defined. Each practice in the index has been assigned a relative weight based on its importance in affecting labour productivity. In total, there are 61 elements, 20 sections, and 6 categories. The six categories of the BPPII Infrastructure are: (1) Materials Management; (2) Construction Machinery and Equipment Logistics; (3) Execution Approach; (4) Human Resources Management; (5) Construction Methods; and (6) Health and Safety. The productivity factor defined as a ratio of estimated productivity and actual productivity was used as a metric to collect information about labour productivity. Data were collected for infrastructure projects on the planning and implementation level of practices, on the productivity factor, and on project schedule performance. The research hypothesis tested was that projects that have a high level of implementation of best practices as defined by the BPPII Infrastructure will have a better productivity performance than projects which have a low level of implementation of best practices. The regression analysis confirms that the BPPII score has a strong positive relationship with the productivity factor. ANOVA tests confirm that there is statistically significant difference between the productivity of projects that have a high level of implementation of practices and those that have a low level of implementation. Also, it was found that projects that have a high score on the index perform better in terms of project schedule performance than projects which have a low score on the BPPII Infrastructure.

Grassroots urban agriculture projects are highly interactive spaces, allowing people from different socio-cultural and economic backgrounds to learn, play and work together. They offer unconventional urban greenspace and recreational opportunities and contribute to urbanites’ understanding of how food is grown. Landscape architects can contribute numerous professional strengths to the design of these food-oriented landscapes. Case study research at Hackney City Farm, UK, and Prinzessinnengarten, Germany, illustrates that grassroots projects could benefit from a strong spatial design and increased layering of on-site uses in order to serve a greater cross-section of the community than at present. This research culminates in the design of a multifunctional food-oriented landscape at Brant Avenue Public School, Guelph, and is shaped by the case study findings and literature on participatory design and facilitation. The research demonstrates how landscape architects can work with community groups to provide a high diversity of on-site uses and user experience.

This paper studies the policy changes that have led to the design and early implementation of the land restitution program in Colombia. I use the land reform literature to frame land reform efforts in Colombia within the larger ideological discussion on land reform. The study maps out the roles of the main actors that influenced the actions of government regarding land reform and their role in shaping the present policies affecting land restitution. The paper argues that although the land restitution program provides an opportunity to initiate a peace building process and should be seriously considered as a measure to compensate the victims of the armed conflict, the present rural development model is an impediment to its success. Although, the more progressive coalition was able to achieve the approval of the land restitution program, the success of the program relies entirely on the wider rural development model being currently embraced in the country. The present rural development model puts an emphasis on the exploitation of extractive resources and other mega projects responding to global market demands; while illicit crops continue to provide an easy and profitable livelihood opportunity for many in the countryside. Such development does not support the livelihoods of returnees and thus does not compliment the land restitution program. The success of the land restitution program thus remains in doubt. The reason is that powerful actors support a neoliberal development model that continues to dominate the political agenda.