Worldwide, poverty remains to be an obstacle to achieve sustainable development and improve the well-being of people. Microfinance has become a popular tool for poverty alleviation and it can now be found in poor countries across the world. Microfinance is based on the principle that poor people can initiate their own development out of poverty, given they have the starting capital to do so. The capital can be invested in income-generating activities and it is assumed that this will lead to a higher income and additional positive effects, like an increase in well-being, will follow. However others argue that the focus on income is only one aspects of poverty, other forms of deprivation and constraints are excluded. This thesis aims to address how microfinance, the provision of credit in particular, has an influence on the well-being of women. A participatory rural appraisal was conducted in order to explore how women define well-being. The perspectives of four women groups from the urban and peri-urban areas of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania were included in understanding the local definition of well-being, the developments in their lives and the changes in well-being they have perceived. The results show that the group loans may contribute to positive changes in the well-being of women, but these changes cannot be attributed to the loans alone. The changes in well-being caused by the loan intertwine with other factors like group dynamics and family life; therefore the results need to be interpreted considering the specific context. Furthermore the results show that the changes in well-being are not necessarily related to an increase in income, thus contesting the assumptions on which microfinance is based.

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<p>It is the aim of this study to determine the location of poverty alleviation within the framework of the church's missionary activity. The following three approaches will be examined, namely a dualistic approach, the approach of liberation theology and a multi-dimensional approach. The author analysed literature of writers within the context of South African missiological discourse.</p>

<p>In South Africa, poverty engendered by the apartheid regime has long been part of the fabric of the economy. Against this background of social marginalisation, material deprivation and individual vulnerability, tourism has over the years increasingly been mooted as a strategically important and lucrative sector that, if fully explored and exploited, would lead to sustained poverty alleviation in the Republic of South Africa. The central aim of this study was to establish whether tourism as evident in the Spier Tourism model is a sustainable poverty-reduction strategy. The specific objectives of this study were to examine the socio-economic impact of Spier tourism initiatives on its workers (previously disadvantaged individuals) and the local population, to assess the pro-poor tourism practices as implemented by Spier in relation to Rogerson&rsquo / s pro-poor approach, to identify the challenges that Spier is facing in its pro-poor tourism approach with respect to poverty reduction goals, to provide recommendations on how the challenges can be met most effectively and to examine how pro-poor tourism can be promoted and enhanced in South Africa. The study employed both the qualitative and quantitative research designs. Data were collected through different qualitative and quantitative techniques (in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, questionnaire). Summary findings indicate that Spier has positively contributed to the socio-economic improvement in the living standards (contribution to livelihood &ndash / increased income, enhanced health and food status), through job creation, improved education/healthcare, empowerment through training and skill development, investment in the corporate social responsibility. However, Spier is still grappling with challenges such as racial disputes, insufficient income of employees and unqualified staff to mention a few. This study makes several recommendations which are based on the findings.</p>

Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in Latin America. This study analyzes whether rural poverty increases the incidence of food insecurity and whether food insecurity perpetuates the condition of poverty among the rural poor in Bolivia. In order to achieve this aim, the risks that households face and the capacity of households to implement coping strategies in order to mitigate vulnerability shocks are identified. We suggest that efforts by households to become food secure may be difficult in rural areas because of poverty and the vulnerability associated with a lack of physical assets, low levels of human capital, poor infrastructure, and poor health; as well as the precarious regional environment aggravating the severity of vulnerability to food insecurity.

This study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the GWAPA Single Mothers Poverty alleviation Programme. The study hypothesized that women in Gweru are among the most vulnerable to poverty and disease and GWAPA project may be an effective source to their poverty alleviation. Main objectives of the study were to explain selected development concepts, to explore the relationship between gender and poverty, to investigate the effectiveness of the GWAPA Programme, to outline the challenges faced by GWAPA, and to offer recommendations based on research findings to help improve the effectiveness of the programme. Both theoretical study and empirical research methods were used to ensure a balanced evaluation of the problem. The theoretical study established that the target population for poverty alleviation and development programmes must be fully involved for development to replace poverty. On average women were found to be poorer than men and hence the need for projects that focus on poverty alleviation among women. In the empirical study 375 of the 1756 GWAPA single women members were used as questionnaire respondents, and 3 management employees were sampled for the interviews. Descriptive survey and qualitative participatory approaches were used as the main research methodologies. This hybrid approach was intended to improve the validity and reliability of the outcome of the study by mitigating weaknesses of different individual approaches. This approach would ensure maximum utilization and involvement of subjects and available resources. Questionnaires, interviews and documentary evidence augmented by the researcher's experience with the NGDO were used as research instruments. Of the 375 Questionnaires distributed, 357 (95%) were collected. Various statistical measures were used to summarize and interpret the data, particularly tables, graphs and charts, actual frequencies and percentage rates. Narrative descriptions were also used to explain given scenarios and relationships. The study established that poverty and development are multidimensional concepts, families headed by women are on average poorer than those headed by men, respondents' lives have changed for the better, GWAPA single mothers have work overload especially considering that as women they shoulder the biggest chunk of the family responsibilities, and most of the GWAPA projects which started well were now suffocating under the current economic hardships.. Main challenges faced by GWAPA include the current political and economic environment, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the limited educational levels among its members, members' limited access to resources, community cultural biases and negative attitudes towards single mothers and commercial sex workers, government regulation on financial transactions and the amount of cash one should hold outside the banking system, and work overload among members. The study recommends involvement of GWAPA members' opposite sex partners as affiliates, intensive public campaigns, lobbying and advocacy to remove the stigma and negative attitudes towards single mothers and commercial sex workers, improving infrastructure and the GWAPA Farm operations, engaging long term facilitators, certification after attending training programmes, excelling awards, present manuals in mother languages, and alternative fundraising strategies. The government and municipalities are encouraged to invest more in the small enterprise sector as it has proven to have the capability to create employment and develop communities by mobilizing the grassroots. The study also recommends a more detailed and deeper participatory study, related comparative studies that show differences and similarities between related projects in different areas in Zimbabwe, and similar studies on DNGOs that work with both sexes in different areas in Zimbabwe. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

This study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the GWAPA Single Mothers Poverty alleviation Programme. The study hypothesized that women in Gweru are among the most vulnerable to poverty and disease and GWAPA project may be an effective source to their poverty alleviation. Main objectives of the study were to explain selected development concepts, to explore the relationship between gender and poverty, to investigate the effectiveness of the GWAPA Programme, to outline the challenges faced by GWAPA, and to offer recommendations based on research findings to help improve the effectiveness of the programme. Both theoretical study and empirical research methods were used to ensure a balanced evaluation of the problem. The theoretical study established that the target population for poverty alleviation and development programmes must be fully involved for development to replace poverty. On average women were found to be poorer than men and hence the need for projects that focus on poverty alleviation among women. In the empirical study 375 of the 1756 GWAPA single women members were used as questionnaire respondents, and 3 management employees were sampled for the interviews. Descriptive survey and qualitative participatory approaches were used as the main research methodologies. This hybrid approach was intended to improve the validity and reliability of the outcome of the study by mitigating weaknesses of different individual approaches. This approach would ensure maximum utilization and involvement of subjects and available resources. Questionnaires, interviews and documentary evidence augmented by the researcher's experience with the NGDO were used as research instruments. Of the 375 Questionnaires distributed, 357 (95%) were collected. Various statistical measures were used to summarize and interpret the data, particularly tables, graphs and charts, actual frequencies and percentage rates. Narrative descriptions were also used to explain given scenarios and relationships. The study established that poverty and development are multidimensional concepts, families headed by women are on average poorer than those headed by men, respondents' lives have changed for the better, GWAPA single mothers have work overload especially considering that as women they shoulder the biggest chunk of the family responsibilities, and most of the GWAPA projects which started well were now suffocating under the current economic hardships.. Main challenges faced by GWAPA include the current political and economic environment, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the limited educational levels among its members, members' limited access to resources, community cultural biases and negative attitudes towards single mothers and commercial sex workers, government regulation on financial transactions and the amount of cash one should hold outside the banking system, and work overload among members. The study recommends involvement of GWAPA members' opposite sex partners as affiliates, intensive public campaigns, lobbying and advocacy to remove the stigma and negative attitudes towards single mothers and commercial sex workers, improving infrastructure and the GWAPA Farm operations, engaging long term facilitators, certification after attending training programmes, excelling awards, present manuals in mother languages, and alternative fundraising strategies. The government and municipalities are encouraged to invest more in the small enterprise sector as it has proven to have the capability to create employment and develop communities by mobilizing the grassroots. The study also recommends a more detailed and deeper participatory study, related comparative studies that show differences and similarities between related projects in different areas in Zimbabwe, and similar studies on DNGOs that work with both sexes in different areas in Zimbabwe. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / ABSTRACT It is estimated that there are currently 3.9 million people living in urban poverty in Thailand, without the existence of an effective social assistance safety-net. This thesis presents an analysis of Thai governments’ urban poverty alleviation policy. The central aim of the thesis is to question whether Thai government policy on urban poverty alleviation can be effective for the poor and the poorest in urban slum communities. Qualitative methods are used, supported by documentary research, and the author’s own experience of being a community development worker and researcher in the urban slums of Thailand over a period of 18 years. I have endeavoured to elicit information from the range of stakeholders engaged with contemporary urban poverty alleviation policy in Bangkok. Thus the research includes the perspectives of policy makers, the poor, and the poorest. I distinguish between these latter two groups by describing those who have access to some government provision for the urban poor and those who are excluded from such provision. I interviewed 18 policy makers, 15 community savings groups committee members, and 65 of the excluded poorest. I investigated the development of policy relating to the urban poor through an analysis of key government reports and documents. I examined all of the government policy documents relating to policies for urban poverty alleviation and the Thai Governments’ five year National Economic and (later) Social Development Plans from 1961 to 2006. I also analysed each of the fifty four Government statements on their policies to the National Assembly covering this period. This research produced two major new vehicles for understanding and interpreting Thai government urban poverty alleviation policy. First, the policy document research enabled me to construct a critical account of the historical development of policy relating to the urban poor, particularly those in slum communities. Second, the interviews produced a unique view of the often desperate lives lived by some Thai citizens who are part of communities residing in what is estimated as 2,000 slums in Thailand. This view is seen through the eyes of both the urban poor and the policy makers. I found attitudes of the policy makers towards the urban poor contain a number of diverse stances, both negative and positive. The Government’s preferred way of helping, previously by housing improvements, and recently by promoting credit and loan schemes with a low interest rate to strengthen community-based organisations and emphasise self-reliance, does help some of the poor; it also excludes others. An important discussion in the thesis is about self-reliance. This is widely referred to by all stakeholders-from HM The King, through leading thinkers including Buddhist scholars, to the poorest in the slum communities. I analyse what such a concept means to each of these groups. I have found there may be little agreement, either on what is being spoken about, or what the implications of self-reliance are for helping Thailand’s poorest citizens. The thesis is also concerned with how to improve the situations of the poor. There is therefore a review of some curricula relating to the training of social/community workers to assess how well students are prepared for their work. The conclusions make some practical recommendations for change at a policy level, via civil society, and in professional education. The direct education and training of the poor is seen as crucial to any substantial improvements. My own experience, producing the thesis in a western country, is included throughout. This is in order to reflect on my learning and the challenges of researching within and outside the Thai social structure.

Doctor Legum - LLD / This research project proposes that the social-obligation norm of ownership should be adopted as the ethic on which land restitution is carried out in South Africa. While there exists a subtle and indirect appreciation of the social-obligation norm in South African constitutional property law, this is veiled by the respect given to the classical liberal conception of ownership which gives more regard to an owner's ius abutendi and subsequently, accepts that owners can do as they please with their property as long as they do not break any law. Of course, South Africa no longer adheres to such a classical liberalist approach to ownership. An adherence to classical liberalist views of ownership has arguably, led to the neglect of arable restituted land. To this effect, the Constitution as well as the Restitution of Land Rights Act 22 of 1994 (RLA) need to clearly and more positively express the social-obligation norm of ownership in order to promote productive and sustainable utilisation of cultivable restituted land. The thesis argues that the current failures of the land restitution programme are linked to the absence of a social-obligation norm in the RLA as well as the negatively framed Property Clause in the South African Constitution. Even the envisaged changes to the land restitution process as outlined in the 2011 Green Paper on Land Reform as well as in the Property Valuation Act, will not solve the current problems of wasteful neglect of land. The thesis therefore suggests that a positive expression and formulation of the social-obligation norm in the RLA as well as in the Property Clause will promote active, sustainable, productive, and optimal utilization of all cultivable land acquired through the country's land restitution process. This will assist with meeting the developmental aspirations for the rural economy as envisaged in chapter six of the National Development Plan 2030. Furthermore, utilising the land productively through the socialobligation norm is an expression of Ubuntu, a key constitutional theme in South Africa. The experiences of Brazil and Germany deserve special analysis. This is because the socialobligation norm occupies a prominent and positive place in the constitutional property law of both these countries. Further, both countries respect private ownership of property as long as the property is utilised in a manner that permits others to flourish and improve the quality of their life.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / It is the aim of this study to determine the location of poverty alleviation within the framework of the church's missionary activity. The following three approaches will be examined, namely a dualistic approach, the approach of liberation theology and a multi-dimensional approach. The author analysed literature of writers within the context of South African missiological discourse. / South Africa