A thesis submitted to the Faculty Arts in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Community Work in the Department of Social Work at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2014 / Rural economic development is a priority for every government in the world, whether the country is developed, developing or Third World. In South Africa, 45.8% of the population lives in rural areas and are regarded as lower social class. Here unemployment is high and the educational level is low. As a result people rely heavily on government grants for their household income. Many factors contribute to this dependency, mostly the legacy of apartheid policies. The effect of the apartheid ideology tended to put economic development beyond the reach of black people through stripping them of resources and blocking advancement in their knowledge and capacities. Hence, the developmental efforts in the new democratic era has a focus on economic empowerment of women and people with disabilities, improvement of health standards in rural areas, bettering education using agriculture as the tool to achieve the proposed development. Many policies that are based on agriculture have been implemented to better people’s situation in South Africa. They include Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), Growth, Employment and Redistribution Strategy (GEAR), Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP), Integrated Development Plans (IDP) and Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy (ISRDS), to mention but a few. The study aimed at assessing the impacts of government agricultural projects in rural economic development while identifying proper strategies for effective agricultural project implementation in the rural areas. The results revealed that there has been creation of additional employment opportunities in agriculture which have also contributed to improvement of household food security, infrastructural development, informal and formal education. Measures promoting smallholder agricultural growth can be an effective strategy to reduce rural poverty, income inequality and can contribute significantly to poverty alleviation by raising rural incomes through agricultural productivity. Investing in agricultural development benefits the communities through better roads, storage, transport and other marketing infrastructures which generate farm and non-farm employment thus benefiting not only the project participants but also the community as a whole. However, the study concludes that local regional agricultural policies are needed for land access and use by women and youth especially, in order to enhance land market development and agriculture investment. These policies should include bettering financial credits available for project participants through simplifying the application processes and low interest payments.

Submitted in the Faculty of.Arts in partial fnlfillmeut of the requirements for the degree of Master of.Arts in Community Work in the Department of Social Work at the University of Zulu1and, 2001. / Malnutrition continues to affect the large number of people, particularly in developing countries* Few studies have reported on nutritional status of children in southern Africa. A comprehensive nutritional survey was conducted on African children aged 0-5 years (n = 172) in two rural areas of Mapataland, namely, Mangnza and Ngwavuma. Stunting, underweight, acute under nutrition and lower upper arm measurement were prevalent is children of Mapataland. The average diet contained an adequate amount of portion from the meat and cereals group but had inadequate content milk and fruit/vegetable group as in accordance with expectations of the Department of Health and welfare. The percentage energy obtain from fat in the diet was very low (19%) and from carbohydrates was very high (68%). The amount of plant protein in the diet exceeded that of animal protein. Boys had lower means height and weight than girls with 36% falling below the NCHS 5th percentiles weight-for-age. Wasting was only present in 5% and 2 % among girls. Current diet intake was assessed with a diet history and a diet food frequency questionnaire. A high to moderate prevalence of underweight rural areas (19%), a low prevalence of stunting in rural areas (17%) and a high prevalence of wasting in rural area (7%) were identified. Maize-meal porridge and milk were the most commonly used food items, as compared with, vegetables, margarine and meat. Most of the children had insufficient (<67% RDA) intake of iron, Zinc, Vitamin C, Niacin and Vitamin B6.

No description available.

Extant research focusing on rural teacher education programs emphasizes the urgency of teacher preparation investigation and professional development which is needed to successfully work with ELs (e.g. Fry & Anderson, 2011; Hansen Thomas et al., 2014; Manner & Rodriguez, 2012; O’Neal et al., 2008). However, little research has included preservice teachers’ perspectives related to their own preparatory programs. This study fills the gap in previous research by investigating preservice teachers’ perceptions of how their teacher education programs are preparing them to teach ELs in poor rural areas. This study was conducted in Mississippi, a state in which over 50% of schools are located at poor rural areas. At the time of data collection, 3 preservice teacher participants of this study were studying secondary math education at a university in Mississippi and conducting their intern teaching at poor rural schools. Data related to EL teaching and learning in Mississippi were also collected from teacher educators of this university and other stakeholders. The data revealed that preservice teachers who possessed different levels of satisfaction with the preparation received to teach ELs interpreted their coursework and field experiences in diverse ways. The post-secondary teacher educators who participated in the study provided reasons why courses specifically related to EL teaching and learning were not included. Other stakeholders described the sources and development of the EL students in their school districts, indicating a low incidence of ELs in rural schools and providing reasons for why there existed a slim chance for preservice teachers to have EL students in their intern-teaching classrooms. This study extends the previous research by exploring preservice teachers’ perspectives on how their current teacher education programs prepared them for teaching ELs in poor rural areas. Data suggest that preservice teachers possessing greater solid subject knowledge felt more prepared to teach ELs. Other suggestions related to strengthening EL teaching preparation included adding explicit instruction related to teaching ELs within methods courses and offering a course related to SLA as an elective; providing preservice teachers with the opportunities to practice teaching EL students; and affording teacher educators regular professional development sessions related to EL teaching.

Student Number : 0008922X - MPH research report - Faculty of Health Sciences / The use of the mobile clinics for rendering health care services in South Africa is part of the services rendered according to the Primary Health Care Service Package that was officially published in 2001. Mobile clinics have been found to be instrumental in rendering of health care especially in the rural and semi- rural areas. In the majority of these areas, the mobile clinic is the only source of health care provision at community level. Lack of well developed infrastructure and poor roads contribute to inaccessibility of health care services in rural and semi-rural areas. Health programmes are often of poor quality or offer incomplete services. Factors such as lack of knowledge of available health care services, satisfaction with the quality and range of services provided, and unavailability of the mobile clinic service when there is a health need, can result in the mobile health care clinic being less utilized. The purpose of the study was to address the following question: What are mobile clinic users’ opinions on health care service provision in the Muldersdrift area Gauteng Province? To answer the question three research objectives were formulated. These were to: describe the mobile clinic users’ level of service utilization, to assess their level of knowledge of available health care services and to determine their level of satisfaction with the services provided. To achieve the study objectives, an exploratory, descriptive survey was used as the research design. Three sampling techniques were used in this study. Cluster sampling was used for developing sampling framework for the 35 mobile points. Stratified sampling used to stratification of the mobile points. A non- probability convenience sampling was then used for final selection of the nine mobile clinic points and for selection of a sample size of 94 mobile clinic users’ to be included in the study. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package 7.0. The results show that the mobile clinic service was optimally utilized, 59% had used the service more than thrice within a period of six months. The majority of participants (89.3%) had knowledge of all the services being offered on the mobile clinic. Very few respondents (19.5%) were aware of the availability of HIV and AIDS counseling and testing on the mobile clinic. All most all the respondents (98.9%) were satisfied the range of services offered on the mobile clinic. Almost half (48.9%) were not satisfied with the service being offered once a month, (4.4%) with the attitude of the staff, (5.3%) with treatment of common ailments and (2%) said the mobile clinic service was bad.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (M A (Anthropology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Anthropology and Archaeology / unrestricted

Rural development is a key policy area in developing countries. Its basic premise boils down to improving the economic well-being and quality of life of rural people. Best practices regarding rural development in developing countries, including Benin, China, Korea and Rwanda, that are known to have been relatively successful in reducing poverty and diversifying the rural economy showed that strong governance, institutional capabilities, active rural communities, and most importantly funding, are all essential for successful rural development. Moreover, land reform and investment in agriculture, infrastructure, education and health play a crucial role in the early stages of rural development. The aim of this study was to examine the concept of rural development as well as policy measures and best practices relating to rural development in order to formulate a rural development strategy for the rural areas of Limpopo Province. To achieve its research objectives, the study used a qualitative research method and secondary data analysis. Before 1995, rural development in South Africa was neglected, resulting in underdevelopment and impoverishment in rural areas. Post-1994, policies for rural development were adopted by the democratic government to improve the economic well-being of people living in rural communities. However, this had thus far limited success as high levels of poverty and inequalities in rural areas still prevails. Those highly affected were rural people in Limpopo Province. In 2018, Limpopo was the most predominantly rural province in South Africa, with over 80% of the population living in rural areas. The study classified Limpopo’s local municipalities into three types of areas, namely predominantly rural area (a local municipality is classified as predominantly rural area if the share of rural population in the local municipal area is above 50%), significantly rural area (that is, a local municipality where the share of rural population in the local area represents between 15% and 49% of the local area’s total population), and predominantly urban area (that is, a local municipality where the share of rural population in the local area is below 15%). Out of 25 local municipalities in Limpopo, 19 were predominantly rural areas, five were significantly rural areas and one was predominantly urban area. Findings show that, in rural areas of Limpopo, there was the prevalence of lower-wage jobs, lower educational attainment, a higher share of low-income households, and more than half of the population depended on government's social grants (including old age grant) and remittances as their income sources. Analysis indicates that educational attainment, household income levels, consumption expenditure and investment tend to be relatively lower, while the unemployment rate is higher, in predominantly rural areas. The economic structure is changing as the share of the primary sector in total Gross Value Added (GVA) is slowly declining, while that of the tertiary sector is gradually increasing. Regarding the contributions to the GVA and employment by sector in predominantly rural areas, agriculture contributed less than 3% to the total GVA, yet it is one of the top employers, contributing 13% of employment. Although mining contributed the most (23,7%) to the total GVA, it only employed 4% of the workforce. To address challenges in rural areas, a rural development strategy for Limpopo Province should contain policy tools that will promote infrastructure development for better access to education, communication, transport, safe water and other basic facilities. It should also encourage capital formation in rural enterprises; promote multi-sectoral development involving reviving agriculture, developing tourism and manufacturing sectors; and promote agro-processing and downstream mineral beneficiation; improve support and access to funding for rural enterprises; and promote the development of the green economy to create decent job opportunities. Access to land and land tenure security are a necessity to stimulate investment needed to accelerate rural development. / Economics / M. Com. (Economics)

The Public Internet Terminal (PIT) is the Department of Communication initiative that aims to bring electronic communication to all South African citizens. It was launched in 1998 as a joint venture between the Department of Communications (DoC) and the South African Post Office (SAPO).This study postulates that the massive roll out of the Public Internet terminals (PIT‘s) has enhanced the lives of the poor by providing easy access to government services. It further assumes that the PITs are able to facilitate access of eService‘s to all the citizens in particular where electronic services are not freely available such as in the rural and remote under serviced areas of South Africa. In addition, it explores the envisaged value added initiatives stipulated in the memorandum of understanding entered in between the Department of Communication (DOC) and the South African Post Office (SAPO).

This ethnographic study has been undertaken to address a literature gap relating to rural students’ experiences of distance education in developing countries. It gives an account of teaching and learning practices at the Open University of Tanzania (OUT), describes the needs, challenges and coping strategies of students and makes recommendations for improving teaching and support practices in rural areas. An ethnographic approach was used to enable the generation of rich, contextual data from four OUT regional centres. Data generation methods included interviews, observation and document review, while themes were inductively generated through thematic analysis. Bourdieu’s concepts of field and habitus were used to guide the conduct of the study and interpretation of the findings. The study shows that the OUT does not significantly address the problem of the educational divide between the rural and urban populations of Tanzania. This is mainly due to the urban location of regional centres and to students’ inadequate access to relevant teaching and support services such as tutors, library resources and Internet services. The existence of poor infrastructure and the many technological challenges encountered in rural areas further exacerbate the situation. Such limitations may make it difficult for students to develop the intellectual inquiry and critical commentary skills necessary to make informed decisions, and to acquire the competencies expected of graduates of higher education programmes. This study presents rich data based on the immersion of the researcher in the everyday lives of students at the OUT, and proposes a series of recommendations addressing the development of future policy and planning for the university.

This study examines the connection between social capital and urban and rural areas. The study divides the environments into two categories; metropolises and rural areas. Metropolises are defined as any of Swedens largest cities Stockholm, Gothenburg or Malmö. The study also examines if there is a difference between these groups in how high social trust they have to people living in the same areas as themselves versus people who live in other areas. The studie also focuses on the urbanization that the world is going through, where people move from rural areas into the cities for work and education. Does the urbanization also have an effect of the development of the social capital? Social capital is defined as social trust and the participants have been asked to which extent they feel like they can trust other people. The results of the research shows there exists a slight but consistent difference between the groups where we can see that the people who has grown up in metropolises has a higher social trust than the people raised in rural areas. The study also shows that although the people raised in rural areas has lower trust to people in general, they have higher trust to people living in the same areas as themselves.