Micro enterprises have become popularised globally as the favoured option for development and have played a key role in poverty alleviation. The main premise of using micro enterprises has been to build the capacity of the individual to be self- sustaining and to move away from the continued dependency on state welfare. Micro enterprises are also seen as a key tool to allow participation of the disempowered population. In South Africa micro enterprises have been hailed by government as playing a pivotal role in creating employment opportunities for the poor people. The study was conducted to gain a deeper understanding of how beneficiaries view the role played by micro enterprises in reducing poverty. This qualitative research was based on case studies of 12 female participants who were selected using convenience sampling based on their availability and participation in micro enterprise initiatives. An interview schedule was used and the interviews were tape recorded. The major findings that emerged were that beneficiaries perceive micro enterprises as meeting their basic needs like food and rates, to others they were a way of supplementing income. Most participants perceived micro enterprise rather as a hobby than an effective income generating activity. None of the beneficiaries had business skills, equipment or information and capital to grow their business beyond their residential areas. None of the micro enterprises were able to create employment for others. Various factors such as lack of capital, low literacy levels, poor business management skills and non-entrepreneurial mind-set amongst others have resulted in this failure. Beneficiaries of this study perceived the income from their micro enterprises not enough to qualify their micro enterprises as a poverty reduction tool. The main conclusion drawn from the study is that whilst profit generated through participating in micro enterprises meet the beneficiaries’ basic necessities, it is insufficient income to meaningfully reduce poverty.

Thesis advisor: Mary E. Walsh / Developmental-contextual theory asserts that the contexts in which children develop have the potential to foster or inhibit healthy development (Lerner, 1984; 1995). Given the potential for developmental contexts to promote positive development for at-risk children, systemic student support interventions have been developed to change school contexts into more supportive environments for healthy child development (e.g., BCCOSS, 2010; Communities in Schools, 2010; Dryfoos, 2003). The current study examined the effects of one such student support program, City Connects (formerly Boston Connects). Previous evaluation research has found that City Connects positively impacts multiple factors of child development (BCCCFCP, 2009; BCCOSS, 2010). This study expanded upon the evaluation research to investigate the relationship between the City Connects intervention and specific domains of social development: friendship, bullying, peer victimization, relationship with teacher, and school belonging. Positive social development has been found to foster resilience and promote positive child development in other domains. Thus, this study also examined these domains of social development as the mechanisms through which City Connects is related to student report card grades in math, reading, behavior, and work habits. Within the current study sample of 3rd through 5th grade students in 2007, significant direct relationships between City Connects and domains of social development were not found. Since City Connects did not significantly predict improvements in social development, the mediating hypothesis was not supported. However, follow-up analyses revealed indirect relationships between City Connects and domains of social development, which were mediated by report card grades in reading and work habits. Reading grades significantly mediated the relationships between City Connects and school belonging, peer victimization, and bullying behavior. Work habit grades approached significance as a mediator of the relationships between City Connects and school belonging, relationship with teacher, bullying behavior and peer victimization. The current study underscores the complexity of developmental pathways, and the need for complex, multifaceted student support interventions to help support positive child development for low-income, urban children. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between freshmen's use of microcomputers and their social and intellectual development in a university environment. A review of related literature describes the theoretical foundation of this research and identifies questionnaire items for measuring the critical variables of microcomputer use and student development. To conduct the study, data obtained from 400 freshman students prior to entering Utah State University (USU) in the fall of 1996 were compared to data collected from the same students during Spring Quarter of 1997. Correlational analysis was used to study changes in freshman students' use of microcomputers and variables known to predict students' social and academic integration into the institution. Regression analyses were used to identify variables and dimensions of microcomputer use that contributed to and detracted from students' intellectual and social development.

In exploring current responses to crime, particularly youth involvement in gangs, this thesis examines two approaches: Crime Prevention through Social Development (CPSD) and risk-based prevention. The former is associated with the provision of socially-designed measures to address and eliminate the risk factor associated with persistent offending. The latter, however, refers to the implementation of risk management and statistical assessment to manage the risk factor associated with persistent offending. In light of these two approaches, this thesis examines a debate which purported that crime prevention practices has wholly shifted away from an emphasis on CPSD towards risk-based prevention. This thesis also examines the opposing debate which explains that CPSD and risk-based prevention have emerged into a balanced approach. Taking into account 19 youth gang prevention projects in Canada, the above debates are investigated. Drawing from the analysed project, this thesis concludes that, the crime prevention practices of the analyzed projects significantly rely on risk-based prevention. As a result, the approaches of CPSD still exist in rhetoric and in practice however, its influence on crime prevention initiatives is very limited. Hence, current approaches neither reflect a total shift away from CPSD nor a balanced approach.

To organize and implement social development projects through interorganizational collaboration is common, but lack empirical studies from a psychological perspective. The study´s aim was to make a collaboration analysis on the implementing actors within a social development project, to understand how the collaboration was functioning. The study took place within a project for marginalized groups in Tanzania, arranged by a Swedish NGO and implemented by interorganizational collaboration. Eight participants were interviewed on six areas: Environment, Membership characteristics, Process and Structure, Communication, Purpose, and Resources. The findings highlight the complexity of interorganizational collaboration. The studied collaborative network is overall working in the same direction, but has both functional and dysfunctional areas where the dysfunctional need to be improved for the collaboration to work well. The study indicates that interorganizational collaboration brings benefits for social development projects, and the six areas studied seem to cover essential areas of interorganizational collaboration.

Diss. Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2003.

It is argued in Chapters 1 to 4 that in cognitive psychology in general, and in the disciplines of language acquisition and cognitive development in particular, there is substantial benefit to be derived from distinguishing between two representational systems, one system being deployed in long-established or highly-practiced functions, and the second deployed in novel tasks, or where difficulties interrupt the first system. It is also argued that the proper subject of cognitive development is the second of these systems. Chapters 5 and 6 are concerned in different ways with the origins of language in the individual, in particular with the question of what innate knowledge of language might be justified. It is concluded that many questions regarding innate knowledge remain open, and that a source in human evolution for knowledge of language is no more likely than sources in individual or social development. In Chapter 7 it is argued that representational drawing emerges late in the 4th year of life, and some new techniques are described for studying early representational drawing. Following these treatments of external systems of representation, Chapter 8 offers a general developmental theory of forms of representation, extending Piaget's insight that mental representation is co-extensive with thought, and that the main axis of cognitive development is the content of thought and representation. Chapters 9 to 12 apply this theory to the representation of belief and desire, and of extrinsic and intrinsic qualities of objects, by 11/2 to 4 year-old children. Chapter 13 introduces a new method for analyzing the free classification task, a task sometimes used to assess children's ability to think about intrinsic qualities, and applies this method to various data sets. Chapter 14 applies these insights and results to the problem of characterizing concepts and concept development and favourably discusses the idea that more precise knowledge of this aspect of development may help to explain certain features of early language acquisition.

This is a Participatory Approach (PA) study done in Ghana, West Africa. We focus on two Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) in Ghana which uses a PA in their development work. Historically the development work in most African countries has been influenced by western countries, where development often was imposed from the top down, but nowadays, with PA, development seek to engage the local population in a community during the development process. Ghana has been struggling with poverty for several years, and the NGOs are of importance for the development in the country. The purpose of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of development workers’ perception of Participatory Approach and to increase the knowledge about how development workers’ at NGOs in Ghana are working with Participatory Approach. This is a qualitative research and we have used three methods in this Bachelor’s thesis. We have done six semi - structured interviews, one focus group and one field research. We had the interviews and the focus group with development workers at two NGOs. At the field research we had the opportunity to observe the development workers in action. The research questions in this Bachelor’s thesis are: - At two NGOs in Ghana, in what ways can the development workers’ perception of Participatory Approach be understood? - At two NGOs in Ghana, in what ways can the practise of Participatory Approach be understood? The development workers perception of PA, is that PA is important to get sustainable projects and to ensure ownership for all stakeholders in the development process. PA is an empowering process with focus on capacity building. The acceptance of oneself being in need is as important as the participation. Their perception about PA also include some challenges. PA is time- and money consuming , the flexibility that PA need is limited by deadlines and budgets. There are challenges related to social- and cultural values, your own as a development worker and the community’s. The contextual knowledge must be highlighted and the limitations of the organizations must be considered. Another concern is when peoples opinions are influenced by their expectaitions from what the NGOs can provide. The practise of PA is understood as a process where all stakeholders are involved from the beginning, a process to engage the community and make them active participants in every step in a development project. The development workers main role is to build capacity of the people on the field. They uses different tools to ensure participation; Stakeholder analyses, Community conversations and Key informants interviews. The practise can be understood in terms of different levels of participation and different intensity within different cycles in a development project. Depending of the role of the actor and the stage the process are going through, some actors are more active than others.

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