Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2017-04-10T19:16:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 renanmarceloalvescoimbra.pdf: 1469011 bytes, checksum: d4a0b31afc032a39a83274c97d60306f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-04-11T11:47:06Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 renanmarceloalvescoimbra.pdf: 1469011 bytes, checksum: d4a0b31afc032a39a83274c97d60306f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-11T11:47:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 renanmarceloalvescoimbra.pdf: 1469011 bytes, checksum: d4a0b31afc032a39a83274c97d60306f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-20 / A dissertação investiga efeitos de acréscimos em renda e escolaridade sobre o estado de saúde. Tem como pano de fundo e cenário motivador o quadro de progressos pelos quais o Brasil passou nos últimos vinte anos, especialmente a expansão do sistema de ensino e os incrementos na remuneração dos estratos mais subalternos. O estudo parte dos argumentos de sociólogos brasileiros a proporem que estes avanços, embora tenham gerado benefícios para todas as classes sociais, pouco diminuíram as distâncias entre elas. A hipótese defendida é que, em tais circunstâncias, as camadas menos favorecidas tendem a maiores ganhos em saúde. Mecanismos bastante específicos oferecem explicação razoável ao quadro. Visando melhor compreendê-los, o objetivo mais geral do estudo consiste em contrastar impactos do aumento em renda e instrução com a situação de classe. Em outras palavras, propõe investigar os efeitos de alterações nestes fatores para eventos em que a localização das pessoas na estrutura socioeconômica permaneça a mesma. O trabalho não analisa a distribuição de saúde ao longo do tempo. Ao invés disso, por meio de regressão logística e ferramentas estatísticas, manipula os dados e faz simulações (quadros contrafactuais) para apontar a força e a natureza dos efeitos em situações de mudança. Os resultados, oriundos dos microdados da Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde de 2013 e tratados com o programa estatístico Stata, revelam que na base da estrutura socioeconômica, onde há escassez de recursos, acréscimos em renda e escolaridade geram ganhos consideráveis. Dentre os privilegiados, a proximidade do limite de saúde boa, ou efeito de teto, faz com que os incrementos afetem sua situação de forma bem menos intensa. Apesar das melhorias absolutas ocorridas em todos os estratos, os avanços relativos obtidos pelos subalternos não encerram as assimetrias, pois classe mantem sua capacidade de operar protetivamente. Assim, a desvantagem de saúde das pessoas localizadas na parte inferior da pirâmide, mesmo através de ganhos nos indicadores acima referidos, dificilmente é revertida. Neste estudo, a medida correspondente à variável resposta é a autodeclaração do estado de saúde. / The dissertation investigate efects of income increase and schooling on health condition. It has with the background and motivating scenario the progress framework through which Brazil that passes in the last twelve years, especially the expansion system of education and the income increase of subordinate segments. The study starts from allegations of brazilian sociologists to propose that this advances, while have created benefits for all social classes, little decreased the distance between them. The defended hypothesis is in such circumstances, the lower classes tend to larger health improvements. Considerable mechanisms provide reasonable explanation to framework. Aiming best understand them, the more general goal of the study consist in contrast impacts of income increase and instruction with a class situation. In other words, propose to investigate the efects of changes in this factors to events that the location of people in socio-economic structure belong the same. The work doesn’t examine the heath distribution over time. Instead, using logistic regression and statistical tools, it manipulates data and performs simulations (counterfactual frames) to point out the strength and nature of effects in changing situations. The outcomes, originating micro-data of National Research of Heath for 2013 and treated with the statistical program Stata, reveals that at the base of the socioeconomic structure, where resources are scarce, increases in income and schooling generate considerable gains. Among the privileged, the proximity of the good health limit, or ceiling effect, causes the increments to affect their situation much less intensely. Despite the absolute improvements that occurred in all extracts, the relative advances achieved by the subalterns do not close the asymmetries, because class maintains its capacity to operate protectively. Thus, even through gains in the above indicators, the health disadvantage of people located at the bottom of the pyramid is difficult to reverse. In this study, the measure corresponding to the response variable is the self-declaration of health status.

Orientador: Eduardo Roberto Junqueira Guimarães / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-23T12:18:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Oliveira_RosimarReginaRodriguesde_D.pdf: 1037262 bytes, checksum: 62807adac0ddc7192ab8a7a40234d8ec (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Neste trabalho objetivamos compreender o funcionamento semântico-enunciativo e a argumentação constituída em torno da expressão marcha para Oeste na relação com as palavras progresso, moderno e seus derivados, em um momento específico da sociedade brasileira. Momento este em que o projeto da marcha para Oeste foi proposto, pelo então Presidente do Brasil, Getúlio Vargas, enquanto movimento de "colonização" do Estado de Mato Grosso. Desse modo, analisamos dois tipos específicos de textos: os do jornal O Estado de Mato Grosso; e um relatório do Conselho Nacional de Proteção aos Índios, do Ministério da Agricultura, destinado à conclusão da Carta de Mato Grosso, portanto, um documento oficial do Estado. Para o desenvolvimento das análises desses textos lançamos mão do aparato teórico da Semântica da Enunciação ou Semântica do Acontecimento. Assim, tomamos os textos como acontecimentos de linguagem, ou seja, lugares de produção de sentido que, neste caso, apresentou como temporalidade o memorável da condição do Brasil enquanto país colonizado a partir do litoral, Leste; instalando como presente de enunciação o lugar da divisão social, econômica e geográfica/regional do país, que opõem o Leste ao Oeste; e apresentando como futuro de significação o rompimento dessas fronteiras sociais, econômicas e geográficas. Desse modo, esses acontecimentos funcionam politicamente e possibilitam a afirmação de pertencimento da região Centro- Oeste ao Brasil. Como parte do funcionamento semântico-enunciativo que constitui a designação de marcha para Oeste, encontramos, como determinação desta expressão, em todos os acontecimentos analisados, os sentidos de progresso e civilização e a oposição apresentada entre o Leste, que é tomado como civilizado e progressista, e o Oeste, como incivilizado, remoto, despovoado e estagnado. A única possibilidade apresentada para que o Oeste se torne civilizado e progressista é a realização da marcha para Oeste. A cena enunciativa observada nesses acontecimentos apresenta diferentes locutores-x que argumentam para diferentes alocutários-x em uma só direção: a realização da marcha para Oeste. Além disso, observamos que em alguns desses acontecimentos enunciativos a argumentação é fundamentada no discurso do presidente Getúlio Vargas, seja na direção da realização da marcha para Oeste ou como forma de sustentar sua posição no governo. viii Desse modo, embora tenhamos como evidência de sentido da marcha para Oeste ser um projeto do governo, observamos que há outros sentidos que circulam afetando a determinação e a argumentação em relação a essa expressão / Abstract: In this work we aim to understand the argumentation and the semantic-enunciative functioning constituted around the Westward march expression in relation to the words progress, modern and its derivatives at a specific moment of "Brazilian society. At that point the Westward march project was proposed by the then President of Brazil, Getúlio Vargas, as a movement of the State of Mato Grosso's colonization". Thus, we analyzed two specific types of texts: the ones of the newspaper O Estado de Mato Grosso and a report of the National Council for the Indian Protection, from the Ministry of the Agriculture, for the completion of the Mato Grosso's Letter. For the development of the analysis of these texts we used the Semantics of the Enunciation or the Semantics of the Event's theoretical apparatus. Thus, we took the texts as language events, in other words, places of meaning production that, in this case, presented as temporality the memorable of the Brazil condition as a colonized country from the coast, East; installing as present of the enunciation the place of the country's social, economic and geographical/regional division that opposes the East to the West; and presenting as a future signification the disruption of these social, economic and geographic boundaries. Thus, these events work politically and enable the assertion of belonging in the Midwest to Brazil. As part of the semantic-enunciative operation which is the designation of Westward march, we found as the determination of this expression, in all events analyzed, the senses of progress and civilization and the opposition presented between East, which is taken as civilized and progressive, and the West, such as uncivilized, remote, unpopulated and stagnant. The only option presented to the West to become civilized and progressive is the realization of the Westward march. The enunciative scene observed in these events has different speakers-x who argue for different alocutarius-x in one direction: the realization of the Westward march. Furthermore, we observed that in some of these enunciative events the argumentation was based on the President Getúlio Vargas speech as toward the realization of the Westward march or as a way to sustain his position in government. Thus, although we have as evidence sense of the Westward march to be a government project, we found that there are other senses which circulate affecting the determination and the argumentation in relation to this expression / Doutorado / Linguistica / Doutora em Linguística

Co-operatives are seen as one of the appropriate strategies for intervention in eradicating poverty in rural communities. During the financial year 2007-2008 the Department of Social Development and Special Programmes pronounced on the availability of funds in its budget for the establishment of women’s co-operatives and other livelihood community projects. The initiative of funding rural women’s cooperatives was one of the interventions to address high poverty and unemployment levels among rural women in the province. Rural women co-operatives were nonexistent in the Mbhashe area of the Eastern Cape, as a consequence, co-operatives were speedily formed in order to access funding for women co-operatives that was made available by the Department of Social Development and Special Programmes. The concern of the state initiated rural women’s co-operatives was their long-term sustainability as they were not embedded in the principles of a co-operative as autonomous association of persons who should voluntarily unite to meet their common economic, cultural and social needs and aspirations through a jointly democratically controlled enterprise. It was a top-down approach which negated inherent values of cooperation, namely self help, self responsibility, democracy, equity and solidarity. The aim of the study was to investigate the challenges faced by state-initiated rural women’s co-operatives in reducing poverty in the Mbhashe Area, Eastern Cape Province. Purposive sampling was used to select members of the co-operatives as participants. Study had an applied goal and intrinsic was the research design. Data was collected by means of focus group interviews and semi-structured interviews were used. The findings indicated that there is inadequate capacity in knowledge and skills to manage co-operatives and run a business and lack of co-operative values and principles among co-operatives. The study concludes that lack of knowledge about business, financial management and non adherence to co-operatives values and principles limit the ability of co-operatives to operate independently and succeed as businesses. / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

In order to have a thriving business, tennis coaches on all levels need to keep players in their program. Coaches who tend to have the most influence on the game of tennis are developmental coaches. Developmental coaches are coaches who work with starter-beginner tennis players. The first impression that an aspiring player has of the game will ultimately predict their future participation. Usually the first introduction to any sport is through a coaching lesson (Gilbert & Trudel, 2004). The quality, therefore, of coaching that developmental coaches produce in their lessons will have a significant bearing, not only on their own program, but also the game of tennis. It may be assumed that developmental coaches should be proactive in making sure they have the right skills to coach players. This would entail attending a course staged by their respective National Tennis Federation. Unfortunately, this is not the case as the image of tennis coach education courses is somewhat negative; participants of courses are of the feeling that they are not receiving the required knowledge to deliver high quality service tennis coaching (McCullick, Belcher, & Schempp, 2005). Researchers have proven a positive influence between coach education courses and a coach’s confidence and efficiency (Vargas-Tonsing, 2007). Considering the globalization of sports, including tennis, coach education and the demand for qualifying coaches, has been on the rise (Vargas-Tonsing 2007). In light of this information, tennis has stepped up its efforts to provide a better education to their coaches through adopting coaching courses that have the most updated coaching information and matching educative resources (Crespo, McInerney, & Reid, 2006). Santos, Mesquita, Garca, and Rosado (2001) have concluded that the quality of coaching has a direct relationship to the success and satisfaction of its participants and ultimately in their willingness to stay in the sport. There has been a change in focus by researchers in coach education from coaches’ behaviours and performance towards thoughts and knowledge that form the basis of coach’s actions (Gilbert & Trudel, 2004). Many developed tennis federations have established their own unique models of coach education and certification to ensure that those individuals working with a country’s top young players are employing both current coaching practices and working with these players with a methodology and philosophy that is player-centred where the health and well-being of the athlete is put first (Crespo et al., 2006). The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the world governing body of tennis and is responsible for the overall development of the game worldwide. Its structure comprises of five departments: Presidential and Communications, Commercial, Finance and Administration, Professional Tennis, and Tennis Development. The Tennis Development benefits from the Grand Slam Development Fund, a fund comprising of equal donations from the four grand slam nations: Australia, France, Great Britain, and the United States of America (ITF, 2011). ITF’s Development Department’s objective is to help developing countries grow the game. Tennis is known as a sport that is very good at attracting players to the sport, however, very poor at retention (USTA, 2008). Therefore, if the ITF could get coaches to coach starter-beginner tennis players in such a way that would entice them to stay in the sport, this would go a long way in guaranteeing the game’s future. One of the ITF’s development programs is the availability to developing countries of a coach education syllabus, should they not already have one in place. A large majority of developed countries have their own curriculum and, therefore, do not require the ITF’s assistance. Currently, there are 80 nations that use, in some form or other, the ITF’s coach education syllabus (Miley, 2011). The ITF, therefore, influences a great number of coaches worldwide by way of developing countries using the ITF’s coach education syllabus. It is for this reason that the ITF’s coach education syllabus should be the cutting edge in coach education design, ultimately to fulfill its objective of developing the game worldwide. A major component of participation in the sport of tennis falls on the shoulders of the tennis coach. In most cases, the first port of call of any interested starter-beginner tennis player is the coach. Researchers have shown that the quality of coaching has a direct relationship to the success and satisfaction of its participants and ultimately their willingness to stay in the sport (Santos et al., 2001). Although quality of coaching is not the only intervening variable in the continued involvement in tennis, it is recognized as a significant, contributing factor to the development and retention of players (Santos et al., 2001, Misener & Danylchuk, 2009). 13 Evaluating the quality of service of tennis coaches’ courses as a service, therefore, become fundamental to the sustainable development of tennis as a sport. From an educational point of view the development of sports coaches is a complex process that requires not only an individualized program, but in many cases random learning pathways (Nelson & Cushion, 2006). It is the requirement of coach education syllabi to recognize this and to comply with the demands of the coach as they play a critical role in tennis participation and retention. Misener and Danylchuk (2009) justify the importance of the coach when they say, “Coaches are influential figures in the social, physical, psychological and emotional development of athletes” (Misener, & Danylchuk 2009:1). The requirement for effective coach education certification programs is becoming increasingly important worldwide for many reasons (McCullick et al., 2005). First, the number of children who participate in youth and interscholastic sport are increasing dramatically (McCullick et al., 2005). In addition, female participation, older people playing the sport, and newer sports forms are also on the increase which has created a demand for more qualified coaches and sports instructors, thus, making the education and certification of coaches essential, particularly at the entry level (McCullick et al., 2005). Most of the developing countries using the ITF coach education syllabus have a policy that all coaches need to be affiliated and be certified in order to coach. Ensuring that all coaches go through the certification system, the need for coaching courses, particularly at the developmental level to transfer the appropriate knowledge to the coaches in order to retain players, is paramount. The findings of this research emphatically point towards the ITF’s Starter-Beginner Coaching course providing a high level of quality of service. Considering the worldwide perspective of the sample generated to make this research’s analysis and interpretations, the ITF is doing its best to impact coaches in a positive way. The implementation of the modified rules program into the ITF’s Coach Education Syllabus has been positively received by the participants of this research. This provides the confidence to the coaches in their attempt to attract and retain tennis players in this program. If every coach who takes the ITF’s course is receiving the appropriate knowledge and doing their best to retain players, this will have a worldwide impact on the game of tennis. This would be the ultimate goal of the ITF as the status and future of the game falls in their hands. From a coach’s educational point of view, the ITF is fulfilling its objective. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / Biokinetics, Sport and Leisure Sciences / unrestricted

South Africa shifted from the residual approach to adopt a developmental approach to social service delivery through adopting the White Paper for Social Welfare (RSA, Ministry for Social Welfare and Population Development, 1997). This mandated the shift from social welfare services to developmental welfare services. Included in these services is the foster care service; this is a child protection service which addresses section 28 (1b) of the South African constitutional endorsement, which states that “children have the right to family, parental or alternative care” (Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996). In April 2010, the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 was initiated and implemented as legislative policy on the matter, with guidelines concerning the delivery of foster care services within the developmental approach. The goal of the study was to identify and describe barriers in the implementation of the foster care services within a developmental approach in Nkangala District, Mpumalanga. The research followed a qualitative approach whereby data was collected through focus group discussions. The participants were 13 social workers from seven child protection organisations in Nkangala District, Mpumalanga. From the key findings it was gathered that the majority of foster care social workers have no conceptual or contextual understanding of the delivery of foster care services within the developmental approach. The researcher recommends the formation of training manuals for Nkangala District foster care social workers, which clearly define developmental foster care services and the role of social workers. The researcher also recommends that social workers in Nkangala District take up the responsibility of being up to date with new developments that arise in social service delivery. The researcher further recommends that the Department of Social Development should consider reviewing the amount of money allocated to Non-profit Organisations for developmental statutory services, so as to ensure effective service delivery. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lk2014 / Social Work and Criminology / MA / Unrestricted

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / This study investigates the challenges facing the management of public enterprises in the Democratic of Congo. The study is based on the hypothesis that poor performance by state-owned enterprises in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been influenced by inadequate management which has led to the dissatisfaction of citizens. Due to this problem increasing attention is being paid by the DRC Government to encouraging private sector involvement in services such as water and electricity. This study investigates the arguments for and against privatization, especially in the water and electricity sectors. In pursuing this debate the study explores the following main research question: To what extent will the DRC Reform Law aimed at transforming the commercialisation of public enterprises enhance the effectiveness of basic services such as water and electricity services in the DRC? A case study of the city of Bukavu in the eastern DRC is used to explore this question. / South Africa

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Studies by feminists frequently investigate reasons why poverty reduction strategies involving income and work generation projects for poor women fail to deliver on set economic and social goals to provide jobs, income, education and skills training. Several reviews over a number of decades indicate a prevalence of welfare-oriented interventions that apparently contradict the intended transformative potential of economic empowerment, gender equality goals and anticipated outcomes included during the design of national policies and programmes. Different theoretical frameworks have, over time, been called upon to account for and have attempted to explain these shifts, changes and contradictions. Studies of women and work in developing countries in the 1970s and 1980s were mostly led by economists who commented on the perceived failure of policies and projects, and continued to investigate the cause of this anomaly. Given that the majority of these experiments combined both social and economic goals these policy findings were later viewed with skepticism leading to further probes about recurring failures, and the lack of progress to improve the status of poor women. After decades of scientific research on gender inequality and a slow pace of change with regard to poor women’s economic status in developing countries, feminists revealed a disturbing finding: the lack of sound, ethical evaluation criteria and frameworks. This influenced a dramatic shift to alternative normative (value-based) approaches in which ethical and moral debates on development policy implementation flourished. Pointing to a general lack of empirical studies addressing policy implementation, arguments by these standpoint feminists proposed that policy and project implementation in different contexts lag far behind achievements in research and policy evidence. This assumption about the lack of integration of policy evidence with appropriate feminist theory, underpins my main motivation in this thesis. My intention is to apply a new feminist lens in order to examine the gendered nature of the historical period in which transitional policies in South Africa were implemented in the aftermath of authoritarian apartheid policies. The current thesis argues for adoption of the political ethics of care (PEOC) as an appropriate normative feminist policy research approach providing excellent criteria for exploring the gendered dimensions of new social policies and programmes implemented during the first policy cycle of reform towards democratising South African society (also referred to as the transition 1994-2001). At the time of its conception, my investigation proceeded with the realisation that iv many projects and programmes were evolving; and that contextual impact assessment criteria in the field of gender and development policy remained an emerging new research terrain lacking appropriate and critical gendered social indicators for monitoring, evaluation and theory building. Most of the newly formulated policies included results of previous research recording the historical role and socio-economic effects of apartheid policies. However, an urgent need existed for new critical gender perspectives to address important post-apartheid issues of vulnerable groups – such as women, youth, physically challenged and children – and arguing for their full citizenship, including economic citizenship and integration into job creation. The evolving policy relational structures that were embarked on during this reform, such as democratic state-civil society partnerships, new democratic decision-making, dialogical processes and policy service programmes, were in dire need of exploration and re-examination using alternative and new feminist theoretical lenses. This study explored the field of social policy implementation in the context of this transition period. It investigated the phenomenon of income generation projects (IGPs), being a development that was new to the South African professional social work disciplinary field. Used as a key macroeconomic policy mechanism, IGPs were embedded in policy relational structures (in the form of partnerships or consortiums) during the transition period. They formed a key part of policy interventions in social development as prescribed by the White Paper on Social Welfare (Department of Welfare, 1997b) having a dual purpose: to reduce poverty and unemployment, and to promote gender-sensitive strategies. The qualitative nature of the design used for this study is combined with a post-modernist and post-structuralist, gendered case study approach drawing on programme evaluation research techniques. Direct observation, documentary analysis, depth interviews and focus groups sessions formed part of a comprehensive data-gathering research strategy used in different micro-project and community settings in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Three broad research questions were pursued throughout this enquiry, addressing the following: the extent to which income generation projects as proposed within the National Developmental Policy Framework were addressing poverty and gender inequality in a satisfactory way; what appropriate normative frameworks and concepts to study these existed; and whether the PEOC could serve as an alternative framework; and how a user perspective could be incorporated in public debates and policy-making. v A sample of four partnership project cases, targeting poor black women (and men) from three different community settings – being semi-rural, peri-urban and urban – as primary beneficiaries met the selection criteria for this longitudinal, in-depth study that drew on purposive and theoretical sampling approaches. All the projects or programmes included in the sample were engaged in job creation and social development work involving multiple stakeholders and partners. A significant part of the study focussed on the formation of partner relationships or consortiums between government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), together with grassroots community-based self-help project participants (beneficiary) groups and individuals. Information and data collected were audio-taped, transcribed and analysed to assess the impact and social effects of newly implemented policy structures and processes on subjects. Alternative feminist theoretical and analytical approaches, being a care perspective that combined critical gender assessment methodologies and feminist ethics (political ethic of care) were applied to argue for more critical and appropriate, gendered research studies that could capture the important link between macroeconomic policies and evidence of unpaid care work embedded and performed within the development sector. By foregrounding the invisible unpaid care work performed by low intensity citizens in this sector, the state’s role and interaction as a development partner with NGOs and poor citizens in the implementation of social development policies that involved job creation and IGPs became apparent. This thesis concludes by reiterating feminist proposals for a more inclusive notion of citizenship and calling for on-going studies to monitor perspectives on gender equality and work creation. More importantly, it suggests that PEOC could serve as an important research and analytical framework to document and integrate the right and access, by both men and women, to care, a critically important gender equality principle so often neglected in existing studies and scholarship.

Trots att rasten utgör en stor del av grundskoleelevers skoldag så finns inga tydliga nationella riktlinjer för vad rasten faktisk ska innehålla. Undersökningens syfte var att studera hur skolpersonal anser att organiserade rastaktiviteter i grundskolan kan främja elevers sociala utveckling och fysiska aktivitet. Detta har genomförts med hjälp av en webbenkät i vilken totalt trettio respondenter deltog. Dessa var fördelade på nitton fritidspedagoger, åtta lärare samt två vikarier/annat. Undersökningen har visat att organiserade rastaktiviteter på olika sätt kan främja social utveckling och fysik aktivitet. Den sociala utvecklingen främst genom gemenskap, vuxennärvaro och demokratiskt förhållningsätt. Den fysiska aktiviteten främst genom rörelseglädje, varierande aktivitetsutbud samt frivilligt deltagande. / Despite the fact that recess is a substantial part of childrens’ day in elementary school, there are no national guidelines regarding recess or what it should contain. The aim of the study was to examine educators’ views on how organized activities during recess can further social development and physical activity among schoolchildren. A web survey was used and a total of thirty respondents participated. The study indicated that organized activities during recess can further social development and physical activity in numerous ways. The social development mainly through kinship, adult presence and democratic approach. The physical activity mainly through joy of movement, a varied range of activities and voluntary participation.

Sustainable development aims at improving human well-being, particularly by alleviating poverty, increasing gender equality, and improving health, human resources, and stewardship of the natural environment. Sustainable development is based on three pillars, namely, environmental protection and social progress and economic development. This study intended to contribute to sustainable development in the area of developmental social work practice by addressing the issues of new conceptualisations of social work practice, and in particular of intervention strategies, within the paradigm of sustainable social work practice. The purpose of this study was to explore and construct a foundation of general perceptions and tentative theories with regard to sustainable development and the position and value of the social work profession within the sustainable development paradigm. The goal of this research study was to explore current social work practice with regard to sustainable development and identify new challenges and opportunities for sustainable social work practice in the changing South Africa. The researcher utilised focus group discussions as a method of generating data and an exploratory research purpose as little is known about the topic of investigation and the utilization of focus groups are particularly useful in its ability to explore the topic. This study was a process of discovery and not the testing of a hypothesis. The researcher entered the realm of the participants’ everyday experience and through conversation extracted detailed descriptions of their perceptions, ideas and concerns. In this qualitative research the emphasis was on understanding the experiences, attitudes, assumptions and perspectives of the participants. The instrumental case study was used to provide insight into sustainable development as a new paradigm within the social welfare field and to discover the issues and challenges faced by the social work profession as it pertained to sustainable development. The data was organised around emerging themes and subsequently examined in relation to the literature. Based on the findings and conclusions drawn, the following recommendations were made: - The social work profession needs an information-sharing platform. - Collaboration and cooperation are crucial components in the process of sustainable development. - Social work practitioners have to become self-directed and lifelong learners who will be able to adapt to the changing circumstances in society. - Social work practitioners need to develop creative strategies within a multidisciplinary approach to address the issues of poverty, underdevelopment and unemployment in a sustainable manner. - Social work practitioners need to actively contribute to processes and structures that support the delivery of adult literacy and skills training efforts. - Social work practitioners need to explore ways and means of facilitating economic opportunities by addressing the obstacles and/or regulations that prevent people from accessing available markets. / Thesis (DPhil (Social Work))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Social Work / unrestricted

M.A. / This research study intended to explore the nature of supervision as practised in the Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development, Ekurhuleni region. The main goal of this study was to conduct in-depth research to determine how the field social workers and supervisors perceive supervision in terms of the administrative, educational and supportive functions. The objectives of the study were: to conceptualise social work supervision with regard to the administrative, educational and supportive functions, to conduct an empirical study to explore the nature of supervision as implemented in the Ekurhuleni region of the Department of Social Development, and to formulate conclusions and recommendations according to the findings. The study was guided by a research question which was formulated as follows: “How do the field social workers and supervisors perceive the supervision that is practised in the Department of Health and Social Development, Ekurhuleni region, in terms of the functions of supervision, and how can the quality of supervision be improved?” A quantitative research approach was used in this study. The researcher intended to explore and describe, in a statistical way, the nature of supervision as practised in the Department of Health and Social Development, Ekurhuleni region. This study is applied research because it concentrates on the quality of supervision and how to improve the quality of it – which is a practical problem focused on problem-solving. The research design in this study was a randomized, cross-sectional, quantitative survey design, and a group-administered questionnaire as data collection method was used. The research population consisted of the supervisors and social workers in the service of the Department of Health and Social Development, Ekurhuleni Region. A sample of forty-six social workers completed the questionnaires. In analysing the data, non-parametric tests were used. Primarily, the Mann-Whitney U test and the Kruskall-Wallis test were used. The literature study emphasised the importance of supervision in social work practice. Supervision is a vital method to enable social workers to grow personally as well as professionally, in order to render an effective and efficient service to the client system. An overall view was provided regarding the definition and objectives of supervision, the characteristics of an effective supervisor, the models of supervision, and the phases in the supervisory process. The study focused mainly on the three functions of supervision – namely, the administrative, educational and supportive functions, which described the different roles of the supervisor comprehensively. The study found that supervision, as it is practised in the Department of Health and Social Development, Ekurhuleni region, is not structured enough, and that more training should be given to newly appointed supervisors, as well as in-service training to supervisors. Recommendations have been made in order to enhance the quality of supervision and, ultimately, service delivery to the client system.