Community Economic Development (CED) in South Africa is shaped by the historicalprocesses of the former Apartheid regime that discriminated the social and economic rights of the majority of people, thus disempowering them to participate in development. The notion of Integrated Community Economic Development (ICED) enhances the concept of participation in community economic development in that it advocates for an empowerment dimension in development. In order to facilitate this participation, the government has introduced the participatory mechanisms of the IDP and ward committee system. Paradoxically, inequalities in development persist in previously disadvantaged homelands which were excluded from participation in developmental initiatives of the former regime. Consequently, these mechanisms for ICED have not been able to achieve participation of communities in ICED. Winterveldt is one such area with a legacy of social exclusion through racial and ethnic discrimination. The goal of the study was to explore the lack of participation of the Winterveldt community in ICED guided by the research question: “What are the reasons for the lack of participation of the Winterveldt community in ICED?” A qualitative research approach was followed and the research design was a case study. Data was gathered through focus group interviews and document studies. The focus groups were comprised of 13 community participants and 10 ward committee personnel from Winterveldt. Research findings revealed various reasons for the lack of participation in the ICED of Winterveldt including role confusion, the lack of information and training on the IDP and political power abuse. The study concluded that participation flows along lines that safeguard the interests of local government with little respect for the community’s capacity to make decisions concerning their development. Recommendations towards the achievement of participation in the ICED of Winterveldt include training on the Integrated Development Plan (IDP), the development of a guideline for implementing the IDP and changes in attitudes of all actors in the ICED of Winterveldt. Copyright / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

South Africa is faced by a huge problem of inequality, twenty years after the dawn of independence. Such inequalities have been addressed by policy intervention such as the social security and assistance of citizens through various classes of grants. One of the grants targeting children under the age of 18 years is the child support grant. However there are deserving children who have been left-out of mainstream social security through social exclusion. The study sought to investigate the problem of the social exclusion of children from the child support grant in the Nkonkobe municipality. Through the use of the Basic Needs Approach (BNA) to understand the need for any state/government to promote the social welfare of its citizens, the study took a triangulated research paradigm which used both quantitative and qualitative research approaches to collect data from forty respondents by way of a questionnaire survey. The study found out that, inter alia, poverty remains high in the Nkonkobe municipal area, there is rampant social exclusion in the area, the amount paid for the child support grant is little and that the effects of the withdrawal of the grant when the child reaches the age of 18 are unbearable to the child. Some of the recommendations which the study made in line with improved mainstream social security in relation to the child support grant are that, the government needs to improve information dissemination about grants to the populace, there should be mandatory policies to make sure all citizens have identification particulars, the government should be mobile and take services to the people and there should a consideration to review the amount paid for the child support grant upwards. The researcher is quite optimistic that the study will play a part in improving policy implementation.

How does the satisfaction (or the lack of satisfaction) of the innate need to have meaningful interpersonal relationships affects behavioural self-regulation? How does having/lacking interpersonal relatedness impact one’s perception of future interpersonal relationships? This doctoral dissertation aimed to answer these two fundamental questions by integrating the views of two complementary theories, need to belong theory (NBT; Baumeister & Leary, 1995) and self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000). Using a series of two laboratory experiments and one longitudinal study, this thesis examined the effects of social exclusion and inclusion on satisfaction of basic psychological needs, self-determined motivation, and self-regulation of behaviours. In Study 1 (N=72), social exclusion and inclusion were manipulated in order to examine their effects on the satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs proposed by SDT, that is the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Findings from this first experiment revealed that social exclusion decreases satisfaction of the three needs, whereas social inclusion increases satisfaction of these needs when compared to the control condition. Furthermore, significant differences were found between the exclusion condition and the inclusion condition for the reported levels of satisfaction of the needs for competence and relatedness. The effects of social exclusion and inclusion on basic needs satisfaction were further investigated in Study 2 (N=70); also, the second study examined how self-determined motivation and behavioural self-regulation are affected. More specifically, it tested whether participants’ persistence at a laboratory task, as well as their intentions for a future peer interaction (intentions to compete against a peer participant and intentions to collaborate with a peer participant) are influenced by social exclusion and inclusion, through the meditating effects of basic needs satisfaction and self-determined motivation. The results suggested that social exclusion, via the effects of basic needs and motivation decreases peer collaboration, whereas social inclusion was shown to have an opposite effect on peer collaboration. The effect of condition via the mediating effects of basic needs satisfaction and motivation failed to predict persistence at the task and peer competition. Lastly, Study 3 (N=624) assessed naturally occurring social exclusion and inclusion in a population of junior high school students. This third study investigated the independent contributions of SDT and NBT in the prediction of academic motivation and high school dropout. Peer relatedness, perceived needs support from parents, and perceived needs support from teachers were examined as potential predictors of academic motivation and high school dropout. Findings suggested that peer relatedness plays an important role in the prediction of academic motivation, but, that perceived needs support from parents and perceived needs support from teachers are stronger predictors of that outcome. Results from this study also revealed that peer relatedness contributes to the prediction of high school dropout, beyond what can be explained by academic motivation, perceived needs support from parents, and perceived needs support from teachers. However, perceived needs support from parents was shown to be the most essential predictor of high school dropout. In sum, findings from this doctoral dissertation suggested that social exclusion has detrimental effects on one’s motivation and behavioural self-regulation. In contrast, social inclusion fosters social support which promotes satisfaction of the basic psychological needs, self-determined motivation, and successful self-regulation. This doctoral thesis contributed to the application of SDT and NBT by comparing elements of the two complementary frameworks. It also offered an original contribution to research on social exclusion and inclusion by examining their impacts on self-determined motivation, and basic needs satisfaction, as well as testing them in both the laboratory setting and the natural setting.

Sport is a cultural phenomenon that has spread throughout the world (Harvey & Houle, 1994). For youth, sport is perceived as a context that can play a major role in person’s psychosocial development across their life-span (Danish, Petitpas, & Hale, 2007). However, despite the increase in research in this field, very little work has examined how sport may play a role in the psychosocial development of youth with intellectual disabilities (ID). Moreover, an area of study that has also grown related to the lived experiences of individuals living with a disability including ID is social inclusion (SI). Similar to research related to psychosocial development, very little research has been conducted to examine whether the context of sport can foster social inclusion for youth with ID. Special Olympics Canada (SOC) is an organization “dedicated to enriching the lives of Canadians with an intellectual disability through sport” (SOC, 2010, “SOC Mission Statement”, para.1) and may be an organization that has the potential to positively impact the lives of its youth participants. Thus, the purpose of this research was to examine whether stakeholders perceived SO as impacting the psychosocial development and social inclusion. The results indicated that SO, by all stakeholders, is perceived as an organization that is facilitating the psychosocial development of its athletes through the incorporation of strong social support networks and the development of life skills. In addition, SO was perceived as facilitating social inclusion for youth, particularly in the context of school and their surrounding community.

This thesis concerns financing and development of the non-profit organization Jahoda. This organization was created as a civil association and it's main purpose is to help and protect by the social exclusion threatened children and young people. The first part of this thesis, called as a theoretical part, is formed by an analysis of specialized literature and related resources and findings. The second part of the thesis, called as a practical part, is focused on the analysis of non-profit organization's past financing and development. This chapter is devided into two periods (1999 -- 2003 and 2004 -- 2008). The special chapter is formed by an analysis of organization's fund-raising in the year 2009. The main purpose of all analyses is to research organizations's previous funding (e. g. finances from the public budget, philantropy of the companies, individual donators, foundation's allowances). This information is considered to be a backgroud for indicating some of foresighted changes and occasions in the future. The final part of the thesis is formed by the current fund-raising activities which are related to the particular projects. Some of actual project's application forms are described in this part of the thesis and completed applications forms are enclosed to the thesis.

My thesis describes social policy of EU and compares social models of three countries - Germany, Denmark and Great Britain. I divided my work into five parts. In the first one I concentrate on history, tools and function of social policy. In other four parts I pay attention to employment policy, educational policy, pension systems and to poverty and social exclusion. In all these parts of social policy I compare activities of those three countries mentioned above.

This dissertation examines engagement of people with disabilities in the Czech labor market over the course of last fifteen years, period between 2000 and 2015, focusing on the Karlovy Vary region. In the first section, author briefly introduces current state of Czech social policy together with related issues, which encompass unemployment, legal stance and characteristics of disabled people within national and international settings. The broader conceptualisation is subsequently illustrated by concrete examples of disabled people support, which is currently offered in the Czech Republic according to statistical data. Furthermore, author also considers case of specific situation in the Karlovy Vary region. Second part of the research presents an analysis of respondents involved in social policy and their opinions and personal experiences in the region. In particular, local labor market, employment policy and related topics relating to advantages and disadvantages with recent changes. In conclusion, author summarises main facts and research results.

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Följande arbete är en kvalitativ studie om digitalt utanförskap bland äldre och om det har förändrats i och med isoleringen som blev en följd av coronapandemin. Tidigare forskning visar att den äldre generationen i Sverige är de som använder internet minst och att de ofta behöver hjälp från familj eller vänner för att kunna utföra nya uppgifter på internet. De över 70 år blev klassade som riskgrupp under år 2020 när coronapandemin bröt ut i Sverige. Studien ämnar därför att studera om äldre i Sverige upplever att det digitala utanförskapet har påverkats av coronapandemin.  Empirin till studien togs fram med hjälp av en fokusgrupp som kvalitativ metod, och studien metodutvecklade fokusgrupp genom att testa ramverktyget i en tid där inte alla delar i metoden kunde tas hänsyn till. Fokusgruppen bestod av fem personer som alla var 70 år eller äldre och eftersom fokusgruppsintervjun utfördes under coronapandemins andra våg tog den plats utomhus och med minst två meters avstånd mellan deltagarna.  Resultatet av studien visar att fokusgruppsdeltagarna inte uppfattade att de lever i ett digitalt utanförskap och de anser att coronapandemin inte har påverkat deras internetvanor. Deltagarna var mätta på information om coronapandemin och använder traditionella medier som radio och tv i större utsträckning än internet när det kommer till informationssökning. I studiens analys kopplas resultatet samman med tidigare forskning samt teorierna Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) och Digital Divide. Vidare diskuteras studiens resultat och analys som visar att digitalt utanförskap korrelerar med socialt utanförskap, och en slutsats som dras är att ingen av deltagarna uppfattar att de lever i ett digitalt utanförskap eftersom de har nära relationer och lever i en tvåsamhet. Vidare slutsatser av studien är att information om coronapandemin har funnits att tillgå i alla typer av medier, vilket har gjort att äldre har fortsatt använda traditionella medier som primärkälla. / The following research is a qualitative study of digital exclusion among the elderly. The study aims to investigate if isolation due to the coronavirus has affected the digital exclusion among the elderly in any way. Previous research shows that the elderly in Sweden are the ones who use the internet the least and that they often need help from family or friends to be able to perform new tasks on the internet. Those over 70 years old are more at risk of getting dangerously ill from the coronavirus and in Sweden they were told to isolate themselves. Therefore, this study intends to investigate if elderly people in Sweden consider that the isolation has affected their perception of digital exclusion. The empirical findings were collected through focus group interviews as a qualitative method, and the study aims to develop focus group as a method by testing the framework in a time when not all aspects could be taken into consideration. The focus group consisted of five people who were all over 70 years of age and since the focus group interview was conducted during the spread of the coronavirus, it took place outdoors and with two meters distance between every participant.  The results of the study show that the focus group participants do not perceive that they are digitally excluded, and they do not believe that the corona pandemic has affected their internet habits. The participants use traditional media such as radio and television more than the internet when it comes to information retrieval. In the analysis-chapter of the study, the empirical findings are compared to previous research and the two theories Uses and gratification theory (UGT) and Digital Divide. Furthermore, the results of the study show that digital exclusion correlates with social exclusion. One conclusion of the study is that none of the participants perceives that they are digitally excluded since they all have close relationships with family and friends. Further conclusions are that information about the corona pandemic has been available in all types of media, and for that reason the elderly have continued to use traditional media as their primary source instead of turning to the internet.

UNIVERZITA KARLOVA FAKULTA HUMANITNÍCH STUDIÍ Studijní program sociální a kulturní ekologie Bc. Vladislav Halaj EVALUATION OF LAG ACTIVITIES IN LOCALITIES WITH A HIGH LEVEL OF SOCIAL EXCLUSION Vedoucí práce: PhDr. Ivan Rynda Diplomová práce Praha 2021 Abstract This diploma thesis deals with measuring the activities of Local Action Groups in the field of social issues. Based on the solution of strategic documents and professional texts and sources offering work, it uses insight into the issue of social exclusion and its individual areas, which are employment, housing, education or indebtedness. It also moves on to the description of strategic materials for the fight against social exclusion, presents the Index of Socially Excluded Localities, which aims to continuously map the endangered locality of social exclusion from ongoing statistical data. It then moves on to the description of considered organizations, ie the Local Action Groups and its tools used in its activities. The last section of the theoretical part of the work deals with community-led development and operational programs. The above research part helps to a thorough understanding of the issue of social exclusion, which is the central theme of the thesis. The empirical part deals with the evaluation of the activities of Local Action Groups in...