Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-82). / Safety and security is an issue that institutions of higher learning have to deal with and address within their campuses. The focus of this study was to explore first year residence students perceptions regarding safety and security at the University of Cape Town (UCT). An exploratory qualitative approach was used in this study. The purposive sample consisted of fourteen first year students from three UCT residences and three residence supervisors from these residences giving a total sample of seventeen participants. The results of the study showed that students see themselves as safer within the confines of UCT whereas they feel relatively unsafe off campus.

Includes bibliographical references. / Nonprofit organisations (NPOs) play an important role in society as they help government in service delivery. In their quest to deliver services, these organisations face insurmountable challenges, including, but not exclusive to inadequate funding and staff shortages. Yet in spite of this, some of these organisations have overcome these challenges, and continued to provide services to communities. This study sought to explore the perceptions of the staff working in development NPOs regarding the reasons they thought their organisations were able to deliver effective services to their beneficiaries. A qualitative research design was adopted as it focuses on the subjective realities of the respondents. A purposive sample of nineteen respondents from four different organisations was drawn up. The criterion for selection was: organisations that had been in existence since 1994; had at least eight staff members; and a Director who had been in charge for at least five years.

This study aimed to assess the perceptions of funding practices and level of financial sustainability amongst non-profit organisations in selected parts of the world. Furthermore, the study looked at the degree to which NPOs employ trading activity to help fund and improve financial sustainability. Utilising a quantitative method, the study used an online survey tool to gather financial information from 72 NPOs in six different countries - Australia, Canada, India, Nigeria, South Africa and the UK. This sample was derived from an international database called Idealist.org. Data was analysed using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and presented thematically to reflect the major findings of the research. It was found that NPOs around the world are crucially in need of extra income and may not survive if new income-generating alternatives are not found. This is largely due to NPOs being overly reliant on a donor-dependency model to raise funds, which is creating more and more financial insecurity. This model has limited financial sustainability, as the competition for funding has dramatically increased in recent years. All of these facts have made NPOs realise that it is necessary to diversify their income sources and become more financially self-reliant. This study explored one self-financing method, trading activity, which has the potential to help NPOs to become more financially stable. The research found that most NPOs do not perceive trading as negatively as it was once perceived and would consider using it if more support were given to them. In order to move in this direction, this study has formulated some recommendations that NPOs can use to start their own commercial activity, attain a more prosperous financial situation and fund their social mission.

Includes bibliographical references. / Because of the country's well-established socio-economic status, citizens from many neighbouring countries, such as Zimbabwe, have resorted to seeking refuge in South Africa. Different refugee organizations, such as Adonis Musati Project (AMP) emerged in order to meet refugee needs in Cape Town. AMP was formed in 2007 with the aim of providing humanitarian assistance to refugees and asylum seekers. Named after a Zimbabwean, Adonis Musati, who died of starvation in a queue at the Department of Home Affairs, trying to access legal documentation, AMP set out to ensure that this would never happen again. The aim of this research is to explore whether the organisation is meeting its intended goal; whether it abides by any policies; what impact it has on its stakeholders; which current life stage it is facing and challenges dealt with during this period; and what effectiveness approach it uses, if any, in order to achieve sustainable growth and remain relevant in its community.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / The research aimed to explore the perceptions of employers in employing people with epilepsy. The context of the topic of enquiry was that people with epilepsy often experienced difficulties in finding and maintaining regular employment and this had been recognised as an area with significant problems for people with epilepsy.

The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the perspectives of social workers in the child welfare field and to ascertain what motivates them to remain in their jobs for longer than three years, instead of pursuing less demanding and more lucrative career paths.

This study explores the perceptions, experiences and challenges that Early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners in ECD centres in Blouberg have with implementing the norms and standards for both partial care facilities and learning programmes as regulated by the Children’s Amendment Act 41 of 2007. ECD refers to the developmental, physical, mental, spiritual, emotional and social processes in children from birth until at least nine years of age (Department of Education [DOE], 2001). Since ECD centres are at the frontline of providing a range of ECD services paramount to the development of children, the way in which ECD practitioners understand, experience and operate under the influence of legislation and policies needs to be researched to improve service delivery and develop effective models of practice. The study targeted ECD centres in the Blouberg region of the Western Cape where 20 ECD practitioners belonging to 18 ECD centres were interviewed. An exploratory qualitative research design and a non-probability sampling approach making use of both purposive and snowball sampling techniques, were used to select the participants. The main findings emanating from the study were that: most ECD practitioners perceived that the norms and standards for ECD facilities promote the safety and protection of their service recipients; the implementation of norms and standards, however, were not effectively monitored; they were extremely costly to implement; practitioners did not have sufficient time in the day to implement them; that adhering to norms and standards for ECD learning programmes enhanced the development of the child and cultivated diversity; continuous changes in the curriculum posed various challenges to how effective learning programmes were monitored; norms and standards for learning programmes did not adequately account for children with disabilities; factors such as the long and difficult registration and re-registration processes, as well as the local economy and external financial environment made implementing norms and standards challenging; ECD practitioners in smaller, privately run centres experienced a lack of support from government; and that ECD practitioners were supported by various structures such as the Blouberg ECD Forum, the Department of Health, the Fire and Rescue Services as well as the local community that consisted of parents, businesses and professionals. The main recommendations emanating from the study include: providing tax incentives to private sectors supporting ECD centres; increasing the capacity, responsibility and authority of local ECD Forums; improving the Department of Social Development’s (DSD) reporting and investigating processes by partnering with the Department of Health (DOH), extending the current national school feeding scheme to include ECD centres; providing a once off registration/re-registration grant to NPO’s and smaller privately run ECD centres based on a means test; increasing support and introducing an increased grant to ECD centres catering for children with disabilities; promoting partnerships with professionals in the private sector to promote disability screening campaigns and education; to provide ECD centres with specific curricula so that they are able to cater for children with disabilities; rewarding positive parent-practitioner partnerships; and promoting parent involvement practices from a policy and legislation point of view. Recommendations relating to the research process specifically include expanding on the sample of participants to include privately run ECD centres as well as NPO’s.

Bibliography: leaves 82-84. / South Africa is a large country with large needs; there are many social problems such as poverty that need to be addressed. Children in South Africa are affected by many of these social problems, such as malnutrition, poverty, and HIV / Aids. This research looks at what is being done for children in South Mrica; it looks specifically at the child grants or money given to children by the state. In reviewing the South African child grant system, it was appropriate to compare it with different countries. This was done using a comparative, cross-cultural and cross-national study. Countries, whose social and economic situations are similar to South Africa, have been chosen for an analysis to determine whether South Africa's present system is effective. The countries were selected based on a comparison of the GDP and literacy rates. Canada and Botswana were also studied in this research: Canada as a developed country example, and Botswana as a country with a similar heritage to South Africa. There has been much criticism of the South African social administration for children; this has prompted a major reflection thereof. This has been assessed in this research as another possibility in helping to provide for children. The aim of this research was to compare the South African child grant system to that of other countries, and analyse the proposed new grant system for South Africa. The analysis was completed using a framework of questions designed to extract information for comparison. The results indicate that South Africa should consider prioritising the child grant system specifically in terms of funding. The proposed child grant system could eventually be applied; however presently South Africa does not have the infrastructure to put the system in place. A closer look at Portugal's social administration could prove informative as they already have this system in place. This research is an analysis and interpretation of the available materials. This is a limited view, which opens possibilities for future research.

Includes summary. / Includes bibliographical references. / The study aimed at exploring the approaches used by sport-for-development organisations to monitor and evaluate their programmes offered to schools in the Cape Metropole. The study contributes to the growing fields of programme monitoring and evaluation (M&E) as well as sport-for-development in South Africa. The study’s sample comprised NGOs that used sport as an entry point to engage young people and engender behavioural change, thereby reducing youth vulnerability to sexual and reproductive health issues.

Bibliography: leaves 109-114. / Children with chronic health conditions in South Africa are a vulnerable group of children, whose additional needs resulting from their condition places financial strain on their caregivers and families. Poverty plays a significant role, and often exacerbates the situation for these children and their caregivers. They are a group of children who require additional assistance from the State - social assistance (a term used for financial aid in South Africa) is one form of support that can be extended to these children. The present social assistance provisioning for these children Iimited, and assessment processes and instruments are unsatisfactory. This study is an examination of the application of international social assistance assessment instruments to the South African context, namely the Australian Child Disability Assessment Tool and the United Kingdom's Disability Living Allowance Claim Form. The study purposed to make recommendations for the development of an appropriate South African social assistance assessment instrument. Secondly, it aimed to demonstrate through the application of these international tools that there are areas of need related to chronic health conditions that are presently not provided for by the current South African social assistance programme. The study design assumed the form of a descriptive, comparative study of existing international instruments. Non-probability sampling was employed, and the findings of the study are analysed via a combination of quantitative and qualitative data analysis.