No description available.

<p>Social capital is a concept discussed in recent years in many debates, particularly in the development context. The objective of the study is to investigate empirically whether social capital as part of networks could promote political participation of interest groups in the policy formulation process. This thesis includes a theoretical perspective which is based on an assessment and selection of theoretical material as well as fieldwork.</p>

No description available.

No description available.

<p>Social capital is a concept discussed in recent years in many debates, particularly in the development context. The objective of the study is to investigate empirically whether social capital as part of networks could promote political participation of interest groups in the policy formulation process. This thesis includes a theoretical perspective which is based on an assessment and selection of theoretical material as well as fieldwork.</p>

Namibia is a democratically governed nation that is classified amongst rich upper middle income countries (Republic of Namibia, 2012:xv). However, this rich nation is ridden with inequalities that exclude the majority of its people from accessing social and economic benefits. Since the social work profession is grounded in upholding human rights and social justice, social workers can significantly contribute to promote social and economic equality. The goal of the study was to determine social work’s contribution in promoting social and economic equality within the Namibian context. The study adopted a qualitative research approach, it was exploratory and applied and utilised a collective case study design. The sample for the study was purposively selected and included ten social work participants. Data was collected through semi-structured one-on-one interviews and document analysis. The findings show that the Government of the Republic of Namibia is attempting to shift “…social services from curative and remedial social work to a developmental approach” (Ministry of Health & Social Services, 2010:1). However, the majority of social service organisations in Namibia are still clinically focused and have not incorporated developmental social work into social workers’ job descriptions. Nonetheless, some social workers within these organisations utilise their own initiative to carry out activities that have a developmental focus. The study concludes that skills shortage, a lack of opportunities for continual professional development in the developmental social work approach and the poor coordination of social welfare services are serious challenges that hinder social workers to promote social and economic equality in Namibia. Recommendations include: implementing the provision in the Social Work and Psychology Act 6 of 2004 (Republic of Namibia, 2004a:30) to train, recruit and register social auxiliary workers and expediting the finalisation of the 4th Draft Situational Analysis on Social Development in Namibia (Republic of Namibia, 2014) in order to guide social welfare provision in Namibia. KEY WORDS Developmental social work Social development Social and economic equality Social welfare policy Social workers Namibia / Mini dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2015 / Social Work and Criminology / Unrestricted

Magister Artium - MA / Social capital is a concept discussed in recent years in many debates, particularly in the development context. The objective of the study is to investigate empirically whether social capital as part of networks could promote political participation of interest groups in the policy formulation process. This thesis includes a theoretical perspective which is based on an assessment and selection of theoretical material as well as fieldwork. / South Africa

The following study is an exploration of the innovative practice of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that work with out-of-school, unemployed youth between the ages of 15 and 24 years in Cape Town. The current study meets three research objectives: describing the key characteristics of innovative practice; exploring the nature of NGO's engagement with out-of-school, unemployed youth (15-24 years) in Cape Town; and investigating the factors that promote or constrain innovative practice in these youth NGOs. The first objective of the current study is met through a literature review. Key characteristics of innovative practice are reviewed and the views of NGOs as innovators, as well as the voices of the skeptics of this view, are presented. Two key organisational conditions of 'learning' and 'organic' organisations are presented as being optimum for innovative practice. The literature review also explores the issue of youth unemployment from a global to a South African context; policies and strategies that the South African government has put in place to promote skills development, training and employment creation; the promotion of small business development as a viable employment strategy; and the role of NGOs in youth development. A survey among ten NGOs fulfils the second and third objectives of the current study. The survey's findings revealed that all the participating organisations considered their programmes to be innovative and to be providing both immediate and long-term benefits to their programme participants. It was one of the researcher's main findings that while these respondents claimed that their programmes were innovative and unique, some similarities could be found between them. The main obstacles to innovative practice were found to be funding constraints and the lack of human resource capacity. Despite these challenges, most respondents felt that the NGO sector was more innovative in comparison with both the government of South Africa and the private sector. Based on the findings, recommendations are offered to government, NGOs working with unemployed youth and research bodies. Recommendations for the networking of youth NGOs (for improved service delivery) and a recommendation on further research into the area of out-of-school, unemployed youth (to facilitate appropriate interventions) were found to be fitting. Includes bibliographical references (pages 89-95).

This thesis reflects the author's views on the use of the medium of community drama within the method of community social work. Through participant observation, the author gained an insight into the medium over a period of four years in which he undertook some experiments himself, observed experiments undertaken by others, discussed the variables with colleagues and, through a literature search, compared notes. This thesis is an outcome of that research. The author regards community drama as derived from psycho- and sociodramatic principles and roleplay, and as offering part of community theatre; but a unique contribution as a communication medium when facilitated by the social worker (enabler) to enlist local support in working on community needs. Within community social work, the medium consists of the following phases: the introduction and preparation, performance, audience involvement and the follow-up phase. The enabler is viewed as an important link to facilitate the various phases, and guidelines are provided to ensure that the first critical attempt with the medium will be successful. Effective employment depends not only on the enabler following these guidelines, but also relies on the co-operation of others involved with the issue, and calls for a unified objective shared by all participants. For this reason, the 'actor' target group must be carefully selected by the enabler before introducing the idea of community drama to the community. The introduction should follow a sequence of steps to transform the community's shared common idea/need into spontaneous dramatisations.

Although the prognosticators of condom use among youth in South Africa have been extensively studied, very little is known about the attitudes and subjective norms influencing sexual behaviours that could influence safe sex intentions among the population of migrant youth in South Africa. This study aims to investigate the predictors of condom use behaviour and intentions among migrant youth in South Africa and examines the influences of acculturation on the relationship between condom use intention and behaviour among this population. This was done through the exploration of the nature and extent of condom use; condom use behaviour; acculturation and condom use behaviour; association between acculturation and intentions to use condom use; association between intention and condom use behaviour; and perceived behavioural control and condom use behaviour among African migrant youth. Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and Berry's model of acculturation provided the theoretical framework for the empirical investigation of the study. The current study utilized a sexually active sample (N=91) of youth African migrants residing in Cape Town, with ages ranging 18-35 years. Age proportion by percentage was 18-25 at 46.2%, 26-3 at 30.8% and 32-35 years at 20.8%. A cross sectional quantitative research design was utilized and a time location non-probability sampling procedure was assumed in this study. Participants were recruited through a non-profit organisations working with African migrants in Cape Town. The instrument used was an anonymous semi-structured questionnaire consisting of five measures that assess the central study variables and a demographic section. Results indicate that attitudes had an insignificant relationship with condom use behaviour. Referent group norms had a .378 correlation (significant at 0.01 level) which indicate that peer norms had an influence on condom use behavior. Hierarchical multiple analyses were conducted, attitudes and subjective norms were entered in the first step explaining 15% of the variance on condom use behaviour. After entry of perceived behavioral control and intentions at step 2 the total variance explained by the model as whole was 22.7%. The two control measures explained an additional 7.7%, this means that perceived behavioral control and intentions explain an additional 7.7% (.077x100) of the variance in condom use behaviour of variance on condom use behaviour, even when the effects of attitudes and subjective norms are statistically controlled for. With respect to gender differences, females reported less condom use compared to males. This study concludes that, the central study variables did not have a highly significant correlation with condom use behaviour, with attitudes having the least significance. This study identified barriers to condom use such as culture and religion emphasize the need for future interventions to target popular opinion leaders (POL's) so as to influence cultural and religious beliefs that might have an impact on condom use.