New Non-profit Organisations (NPOs) are being registered daily. They are established by passionate individuals committed to providing critical services in support of the national development agenda and the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They therefore form an integral part of a broader ecosystem to ensure a just, equitable and fair society. Unlike for-profit enterprises, donor funding constitutes the single largest source of income for most NPOs. Because of the high levels of donor dependency by many NPOs, fundraising becomes critical and very often the most challenging activity for many NPOs. Given the fundraising challenges and volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environments in which NPOs operate, this exploratory research study reflects on the motivations why founders of NPOs based in the Western Cape started NPOs and their experience and challenges with respect to sustaining these organisations. In particular, it explores: • The main motivations and rationale by founders to start NPOs; • The fundraising experience of founders; • The extent to which founders of NPOs prioritised fundraising; and • How the fundraising role and practice evolved over time The study examined several texts on the motivation and fundraising experience of founders of NPOs as part of a literature review. The research question and methodology is based on this literature review. Non-probability purposive sampling was used for this research study. Twenty founders of NPOs based in the Western Cape participated in the study using a semistructured interview schedule. Ethics clearance for the study was received from the University of Cape Town, Department of Social Development. The dissertation expands on existing knowledge regarding motivations for registering NPOs and the levels of personal investment required by founders. It makes a number of findings with the respect to fundraising as a strategic competency and the importance of fundraising capability. The study confirms that very few founders have prior fundraising and NPO experience and that fundraising is not significantly prioritised as a strategic imperative. I intend for some of the findings to serve as guidance to individuals planning to start a new NPO, of the important role of fundraising which can ultimately ensure the long-term sustainability of the organisation they plan to launch. The research study concludes with a set of recommendations prospective founders could consider when contemplating starting a new NPO.

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The concern of this dissertation is planning theory and practice; its purpose is to make planning more responsive to the problems of the city. The premise that the study is built on is that social planning must be in harmony with the nature of its subject matter, and that social problems is its subject matter. The supposition is that if we grasp the nature of social problems and build planning theory and practice on these insights, planning efforts will be more relevant and more effective. The approach is a theoretical one; social problems are the starting point. After urban problems--and poverty in particular--are examined from an historical perspective, a social systems framework is presented to clarify how problems are generated and maintained as well as to explain how responses to problems are shaped. The inquiry into the nature of social problems then draws upon sociological theory. This theoretical literature is found to focus on either the objective elements of social problems or on the subjective, that is, the process by which persons come to judge whether a condition is a social problem. Structural aspects of problems are not an important concern of the theorists. However, in this study a problem is considered as social only when its causes lie outside of individuals--when the sources or origins can be found in existing structural or institutional arrangements. Problems are conceptualized as having two dimensions: objective and subjective ones. Social problems--specifically, their objective and subjective dimensions--are related to social planning. It is contended that planning must deal with the objective elements of social problems, including structural aspects, as well as with the subjective dimensions. Or, in other words, social planning must (1) treat the structural causes of problems and also (2) address itself to the values, beliefs, definitions, etc. that obstruct social change. In addition to this theoretical linkage of social problems and social planning, the dissertation situates planning in the context of a general theory of social reality. Drawing upon the work of Berger and Luckmann (1966), planning is conceptualized as a process in which reality is socially constructed. These theoretical concepts--the objective and subjective dimensions of socia1 problems as the object of social planning and social planning as the social construction of reality-provide the basis for the model which is developed. Three components of the model are treated. First, characteristics of the process are discussed, and it is contended that the social planning process must be “task-oriented,” "experimental,” “cybernetic,” dialogic, and collaborative. Second, roles and phases in the process are discussed and illustrated. : Consistent with the theoretical framework in which knowledge is considered as socially distributed, citizen, planner, and decision maker have roles in each of the planning phases. Since no one has a complete view of social reality, each is seen as having a distinct contribution to make in the task of defining the problem and its solution. Thus, resolving social problems requires that citizen, planner, and decision maker collaborate and learn from one another. The planner's role is elaborated as the third aspect of the model. By planner is meant an interdisciplinary team whose role encompasses two main functions: (1) technical tasks that have traditionally belonged to the planner, and (2) interactional tasks. Although other planning theorists have outlined interactional tasks for the planner, his role in the collaborative model is “to promote mutual learning through dialog.” This role, similar to that of a process consultant, is considered unique to the collaborative planning model. Although components of the model resemble those of other models, taken together, the characteristics of the planning process, planning phases, and planning roles differ from any other model. And importantly, the planning model grows out of a theoretical analysis of social problems as well as a broad theoretical framework. The model is normative in nature, and although it is not tested empirically, it is evaluated at a theoretical level. The collaborative model and seven other planning models are assessed in terms of whether they are responsive to the nature of social problems. It is contended that the collaborative model is the only one that is responsive to the nature of social problems. This dissertation--its theoretical concepts and conceptual model-is seen as a contribution to an emerging planning paradigm--one that holds the promise that we can learn to deal effectively with the problems that confront our cities.

An attempt has been made to examine the relationship between social structure and medical factors in a framework which links cosmopolitanism to health orientation and behavior. Specifically, this study has attempted to investigate the variations in health knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and behavior among individuals whose social structure varies in terms of cosmopolitanism.

<p>A critical anti-racist feminist analysis is used to examine the City of Toronto's current approach to gender equity and to consider how the City can move forward based on the discussion of Toronto's issues and challenges and other cities' successes. Written from the perspective of one member of a 14-member City of Toronto women's advisory committee, it examines the City's approach to diversity in general and gender equity in particular. The analysis finds serious flaws in the City's current approach, related to a lack of gender equity structures and mechanisms, a lack of interest in, and resources allocated to, such structures and mechanisms, and a lack of civic engagement of women, which forms a part of the City's overall democratic deficit. Structures and mechanisms implemented in other cities in order to promote gender equity are explored in order to provide the City with successful possibilities to consider. A proposed six-stage model categorizes various levels of commitment that cities have demonstrated towards achieving gender equity. This model allows cities, such as Toronto, to assess their individual progress on gender equity relative to other cities and to better understand the need to increase their efforts. Lastly, recommendations to the City of Toronto to enhance its gender equity approach are discussed. Despite the limitations of this study, the author believes it was highly necessary to document and disseminate the issues related to the City of Toronto's approach to gender equity in order to open up productive dialogue between the City and the community and to motivate effective, equity-enhancing change in a timely manner.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

This research investigates the impact of oil on a traditional Arab society. The . literature which addresses societal change IS methodically reviewed, with substantial attention given to the theories of noted sociologist Max Weber as well as many more recent scholars who have adapted and re-interpreted Weber's seminal insights. Following the review of relevant literature, the reader is introduced to the pre-oil, traditional society of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The body of the research reports, illuminates and examines through case studies the challenges of wrenching social change in a traditional society. The research finds that introduction of oil is the change agent. The invitation extended to Western oil companies to manage the extraction industry resulted in enormous disruption to the society as it then existed, and provided very large sums of capital to the UAE. Both of these factors, the insertion within the society of a western industrial culture of size and importance, and the opportunities for the UAE to develop and modernize at great speed due to the availability of large resources, combined to place enormous tension on the social traditions and practices of the then tribal society. The research then turns to the ways and means that both the society and the western oil companies employed to manage the dynamic of change. The specific role of the Oil Company's Public Relations function is examined in depth. The thesis that the public relations function served both the company and the society at large as the primary agent of mitigation is stated and tested. This paper finds that the public relations function performed a critical service by explaining the traditions of the society to the oil company, and negotiating for the oil company with the formal and informal organizations present in the society. These public relations practitioners also performed the critical task of representing, and at times. performing advocacy services for, groups within the society whose values were threatened by the western practices of the oil companies. This latter function is very different from the traditional roles of western public relations staffs. The research concludes that in this particular circumstance the contribution of the public relations staff was essential to both the company and the society in coping with enormous social pressures.

Social concern about deviant, delinquent and disorderly behaviour has a long history in the UK. Propelled by the New Labour government’s Crime and Disorder Act 1998, the ‘antisocial behaviour agenda’ reframed the problem and constructed a punitive solution (Newburn, 2007). While in recent years Scottish policy has diverged from the punitive rhetoric established in Westminster, the ‘antisocial’ individual continues to be conceptualised as part of a disruptive minority that fails to conform to societal norms of behaviour. This antisocial minority has, invariably, come to be associated with young people and, in particular, young people from ‘disadvantaged’ socio-economic circumstances. While there is a growing body of empirical research on this topic, most has focused on young people’s relationship to antisocial behaviour in terms of their role as victim or as perpetrator. Alternatively, studies have evaluated how young people experience specific policy interventions. The principal aim of this doctoral research is to shift away from attempting to explain why young people become involved in antisocial behaviour and instead explore the diverse ways they define, experience and relate to it. Its gaze, therefore, is upon young people’s everyday interactions with antisocial behaviour and, in so doing, seeks to produce a more rounded understanding of young lives. The research was based within ‘Robbiestoun’ (a pseudonym): a predominantly social housing estate in the suburbs of a Scottish city and, as such, was able to situate young people’s experiences of antisocial behaviour alongside their experiences of living in a ‘disadvantaged’ socio-economic place. It employed participatory ethnographic methods to engage with a range of young people across multiple research sites. The empirical analysis found that understandings of what is, and is not, normal behaviour were fundamental to young people’s relationship with the antisocial. Social and physical disorder was a regular occurrence, and for many, it was an established, even normal, part of everyday life. Nonetheless, young people were aware of external categorisations of Robbiestoun and its residents as ‘abnormal’, an identity which most young people resisted and challenged. Young people’s behaviour in public spaces was similarly contested. Professionals (and many adults) had clear ideas about what constituted normal, social behaviour and these frequently conflicted with those held by young people. Such conflict was most evident for those young people actively engaged in criminal and antisocial acts. Not only was antisocial was a label these groups identified with, but they also rationalised their involvement in antisocial behaviour as an expected, and indeed necessary, part of growing up in Robbiestoun. The research revealed that young people utilised a range of strategies, techniques and rationales which enabled them to navigate the area’s ‘abnormal’ identity and ‘get on’ with ‘normal’ life. Such tactics were not universal across Robbiestoun, but rather varied according to young people’s own behavioural standards and social norms. The research concludes by arguing that the different relationships young people have to antisocial behaviour were, in fact, expressions of economic inequality, poverty and material disadvantage. This is an important point, but one not adequately addressed by policy makers. Rather than pursuing policy objectives based on the pursuit of ‘correct’ social values and norms, it is contended that more attention must be given the role of local norms in shaping young people’s definitions of, and relationships to, antisocial behaviour. Only then can a more rounded understanding of everyday lives in a disadvantaged place be developed and, in turn, workable solutions be found and delivered.

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