Today, many developing countries are embarking on ambitious programmes to develop large computer-based information systems within their public administration to promote socio-economic development. However, the overall objectives of these investments remain unfulfilled. Success and failures of information systems are largely determined by the performance of organizational members associated with the development and use of information systems. Performance of these members is primarily determined by individual competencies and the environment in which the activities of these members are taking place. Information systems related education and training to create competent individuals has always been a matter of great concern to almost all developing countries. However, public administration in developing countries is an intensely political affair. Organizational politics very often give birth to a number of macro and micro environmental conditions, which constrain certain courses of action of competent individuals. Therefore, individuals, however competent, cannot perform to the best of their abilities. This invariably results in information systems that are ineffective and inefficient. Systematic empirical studies that can increase our understanding of this domain are virtually non-existent. The current research aims to rectify this issue. The research methodology adopted for the current research assumes that organizational members, when involved in a particular activity in a particular context, interpret the situation, and act accordingly. Researchers, by immersing themselves in the members' world can understand their actions. Focusing on two cases within the public administration of India and adopting a hermeneutic approach, the study interprets the actions of different organizational members associated with the implementation of information systems. By relating the performance of these members to the strengths and weaknesses of the information systems, the study makes broad recommendations. Findings of the study reveal that Indian policy makers and implementers have always given significant consideration to information systems related education and training. However, on the other hand, the very factors that India has been trying to address through successive administrative reforms since national independence happen to be the same factors that constrain the performance of competent individuals.

This thesis deals with the socio-economic development of the Liberec Region. In itself, the socio-economic progression is a very complex issue richly structured organizationally as well as institutionally. Matters regarding the realization of the socio-economic program were even more complicated by the completion of the second phase of the transformation of the public administration. The search for an optimal methodology for creating the strategic documentation together with tools for the realization of regional development plans is far from over. While the negotiation and approval of the strategic documentation is a complicated process, the realization of those plans is what causes most of the difficulties. In my opinion, the local Council of the Liberec Region has so far not been able to create adequate organizational and personnel capacity for the realization and the monitoring of the realization process of the existing documentation. The use of the EU funds for the realization of the plans as well as the cohesion policy of the Liberec region, just like the rest of the Czech Republic, in my opinion, is insufficient.

Social entrepreneurship activity is very low in South Africa, especially among the youth. It is argued that favourable attitudes toward social entrepreneurship are determinants of successful social entrepreneurship that could contribute to sustainable socio-economic development amongst the youth who are still grappling with the “triple challenge” of unemployment, poverty and inequality. The primary objective of this study was to describe the attitudes of urban youth toward social entrepreneurship and to identify the constraints that the youth perceive as barriers to engaging in social entrepreneurship. The data of this study was from a survey conducted in Diepsloot, North of Johannesburg involving 153 young people. Data was collected using two self-rating questionnaires. The Social Entrepreneurial Intent Scale (SEIS), adopted from Thompson (2009), was used to measure social entrepreneurial intentions, while the Constraint scale developed by Fatoki and Chindoga (2011) was used to identify constraints. The study produced three main findings. Firstly, the majority of respondents had positive attitudes towards starting and engaging in social enterprises. Secondly, the research identified three main constraints that discourage the youth from starting or engaging in social enterprise, namely “lack of access to finance”, “lack of savings to start”, and “weak economic environment”. Thirdly, the research also identified an overall limitation to social entrepreneurship, namely; lack of support. Recommendations to reduce constraints and support social entrepreneurship were suggested.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / In South Africa, since 1994 when democratic government come into power, the issue of development was raised as one of the priorities of government. Government promised to transform the citizen’s livelihoods through quality, effective and efficient services. Rural development was identified as one of the priorities of government to ensure better life for all the citizens. Local government have been mandated to ensure quality service delivery to the citizens especially to the rural areas. The issue of rural development was still a challenge in South Africa especially in Eastern Cape Province. There was a need to improve service delivery to the rural communities at Intsika Yethu Municipal area as the pace of rural development has been slowly. An infrastructure service is still a challenge to the rural areas at this municipal area as the sanitation is yet to improve. Service delivery has been far less compared to the urban areas. There were signs of improvement but the process has been very slow. The study has determine and analysed the issues that contribute to the slow pace in rural development and reveal some recommendations that might assist to improve the pace of rolling out services at Intsika Yethu municipal rural communities. The findings of the study show that unemployment and poverty to the people residing in rural communities has been one of the major challenges that need serious consideration. The infrastructural situation of the rural communities pushed people of Intsika Yethu to the level of poor socio-economic development which might be contributed by the pace rural development has been approached. The research found that the slow pace in development of rural communities has an impact on the situation they found themselves and therefore intervention strategies to improve the pace of service delivery in rural communities with the intentions of enforcing the local municipality to be accountable and responsible.

Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / Socio-economic changes in the City of Polokwane have compelled many unemployed people to start street trading. Street trading is fraught with many challenges, such as lack of transportation, physical infrastructure, and access for funding, change of local municipality by-laws, lack of support and other related economic development issues. This study is concerned with the factors that hamper the development of street trading, economic growth and development in the City of Polokwane. The study tried to develop effective strategies that will enhance the capacity of street traders and change the perception of stakeholders to support street trading. In this study, a mixed research design was used to investigate the impact of street trading towards economic development in the area of the study. This study also used context-focus of the City of Polokwane as its springboard in engaging in this sometime daunting subject. Surely, with all the changes in the current socio- economic development, there is a need to review the impact of street trading towards economic development in the City of Polokwane. As stipulated in the study, the City of Polokwane should invest in training to enhance street traders` effectiveness so as to have an impact on the economic development in the city. To accelerate this process, the stakeholders should be encouraged to support street traders so as to improve the status of economic growth in the area.

MAIR / Department of Development Studies / Development Aid has often has been used as a tool and written about where in by developed states dominated African countries during the colonial rule to maximize their countries economy by means of exporting raw materials from Africa to Europe meanwhile the majority of Africans living in poverty. However, the role of USAID towards South Africa’s development has attracted little study so far. Into today’s politics country states interact in a political arena to formulate bilateral relations. Since the adoption of independent in 1994 South Africa is still facing challenges of socio economic development such as lack of health care facilities, poor education, and high rate of unemployment, lack of infrastructures and lack of good governance. This work investigates the role of the USAID towards the development of South African government. Issue to be examined is the bilateral relations of US-SA for SA socio economic development. / NRF

For the past few decades researchers, development agencies and government have focussed on the use of Information and Communication Technologies to improve the socio-economic status of people in underdeveloped rural communities. In recent years there has been remarkable recognition of the importance of developing systems that address the specific needs of rural communities. Education, health, commerce, government and agriculture are amongst the needs of rural communities that could well be addressed by these systems. System development is a complex process and studies have shown that if poorly conducted, the process could lead to the failure of the system being developed. Due to differences in context and application, the processes followed in the development of the rural community systems need to differ from those of commercial applications. One such difference is the choice of the Information System Development Methodology (SDM) used. Following a methodical approach to Information Systems development is important as it improves discipline, standardization and monitoring of a quality system. There are hundreds of SDM available for use during development and choosing the wrong SDM has been linked to problems such as systems being delivered late, being over budget or not meeting the needs of the users. Developing systems for disadvantaged communities is different from developing system for organisations or even affluent communities. Some of the challenges that developers encounter include lack of structure, poor computer literacy, and poor infrastructure. Lack of user involvement during system development has been linked to system failures. A Living Labs approach to socio-economic development is aimed at involving multiple stakeholders towards improving the living standards. Developing Community Information Systems aimed at solving varying community problems is one of the objectives of the Living Labs. There are only few CISs that are fully operational from South African Living Labs, and a number of systems developed are not in use. Poor user involvement and lack of use of system development are some of the reasons for system failures. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the use and effectiveness of System Development Methodologies when developing community information systems aimed at socio-economic development of disadvantaged communities. To achieve the objectives of this study, an interpretive, multiple case study research was conducted in three Living Labs around South Africa. To improve the chances for success during the development of Community Information Systems for use by disadvantage communities, this study proposes a framework for evaluating use and effectiveness of SDMs. The second output of the Study is an SDM framework that could be adopted specifically for Living Labs which adopts an agile approach and prototyping. These frameworks takes into account the social attributes of people in disadvantaged communities, the nature of the living lab, the nature of the systems being developed and the role of the users in the systems being developed. / PhD (Computer Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

For the past few decades researchers, development agencies and government have focussed on the use of Information and Communication Technologies to improve the socio-economic status of people in underdeveloped rural communities. In recent years there has been remarkable recognition of the importance of developing systems that address the specific needs of rural communities. Education, health, commerce, government and agriculture are amongst the needs of rural communities that could well be addressed by these systems. System development is a complex process and studies have shown that if poorly conducted, the process could lead to the failure of the system being developed. Due to differences in context and application, the processes followed in the development of the rural community systems need to differ from those of commercial applications. One such difference is the choice of the Information System Development Methodology (SDM) used. Following a methodical approach to Information Systems development is important as it improves discipline, standardization and monitoring of a quality system. There are hundreds of SDM available for use during development and choosing the wrong SDM has been linked to problems such as systems being delivered late, being over budget or not meeting the needs of the users. Developing systems for disadvantaged communities is different from developing system for organisations or even affluent communities. Some of the challenges that developers encounter include lack of structure, poor computer literacy, and poor infrastructure. Lack of user involvement during system development has been linked to system failures. A Living Labs approach to socio-economic development is aimed at involving multiple stakeholders towards improving the living standards. Developing Community Information Systems aimed at solving varying community problems is one of the objectives of the Living Labs. There are only few CISs that are fully operational from South African Living Labs, and a number of systems developed are not in use. Poor user involvement and lack of use of system development are some of the reasons for system failures. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the use and effectiveness of System Development Methodologies when developing community information systems aimed at socio-economic development of disadvantaged communities. To achieve the objectives of this study, an interpretive, multiple case study research was conducted in three Living Labs around South Africa. To improve the chances for success during the development of Community Information Systems for use by disadvantage communities, this study proposes a framework for evaluating use and effectiveness of SDMs. The second output of the Study is an SDM framework that could be adopted specifically for Living Labs which adopts an agile approach and prototyping. These frameworks takes into account the social attributes of people in disadvantaged communities, the nature of the living lab, the nature of the systems being developed and the role of the users in the systems being developed. / PhD (Computer Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Inequalities in levels of development between regions within a country are frequently regarded as a problem. The magnitude of the problem is more severe in developing countries than in developed countries. Zimbabwe, as a developing country, is no exception and the country is characterized by severe regional inequalities. This research is concerned with the spatial patterns of socio-economic development in Zimbabwe. The composite index method was used to rank administrative districts of Zimbabwe according to level of development. The composite indices together with socio-economic characteristics were used to demarcate the administrative districts into development regions according to Friedmann's (1966) model. Attention was given to the spatial development policies applied in Zimbabwe. Friedmann's (1966) guidelines, for the development of the different regional types in his model, were applied to the Zimbabwean spatial economy. Suggestions were made regarding possible adjustments to previous strategies used in Zimbabwe, for spatial development planning. / Anthropology and Archaeology / M.A.

The development of a community, especially a poor community, hinges on interventions from development workers in government and non government organisations. In the recent past, microfinance has been strongly recommended as an intervention that could assist poor people to improve their quality of life by providing small amounts of money to initiate development enterprises. The microfinance services are provided through microfinance institutions. This study was aimed at establishing the role of microfinance in the socioeconomic development of women in a community. Mpigi Town Council in Uganda was the study area. Fifty respondents were interviewed and eight of these were employees of microfinance institutions and two worked as technical staff from Mpigi District Local Government. Twelve microfinance institutions were identified as providing services to the community in Mpigi Town Council. A variety of literature on microfinance in the developed world, developing world, Africa, Uganda and Mpigi Town Council was reviewed. It was noted that the year 2005 was identified as the International Year of Micro-credit during which its significance would be highlighted. The aim of the international year of microcredit was to improve on the knowledge, access and utilization of micro-credit by poor people in the developing world. During the literature review, it was evident that the literature on the impact of microfinance on the socio-economic development of women in Mpigi Town Council was lacking. By filling this gap, this research will be a referral document for other researchers and a resource book for microfinance institutions during the implementation of their programmes. The study was carried out using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect the data that was presented in tables, graphs and numbers to show the role played by microfinance in the socio-economic development of women in a community.The findings of the study reveal that microfinance institutions operating in Mpigi Town Council provide services like training and skills development, insured credit facilities and savings mobilisation, banking facilities, supervision and monitoring of the clients, provision of agriculture inputs like seeds and chemicals and physical items like animals (cows, goats, pigs, sheep etc). The services are particularly provided to women groups, salary earners, and individual women and men. The repayment of the credit facilities is usually through weekly and monthly instalments. The size of the loan depends on the MFI but ranges from one hundred thousand to millions of shillings. The security usually required is group collateral in case of groups, salary in case of salary earners and any other as deemed necessary for the individual by the MFI. The study established that women who accessed the loans from MFIs were able to improve their socio-economic status through starting up and or expanding investments and enterprises, paying school fees for their children, purchase of household items like furniture, land and solar installation, building of houses, confidence building, participation in leadership roles etc. The research also found out that women face some challenges in their access and utilization of the MFI services and these include; small amounts of money disbursed, diversion of funds, high interest rates, low returns on investment, short grace periods, unfavourable repayment schedules and risk of property confiscation by the MFI. The respondents recommended that the government should intervene, especially where interest rate is concerned and centralize it or make it uniform and also monitor the operations of the MFIs so that they offer adequate services to the women. As far as the MFIs are concerned, the respondents recommended that they should lower the interest rate, empathize with their clients, monitor and supervise more vigorously, collaborate with fellow MFIs, increase grace period and enlist the support of employers in the area. For the microfinance beneficiaries, the beneficiaries recommended that they should not divert the funds but should use them for the purpose intended. Furthermore, they should not move from one MFI to another. They ought to acquire the loan when they have some investment already, study the MFI before acquiring the services and support each other as a group to ensure that there is progress in the various undertakings. The results of the research have led to the assertion and affirmation that although the benefits may vary from one beneficiary to another and from one community to another, microfinance has in various ways played a significant role in the socio-economic development of women in Mpigi Town Council. This research report will be used as a document for other researchers and a resource book for the microfinance institutions in Mpigi Town Council. / Development Studies / M.A. (Social Science (Development Studies)