Child social development theory has been developed within a strong Euro-American context. This study seeks to understand social development in children in early childhood within southern Mozambique. A preliminary literature review was conducted, which formed the basis of a semi-structured interview schedule. A collective case study sampling method was utilized with all respondents being parents’ of children below the age of six years who were enrolled in the community school. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 mothers in the community of Patrice Lumumbe. The data obtained during this research was translated by a team of cultural guides and interpreters as well as recorded using a Dictaphone. A second literature review was then conducted. The outcome of these interviews was then compared with existing literature and development theory. The research found that developmental milestones noted in the developmental theories of Freud and Erikson is congruent with what parents’ expected of their children within this community. Mothers’ are expected to instinctively know what their children need. Initiative in children is highly valued. Recommendations that emerged included conducting a comparative study in a neighboring community and implementing a study, which focuses specifically on the perceptions of fathers in these communities. / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

Student Number : 9707731W - PhD thesis - School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies - Faculty of Science / Southern Mozambique has experienced changes in land-use and land-cover over the last 45 years. South Central Chibuto is a dynamic environmental change ‘hotspot’ of this region, and because of the socio-economic development that is taking place it is unveiling a number of land-use changes in Mozambique. In this research, environmental changes in the region are shown to be a function of various socioeconomic and biophysical drivers of change. A variety of research methods including interpretation of aerial photographs and satellite images, analysis of archival material, Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and structured interviews, have been used to derive some of the drivers of environmental change. These drivers of change include socio-economic factors, the colonial dual economy and the increase in cash crop production that led to negative impacts on some lands in the steep slopes of the ancient dunes, the post-independence policy of nucleation of settlements that has induced extensive conversions of land use together with the war and the recent shifts into a market economy that have led to further intensification of land use. The biophysical drivers include, among others but not limited to, fluctuations in rainfall, with periods of alternating dry and wet spells shaping land-use change, as well as single shock events, such as extreme droughts and floods. New factors, including the HIV/AIDS pandemic and globalization have been identified as having an impact on the livelihoods in the study area. A valuable, local-scale case or place-based case study approach is shown to enable a detailed and rich analysis of the complex trajectory of environmental change. Finally, lessons drawn from this study are shown to have the potential to inform policies for sustainable livelihoods in Mozambique.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Sociology Department, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.