No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)--University of Durban-Westville, 2002

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2003.

Botswana occupies an unenviable position of having the highest HIV / AIDS infection rate in the world, and this has generated pressures on health facilities as they are over stretched beyond their coping capacities to attend to the ever-increasing numbers of people who are infected. To relieve the health care system, the Botswana government has adopted the CHBC programme as an instrument for taking care of the infected and affected people. The CHBC programme, which is care given to long term and terminally ill people adopts the approach that, the family and the community assisted by the health professionals are the primary source of support and care. CHBC has always been in existence, though it was not given the attention it deserves until the realities of HIV / AIDS pandemic striked and doubted the ability of the health facilities to accommodate the ever increasing HIV / AIDS cases. CHBC gained more support as a result of the HIV / AIDS pandemic. This is the case because of the programmes' rationale that, the home is the best place to care for many of the people with terminal illness. The programme gives patients chance to be looked after in a familiar environment and by their relatives. The aim of this study is to establish the existence of a CHBC Policy in the Good hope Sub-district in Botswana, and if it exists to find out whether implementation is congruent to the Policy guidelines, whether its implementation is done in the most effective way, and if not, to identify obstacles to effective implementation of the Policy in the Goodhope Subdistrict. The hypothesis of this study is that, CHBC for people living with HIV / AIDS is ineffective in the Good hope Sub-district of Botswana because of shortage of resources, the unexpected (low) support the Programme gets from the community and the incorrect understanding of HIV / AIDS issues especially the modes of transmission by the community. The sample used consisted of 57 research participants (10 HIV / AIDS patients, 10 care-givers, 10 Policy makers, 10 health professionals, 5 traditional doctors, 5 spiritual healers, 5 village headmen, 1 village chief and 1 NGO representative). The literate respondents were given structured questionnaires to complete while those who are illiterate were helped by the researcher to fill in the questionnaires. The focus group discussion and participant observation methods of data collection were engaged. The study's findings were that, the CHBC Policy does exist in the Good hope Sub-district of Botswana. The study further discovered that, implementation of the Policy is not as effective as expected, and this has been attributed to the following problems; shortage of resources (manpower, transport, food etc) and the community's reluctance to give it support. The study recommends that, the government should provide resources to train more professionals who would address the problem of manpower inadequacies. There is need for communities to be mobilised so that they join hands in the fight against HIV / AIDS. The Government has to see to it that enough resources are allocated to the CHBC Programme. There is need for HIV / AIDS education in order to equip the community with the necessary information on HIV / AIDS issues. All caregivers need to be given relevant training on HIV / AIDS issues. Lastly there is need for further research in this field in order to find better ways of improving CHBC Programme. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2003.

This thesis examines the problems facing many of the rural water projects, especially in terms of their planning and implementation . There is a strong belief that water services in the rural areas are often not sustainable, and this is one of the major questions facing policy-makers over the last few years. The complexity of this problem has necessitated the development of a research project which will enable the assessment of various problems that become a barrier to the sustainability of water projects. The present study was carried out in Emfundweni administrative area of the Umzimkhulu district in the Eastern Cape Province. The methodology was based on a study of opinions, beliefs, ideas and realities as examined through research amongst community members, water department officials, local government staff in the form of the T.L.C's and engineers who were involved with the Emfundweni water project. One of the key aims of the study was to examine what problems affected the sustainability of water projects in rural areas, with the Emfundweni as a case study. The decision to include community members in the study is based on the fact that people involved in this water project hold their own perceptions, attitude and bias regarding what factors constituted problems that led to the lack of sustainability of the water project. The method that was used in the study allowed the researcher to compare the perceptions of the T.L.C's with those held by the community members engineers and water department officials. The findings supported the five hypotheses set out by the researcher in order to test the working model. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2003.

This study examines the involvement of youth leadership particularly at the University of Durban Westville, in promoting public awareness about HIV/AIDS and in HIV/AIDS awareness initiatives. The aim of the study was to investigate the contributions of the student leaders in initiatives to combat HIV/AIDS. Accordingly, interviews were conducted with leaders of various student organisations at the university. The aim was to test the student leadership's general understanding of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, types of HIV/AIDS programmes and their involvement in them. The study is based on a random sample of 15 of 35 student's clubs and societies and the Student Representative Council at UDW. In addition, five organisations from the university structures were interviewed for the purpose of this study. These included: the Student Counsellor from the Wellness Centre, the Academic Registrar from the University Management, Deputy President of the Combined Staff Association, President of the Academic Staff Association and the Director of the Centre for Educational Research, Evaluation and Policy at University of Durban-Westville. The general finding of the study is that the role of the student leadership and its involvement on HIV/AIDS initiatives has been minimal and unorganised. In response this study presents a number of recommendations to address this problem. The key recommendation revolves around the need for the student leaders and the university management to collectively design a framework from which all HIV/AIDS initiatives will be administered. This includes policy formulation and discussions on AIDS. In the final analysis, it is imperative to note that this study was not done only for the benefit of the UDW community, but other institutions such as the government departments, particularly the Education Department, NGO's, Youth Commission and other youth organisations. / Thesis (M.A)-University of Durban-Westville, 2003.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2002.

In 2001 the South African government established the Umsobomvu Youth Fund (UYF) as a national youth development initiative to promote employment opportunities for young people and enhance entrepreneurship amongst them for sustainable livelihoods. The UYF focused on three areas: contact, information and counselling; skills development and transfer, and youth entrepreneurship. This study aimed to explore the relationship between job creation and the UYF's skills development and transfer programme. It investigated the impact of the UYF training programmes in helping youth establish business enterprises and the creation of jobs. Using a nonexperimental approach, qualitative and quantitative data was collected from purposively selected UYF personnel and a sample of UYF beneficiaries. The data was thematically and statistically analysed to determine the programme's role on new firm formation, job creation, and the quality of life of beneficiaries and their families. The study found a positive impact of UYF's entrepreneurship education and training programme on new firm formation (self-employment), disposable income and the quality of life of the beneficiaries and their families. At the same time, there was a negative impact towards reducing unemployment and creating jobs. Also, the entrepreneurship education programme did not attract adequate participation by beneficiaries and its curriculum content did not cover critical entrepreneurship skills. The findings show that more interventions are required to enable to the Umsobomvu Youth Fund to deliver on its skills development and job creation mandate better. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Durban, 2011.

This research study seeks to explore perceptions of family planning clients towards the female condom, as well as examine factors that facilitate or inhibit the use of the device by women of different age groups. The study targets women aged 18-35 who attend the Commercial City Clinic located in Durban, South Africa. This study targets this group since they fall in the category of those most besieged by HIV, hence the need for protection against infection. While most research on condom use has focused the technicalities of barriers prevention methods, relatively less is known about attitudes, motivation and strategies employed by users or would-be users. Although Femidom has been widely accepted as an effective method in STI and pregnancy prevention, nevertheless its usefulness is hampered by a number of factors. Factors range from partner’s objection; men’s negative attitude to use of the device; refusal to use any condom during sex; distrust of the method by male partner; Femidom insertion difficulties in women; reduced sexual sensation for some women when the device is in use; and preference of a discreet method by women not requiring permission by the male sexual counterpart to use the female condom While this study acknowledges that the female condom is an imperfect technology, nevertheless, ways need to be found on how to raise its acceptability. Such a measure is necessary since the female-controlled HIV prevention device has great potential if better marketed and distributed. However, that potential can only be realized if women’s vulnerabilities in the biological, cultural, economic and social domains are addressed. In so doing, this would enable women to gain greater control over their sexual health and also empower them in sexual relationships, thus bettering their lot than is the case at present. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

Abstract not available. / Thesis (M.A.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.

This dissertation investigates print media reporting on the Jacob Zuma case to establish levels of bias, if any, in reporting such a high profile political case. The study is premised on the concept of social construction of reality where values and preferences could colour the perception of facts. The use of both ethnographic and quantitative content analysis allowed for the systematic investigation of the content of newspaper articles while the use of discourse analysis highlighted the importance of language use in the social construction of reality. Under apartheid the media was critical of government both ideologically and morally. The print media had a liberal democratic ethos and generally defended the underdog. This has been carried over into the democratic dispensation. The implication of the Deputy President of the country and the brother of the Secretary of the Arms Procurement Committee in corruption hit the nerve of the press, hence the vigilant reporting on the case. The media generally painted a picture of Zuma as a corrupt man not fit to be in public office with his implication in corruption being perceived as a threat to the country's democratic ethos. The view was that this undermined democratic principles of equality, justice and accountability. On the contrary COSATU, SACP and the ANCYL mobilised the public in support of Zuma arguing that the charges were instituted by vindictive opponents who wanted to destroy Zuma's political career. The NPA's conduct during the case including its failure to provide Zuma with a final indictment in over a year arguing that it was not prepared to continue with the case thus seeking a postponement - gave credence to the conspiracy theorists. At the end, the NP A conceded the conspiracy theory on the representation made by Zuma following leaked conversations between National Prosecuting Authority (NP A) boss Leonard McCarthy and former National Director of Public Prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka. This in essence brought a non-conclusive end to the saga as the allegations and the defence therefore could not be tested in a court of law. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.