No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this descriptive study is to examine how two Western women‟s NGOs represent women in the “Third World”. The examined cases are the progressive NGOs Kvinna till Kvinna (Sweden) and the American counterpart Women for Women International (US).Qualitative research methodology has been utilized throughout this study. This thesis is also based on the social theory of constructivism and its ontological assumptions. Since both Sweden and USA are said to be strong promoters of gender equality- a comparative study design, examining two progressive NGOs is one suitable way to analyze the specified research questions. The analysis is based upon the article “Under Western Eyes” (1986) in which Chandra Mohanty discusses Western feminists‟ representation of “Third World women”, summarized in six main stereotypes. Mohanty‟s six claims regarding Western representation of “Third World women” designed the framework that has been used to analyze the collected data, which consists of the two organization‟s own material that is available on their individual websites. The formulated research questions asks whether Kvinna till Kvinna and Women for Women International represent “Third World women” as a homogeneous group sharing a similar experience of oppression in the ways described by Mohanty and if there are any differences in the ways of representation when comparing Kvinna till Kvinna and Women for Women International.

This thesis examines the role of the state in the provision of domestic water supply and sanitation in rural Botswana. The delivery of these services reflects wider international commitment to this sector. Support has been directed through the United Nations' International Drinking Water , , Supply and Sanitation Decade, which has provided member governments with policy recommendations and financial and technical assistance. These recommendations have prescribed the use of bottom-up delivery systems based upon community participation and local government intervention to ensure the achievement of policy objectives. The thesis considers how far the recommendations of the Decade have been implemented in Botswana in providing rural water and sanitation and assesses the extent to which policy objectives have been met. By means of a political economy approach to investigate the role of the state in rural development and fieldwork carried out to investigate the implementation of two specific projects, attention has focussed on the constraints to policy formulation and, implementation in achieving these objectives. It is suggested that the managerial informed prescriptions provided by the Decade are often, inappropriate to the policy arena of specific countries. This is because policy formulation and implementation are determined by factors which are politically motivated and which are not necessarily compatible with managerial or technocratic considerations. It is this inconsistency which has in large part been responsible for the non-attainment of policy objectives. Through detailed field investigations carried out in Botswana, the roles ascribed by the state to different institutions at the local government and community levels in rural policy formulation and implementation are examined in the context of the concept of decentralisation. The suitability of this policy arena for the delivery of the water and sanitation projects is then considered. From the analysis the conclusion, is reached that the context in which rural policy formulation and implementation takes place is not conducive to supporting a bottom-up strategy as prescribed by the Decade. Reasons for this lie in colonial history and in the political and economic circumstances of contemporary Botswana. In consequence, the provision of domestic water supply and sanitation has been affected in two important ways. First, the state has been unwilling to adopt the comprehensive prescriptions offered by the Decade. Second, where it has, constraints rooted in the state's unwillingness to decentralise rural development has prevented the achievement of policy objectives.

Sub-Saharan Africa entered the 1980s faced with a crisis of unprecedented proportions. The economies of the region which were already in decline by the late 1970s, were in danger of collapse. The severity of the crisis was also reflected in rising indebtedness, social decay and political instability. To tackle it, African leaders met at an extraordinary economic summit in Lagos in 1980 and adopted a common strategy which became known as the Lagos Plan of Action. The crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa is part of a general world-wide economic recession stemming from a period of economic decline in the leading industrial economies. As a result, the leading industrialised countries and international institutions designed strategies to tackle the crisis both at the global level and in the developing countries such as those in Sub-Saharan Africa. For Africa, the strategy adopted by the World Bank and the IMF was that of structural adjustment. The orthodox approach of the World Bank generated controversy as to its suitability to the African situation. This disagreement was a reflection of conflicting political interests as well as power relations both internationally, and within African states. This thesis analyses the impact of the politics of structural adjustment programmes in Africa, with special reference to Ghana and Nigeria between 1983-1990. The arguement is that orthodox structural adjustment has failed to reverse the decline in Africa largely because of continuing disagreement between African governments and international institutions over the content and direction of adjustment. The study is presented over eight chapters. The introductory chapter sets the agenda. Chapter one covers the international dimension of the African crisis, while chapter two looks at the internal dimension. Chapter three contains a detailed analysis of the international politics of structural adjustment. Chapters four and five discuss the adjustment programme in Ghana and its impact on the country's political economy. The Nigerian experience is similarly examined in chapters six and seven. The conclusion, chapter eight, addresses the issues behind the failure of orthodox adjustment in Africa and makes recommendations.

Transport systems employing small sized vehicles and operated under an informal institutional structure are the essence of unconventional wisdom of urban transport planning in the Third World. The minibus is one of the many types of unconventional passenger carriers which primarily originate from indigenous technology. In the Far East, minibuses play a crucial role in moving commuters in large urban areas. Using minibuses in urban passenger transport services is interesting phenomena in urban transport planning in both developed and developing countries. Being small the minibus can ply along narrow streets often seen in crowded residential quarters and thus provide users with a high level of accessibility to trip ends. Furthermore, providers of minibus transport services are profitable, associated with small scale business and informal organizational structure and, more interestingly, often under private ownership. The minibus system in Beijing is one of the most recent public transport systems established in the Far East. It is distinctive in that the providers can be financially viable under state ownership and in large fleets. This study examines the system's service style, ownership pattern and organizational structure which are thought to have influenced the undertakings' financial performance. The findings suggest that neither ownership nor institutional structure contributes directly to profitability. The main factors for financial viability rest upon the self-reliance and entrepreneurship within the industry, which stimulates labour efficiency of the crews. Besides, the 'near-monopolistic' market and the limited total supply serving a huge population, also create opportunities for providers to charge high fares. On the basis of the findings, the study recommends that, in order to encourage the passenger transport business, a competitive market mechanism should be developed within the industry, with the participation of all sectors. The major outcome of this study is the building of a model of transport planning for developing cities. The essence of the model is that in low-income countries, cheap labour is an important resource which should be utilized fully in substitution for expensive imported technology, and that the use of modern technology should follow the affordability of the citizens and the condition of economic development. In conclusion, the study confirms that the unconventional transport wisdom is an appropriate approach that should be given proper weight, especially in the developing world.

The advent of the New World Order has challenged Syria's role in the Middle East. Traditionally viewed as a pariah state, and a Soviet satellite, Syria's future looked uncertain. Syria, however, has been able to accommodate the transformation in the world order. The New World Order amounted to a redistribution of global power. The transmutation of Soviet power towards the US culminated in a unipolar world order. The withdrawal of Soviet support through the advent of the New World Order threatened Syria's quest for regional hegemony. Existing in a state of anarchy, the co-ordinates of Syria's foreign policy have been founded upon the principles of self-help, national security, and national interest. These principles have found their expression through Syria's intractable struggle with Israel. Syrian foreign policy has been determined by two factors: primarily, by the international political system, and secondarily, by the influence of domestic politics. Omni balancing provides an explanatory model for foreign policy behaviour that bridges the divide between the determinants of the international political system and the influences of the domestic arena. Following a rational policy, the Syrian state was compelled to realign with the US- led world order, in order to pursue regional hegemony. It was able to display its accommodation of the New World Order by joining the US-led coalition forces in the liberation of Kuwait in 1990/1991. Syria's adjustment to the New World Order was rewarded with a place in the post-war regional order, and a central role in the Madrid Peace Conference.

The object of this research is to determine whether U.S. commercial banks could have predicted in advance the debt crises of the developing countries, i.e., whether a particular LDC would reschedule or default on its loans. A secondary purpose was to determine whether the debt crisis was the fault of the banks or the developing countries who reneged on their loan contracts. What do the banks have to do to prevent this from happening? What do they have to do to manage country risk effectively? The study begins with a historical account of the United States banking system to the period of debt rescheduling by the LDCs. It continues by describing the different types of risks in international banking. Next it discusses the theoretical issues of LDC debt, including sustainability of debt policy, optimal level of country borrowing, optimal bank foreign lending, and credit rationing by the banks. This is followed by a description of the regulatory aspects of country risk management. The important issue of country risk management by U.S. banks is next, including a discussion of the various assessment methods used and a review of the major empirical studies that used econometric methods for predicting the incidence of external debt defaults. The empirical research investigates debt rescheduling by less developed countries. Linear discriminant function and logistic discrimination approaches were used to determine the predictive ability of any particular subset of economic variables. The sample comprises data on 37 countries over a period of 10 years, 1974-1983. This period was chosen because it was a time of important economic transition. The results of the discriminant and logistic analyses show modest discriminatory power for predicting the rescheduling of debt of a country with the set of economic predictors used.

No description available.

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the nature and potential of an integrated strategy for non-formal education and development that will alleviate the problem of milieu-deprivation in Third World communities. This integrated strategy includes compensatory education, community development, and development communication strategies. Learning need structures were investigated and the most important categories of learning needs that exist in socially disadvantaged communities were identified. Community education is a relatively new concept, through which innovation, adaptation and extension of educational opportunities can be achieved, and thus suggests the most suitable infrastructure for the integration of educational and developmental strategies, namely compensatory education, community development and development communication. Community education can be defined as the educational process in which the provisions (services, programmes, resources) of all the educational agencies in a community are utilised in a co-operative and co-ordinated manner, to provide for all of the learning needs of all the people of a community, to develop the community and solve the problems of the community. The milieu-deprived Third World communities of the world are thus depend en t on community education. I n the present practice of community education, the community school serves as community learning centre, and becomes the focal point of the community whereby the school functions as a centre and delivery system for lifelong learning and community development. The operation of educational programmes is realized through a ten phase process. The appointment of a Director of Education, creating an educational milieu and the establishment of an organizational structure for participative planning, establish the necessary infrastructure for community education. The planning and bringing into operation of educational programmes takes place in the next six phases, namely: identification and analysis of problems and needs, formulation of programme objectives, identification and mobilization of community resources, operation of educational programmes, evaluation, and continuous research. The community education process can be implemented for the integration of all the programmes, practices, projects, and learning experiences of compensatory education, community development and development communicaton. The following categories of compensatory education can be realized in a community education set-up:<ul> <li> pre-school educational programmes and parent education</li><li> work-study programmes for youths</li><li> higher education and adult education</li><li> counselling</li><li> reading and language education</li><li> extracurricular innovations</li></ul> In dealing with community education, one is dealing with a community development strategy: a comprehensive community development strategy is actualised through some variation of the co-ordinating, co-operating process of community education. The following development communication strategies can be implemented and realised in a community education set-up: the open broadcasting strategy, the organised group strategy, multimedia strategy. Through the integration of the above-mentioned strategies within a community education set-up, with its network of educational agencies and social services, the problems of mi1ieu-deprived communities can be alleviated to a meaningful extent. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Educational Psychology / PhD / Unrestricted