Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / The provision of finance to the poor through group lending has evolved enormously over the years following the successful implementation by the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and the BancoSol in Bolivia. Various microfinance institutions in Swaziland also adopted this model and achieved varying results. Imbita Swaziland Women’s Finance Trust Fund is the only microfinance institution that has continuously embraced this model whilst others closed down or migrated to individual lending. This paper uses Imbita as the focal organisation for the study in order to understand the adoption of group lending in Swaziland. The core objectives of the paper were to evaluate Imbita’s experience in applying this model, understanding the characteristics of the groups they lend to and how the groups manage loan repayment. Data collected from the groups suggests that Imbita has relatively succeeded in applying group lending as evidenced by the high performance of group loans compared to individual loans. This success is attributed to close monitoring of the groups and peer selection at the group formation stage. The success is coupled with a few challenges which include inaccessibility of groups, capital limitations within the organisation and non repayment of loans. A majority of the groups comprised family members, aged between 26-45 years and are involved in informal business activities. The high presence of family members in the groups negatively affects the repayment performance of a group. Groups that had known each other for a longer period (11 years and above) prior to group formation perform better in loan repayment compared to those who have known each other for a shorter period (6-10 years). Groups still struggle with ensuring repayment of loans on time by members hence they always apply pressure on members to repay. However they still maintain the joint liability obligation by paying loans on behalf of members who need help in paying their loans. However, some groups have faced dissolution and were reformed as a result of non-payment. The application of group lending still requires design and implementation improvements. Some of the design improvements include ensuring homogeneity within the groups, reducing the sizes of groups, aligning repayment periods with the nature of each particular business and collecting sufficient information on borrowers. The high presence of family members within groups needs to be discouraged to improve loan repayment performance.

As a result of the changing needs of society since the early 20th century, approaches to transportation planning have been continually shifting from highway-focused to multimodal, an approach which takes multiple modes of transportation into consideration. This evolution has been reflected in federal transportation legislation and continues to have many implications for transportation agencies, especially state departments of transportation (DOTs). The objective of this thesis is to analyze what state DOTs have done in order to adapt to the shift. More specifically, the project focuses on the organizational and funding structures of state DOTs. First, an organizational structure analysis of all 50 state DOTs was carried out. This analysis looked at how state DOTs incorporate multiple modes of transportation into their organizational structure. Secondly, the results of a statewide multimodal planning survey, to which 35 states responded, were analyzed. The survey gauged to what extent the representative from a given state DOT thought that their agency was conducting multimodal transportation planning. It also analyzed state DOT modal responsibilities, funding options, and characteristics that influence multimodal transportation planning. Lastly, case studies were carried out for six state transportation agencies: Florida DOT, North Carolina DOT, Oregon DOT, Virginia's Transportation Secretariat, Maryland DOT, and Massachusetts DOT. These case studies focused on organizational structure, funding, and multimodal efforts. Findings from the three different aspects of this thesis support the notion that highway is still the dominant mode in statewide transportation planning in most state DOTs. However, this research also supports the idea that this situation is changing, though more rapidly in some states than in others. Though it is not evident that one type of organizational structure is better than another, states have used the reorganization of these structures as a method for adapting to multimodal transportation planning. Overall, state DOTs tend to incorporate multiple modes of transportation into their organizational structure through multimodal divisions, separate modal divisions, or a combination of both. In addition to the organizational structures, some states have also restructured their funding mechanisms in order to make funds more flexible across all modes of transportation so that they may be able to better accommodate multimodal transportation planning. Those state DOTs with transportation trust funds and separate modal programs have generally shown more initiative in embracing a more multimodal approach to transportation planning. Besides organizational and funding structures, leadership, organizational culture, and institutional issues have been recognized as factors that influence the extent of multimodal planning.

This research is on mines that struggle to obtain closure from the state departments. The closure process at the footprints of five Tailings Storage Facilities (TSFs) of a South African gold mine was investigated. They are situated in the Germiston, Brakpan, Springs and Nigel suburbs of the East Rand region of Johannesburg. Very limited scientific research has been done in South Africa on the management of mine closure. The most recent performed research was completed at Coal mines and only one was at an underground gold mine. The history of the case studies at a surface gold mine revealed similar problems, as confirmed in previous research, during the interviews with mine management and the review of operational documents. There is a whole array of causes giving rise to the struggle to obtain closure by a mine, that will be subsequently discussed. Major causes are the lack of estimation of closure costs and the lack of a proper Project Life Cycle (PLC) process for closure by mine management. Previous investigations indicated a general shortfall in estimated closure costs, mining operations that are not planned with closure in mind, closure objectives that are not set at all management levels, final land use after mine closure that is not defined properly, residual and latent impacts that are not dealt with, the post-closure period when the final impact will occur that is not defined and a proper risk assessment based on detailed information that is not properly done and communicated. Another cause is that the integrated process of making closure part of the Environmental Management Programme Report (EMPR) process is not followed. The result of not following the correct process is that mines do not obtain closure. Another reason why mines do not obtain closure is because of an underdeveloped mine infrastructure, e.g. tailings facilities, waste rock dumps, shafts and plants that are not constructed in an environmentally friendly way during the operational phases to facilitate closure. Therefore, these structures need to be changed in terms of their topography and growth medium to ensure an improvement in environmental parameters. This will assist in obtaining sustainability and final closure. Significantly more trust fund money than initially estimated during operations needs to be spent to ensure the above change. Specific issues defined from the case studies were the adaptation of the administration of the closure process, the management of risks, especially the differences in opinions, the management of the mine life cycle for closure and involvement of the land owners and Interested and Affected Parties (l&APs). This research was necessary because companies are uncertain and lack the competency to estimate and to correctly spend trust fund money in order to be sure of obtaining closure. This situation threatens the long-term survival of mining-companies by holding assets and profits back until closure is attained. The state departments also have to address the risks and have to rehabilitate the polluted mine sites if companies do not obtain closure. A proper PLC to facilitate closure was compiled from the above-mentioned data. An important fact to bear in mind is that the activities within the life cycle depend on one another. Therefore, when one activity is disregarded or not properly performed, it will influence the outcome of the remaining activities. The methodology of the research was as follows: Categories to evaluate the closure process of the selected case studies were determined from the project life cycle and the management principles of the literature review. Thereafter a questionnaire was developed from these categories. The questionnaire was subsequently used to guide interviews. After the interviews these categories and findings from the questionnaire were combined and summarised into key findings. The key findings of the research were: • The driving force behind obtaining closure must shift from the State Departments to the mining companies. They must realise there is an opportunity during the closure process to make money and to minimise their long-term liability. The mining company must thus drive the closure process to obtain environmental sustainability. • The gold mines do have problems in terms of cost estimation and trust fund expenditure at their TSF footprints during the closure process. The reasons were a mismanagement of the closure process and making use of a limited information system to make decisions. • A proper closure process does exist, but it can be improved to ensure all interested and affected parties have the same expectations from closure. • There are many activities in the closure process flow diagram which were not properly attended to according to the case studies. • A conceptual closure plan and a draft rehabilitation plan with broad objectives, policies and strategies with detailed descriptions were not compiled during the operational phase, because limited scientific monitoring information was gathered to do a proper risk assessment and some l&APs consultation was done mainly with the material and land owners on a one on one basis. From these key findings the following recommendations could be formulated: • Any mining operation should conduct a closure audit at least every second year and before mining activities change. • A searchable record keeping system must be established to keep track of the closure life cycle development. • Detailed conceptual and final closure plans need to capture the data from the audits and record keeping system. • A communication forum with company management and environmental specialists needs to be established. / Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

This research is on mines that struggle to obtain closure from the state departments. The closure process at the footprints of five Tailings Storage Facilities (TSFs) of a South African gold mine was investigated. They are situated in the Germiston, Brakpan, Springs and Nigel suburbs of the East Rand region of Johannesburg. Very limited scientific research has been done in South Africa on the management of mine closure. The most recent performed research was completed at Coal mines and only one was at an underground gold mine. The history of the case studies at a surface gold mine revealed similar problems, as confirmed in previous research, during the interviews with mine management and the review of operational documents. There is a whole array of causes giving rise to the struggle to obtain closure by a mine, that will be subsequently discussed. Major causes are the lack of estimation of closure costs and the lack of a proper Project Life Cycle (PLC) process for closure by mine management. Previous investigations indicated a general shortfall in estimated closure costs, mining operations that are not planned with closure in mind, closure objectives that are not set at all management levels, final land use after mine closure that is not defined properly, residual and latent impacts that are not dealt with, the post-closure period when the final impact will occur that is not defined and a proper risk assessment based on detailed information that is not properly done and communicated. Another cause is that the integrated process of making closure part of the Environmental Management Programme Report (EMPR) process is not followed. The result of not following the correct process is that mines do not obtain closure. Another reason why mines do not obtain closure is because of an underdeveloped mine infrastructure, e.g. tailings facilities, waste rock dumps, shafts and plants that are not constructed in an environmentally friendly way during the operational phases to facilitate closure. Therefore, these structures need to be changed in terms of their topography and growth medium to ensure an improvement in environmental parameters. This will assist in obtaining sustainability and final closure. Significantly more trust fund money than initially estimated during operations needs to be spent to ensure the above change. Specific issues defined from the case studies were the adaptation of the administration of the closure process, the management of risks, especially the differences in opinions, the management of the mine life cycle for closure and involvement of the land owners and Interested and Affected Parties (l&APs). This research was necessary because companies are uncertain and lack the competency to estimate and to correctly spend trust fund money in order to be sure of obtaining closure. This situation threatens the long-term survival of mining-companies by holding assets and profits back until closure is attained. The state departments also have to address the risks and have to rehabilitate the polluted mine sites if companies do not obtain closure. A proper PLC to facilitate closure was compiled from the above-mentioned data. An important fact to bear in mind is that the activities within the life cycle depend on one another. Therefore, when one activity is disregarded or not properly performed, it will influence the outcome of the remaining activities. The methodology of the research was as follows: Categories to evaluate the closure process of the selected case studies were determined from the project life cycle and the management principles of the literature review. Thereafter a questionnaire was developed from these categories. The questionnaire was subsequently used to guide interviews. After the interviews these categories and findings from the questionnaire were combined and summarised into key findings. The key findings of the research were: • The driving force behind obtaining closure must shift from the State Departments to the mining companies. They must realise there is an opportunity during the closure process to make money and to minimise their long-term liability. The mining company must thus drive the closure process to obtain environmental sustainability. • The gold mines do have problems in terms of cost estimation and trust fund expenditure at their TSF footprints during the closure process. The reasons were a mismanagement of the closure process and making use of a limited information system to make decisions. • A proper closure process does exist, but it can be improved to ensure all interested and affected parties have the same expectations from closure. • There are many activities in the closure process flow diagram which were not properly attended to according to the case studies. • A conceptual closure plan and a draft rehabilitation plan with broad objectives, policies and strategies with detailed descriptions were not compiled during the operational phase, because limited scientific monitoring information was gathered to do a proper risk assessment and some l&APs consultation was done mainly with the material and land owners on a one on one basis. From these key findings the following recommendations could be formulated: • Any mining operation should conduct a closure audit at least every second year and before mining activities change. • A searchable record keeping system must be established to keep track of the closure life cycle development. • Detailed conceptual and final closure plans need to capture the data from the audits and record keeping system. • A communication forum with company management and environmental specialists needs to be established. / Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Prior to the passage of the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) 1.6 million bare steel Underground Storage Tanks (UST) were in use in the United States. Many of them were leaking. In Indiana approximately 13,000 UST remain but have been upgraded to meet current industry and regulatory standards. Cleaning up the petroleum releases from leaking UST has continued since it became evident that bare steel underground tanks leaked. In Northwest Indiana glacial moraine and outwash deposits from the Wisconsin Ice Age that retreated 10,000 years ago left 200 feet of glacial till above the underlying bedrock. Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE) and Air Sparging (AS) have proven to be effective and provide significant cost savings for remediation in the glacial deposits in Northwest Indiana. Indiana also has the Excess Liability Trust Fund (ELTF) to help pay for and to expedite clean-up of releases from registered UST. Cleaning up petroleum releases requires the appropriate technology for the localized geology, adequate funding, and appropriate guidance from state and federal regulations. This study discusses these issues at three sites in Northwest Indiana to demonstrate how technology, funding, and regulatory compliance must collaborate to work in the field.

Face aux préjudices irréparables engendrés par les crimes internationaux, le droit international, hormis les cas de poursuites devant la CPI et la pratique des commissions et fonds d'indemnisation des N.U, fait ponce-Pilate au droit interne pour la mise en oeuvre du droit à réparation des victimes de ces crimes. Une hypocrisie qui s'affirme notamment à travers des pratiques d'assistance humanitaire. Le droit interne des Etats quant à lui, fait un recours systématique à son système classique pour la mise en oeuvre de ce droit. Cet attrait pour le système classique tranche pourtant avec les facteurs matériels du droit en cette matière où le contexte des crimes, l'ampleur des préjudices, la vastitude des victimes et les fluctuations de la qualité des auteurs l'ont presque plongé dans la désuétude. C'est ce qui a fait émerger la quête d'un paradigme d'efficacité dont l'expérience de la justice transitionnelle et de la justice réparatrice constituent « l'essai ». La discussion sur l'efficacité des résultats de cet essai conduit l'observateur averti à la conclusion qu'il y a encore du chemin. Pour la RDC, contre l'aporie du droit classique face aux souffrances des victimes des crimes internationaux, cette étude propose la construction d'une politique criminelle basée sur une approche holistique de la réparation. L'approche holistique impliquant, ici, une réaction globaliste face aux préjudices subis par les victimes des crimes internationaux. Préjudices multiformes pour lesquels les réponses en termes de réparation doivent relever d'une appréhension globale du droit, reposant sur l'interdisciplinarité et l'ouverture à la « technologie sociale ». / Faced with the irreparable prejudices arising from international crimes, except for the cases being prosecuted at the ICC and the processes of various Commissions and reparations funds of the UN, international law has been pontius-pilating when it comes implementing under domestic laws the rights of victims to reparations. This hypocrisy is particularly highlighted by the use of humanitarian aid. Domestic laws have systematically resorted to traditional practices to implement this right. This inclination towards traditional approaches is indeed at variance with the material elements of the law on reparations in as much as the context of the crimes, the scope of the damage, the vast number of victims and fluctuations in the types of perpetrators have simply made the traditional systems obsolete. Whence the quest for an efficiency paradigm hinged on «attempts» within transitional justice and reparations justice. Analyses of these attempts by experts reveal that a lot still has to be done. In the case of the DRC, and mindful of the shortcomings of the traditional legal system in mitigating the suffering of victims of international crimes, this study proposes a holistic approach to the development of a criminal reparations policy. This holistic approach requires a global response to the damage suffered by victims of international crimes. The reparations response to these multidimensional prejudices must reflect a global understanding of the law based on interdisciplinary and «social technology» considerations.

<p>This paper is about the reparations regime of the International Criminal Court and reparations possibilities for victims of sexual violence. It will contain a legal analysis of the reparations system of&nbsp / the Court, including the Trust Fund for Victims of the International Criminal Court. In a second step, the needs of women who experienced conflict related violence will be examined. The central&nbsp / &nbsp / question, which this paper will try to answer, is whether the ICC reparations regime has the ability to provide gender-sensitive reparations and thus make a contribution to the improvement of&nbsp / women&rsquo / s lives in post-conflict societies.</p>

<p>This paper is about the reparations regime of the International Criminal Court and reparations possibilities for victims of sexual violence. It will contain a legal analysis of the reparations system of&nbsp / the Court, including the Trust Fund for Victims of the International Criminal Court. In a second step, the needs of women who experienced conflict related violence will be examined. The central&nbsp / &nbsp / question, which this paper will try to answer, is whether the ICC reparations regime has the ability to provide gender-sensitive reparations and thus make a contribution to the improvement of&nbsp / women&rsquo / s lives in post-conflict societies.</p>

Magister Legum - LLM / This paper is about the reparations regime of the International Criminal Court and reparations possibilities for victims of sexual violence. It will contain a legal analysis of the reparations system of the Court, including the Trust Fund for Victims of the International Criminal Court. In a second step, the needs of women who experienced conflict related violence will be examined. The central question, which this paper will try to answer, is whether the ICC reparations regime has the ability to provide gender-sensitive reparations and thus make a contribution to the improvement of women’s lives in post-conflict societies. / South Africa

Les trusts anglo-américains (anglais, américain et des Iles Cook) coexistent avec les trusts de droit civil (les fidéicommis argentin, bolivien, panaméen et la fiducie française). Ils appartiennent aux deux familles de droit de Common Law et romano-germanique et ont des structures différentes. Les trusts exprès anglo-américains sont créés par acte unilatéral du constituant et mettent en place une relation trustee-bénéficiaire. Les trusts de droit civil sont créés par contrat (ou testament) entre le constituant et le fiduciaire et ne donnent pas des droits réels aux bénéficiaires. Malgré leur différence de structure, les deux trusts fonctionnent de manière équivalente, grâce au transfert de propriété au fiduciaire et à l’étanchéité du patrimoine fiduciaire. Les réserves héréditaires sont un élément extérieur à la structure des trusts testamentaires ; ceux-ci fonctionnent de manière analogue. Les techniques d’investissement et de gestion fiduciaire sont aussi similaires : des clauses conditionnelles d’accès ou fin de la propriété fiduciaire et des pouvoirs discrétionnaires donnés au trustee sont communs aux deux modèles de trust. La séparation du patrimoine sert à mettre en place des trusts de gestion, de protection ou de garantie de financement de projet, de défaisance ou de titrisation. Le fonctionnement du FCP, similaire à celui des Unit Trusts, devrait donner la propriété fiduciaire des actifs au dépositaire. Des éléments de la loi, extérieurs à la structure de la fiducie, qui n’existent pas chez ses homologues latino et anglo-américains, empêchent son fonctionnement normal. Nous proposons de modifier la loi sur la fiducie, sur les FCP et les fonds de titrisation / Anglo-American express private trusts, Latin-American fideicomiso and French fiducia”. Common Law trusts (English, American and Cook Islands) co-exist with civil law domestic trusts (Argentinean, Bolivian and Panamanian fideicomiso and French fiducia). They belong to the Common Law and continental law families respectively and have different structures. Anglo-American express trusts are settled by a settlor (declaration, gift) or by a will that creates an equitable relationship between the trustee and the cestui, whereby both share legal and equitable interests on the trust property. Civil law trusts are settled by a contract between the settlor and the trustee and by a will. Thus, a civil law trust beneficiary has only personal remedies against a trustee in respect of breach of trust. Despite the structural differences, both types of trusts operate in similar ways, due to the transfer of property to the trustee and the separation of the trust property. Testamentary trusts also work in a similar way; forced heirship is an external element of both. Trust managing and investment techniques and practices are also similar: condition precedent and condition subsequent clauses and discretionary trusts and powers are common to both trust models. Separation of the trust property allows for the settlement of protective trusts, trusts for project financing, defeasance and securitization. French Mutual Funds are comparable to Unit Trusts. Both should give legal title to the trustee (custodian). External elements of French law, which do not exist in Anglo or Latin American trusts, restrain the normal operation and use of French fiducia. We propose to modify the fiducia, mutual and securitization funds law.