This thesis presents a multi-scalar analysis of the institutional influences upon Third Sector Employment and Training Initiatives (TSEIs) which have become de rigueur as a response to the seemingly intractable unemployment problems of many localities in the UK. To address the efficacy of third sector initiatives in the development of local economies, previous evaluations have attempted to define the features of 'best practice' initiatives in the UK. However, such analyses focus upon the internal organisation of TSEIs and are biased towards what are regarded as successful organisations while neglecting the impacts of failure. Consequently, this thesis addresses the institutional influences upon TSEIs within a comparative analysis of successful and failing initiatives, while recognising that 'success' and 'failure' are relative rather than absolute concepts. The thesis combines approaches from the social sciences in order to create an informed theoretical basis which is able to incorporate broader explanatory issues of social change and structure that are explored through empirical study. An approach is therefore applied which emphasises the multiple scales at which theories operate, from the essentially grand meta-theories of the regulation approach to the more locally contingent theories of governance and institutions. This subsequently informs the debate into changes in economic, social, political and governance structures which affect labour markets and job creation strategies in the UK. The thesis suggests a number of common factors which influence the development of TSEIs, allied to a number of specific factors which are related to the aims of particular initiatives. The need for flexibility within frameworks leads to a conceptualisation of the key organisational factor influencing TSEIs as Structured Flexibility. From this, I suggest a number of policy directions which ought to facilitate the third sector’s attempts to develop local economic growth.

Abstract Has several research of voluntary service in recent years in Taiwan, the most subjects are focused on discussed, satisfied on work and tendency of resign or organization commitment, in the other hand, less discussing about characteristic of voluntary service participator and discuss on view of volunteer management. Using questionnaire for research, to analysis the influence from volunteer base property and volunteer¡¦s management to voluntary participator for community concern center in His ¡V Gang township of Tainan county, the main discovery as below: ¢¹. The base property of volunteer in community concern center, the main characteristic is female, marriage and several children, education around three of quarter is focused on graduated from elementary school and junior high school, main for elder and age of voluntary participator around 51-60 years old and over 60 years old; career main for housewife, second for agriculture, fishery and animal husbandry, the salary was not high, volunteer have religious belief mostly and believe in Taoism more than Buddhism. ¢º. Obviously, volunteer quite satisfied in any part of voluntary management, special in volunteer recruit, volunteer planning much more obvious. But the personal welfare aspire and encourage cannot satisfied other psychology and reality layer which special on checking system and reward and punishment system. Has not clear difference in volunteer management form analysis in different marriage, career, different number of children and monthly average salary. Has clear diversity in volunteer management in sexuality, age, education, religious belief and volunteer seniority. ¢». Overall for voluntary management any part has high satisfied, according to regression analysis shows positive influence from volunteer whether continuous participate in voluntary service; therefore, more willing to involve more time and energy on voluntary participation, and then own good evaluation of community and interpersonal relationship lead to honor, self confidence and social responsibility from deep mind, therefore, voluntary management good or not has big influence to attitude of voluntary participator. Key word: voluntary service,volunteer management, voluntary,

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MPH, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand / Introduction: VCT services are a meaningful entry point to a continuum of care, in treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS and related illnesses. Although VCT has been available at some sites across the country even before 2000, there have been very few studies conducted to evaluate its implementation at local municipality level. This study describes the status of VCT implementation in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality between January 2004 and March 2007. Methods: Using a questionnaire, checklist and data collection sheet, data was collected between April - May 2007 in a sample of 14 VCT sites. These were government funded sites that included three hospitals, three community health centres, three clinics, three non governmental organisations and two hospices and were selected from all three service delivery regions in Ekurhuleni. Areas assessed were demographics of facility managers, staff and training, referral system, guidelines, supervision and support and VCT registers. Results: Over ninety percent of the VCT sites had closed areas for HIV counseling and testing. Majority of the VCT service providers were lay counselors (52.9%) and others were nurses, doctors, dieticians, social workers and health promoters. Most of the counselors had received both formal and in-service training. Almost all sites (92.8%, N=13) had the relevant guidelines in place and in-service training and use of checklist were methods used to ensure adherence to guidelines. The majority of the sites (71.4%, N=10) regularly evaluated the quality of counseling offered to clients through direct observation (50.0%), exit interviews (20.0%), self evaluation (10.0%) and combination of direct observation and interviews (20.0%). Close to two thirds of the sites (64.3%, N=9) were satisfied with supervision received from the district office. All the sites used a formal letter to refer clients to other outside facilities. There was no uniformity in the data elements of VCT registers across sites and the registers had many gaps. iv Conclusions: The VCT sites in this study had the necessary set up for the implementation of basic VCT services. However, because of the small sample size, this conclusion may not be true for the whole of Ekurhuleni. There needs to be improvement in VCT record keeping and data management in the sites. Further studies are needed to evaluate factors influencing uptake of VCT services.