M.A. / Many countries have shown dissatisfaction and frustration with the formal punitive justice system. There is a resurging interest in preserving and strengthening traditional and customary justice practices, which has led to an outcry for alternative responses to crime and for social order. This requires the involvement of all parties, including the victim, offender and community, in participating and resolving conflict and addressing its consequences. This study addressed the following question: What are the roles, functions and competencies that social workers require in restorative justice? A review of the literature compared the different justice theories and, ultimately, restorative justice. Restorative justice, as a growing movement, aims to change the direction of criminal law by focusing on the needs of victims and repairing harms to the communities. The victim is afforded an opportunity in court as well as outside the court by actively participating in the outcome of the sentence of the offender. The offender, on the other hand, is directly confronted with the responsibility for the wrong and is more likely to do something positive for the victim. The community‟s susceptible, healing approach offers a new way of dealing with crime. Restorative justice programmes are, in some instances, based on local decision-making and community-building. This attitude promotes and encourages a peaceful expression of conflict, tolerance and inclusiveness which builds respect for diversity and enhances responsible community practices.

M.A. / The information economy, brought about by the advances in information and communications technology, has led to significant changes in the work environment. Organisations and workers must be flexible and are required to adjust quickly to demands from external and internal market forces. Employees are expected to be knowledge workers who are not only computer literate, but information literate as well. The high demand for flexibility has led to a trend that allows workers to perform their duties in locations outside of their traditional workspace. This trend has been named teleworking or telecommuting. A literature study revealed similarities and differences between the work environment of the knowledge worker and that of the teleworker. Both the teleworker and the knowledge worker are interacting in an environment that consists of individual, group and organisational processes. These processes are interrelated and none of them can be viewed in isolation. The factors that influence the knowledge worker also affect the teleworker, but the extent and focus of the influence vary. The features of the work environment of the knowledge worker and the teleworker provided the context for investigating the information environment of both. The information environment of the knowledge worker revealed certain distinct features, such as the manner in which documents and information were managed and the systems that were used. These features were compared with the information environment of the teleworker through an investigation of teleworkers in South Africa. Although very few, if any, South African organisations were involved in formal teleworking programmes, it was possible to establish certain trends through employees who had an ad hoc arrangement with their organisations. In conclusion, it was found that the information environment of the teleworker was somewhat similar to that of the knowledge worker, but certain distinctions also came to the fore. Further areas for research were also identified.

Magister Public Health - MPH / Background: Malnutrition in children under the age of 5 years is a global public Health problem. The UNICEF report states that 10.9 million children under five die in developing countries each year due to malnutrition. According to the Zambia Demographic and Health Survey of 2008 malnutrition is one of the main childhood illnesses in Zambia with almost 50% of the under five children being stunted. The referral system in Zambia is organized in a way that starts at the Primary Health Care (PHC) level within the community and managed by the Community Health Workers (CHW). At this level, Community Health Workers screen and identify children that have childhood illnesses which require treatment and they refer them to the Rural Health Centre (RHC). When the problem cannot be handled at the RHC level the child is referred to the district hospital or provincial hospital level within a particular province. However, most children with malnutrition arrive late at the hospital for treatment. Some of them die soon after admission. It was not clear what prevent the mothers from bringing these children early to the hospital for treatment. Methods: The main aim of the study was to explore factors that are associated with detection and referral of malnourished children from Primary Health Care (PHC) at community level to the Health centres in Kalomo district. The study was conducted in Kanchele community of Kalomo in Southern Province of Zambia. Kanchele is a rural community with most basic services such as health facilities not being easily accessed. The study focused on two PHCs which had the highest prevalence of malnutrition. All participants were asked to sign a consent form after the purpose of study had been explained to them. They were informed that all information would be treated with confidentiality and that participation was voluntary and that they had the right to chose not to participate in the study. Furthermore each participant was asked if they agreed to maintain the confidentiality of the information discussed by participants and researchers during the focus group session. The study was qualitative in nature and focus group discussions were conducted with mothers or caregivers of children under five years, community members who have lived in the community for more than one year and community health workers who have also worked in the community for more than one year. Focus group discussions were used to collect data from mothers and community members. While in-depth interviews were used to collect data from CHWs and nutrition group leaders working at the PHC and community leaders. The data collected from the focus group discussions was analysed using thematic approach. Barriers or hindrances to rehabilitating a malnourished child mentioned by the respondents included lack of knowledge on malnutrition, failure to link malnutrition to poor feeding and bad health seeking habits, poor response to referral as a result of a system which is not supported with adequate resource such as transport, a system that does not support parents with food in-case of the child being hospitalised, the current hospital system only provides food to the patient. The failure by health staff to see that malnutrition is a key childhood disease. Data from this study will be used to develop interventions to improve the management of malnourished children. Conclusion: The study shows that mothers and community members are misinformed about the causes and treatment of malnutrition. It also clearly showed that traditional healers and grandparents played an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of malnourished children in this community. Interventions to improve identification and referral of these malnourished children needs to taken into consideration.

The research, investigating how a selected group of former BETD graduates understand and implement the theory of reflective practice, is a qualitative case study carried out in the Kavango region of Namibia. The study was shaped by one of the major policy emphases in Namibia’s post independence teacher education reform process - that of developing reflective teachers who actively participate in curriculum planning and take educational decisions based on their own judgment. A basic assumption underlying the study is that effective educational practice is dependent on practitioners thinking about what they are doing and acting on their reflections to improve practice. The study found that a fundamental problem preventing these teachers from implementing reflective practice in accordance with the Namibian educational reform process, is that the participating teachers neither understand the exact meaning of reflective practice nor do they have a common or shared view of the concept, in spite of their common qualifications. A key contributing factor to their problems withimplementing reflective practice is the lack of a deep understanding of the reform epistemology and pedagogy revealed by the three former BETD graduates selected for the research. These are the teachers referred to in the first paragraph: The first teacher is Helena, a teacher at Duduva primary school, the second teacher is Kalishe, also teaching at the same school as Helena and the third teacher is Darius at Ntja Junior secondary school. The qualitative approach employed for the study served to illuminate and highlight specific issues related to the implementation of reflective practice that will be of considerable value for the researcher in her capacity as a teacher educator. These included among others: • The teacher’s need for an understanding of the key principles on which reflection is based and how to translate these into practice. • The need for teachers to have a clear understanding of the role that learners play in the reflective process. • The need to revisit the Basic Education Teacher Diploma (BETD) education programme, because for teachers to reflect they need a sound subject knowledge on which to base their judgments. These aspects, as well as the identification of the factors in the school system that contribute to the failure of reflective practice, provide a foundation for finding real solutions to the problems identified.

Direct social service workers face a variety of difficulties including low pay, limited upward mobility, role ambiguity, and emotional exhaustion. This study adds to the understanding of the complexities of front-line service work with an analysis of the storytelling of case managers working with Big Brothers Big Sisters. Interview participants describe a problem of “volunteer expectations,” which they define as related to the organizational storytelling of the program: the images that entice people to volunteer do not match actual volunteer experiences. I argue that glamorized storytelling through marketing and recruitment tactics creates unintended, negative consequences for volunteers and case managers. This project contributes to the understanding of social services, emotion work, and the American “helping” culture.

Based on research involving an overview of 44 policies at Canadian universities and 21 interviews with anti-harassment practitioners across the country, this thesis explores the challenges faced by anti-harassment practitioners working with legally defined institutional harassment discrimination policies. Anti-harassment work at Canadian universities is complex because practitioners must negotiate institutional demands set out in policy as well as politicized demands from members of marginalized groups both inside and outside the institution. Interviews with practitioners reveal that their daily work in reactive investigation and mediation of complaints as well as their proactive work in educating campus communities may support the less powerful parties to complaints, rather than focusing only on limiting the institution’s legal liability. Therefore, although anti-harassment practitioners occupy a boundary role as defined by Fraser (1989), their work is not entirely “depoliticizing”. Practitioners’ identities, sense of marginalization, and commitment to activist politics contribute to their position as tempered radicals as defined by Meyerson and Scully (1995), helping to explain their commitment to both institutional prerogatives and to empowering marginalized members of the institution. The advent of neoliberalism has set the stage for the shift of discourses and practices away from those which value equity to those that underscore traditional divisions of power and challenge the demands of so-called “special interest groups’. This shift is underscored by concerns about “political correctness” that arise within institutional communities and the broader social context. Perhaps the most obvious of the changes relates to the shift from a focus on equity and human rights to what is termed the “respectful workplace model”. The inclusion of personal harassment issues in human rights policies shifts the focus of the policies to issues that are not tied to historical oppressions and can potentially deflect attention from the human rights component of these policies. The challenge is to move beyond a legalistic perspective regarding policy development and to consider changes in the broader social context that influence policy change and the work of anti-harassment practitioners. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

The main research problem in this study was to identify strategies that could assist South Afrian companies in managing knowledge workers for their opt imal benefit . To achieve this goal, the following act ions were ta ken: Aliterature study was conducted to identify the best strategies that South African companies could use to manage knowledge workers for optimal benefit; Following the literature review interviews were concluded with key people in the human resource and recruitment industry to determine how a knowledge worker was defined in their organisations as well as to probe what management and human resources strategies were used to manage knowledge workers to their full potential; The interviews, in addition to the literature study, also served as a basis for a survey questionnaire, which was used to probe the views of knowledge workers to determine tools and strategies managers use to manage them. The empirical results from the study showed some concurrence with best strategies suggested from the theoret ical study. In essence, the study revealed that knowledge was well managed in the organisations where the study was conducted and that the knowledge workers were motivated and productive. However, it appeared that there was uncer tainty around the remuneration, rewards and recognition of these employees, which could ultimately reflect in less promising levels of commitment and lower levels of retention. The main findings were that: knowledge workers should be recognised for their good performance by providing financial incentives; knowledge workers should be provided with opportunities to continuously develop their competencies but be allowed to craft their own developmental experiences; knowledge workers should be empowered by delegat ing tasks to them that carry decision making responsibility and af fectinnovation; and Managers and knowledge workers should cont inuously have performance and organisational development discussions.

In most modern communities, a large array of health services and welfare services are at least potentially available to all. Whether any individual or family receives a co-ordinated balanced welfare service, however, depends on many factors, including the extent to which two "helping professions", social work (as represented by social workers employed in various agencies) and medicine (as represented by general practitioners) know of each other's services and actually work together. The present study is a preliminary survey of the situation. As background, the impact of industrialization and urbanization on the development and contemporary roles of medicine and social work is reviewed. Information for this qualitative study was obtained through questionnaires submitted to sample groups of doctors and social workers. The purpose of the questionnaires was to gain some definition of the concept of "reciprocal awareness and utilization". In each case, the attempt was made to evaluate the knowledge one profession had of the other's role and function, and the extent to which this knowledge was used for the benefit of the population they served. In addition, directors of three key agencies were interviewed to determine their views on the role of the agency in furthering reciprocal awareness and utilization. The findings of the study indicate that a fairly typical situation is that the doctor's awareness of the social worker's role and function is limited and outdated. Social workers, in general, are more aware of the doctor's role and function, but on the other hand, their expectations are somewhat high and perhaps unrealistic. As indicated by the test of referral patterns, the utilization of each other's resources is minimal. The doctor's utilization of social work skills and resources is hampered by two facts: (a) patients have mixed feelings about being referred, and (b) doctors believe that agency policy and procedure is ineffective and frustrating. There is evidence that besides not recognizing a modern social worker's role and function, general practitioners appear to underestimate social and emotional factors in illness. Reciprocity, the main concept evaluated in this study, is minimal. Both doctors and social workers recognized that there are gains to be realized from more co-operation and some methods are recommended; but the low degree of reciprocal awareness and utilization existing between doctors and social workers must be tackled by recognizing that rather than lack of communication, faulty and hostile communication is the issue. This does not necessarily apply to medicine and social work in institutional settings and this difference demands further exploration. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

Exploring one of the intricacies of China’s internationally renowned rapid rates of economic growth and development, this research aims to tackle the issue of migrant marginalization and social exclusion, through the exploration of access to education for migrant children. While vast literature on access to education for migrant children in urban settings currently exists, the existing literature largely lacks a gendered understanding and/or analysis. This research thus, aims to initiate discussion, and provide for a preliminary attempt at understanding the manifold relationships, and contemporary realities of deeply rooted ‘son preference’ across Chinese culture, and the socially exclusionary functions of the hukou citizenship system, through a historical institutionalist lens, within the context of one of the greatest mass migrations “possibly, in the history of the world,” (Nielsen, Smyth & Vicziany, 2007, 1). The research presented is rooted in a case study, conducted in Dongguan, Guangzhou, China in the summer of 2013, which involved surveying and speaking to migrant parents in the region. The primary data collected allowed for a preliminary analysis and thus, insight into a gendered evaluation of access to education for migrant children, highlighting trends and changes in gendered values across the migratory process. Additionally, this research further ignited a theoretical and conceptual discussion on the hukou citizenship system in the framing of hukou status as “inherited property,” a concept derived from the work of Shachar and Hirschl (2007), and further analyzed alongside North’s work on Institutions (1989, 1991), lending to a comprehensive and contemporary understanding of the hukou citizenship system and the barriers it causes in the upward social mobility of migrant workers.

There are currently millions of domestic workers as vulnerable and underclass workers in China. The demand for domestic workers will continue to increase in another millions of urban families in time of ageing and labour shortage. Domestic workers are predominantly working poor female, low-skilled migrant and informal: these three characteristics have determined their poor conditions in the cities. When such a large body of domestic workers live in the improvised, disadvantaged and discriminated conditions in urban China, it is crucial to undertake a critical analysis of this issue to explore why this has happened and why it has been so hard to change their conditions. This thesis seeks to explain: why is there a persistent lack of social and legal protection for these vulnerable workers in urban China? To do so, I first explore two lines of theoretical frameworks to construct the issues of domestic workers in 1) the gender implications of domestic work and 2) the relationship between migration and labour market mechanism. Second, I analyse the larger socioeconomic structures that shape the working and living conditions of domestic workers. The process of reconstructing the dual labour system integrated with the institutionalized urban registration system in China has exacerbated the divergence between countryside and cities, between men and women, and between formal and informal labour. Third, I use the case studies to present the consequences of the informality of domestic work service in China, including the unrecognition of labour law, the unequal power relationship between service employers and domestic workers, and the media’s biased position in promoting the in-home care model. I find that the state has designed multiple institutions to secure a pool of cheap labour from the rural regions to facilitate the urbanisation at a low price. In particular, the central government has prioritised the urban development by encouraging more women to participate in the labour force and justified its absence in the provision of public elderly care by outsourcing the care services to the private market of domestic workers.