This research study sought to determine secondary school learner perceptions of the need for a youth development programme in Reservoir Hills. The study begins with a literature review related to youth development in the context of social capital within the framework of social development. The main focus of the research, however, was to gather information regarding the youth development programmes the youth were currently accessing, as well as youth perceptions of their needs and pressures, and how their needs can be met. A descriptive survey research design guided the study. The entire Grade 9 populations of the two secondary schools in Reservoir Hills were asked to complete structured questionnaires under the supervision of their teachers. This group was considered to best represent youth at the entry level of this phase of development. Quantitative methods were used to analyse the results from which conclusions and recommendations were drawn. The study findings indicate that the majority of the respondents were not attending youth development programmes. Those who were accessing these programmes were doing so through school, as well as religious and sports organizations. The youth expressed a keen interest in participating in any programmes that might be offered. Surprisingly, they were requesting access to the most basic activities such as soccer, netball, volleyball, etc. The y also showed an interest in non-sporting activities such as computer literacy. Youth demonstrated awareness of the pressures facing them in terms of drugs, sex and alcohol. They were of the view that involvement in youth development programmes would be critical to assisting youth direct their energies towards positive development as individuals and as youth in general, and thus contribute to the creation of a better society. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.

Thesis (DEd (Education))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / Many youth experience some form of identity crisis as they transition into adulthood. This crisis is amplified in the lives of many working-class youth who have to contend with heading households owing to the absence or death of parents and a socioeconomic context of poverty, lack of access to quality learning opportunities, unemployment and deepening inequality. A recent analysis of youth unemployment statistics in South Africa shows that at the end of 2016, at least 7.5 million youth were not in employment, education or training (NEET), with a large percentage residing in the Western Cape. The growing NEET numbers present a huge problem to youth, communities and the state, as youth who are not in employment, education or training have a greater propensity to become disengaged and disconnected from self, family and social, economic, political and cultural activities, further minimising their opportunities for growth and development. Despite the growing NEET numbers, there remains a paucity of research on credible and sustainable solutions to the NEET crises, including research that gives credence to youth voice and experience. The key purpose of the study was to explore youth experiences of a holistic approach to personal transformation as one particular programmatic approach or developmental pathway for vulnerable youth. The imperative is to explore ways of addressing the current NEET crisis and simultaneously deepen the theory and practice of youth development. The study used an ecological perspective as its theoretical framework that illuminated the influence of relationships and contexts on the development of children and youth. A phenomenological approach was chosen as it was deemed best suited to exploring and understanding people’s perceptions and experiences of a particular phenomenon. Narrative inquiry was employed as the methodological framework to explore the views of five youth respondents and their parents or guardians. Techniques to enhance the credibility and trustworthiness of the data included triangulation, which was effected through the collection of two sets of data, an extensive literature review and use of a reflective journal. The findings illustrate that a holistic perspective, as one particular philosophical and programmatic approach to personal transformation, has the potential to foster connection with self and family, enhance the psychological capital of young people and provide the impetus for them to remain on a positive developmental trajectory. The significance of a holistic approach lies in its ability to recognise and integrate all dimensions of their being into the learning process and meet a variety of needs as a result of their particular socioeconomic and psychosocial realities.

by Leung Tat-Kwong. / Thesis (M.S.W.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1984. / Bibliography: leaves 208-212

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

School of Social Sciences Includes bibliographical references (p. 263-300)

The delivery of youth protection services by indigenous social workers in native communities is a fairly recent development in Quebec. This research project is a qualitative study of the practice experience of Inuit community workers located on the Ungava Bay coast of Arctic Quebec. Using participant observation and dialogue as methods of inquiry, an attempt is made to render an account of the workers' day-to-day experience of youth protection work. The findings suggest that their conditions of work encourage a passive subordination to the bureaucratic organization of practice. This tendency emerges in response to the difficulties workers encounter while trying to conform to the requirements of the Youth Protection Act and, at the same time, to the norms and realities of Inuit village life. The resultant tension is central to the Inuit workers' experience and not amenable to any simple resolution. Implications for social work practice, policy and research are examined in light of these findings.

This case study of Covenant House, an emergency shelter for street kids in downtown Toronto, focuses on the experiences that draw kids into youth shelters and that drive them out. The analysis stresses the importance to street kids of feeling "cared for". Street kids were drawn to Covenant House because they felt cared for there by its open intake policy, appealing facilities (clean surroundings and good food), and staff who listened to and were interested in their problems. But residents were rather swiftly turned off by its rigidly enforced, elaborate and "uncaring' rule structure, and either walked out or got kicked out. Given the limited alternatives in Toronto's "shelter world", however, Covenant House has become the preferred choice for street kids who find themselves in a cycle of entering, leaving and returning.

The objective of this research is to establish how non-adherence of Amathole District development projects to the Department of Social Development’s Community Development Systems and Operational Manual has contributed to failure of these projects. The background to this research lies in the deliberate policy efforts of the post 1994 democratic dispensation in South Africa to drive development through community-based development approaches. Explicitly pro-poor public policies, development plans and fiscal frameworks were anchored on the concept of community empowerment. The Reconstruction and Development Programme was the first such policy and strategy framework that sought to enshrine the principles of community empowerment and participation. As such, Provincial and Local government are often seen as key strategic drivers of community empowerment initiatives and interventions. South Africa’s governance model is still evolving, but it is clearly committed to local development and service delivery through a decentralised system of government that espouses community involvement. Government strategy has been heavily focused on speed and delivery in order to deal with the historical socio-economic backlogs it inherited. In the focus area of youth development projects, one recognises that poor management has dramatically reduced the effectiveness of many interventions. This research explores how non-adherence of these projects to policy guidelines set out in the Community Development Systems and Operations Manual has contributed to their failure. The research does this by looking at the various management procedures that are supposed to be undertaken during both the initial planning phases and during the subsequent implementation phases of youth development projects. Actual methodologies are compared against this standard. The research is undoubtedly a contribution to the field of strategic management of youth development initiatives which have as their primary intention the reduction of youth unemployment. Research surveys on this topic are limited, and the objective is to enrich the discourse on effective youth projects management practices.

For the past decade, the leisure and recreation literature has sought to develop and support a discourse of queer youth at-risk in order to call attention to the need to help these youth function normally in society (Grossman, 1992; Grossman, 1995; Kivel, 1997). As a solution, creating safe spaces for queer youth has been advocated, without necessarily considering how the identity of practitioners might affect these spaces, or what types of norms these spaces might simultaneously reinforce. This research study drew on queer, feminist, and spatial analysis theories, to investigate how heteronormativity functioned in queer youth spaces within two different municipal recreation contexts. I focused specifically on the physical and discursive boundaries of the spaces, as well as the influence of the youth workers' identities and practices. The research methods included observations, document analysis, and semistructured interviews. The findings demonstrated that the youth workers' identities were highly influential in both spaces, as they affected the negotiation of spatial boundaries and systemic discourses in very different ways. The spilling over of queer bodies out of the spaces worked to expose the boundary between queer and normal space as discursive, rather than natural or real. Furthermore, the central focus of both spaces on a queer identity re-created certain norms around race (read as whiteness) and gender (read as binary categories); however, this occurred in different ways in each space. Finally, systemic discourses of risk, support, and safety worked to both disrupt and reinforce notions of heteronormativity. By calling attention to an existing silence about queer youth, they were simultaneously constructed as helpless and in need of saving. Those who theorize about and work with queer youth might want to consider how certain discourses support notions of an idealized subject that can be further marginalizing. In addition, although queer youth spaces can be enabling for some youth, they are constraining for others. Research and practice that advocates for queer youth spaces as the solution, might want to deliberate the ways in which this approach can fail to trouble normalcy, and potentially reinforce the value of certain ways of being queer. / Education, Faculty of / Kinesiology, School of / Graduate