This thesis relates the work of a non-governmental organisation, The Spirals Trust, to discussions on human and participatory development. The focus of the study is one of The Spirals Trust’s projects, the 2006/7 Tantyi Youth Empowerment Project, which is discussed in relation to theoretical material on human development and participatory development. Collectively these perspectives are defined in this thesis as ‘participatory human development’. The 2006/7 Tantyi Youth Empowerment Project illustrates some of the challenges that face the practice of participatory human development. Workshops and focus group interviews were conducted with participants who were part of the 2006/7 Tantyi Youth Empowerment Project in order to draw out their experiences of the project. Questions were created from themes that emerged from the participants’ discussion of their experiences and these questions were then posed to members of staff of The Spirals Trust. The experiences of both the participants and the staff members are discussed in order to explore issues that emerge in the practice of participatory human development in the 2006/7 Tantyi Youth Empowerment Project. The results highlight the challenges of putting into action the tenets of participatory human development. Feedback showed that a focus on personal development can help cultivate the ethic of participation. The effort that this entailed on the part of facilitators is discussed. The importance of exposing and continually working with power dynamics that may emerge in projects of this nature is revealed and the eroding influence of bureaucratic compliance in projects like this one is explored. The study also suggests that there is a need to promote development initiatives that challenge the political status quo rather than just finding ways to incorporate the marginalised more effectively into current systems. New questions that the research poses to the practice of participatory human development are considered in conjunction with suggestions for further research.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Management Sciences: Business Administration, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / Given the current, global, economic situation, the status of youth entrepreneurship in South Africa is no different to that of the youth in other countries. It is debatable whether similar support and mechanisms used by other countries can be used without contextualising them for the South African environment. Cultural differences, level of education, different market standards, and a different socio-political environment are some of the factors that should be taken into consideration, when aiming to create an enabling environment that will open entrepreneurial opportunities for South African youth. A major threat for youth, especially in South Africa, is that if their needs and desires are not addressed, the youth will lose faith in starting their own entrepreneurial activities and in that way, become more dependent on the government to create employment opportunities for them. This situation certainly could add to the currently high unemployment rate and in the long-term, high youth unemployment could destabilise the country. This study is aimed at investigating entrepreneurship activities in a semi-rural area, with the aim of identifying the inherent weaknesses that prevent young people from pursuing entrepreneurial activities, as well as those enabling factors that can mitigate against these identified weaknesses. The study is conducted in the UGu District Municipality, specifically, the Umdoni Local Municipal area has been selected. A mixed methods research approach was used and 120 respondents from the selected municipal area participated in this study, including the municipal official. The study highlighted that access to financial support is one of the primary obstacles for the setting-up of a new business, since the majority of young people in the area tend to come from disadvantaged backgrounds. In addition, the research pointed to other challenges, including the business registration process, lack of adequate entrepreneurial training and mentoring programmes, the impact of crime in starting a fledging business and general support from government departments and agencies. Should these challenges not be addressed through an enabling environment, young people will, in the process, be discouraged from engaging in entrepreneurial activities. Given that the study was conducted in a semi-rural area, there are certainly greater challenges to the development of youth entrepreneurship. Therefore, the recommendations include municipalities creating a special relationship with government agencies to obtain greater assistance; that Government and its agencies consider setting up a designated fund to assist young people who want to open business in semi-rural and rural areas; that the administrative requirements for such a group of young entrepreneurs, in respect of funding, training, support, mentoring and business registration, be much more accessible and easier to obtain. / M

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Participation in development is not a new concept as over the years, facilitators of development have realized that meaningful development can only be achieved when the people concerned take part in decision making and implementation of activities affecting them. This study was done to examine the extent to which child participation is being achieved in a development programme area, facilitated by World Vision Malawi, a Non Governmental Organization. The study was done in Chata Area development programme (ADP) located in T/A Chimutu in Lilongwe district. Children are defined as any person below the age 18. The study used mixed methods approach in which quantitative and qualitative approaches were used. Through random and purposive sampling, 110 children and 105 adults were interviewed using a questionnaire. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were also done to supplement information collected through the questionnaires. Analysis of the quantitative data collected was done using Scientific Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) tool while the qualitative data was analyzed manually using common themes that emerged from the findings. The findings of the study show that despite the many development activities in Chata area participation of children has been limited. Adults look down upon children as a minority group which cannot meaningfully participate in development activities. Furthermore, the study found such factors as cultural and traditional practices, gender, level of education and other household characteristics to be the major barriers to children‟s participating in development activities. Surprisingly, the findings further indicate that much as the programme has been engaged in advocacy activities, these have focused more on creating awareness on child protection only rather than child participation. The study argues that if children will have to sustain the development gains in communities such as Chata, then they equally need to participate in the development process to enhance their future capacities in related development activities. On the overall, therefore, the study recommends that there is a need to create awareness on the adults to change attitude when they look at children and begin to create room for children to participate in the development process in an age appropriate manner. There is a need to create systems and structures that will enable children be included in the decision making process while building their capacity and self esteem. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

Participation in development is not a new concept as over the years, facilitators of development have realized that meaningful development can only be achieved when the people concerned take part in decision making and implementation of activities affecting them. This study was done to examine the extent to which child participation is being achieved in a development programme area, facilitated by World Vision Malawi, a Non Governmental Organization. The study was done in Chata Area development programme (ADP) located in T/A Chimutu in Lilongwe district. Children are defined as any person below the age 18. The study used mixed methods approach in which quantitative and qualitative approaches were used. Through random and purposive sampling, 110 children and 105 adults were interviewed using a questionnaire. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were also done to supplement information collected through the questionnaires. Analysis of the quantitative data collected was done using Scientific Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) tool while the qualitative data was analyzed manually using common themes that emerged from the findings. The findings of the study show that despite the many development activities in Chata area participation of children has been limited. Adults look down upon children as a minority group which cannot meaningfully participate in development activities. Furthermore, the study found such factors as cultural and traditional practices, gender, level of education and other household characteristics to be the major barriers to children‟s participating in development activities. Surprisingly, the findings further indicate that much as the programme has been engaged in advocacy activities, these have focused more on creating awareness on child protection only rather than child participation. The study argues that if children will have to sustain the development gains in communities such as Chata, then they equally need to participate in the development process to enhance their future capacities in related development activities. On the overall, therefore, the study recommends that there is a need to create awareness on the adults to change attitude when they look at children and begin to create room for children to participate in the development process in an age appropriate manner. There is a need to create systems and structures that will enable children be included in the decision making process while building their capacity and self esteem. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

The research work is dedicated to the essence, details and specification of the entrepreneurship including the youth entrepreneurship in particular. It outlines the trends of the youth entrepreneurial development in Russia and abroad. The research analyzes restrains and limits of the youth entrepreneurship in order to propose the ways to overcome them. Thus, there were identified three groups of factors that prevent the graduated students to start their own business: 1) personal characteristics, fear of risk or failure; 2) lack of knowledge, skills, funds; 3) politico-social and economic instability, intense competition, etc. Moreover, the majority of the students have no or have just hint of information about the youth entrepreneurship support programs. The scientific work showed up that among the UrFU graduated students sample (Psychology Department and Economic Department, 78 persons, in total) 58 persons (74%) wanted to be an entrepreneur. The comparative analysis of both groups of students who willing and unwilling to be an entrepreneur irrespectively of their study programs results in fact that the students who are inclined to entrepreneurship have high level of risk tolerance combined with the high level of achievement motivation and the low level of motivation to avoid failure. In addition, the economy students have the high level of risk tolerance and the psychology students have the average one. In conclusion, the outcomes of the research can be used as an informational pool for the development of the youth entrepreneurial projects and as a reference framework for further monitoring of the graduation students attitude toward the entrepreneurship issue. / В исследовании определено содержание, сущность и специфика предпринимательской деятельности, а также молодежного предпринимательства в частности. Описаны тенденции развития молодежного предпринимательства за рубежом и в России. Охарактеризованы сдерживающие факторы, барьеры предпринимательской деятельности молодых людей и меры преодоления этих барьеров. Так, выделено три группы факторов, препятствующих студентам-выпускникам создавать свой бизнес: 1) личностные качествами, боязнь риска и неудачи; 2) отсутствие знаний, навыков, финансов; 3) социально-политическая и экономическая нестабильность, высокий уровень конкуренции и т.п. При этом большинство студентов вообще не слышали о программах поддержки предпринимательства или имеют весьма смутное представление о них. Выявлено, что из выборки студентов-выпускников УрФУ (психологи и экономисты, всего 78 чел.) 58 человек (74%) хотели бы стать предпринимателями. Сравнительный анализ мотивации склонных и не склонных к предпринимательской деятельности независимо от профессионального направления подготовки показал, что, студенты склонные к предпринимательству отличаются высоким уровнем готовности к риску в сочетании с высоким уровнем мотивации успеха и низким уровнем мотивации избегания неудач. При этом экономисты отличаются высоким, а психологи средним уровнем готовности к риску. В целом, полученные данные могут служить информационной основой по развитию проектов, вовлекающих студентов в предпринимательство, а также проведения последующих мониторингов отношения выпускников к данной деятельности.