The recent global financial crisis which began in the United States of America in 2007, spread to almost all economies in the world and evolved into a world economic downturn. Governments around the world introduced different rescue interventions to avoid the collapse of the financial and banking system and to stimulate economic growth. In addition to large scale economic stimulus packages, other forms of Government interventions were introduced in direct support of non-financial firms including Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). These Government interventions have attracted little empirical attention with recent studies pointing out to the need for more evaluation of the impact of direct support interventions. This study attempts to contribute to the literature which focuses on the impact of interventions introduced by governments in developing countries, to resolve market failure in non-financial corporate companies as well as SMEs. This study is focused on assessing the effectiveness of the IDC distressed funding scheme in rescuing distressed companies in South Africa following the recent global financial crisis. We investigate the effects of the scheme on the financial performance of beneficiary companies. Our results show that overall the funding had a positive impact on beneficiary companies. The impact was greatest on the solvency, capital structure and leverage of the awarded companies. The funding was most effective in the first year following the injection of the capital into the business. The profitability and liquidity of the beneficiary company did not change significantly following accessing of the funding.

The CFA Franc real exchange rate is frequently suspected to be overvalued as a result of recent prolonged appreciation of the Euro (the anchor currency). This situation is popularly associated with lose of competitiveness and several studies have tried to establish the relationship between growth and misaligned or overvalued real exchange rates. This study used a panel data cointegration techniques to evaluate the growth effects of real effective exchange rate misalignments for the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CAEMC) using time series data from 1999-2010. To achieve this objective, the Real Effective Equilibrium Exchange Rate for the CFA Franc was first estimated using the Behavioural Equilibrium Exchange Rate (BEER) from which the misalignment was derived. Subsequently, a dynamic panel growth model was estimated using a Generalised Least Squares (GLS) Method, in which among the traditional determinants of growth, our measure of misalignment was included. Moderate and transitory misalignments were found for the six CAEMC member countries except for the Congo Republic were a sustained overvaluation was observed. The growth analysis indicates a positive and significant impact of real exchange rate misalignment to economic growth of the CAEMC member countries.

The need for social cost benefit analysis for appraising industrial projects by development finance institutions and developing economies has been seen to being relevant over the years and even since the 1960s. As such major global organisations, namely the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank have taken a step to sponsor research for developing practical methodologies for this purpose. It is quite evident that these organisations view social cost benefit analysis as a useful tool in project evaluation. These organisations have also issued various publications for this purpose. The first comprehensive methodologies for social cost benefit analysis were developed in the 1960s and this clearly provides the early rise of the usefulness and debate surrounding social cost benefit analysis. A study was performed in India in the early 90s where various projects from a state development finance institution were evaluated in order to conclude if a formal social cost benefit analysis was performed, would the projects been selected for investments by the state development finance institution. This research has been enthused by this Indian study as there is little to no research performed in the South African context for social cost benefit analysis in project evaluation. Previous literature from earlier years regarded the available methodologies for social cost benefit analysis as being too demanding in terms of the skill required as well as the information required for the performance. Over the years, UNIDO has developed software (COMFAR) in order to assist in the application of the methodology for social cost benefit analysis. This software has improved on the feasibility of performing social cost benefit analysis. This research follows the UNIDO Guidelines for Project Evaluation Methodology, which was also used in the Indian study. This methodology has also been incorporated in the COMFAR software. In summary, this research endeavours to conclude on whether there is any value in performing a formal social cost benefit analysis in project evaluation by DFIs.

Includes bibliographical references. / This study aimed to explore early childhood development teacher attitudes towards parent involvement in early childhood development centres. The researcher aimed to gain an understanding of how ECD teachers describe their roles within the ECD centres, their perception of parent involvement in ECD centres, the ways in which ECD teachers involve parents within the ECD centre, to know the factors influencing parent involvement within the ECD centres and teachers needs for further support in parent involvement. The study was undertaken in Athlone with the aim to using the results to highlight areas that need improvement within ECD centres.

This dissertation explores the spatial mismatch hypothesis in Cape Town; in particular its mechanisms, how they interact with lower-skilled workers in the labour market, and what role social networks play. The spatial mismatch hypothesis suggests that a significant distance between residential areas and centres of employment (1) leads to a lengthy and expensive commute which makes the job search in economic centres more difficult, (2) reduces the amount of information about job opportunities that is available to lower-skilled workers, and (3) reduces the effectiveness of using one's social network as a means to find out about work opportunities. Through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with lower-skilled workers and employers, this research attempts to offer insights into the mechanisms of the spatial mismatch hypothesis and challenge the assumption that a causal relationship exists between spatial mismatch and the suggested consequences put forward by a literature that is dominated by quantitative studies. Rather than measuring the spatial mismatch, this research is intended to provide possible ways in which the spatial mismatch functions. It does not set out to prove anything in either a qualitative or quantitative way, but rather highlight the gaps in the current interpretation of the spatial mismatch hypothesis in order to gain a better understanding of its mechanisms.

Corporate Governance in African National Development Banks is critical to their success or failure. These Banks have complex corporate governance structures with hierarchies comprising both national government representatives and in some cases the private sector. By focusing on election years this study aimed to show how external interventions from the owners of the Banks (governments) can unduly influence their performance and sustainability. Two causes of weak governance were identified, these were non-independence of the board and broad and unclear mandates. The study shows an increase in lending during election years, suggesting evidence of non-independence of the board signifying undue political influence and wide mandates leading to "mission creeps" usually encouraged by politicians. Non independence has its effects, these were identified as crowding out of the private sector, misallocation of funds and low profitability. A positive correlation was found between the African National Development Bank lending and private bank lending an indication that the African National Development Banks compete with the private banks instead of performing their counter cyclical role, this in turn leads to crowding out the private banks. Misallocat ion of funds is demonstrated by an increase in lending during election years followed by an increase in bad debts two years after the election year, an indication that loans where given to unviable projects. Lastly the study proves the low profitability effect by showing that loans given out are negatively correlated to the Banks profitability, showing a reduction in Bank profitability as more loans are advanced and vice versa. The findings suggest that non-independent boards and wide and broad mandates weaken African National Development Banks corporate governance, negatively affecting their performance and preventing them from executing their mandates effectively.

Most people in developing countries lack access to clean water, which leads to water-related diseases. The water supply challenges in many developing countries have persisted despite the water sector receiving considerable amount of support from the international organisations and cooperating partners. In this study I analysed different water reforms undertaken in developing market economies with a specific focus on Chile, South Africa and Zambia. The main research question I sought to address is whether commercialisation has proportionately improved water supply delivery in the aforementioned countries. The research employs a qualitative comparative case study approach of three Commercial Utilities (CUs), namely Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC), Johannesburg Water and Aguas Andinas. Performance improvement was assessed using selected indicators under four broad criteria; accessibility, reliability, affordability and profitability for the period 2001 to 2014. The significant finding is that all CUs with different reform models had improved performance after commercialisation which is attributed to adoption of market principles and good corporate practices. The research established that private service delivery with strong state involvement outperformed public service delivery in terms of efficiency, accessibility, reliability and affordability. Privatised Aguas Andinas exhibited the highest level of performance in terms of accessibility, reliability, profitability and affordability. Johannesburg Water performed better than LWSC in terms of accessibility and reliability while LWSC performed better than Johannesburg Water in terms of affordability and profitability across the period 2001 to 2014. LWSC improved service in terms of accessibility, reliability, affordability and operational efficiency after corporatisation. The main conclusion is that even though Aguas Andinas has exhibited the highest level of performance, the strong performance is attributed to strong state involvement, tariff and subside systems, legal and institutional systems, management skills, sound corporate governance, customer orientation and innovation. Therefore, all the three models; privatisation, corporatisation and management contract, are suitable models for developing economies provided the state play its role and CUs adopt best practices.

Over time neighbourhoods have shown opposition to Government subsidized housing programmes being developed within their neighbourhoods. This is due to the perceived negative impacts that these housing developments have on the neighbourhood. Opposition has grown since implementation of the Housing Code of 2009. The Code aims to integrate low income households into more affluent areas, in order to provide these households with greater access to economic and social opportunities, which they were previously denied having been placed on the urban periphery. Opponents to subsidized housing developments have nevertheless expressed concerns with a possible decline in property values. These concerns are however based on perception, rather than factual evidence to this effect. There is a paucity of studies on the topic within the South African context. While there are a number of studies on the topic within other countries, the results cannot be generalized due to the difference in demographics, housing subsidy programmes and structure of the City of Cape Town. An analysis of the impact within the City of Cape Town context may thus be beneficial. This paper analysed the impacts of Residential Development Programme (RDP) housing and Social Housing (rental) projects, as these are the subsidized housing developments that have received the most opposition. The paper has thus used a Difference-in-Difference Hedonic Pricing Model analysis to determine the neighbourhood impacts of subsidized housing on the property values of surrounding neighbourhoods. RDP housing was estimated to have a negative effect on proximate property values, while Social Housing was estimated to have no effect. It is recommended that future developments are aesthetically appealing, have landscaping, are well maintained and are well integrated with the surrounding community. These efforts should also be well communicated to the host communities during the public participation events. Further analysis is required to determine the cause of the negative effects of the RDP development to ensure that these are mitigated in future RDP projects. These may allow the State to provide the much-needed housing opportunities, with limited opposition from the host communities.

This study investigates the contribution of the Girinka Programme, a pro-poor growth programme in Rwanda, to poverty reduction. Recent studies have placed increasing emphasis on the contribution of pro-poor growth to poverty reduction and have argued that pro-poor growth has the potential to reduce poverty more effectively than economic growth. Poverty, for this study, is measured based on the following indicators of poverty derived from the United Nations (1998) definition of poverty: nutrition, access to health care services, access to water, education, and access to credit. Income or the lack thereof, is not the sole determinant of poverty, and is not “the sum total of human life” (United Nations Development Programme, 1990), therefore relying solely on quantitative measurements of poverty that are based on income can paint an incomplete picture of the reality on the ground. Therefore, since poverty is multidimensional, this study uses a multidimensional approach to its analysis and goes beyond the quantitative aspects of poverty. Qualitative research methods were used for this study, and fieldwork was conducted in Kayonza District, located in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. In-depth interviews were held with beneficiaries and prospective beneficiaries of the Girinka Programme in order to determine the programme’s contribution to a meaningful reduction in poverty. In addition, interviews were held with Girinka local and national programme officials. Secondary data in the form of programme documents was also collected, reviewed and analysed.

Telecommunications, Media and Technology (TMT) sector also known as the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) sector continues to grow in most of the global economies including South Africa. Growth within the sector is attributed to constantly emerging start-up and small micro medium enterprises, adding more competition and forcing incumbents to change the way they do business. Many companies struggle to adapt quickly to rapidly changing technologies that often disrupts existing markets and sometimes introduce new markets. Given TMT sector dynamics and challenges, small and large companies within the sector have recently started embracing mergers and acquisitions (M&A) as a growth and defence strategy to ensure that they remain relevant, retain existing markets, expand and venture into new markets in order to continue to create and sustain shareholders value. According to Institute of Management Accountants (1997), the linkage between strategy and value creation can be summarized by two simple laws of value creation; the first law is that management must create value for shareholders; and the second law is that all other stakeholders should also be satisfied in a way that contributes to shareholders value; and the company‟s ability to continue to attract capital by providing incremental value to shareholders is exactly what will allow it to continue to provide attractive products to its customers, attractive employment to its staff, and opportunities for its suppliers. M&A strategies should be executed with the same objective in mind to ensure shareholders value creation. This study investigated M&A performance within the TMT sector in South Africa to understand if they are creating shareholders value given the fact that some of the M&A transactions have failed in the past. The main objective of this research is to assess M&A performance and impact on shareholders value.