A number of studies have been conducted about policy failures in Nigeria; however, little is known about the state of stakeholders' readiness to implement any government policy. Using the functionalist theory of Durkheim and the infrastructure theory of Frischmann, the purpose of this exploratory case study was to evaluate the level of preparedness of the education sector to implement the Nigerian policy on child labor, which was adopted on September 11, 2013, by the federal executive council of Nigeria. Preparedness in this study was conceptualized as the ability of the education sector to absorb children of school-going-age who quit all forms of child labor activities and return to formal education in schools. Open-ended interviews elicited narratives from 30 participants purposefully drawn from the Northern, Central, and Southern Uruan Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State. Interview data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed for emergent themes. The findings revealed that schools were evenly dispersed within the Uruan Local Government Area. However, the state of infrastructure in the schools, particularly in the rural communities, was in a condition of neglect with a high teacher-pupil ratio. There was a low incidence of child labor but a weak government enforcement strategy, particularly in the interior/riverine areas of the research population. This study leads to positive social change by creating awareness among policy makers that the various stakeholders in any public policy need to be equipped with adequate resources to minimize the incidence of policy failure in Nigeria.

In our study, Kneeling between the lines. A quantitative content analysis of how Swedish press portrays begging, we aim to investigate how Aftonbladet and Svenska Dagbladet, two Swedish national newspapers, with different ideological orientations, portray begging during the last year. Also, we intend to discuss the relationship between the newspapers' production of begging and the view of the Swedish welfare state.The purpose of this study is broken down into three questions: How are beggars portrayed in the two examined newspapers? Who/whom influence the discussion about begging in the two examined newspapers? How is the phenomenon explained in the two examined newspapers? – who/whom is responsible and what solutions are discussed? The method of the study is a quantitative content analysis, inspired by qualitative elements. We have analyzed 118 articles in total.Based on statistical generalizations, articles from both newspapers portray beggars in an inferior position. Also, it is unusual for those who personalize the phenomenon to influence the news reports. In Svenska Dagbladet, beggars are described in a more destructive and threatening position in comparison to Aftonbladet. In Aftonbladet, the cause of begging is commonly described as a problem of poverty or discrimination while in Svenska Dagbladet it is also portrayed as a consequence of drug abuse and human trafficking. The advocated solutions differbetween the papers. Aftonbladet proposes humanitarian actions while Svenska Dagbladet more often suggests juridical solutions such as a national ban. Based on a more socialist perspective on the welfare state, it is possible to concluded that Aftonbladet tends to have a more altruistic view of the phenomenon. This means that the Swedish state should support third parties without necessarily counting on something in return. Svenska Dagbladet, a newspaper which is more on the right in the ideological scale, appears to primarily advocate Swedish welfare to Swedish citizens.

In recent decades historians have 'discovered' agency in a wide range of geographical and temporal contexts, amongst many different types of actor. This dissertation employs the concept of agency to dissect the dynamics of power in early nineteenth-century London charities. Concurrently, it uses charity to test the potential applications of agency as a historical concept and as a tool for historical analysis. Through case studies of five different types of charity in early nineteenth-century London, this dissertation explores the varied ways in which plebeians exercised their agency. The case studies engage with current definitions of agency 'intentional action, resistance, the defence of rights and customs, exerting control over one's own life, autonomy, strategy, choice, and voice' and test the boundaries of the concept, proposing different ways in which scholars might characterise agency. This dissertation not only examines how the poor exerted their agency, but also how philanthropists conceptualised the agency of the poor. Although agency had a different set of meanings in the early nineteenth century than it does today, Georgian commentators nevertheless discussed the same phenomena that historians today label as agency. This dissertation considers how philanthropists attempted to mould the agency of their beneficiaries and how the agency of the poor shaped charitable organisations. For all its prevalence, agency is an under-theorised and problematic concept. There is no consensus about what agency is or how to locate it. As a result, agency is a slippery concept that seems to elude meaning. Historians are often so personally invested in the project of recovering the agency of subalterns that they underestimate the structural constraints acting on agency or they project modern conceptions of agency on to the subjects of their study. This dissertation subjects agency to critical examination that is long overdue. It argues that agency, as an 'essentially contested' concept, is a powerful tool for dissecting subtle and diverse dynamics of power. This dissertation proposes and demonstrates ways in which scholars can employ the concept usefully, mitigating its problematic aspects.

In order to gain an understanding of how begging is constructed as a societal problem in the local Swedish social context, the aim of this qualitative study was to investigate a number of municipal begging bans in order to make visible societal attitudes that hide behind written language of begging discourse. The data collection method was text collection, and the material was documents in the form of three municipal begging bans (in municipal regulations). The method of analysis was critical discourse analysis (CDA), a form of textual analysis, and the analytical focus was the written discourse in its social context. The municipal begging bans that were analysed testified to a very high degree linguistically about negative societal attitudes towards begging, and the conclusions that could be drawn on the basis of the results were presented in four summarising themes. These where: disruption of public order, a vulnerability that one does not want to contribute to maintaining, ”we and them” and passivity and criminality. These societal attitudes could be summarized as not our vulnerable/poor = not our problem, and were largely hidden behind references to disruption of public order in public spaces.

Antalet hemlösa EU-migranter har på senare år ökat kraftigt i Sverige, och närmare hälften av dem saknar inkomstkälla helt medan många andra försörjer sig genom tiggeri. Numera måste individer förutom att ta ställning till huruvida de ska ge pengar till etablerade välgörenhetsorganisationer även besluta om de ska ge pengar till tiggande EU-migranter. Utifrån antagandet att det existerar asymmetrisk information, och institutionella faktorer som kan påverka individers givande till respektive typ av välgörenhet är det intressant att undersöka om det finns skillnader i benägenheten att ge till tiggande EU-migranter jämfört med etablerade välgörenhetsorganisationer.Forskningsstudiens huvudsakliga syfte är att undersöka benägenheten hos individer att ge pengar till tiggande EU-migranter jämfört med etablerade välgörenhetsorganisationer. Vidare är syftet också att identifiera och analysera olika individspecifika egenskaper som tänkbart påverkar individers givande till respektive typ av välgörenhet. För att besvara syftet samlas primärdata in i Linköpings stad genom en enkätundersökning och analyseras sedan med hjälp av ekonometriska verktyg.Forskningsstudiens resultat indikerar att individer generellt är mindre benägna att ge pengar till tiggande EU-migranter jämfört med etablerade välgörenhetsorganisationer. De egenskaper som har betydelse för att förklara individers givande till tiggande EU-migranter är kön, ålder, härkomst, kunskap om tiggande EU-migranters livssituation och inställning till lagförslag att förbjuda tiggeri. I jämförelse till detta har ålder, utbildning, härkomst, äktenskap och sociala faktorer betydelse för att förklara givandet till etablerade välgörenhetsorganisationer. / In recent years, the number of homeless EU migrants has increased substantially in Sweden, and almost half of them lack an income whereas many others live by begging. Nowadays, individuals in addition to decide whether to give money to established charities also have to decide whether to give money to begging EU migrants. Based on the assumption that asymmetric information and institutional factors exists, which can affect each type of willingness to donate to charity, it is interesting to investigate whether there are differences in propensity to give money to begging EU migrants compared to established charities.The purpose of the research study is to examine individual’s propensity to give money to begging EU migrants compared to established charities. Furthermore, the aim is also to identify and analyze various individual characteristics that conceivably affect individuals' donation to each type of charity. To answer the purpose of the research study primary data is collected in Linkoping city by a questionnaire and the material is analyzed with econometric models.The results of the study indicate that individuals generally are less likely to give money to begging EU migrants compared with established charities. Variables that affect individuals' willingness to give money to begging EU migrants are gender, age, descent, knowledge of begging EU migrants living situation and attitude towards banning begging. Compared to this, factors that affect the willingness to donate to established charities are age, education, descent, married and social factors.

Introduction The beggars are one the most vulnerable and stigmatized groups in the European society and are determined to live in substandard conditions, characterized by lack of sanitation and overcrowdings, and bare the harsh weather conditions to earn their living. Often, they have limited access to healthcare and their lifestyle has a great impact upon their health. However, little is known about their own perceptions of their health and their strategies to keep it. Aim The aim was to explore the Romanian beggars’ perceptions of their health prior to and during begging, the perceived consequences of begging on their health, and their coping strategies to maintain health while begging in Uppsala, Sweden. Method Data was collected from 8 semi-structured interviews in Uppsala, Sweden during March 2015. The collected data was then analysed using manifest qualitative content analysis. Findings The Romanian beggars in Uppsala perceived their health status to be affected through their activity. Physical consequences involved developing new illnesses and conditions, but also aggravating previous health conditions, and mental consequences included degrading and marginalizing effects of begging, but also harassment from passersby. Access to healthcare in Sweden was limited and determined the beggars to develop alternative strategies for health management or to return to Romania for treatment.     Conclusion The health status was found to be both negatively and positively affected through complex interactions between the individual and the surrounding levels: social network, community, institutions and society. More attention should be given to this group from all levels to improve their health status.

Chez les espèces sociales, les vocalisations transmettent des informations qui participent au maintien et à la survie du groupe. Alors que de nombreuses études se sont intéressées aux informations stables portées par les vocalisations telles que l’identité, peu d’études se sont interrogées sur le rôle des signaux vocaux dans la transmission des informations plus labiles, telles que l’état émotionnel de l’émetteur. Le stress est un bon candidat pour l’étude de l’expression des émotions chez les animaux, puisqu’il est directement mesurable via un dosage de la concentration plasmatique en glucocorticoïdes. Le stress est connu pour modifier les paramètres acoustiques des vocalisations chez les mammifères, mais peu d’études ont traité ce processus chez les oiseaux, qui présentent pourtant des réseaux sociaux complexes. Le but de cette thèse est de déterminer de quelle manière les oiseaux expriment vocalement leur stress, et d’évaluer dans quelle mesure la corticostérone, hormone de stress principale chez l’oiseau, est impliquée dans le phénomène. Je me suis intéressée au Diamant mandarin (Taenopygia guttata), un oiseau chanteur australien au comportement grégaire qui forme des liens d’appariements à vie et prodigue des soins biparentaux à sa progéniture. En administrant de la corticostérone exogène à des oiseaux et en utilisant également des évènements sociaux stressants, nous montrons que les mâles adultes et les poussins expriment leur stress à travers l’émission de cris modifiés dans leur structure, ce qui suggère que la flexibilité des cris chez les oiseaux est plus importante que l’avaient montré des études précédentes. Par une analyse complète des paramètres temporels et spectraux des cris, nous montrons pour la première fois que le stress, par un effet direct de la corticostérone, déclenche l’émission de vocalisations présentant un spectre de fréquence déplacé vers les hautes fréquences. De plus, les receveurs du signal (respectivement les partenaires femelles et les parents) semblent capables de décoder l’information portée par ces cris de stress car ils modifient leur comportement en conséquence. Les processus physiques impliqués dans l’émission de cris modulés par le stress sont également discutés en appliquant la théorie « source-filtre » généralement utilisée chez les mammifères. Enfin, les valeurs adaptatives de ces cris sont également envisagées, en rapport avec le réseau social du Diamant mandarin et les risques de prédation encourus par l’émetteur du signal. Ce travail apporte de nouvelles preuves sur l’expression du stress chez les oiseaux, et propose une étude complète, des signaux physiologiques impliqués dans le stress aux modifications de comportement de l’émetteur, qui déclenchent une réponse adaptative des receveurs du signal / In social species, vocalisations convey information that participates in the maintenance and the survival of the group. While many studies were interested in stable information carried by vocal signals, like identity, fewer studies dealt with their potential role in informing about labile information such as the senders’ emotional state. Stress is a good candidate for the study of the expression of emotions in animals, as it is directly measurable by the plasma levels of glucocorticoïds. Stress is known to modify acoustic parameters of vocalisations in mammals, but few studies studied the process in birds, that also show complex social networks. The aim of this thesis is thus to determine how birds can vocally express their stress and to what extent corticosterone, the main stress hormone in birds, is implicated in this expression. I focused my research on the zebra finch (Taenopygia guttata), a gregarious Australian songbird that form lifelong pairbond and provides biparental care to its young. Using oral administration of exogenous corticosterone but also social stressful events, we show that both adult males and nestlings can express their stress through modulations of their calls’ structure, suggesting that flexibility in birds’ vocalisations is higher than previously expected. With a complete analysis of temporal and spectral parameters of calls, we show for the first time that stress evokes the emission of vocalisations with up-shifted frequency spectrum via a direct effect of corticosterone. Moreover, we show that females and parents are able to decode the information carried by stressed-induced calls of respectively their male partner and their young, as they exhibit modifications of behaviour in accordance with the context. The physical processes leading to the emission of stressed-induced vocalisations are discussed by applying the source-filter theory usually used in mammals. Adaptive values are also proposed, in regards with the zebra finch social network and predation risks for the caller. This work gives new evidences about the expression of stress in birds, and proposes a comprehensive study, from the physiological signals involved in stress to the resulting modifications of communication behaviour for the sender, that leads to an adaptive response from the receivers

This thesis focuses on chapter 3 articles 8 and 12 of the Ordinance Act, whichdeal with local ordinances issued by the municipalities. It was Vellinge municipality's local ordinances on the prohibition of begging that triggered an extensivedebate about preconditions for local ordinances and the relationship between themunicipal self-government and the normative power. In addition, it raises thequestions of whether local regulations on the prohibition of begging restrict freedom of expression and whether they are discriminatory. Vellinge's local ordinances were submitted to the Supreme Administrative Court (HFD) to decidethe case as the highest instance.HFD states in the case 2018 ref. 75 that local ordinances issued by the municipalities take into account the principle of municipal self-government. This statement has been criticized on the ground that local ordinances should not be considered as a municipal activity. The principle of municipal self-government therefore should not be actualized in local ordinances. But HFDs statement is compatible with the bill to the law, which states that with regard to municipal selfgovernment, the authority to issue local ordinances are given to the municipalitiesand not to the county administrative board. However the county administrativeboard should be able to review all the prerequisites for adopting local regulations.Furthermore, HFD has not dealt with this issue whether local ordinances onthe prohibition of begging conflict with regulations of a higher value or apply toissues that must be regulated by law. HFD has thus not dealt with whether theban on begging restricts freedom of expression and whether it is discriminatory. Begging can be considered as an expression in the Form of Government (RF)and is protected by freedom of expression. The ban on begging therefore violatesfreedom of speech and it must, however, be regulated by law and not by localregulations.Furthermore, given that the ECHR is considered a law in Sweden and theEuropean Court of Human Rights refers to the US judicial precedent on freedomof expression, the American law on freedom of speech and begging has also beenstudied in this thesis in the comparative method.According to the widespread case law in the United States, begging is protected by freedom of expression and regulations prohibiting begging violate beggar’s freedom of expression. There is also no legitimate ground to ban beggingon the streets. The ban on begging can also be considered discriminatory, as it is the peoplefrom Romania and Bulgaria who make up the majority of the beggars in Swedenand it is them who are disadvantaged by these rules.

PhDRDV / Institute for Rural Development / See the attached abstract below

MA (English) / Department of English / In this study, I explore the depiction of homelessness in K. Sello Duiker’s Thirteen Cents (2000) and Phaswane Mpe’s Welcome to Our Hillbrow (2001). Against the background of post-colonial and transcultural theories, I explore the effects of homelessness on select characters depicted in the two novels, particularly how homelessness and its effects impact on the characters’ identity and human dignity, as some of the themes which the two authors deal with. I achieve this through a close analysis of themes, characterisation and style as well as a demonstration of how the metaphor of the plight of the homeless is drawn from the experiences of the homeless characters portrayed in the novels. I establish, through this study, that the two novels depict characters on whose identity and human dignity, colonialism had an adverse impact. I argue that the corroded dignity and identity of the select homeless characters can be restored through the application of the tenets of transcultural theory. I consistently identify the central morals of the two novels under study as highlighting the need for society to address the plight central to the two novels’ major themes of homelessness, poverty, identity and human dignity against the backdrop of postcoloniality and transculturalism.