The study focuses on and explores the Southern African Development Community’s activities to determine whether the intended objectives have been accomplished as stated in its purpose statement. The study argues that the achievement of the Southern Africa Development Community’s purpose statement is important with regard to the implementation of developmental initiatives. This is because the SADC objectives are measured in the operationalisation and implementation of policies and the operationalisation of key activities. The Southern African region is rich in natural resources but lacks the political will and capacity for the institutionalisation of key processes to, among others, alleviate poverty and HIV/AIDS and address human security matters. This study revealed that SADC did not achieve all its intended objectives. Several challenges, such as the full convertibility of regional currencies among member states still need to be addressed. One of the major challenges impacting negatively on the implementation and completion of SADC’s projects are the capacity, skills and expertise to drive key business processes. This study has found that in spite of complexities and challenges to implement SADC’s policies and programmes as stated in its purpose statement, there is a need to align the member states’ priorities with SADC’s objectives to maximise impact and overall successful execution thereof. Coupled with this challenge is another crucial challenge relating to the SADC structure, mechanisms and methodologies that are used for achieving SADC’s objectives. The study revealed that the structures, mechanisms and methodologies are inadequate to successfully implement and evaluate SADC’s projects. Consequently, this study proposes some reforms in SADC’s Regional Indicative Strategic Plan that should be considered and integrated into the national plans, budgets and priorities of all SADC member states. Critically, it is important to ensure the alignment and buy-in of member states with regard to the development and implementation of SADC’s projects and programmes in the Southern African region. Firstly, the study proposes that partnerships with research institutions should be explored to strengthen the limited capacity of SADC’s Secretariat. Benchmarking and best practices with other international government organisations such as the African Union and the United Nations will provide a platform to improve the current activities of SADC to be more focused towards the desired outcomes. Secondly, v SADC’s activities that are linked to its objectives should be intensified through the mobilisation of resources and expertise that are geared to all key result areas to improve regional integration and ultimately the achievement of SADC’s objectives as stated in its purpose statement. / Public Administration & Management / M.P.A.

Regulatory Impact Analyses (RIA) are carried out in order to determine how a project or regulation affects the economy, society and environment. Traditionally, RIAs are carried out through cost benefit assessments and by monetizing different variables in order to assist policymakers with their decision. The main disadvantage of it, is that highly relevant social and environmental factors are difficult to quantify, thus providing weak or "incomplete" support to policy-makers in their final decision and enabling long-term consequences. An option to improving RIAs, is by taking into account such factors with the introduction of Sustainable Development (SD) concerns early in the decision making process. This is a trend that has been gaining more momentum and support, especially in OECD and EU members. The shift towards the inclusion of such concerns at a regulatory and legislative level nonetheless still presents itself to be a challenge and has wide room for improvements. On this research, four different countries and the European Union are analyzed and compared, presenting their current RIA practices and how much they take into account sustainability concerns with the intent on showing where can they be improved and better included.

Στην παρούσα εργασία με τη χρήση της Περιβάλλουσας Ανάλυσης Δεδομένων (Data Envelopment Analysis, DEA) υπολογίζεται η αποτελεσματικότητα των πολιτικών υγείας διαχρονικά, για κάθε έτος της τριετία 2008-2010 με τη χρήση της Window Analysis, στις χώρες που είναι ενταγμένες στον Οργανισμό Οικονομικής Συνεργασίας και Ανάπτυξης (ΟΟΣΑ). Επίσης, δημιουργούνται πρότυπα για το πώς μπορούν να βελτιωθούν οι μη αποτελεσματικές χώρες. / Στην παρούσα εργασία με τη χρήση της Περιβάλλουσας Ανάλυσης Δεδομένων (Data Envelopment Analysis, DEA) υπολογίζεται η αποτελεσματικότητα των πολιτικών υγείας διαχρονικά, για κάθε έτος της τριετία 2008-2010 με τη χρήση της Window Analysis, στις χώρες που είναι ενταγμένες στον Οργανισμό Οικονομικής Συνεργασίας και Ανάπτυξης (ΟΟΣΑ). Επίσης, δημιουργούνται πρότυπα για το πώς μπορούν να βελτιωθούν οι μη αποτελεσματικές χώρες.

Darbe atlikta teorinė bendradarbiavimo sampratos ir ugdymo dalyvių bendradarbiavimo bendrojo lavinimo mokykloje analizė. Iškelta hipotezė, jog mokytojai ir specialistai tenkindami vaikų specialiuosius ugdymosi poreikius dirba komandoje, bendradarbiavimą laikydami neatsiejamu jos elementu. Anketinės apklausos metodu buvo atliktas tyrimas, kurio tikslas - atskleisti pedagogų, specialistų, dirbančių su specialiųjų ugdymosi poreikių turinčiais vaikais, bendradarbiavimo ypatumus bendrojo lavinimo mokykloje ir specialiojo ugdymo kontekste, atskleidžiant realią bendradarbiavimo situaciją, bendradarbiavimo formas. Atlikta statistinė duomenų analizė. Tyrime dalyvavo bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų pagalbos mokiniui specialistai (N=70) (specialieji pedagogai, socialiniai pedagogai, logopedai, psichologai ir kt.) ir bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų pradinio ugdymo pedagogai (N=226) (iš viso 296 respondentai). Empirinėje dalyje nagrinėjama specialistų ir pradinių klasių mokytojų bendradarbiavimo situacija. Remiantis gautais duomenimis, atskleidžiama mokytojų ir specialistų nuomonė apie bendradarbiavimą, bendradarbiavimo naudą, formas, bendradarbiauti trukdančius veiksnius, sunkumus, patiriamus ugdant specialiųjų ugdymosi poreikių turinčius mokinius. Svarbiausios empirinio tyrimo išvados : 1. Atlikus statistinį duomenų apdorojimą, nustatyta, jog mokytojus dažniausiai skatina bendradarbiauti ugdymo kokybės motyvas, specialistus – lygiavertės profesinės partnerystės poreikis. Abi respondentų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The theoretical concepts of cooperation and education cooperation between participants in a comprehensive school analysis were carried out in the work. The hypothesis was raised that teachers and specialists serving children's special educational needs works in team, by holding cooperation its inherent feature. By questionnaire survey method was conducted research with the aim - to reveal the teachers and specialists working with special needs children having features cooperation between mainstream schools and special education in the context of cooperation in disclosing the real situation, the forms of cooperation. The statistical analysis of data was done. The study included general education student assistance specialists (N = 70) (special educators, social pedagogues, speech therapists, psychologists, etc.) general education and elementary education pedagogues (N = 226) (total of 296 respondents).The empirical part deals with specialists and primary school teachers in cooperation situation. Based on the disclosed data opinion of teachers and experts on co-benefits of cooperation was revealed, forms of work, interfering factors, the difficulties faced by developing special educational needs students. The main empirical conclusions: 1. After statistical processing of the data revealed that teachers often encourage cooperation in raising the quality of the motive, specialists - equivalent to a professional need for partnership. Both groups of respondents agree that... [to full text]

První část diplomové práce nazvaná " Multikulturní výchova v mateřské škole v integraci s rodinami" pojednává o některých termínech, týkajících se této problematiky. Dále se věnuje současné multikulturní situaci v České republice. Na toto téma jsem se zaměřila z hlediska významu spolupráce mateřské školy s rodinami a výhod multikulturní výchovy v mateřské škole s rodiči. Druhá část zahrnuje návrh třídního kurikula s multikulturním zaměřením v integraci s rodiči a jeho realizaci v soukromé anglické mateřské škole v Praze. Abstract: The first section of this thesis which is entitled "Multicultural Education in a pre-school with familial integration" starts by outlining the most common terms in this broad issue, followed by a current position of multiculturalism in Czech Republic. I focused on a topic in a sense of the co-operation between a pre-school and families from a multicultural view point. The second part includes a concept of the Multicultural Class Curriculum with familial integration and presents its realization in a privat English Pre-school in Prague.

Title: Forms of Family and School Cooperation at the Beginning of School Attendance Supervisor: Mgr. Jana Kargerová, PhD. Author: Monika Cihelková Abstract: The diploma thesis deals with forms of cooperation between a family and a school at the beginning of school attendance. The theoretical part defines the terms school, family and teacher. Then it characterizes the family, and also the school as an institution that combines teaching and educating (bringing up), and pays attention to involving parents in the process of education. It introduces possible forms of communication and cooperation between the family and the school, and also the cooperation based on curriculum and other documents (e.g. the programme Step by Step). The empirical part includes qualitative research (observation, interview, questionnaire), which is aimed at one of the effective forms of the school- family cooperation at the beginning of school attendance, namely at parent - pupil - teacher consultation. This part brings information about the results of such a cooperation in the programme Step by Step. It tries to find and map if the consultations (office hours) at the beginning of school attendance represent an effective form of cooperation, and how they contribute to parents, pupils and teachers. Key Words: School and family,...

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Education, 1999. / In opposition to the historically accepted view that Piaget failed to theorise the ‘social’ in his theory of cognitive development this research report shows that the ‘social’ is central to his genetic epistemology and that his conceptualisation of the ‘social’ has interesting implications for educational thinking. Specifically, the report shows that not only did Piaget include the social dimension in his genetic epistemology but that his understanding of the role of the ‘social’ in the development of cognition raises interesting possibilities for future psychological and educational research.

A Cooperação Jurídica Internacional não é um fenômeno completamente novo para o mundo do Direito, mas o crescente desenvolvimento das relações entre pessoas, bens e capitais situados em territórios sob jurisdições diferentes, provoca a necessidade de revisão de conceitos já parcialmente ultrapassados do Direito Internacional Público e Direito Internacional Privado. Neste contexto histórico, onde deve prevalecer a agilidade nas comunicações e na circulação também dos produtos jurídicos, sem perder de vista o respeito às particularidades de cada Estado e de seu ordenamento jurídico, surge questão especialmente nova da Cooperação Jurídica Internacional Vertical, aquela mantida entre Estados, por intermédio de seus juízes, órgãos de persecução e Tribunais domésticos, com Tribunais Internacionais e seus órgãos de persecução. O Direito Internacional Público fornece os instrumentos necessários e suficientes para a manutenção dessas relações jurídicas entre Estados e Tribunais Internacionais, inclusive no Brasil, cujas leis e Constituição reconhecem a importância da Justiça Internacional. / International Legal Co-operation is not an entirely new phenomenon to the world of Law, but the increasing development of relations between people, goods and assets located within territories under different jurisdictions, gives rise to revision of concepts already partly outdated, in the realms of International Law and Conflict of Laws. As a part of such historical context, in which should prevail the agility of communications, and also the circulation of legal products, without losing sight of the respect for the particularities of each state and its legal system, arises the especially new question of Vertical International Legal Co-operation, that maintained between National States, through its judges, prosecuting bodies and domestic courts; with International Tribunals and their organs of persecution. International Law provides for the necessary and sufficient tools for the maintenance of these legal relations between States and International Courts, even with Brazil, whose laws and Constitution recognize the importance of International Justice.

A adoção de estratégias de cooperação tem se tornado uma prática comum das empresas a fim de distribuir esforços de seus processos de negócios. Dentre eles está o processo de desenvolvimento de produto que é um dos principais focos de vários tipos de cooperação, pois a realização de seu sucesso garante a permanência mais segura da empresa e de seus potenciais parceiros no atual ambiente de elevada competição. Existem características multidimensionais desses tipos de cooperação que provocam efeitos sobre o desempenho do processo de desenvolvimento de produto, podendo alterar de modo significativo a chance de sucesso do empreendimento. Deste aspecto observado, surgiu o objetivo de pesquisa deste trabalho, que consiste de analisar os efeitos da flexibilidade organizacional e do risco sobre métricas de desempenho do processo de desenvolvimento de produto colaborativo em empresa estendida. Para isso, foi estudado um caso prático de empresa estendida, onde o foco principal é o desenvolvimento de produto colaborativo, cujo efeito da flexibilidade e do risco foi analisado. A pesquisa também foi auxiliada por uma revisão bibliográfica pertinente aos temas principais. / In order to share businesses processes efforts severaI types of strategic co-operation has been adopted by many enterprises. Among all the businesses processes product development process has increased in importance for strategic co-operation field study because nowadays the maintenance of a steady competitive business scenario is needed. As strategic co-operation formation\'s components some multidimensional characteristics might reduce odds of a succeeded new product if a side effect is not correctly monitored and causes some kind of loss in process performance. So based on such correlation this research analyses potential deviations caused by risk and organizational flexibility in the product development process\' performance within an extended enterprise. To fulfill the main objective a field study was developed together with a thorough literature review.

Corporate Governance (CG) nowadays is on the agenda of most developed and developing countries, including Jordan, and is receiving considerable attention in the business world as well as in the area of academic research, which is an indication of its importance for business development and society as a whole. The knowledge base about CG in developing countries appears to be limited, but it is growing in size and importance. This study therefore aims to investigate current CG practices and barriers to the development of good CG practices in firms. In order to accomplish the research objectives, a mixed research methodology was adopted. The findings of the study contribute to knowledge by providing empirical data to test and extend the theory of CG. The results suggest that most big and old firms are applying best practice of good CG. Regarding factors inhibiting the practice of effective CG, the results indicate that weakness of the legal environment for firms and lack of knowledge of BODs about CG principles are the most important factors. The empirical results find that constitution, compliance and conscience will affect firm’s performance positively. Separation between the position of CEO and Chairman, the existence of independent NEDs, the use of board subcommittees and a strong disclosure regime also help firms to improve performance. On the basis of the empirical results, the study recommends that the government needs to reform the relevant legislation. These suggestions may strengthen the internal governance of firms, thereby increasing performance and maximise shareholders’ wealth.