Master of Public Health - MPH / The aim of this thesis was to conduct a situational assessment of human resources planning at one local health authority, in order to determine how decentralisation has impacted the effectiveness of human resources planning. / South Africa

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / The Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is a type of decentralised government funding that is supposed to deliver goods and services directly to constituents by providing additional funds for local community development, outside line ministries. It is predominantly a developing country policy that is intended to meet the immediate social needs of local communities. In countries where it is operational, CDF is appropriated by Parliament within a country’s national budget. CDF in Zambia was introduced in 1995 for the implementation of community based projects which would in the long term improve the socio-economic wellbeing of the constituents. The stated objective of the CDF in Zambia is to provide Members of Parliament and their constituent communities with the opportunity to make choices and implement (MPs) projects that maximise their welfare in line with their needs and preferences. However, questions have been raised over whether CDF actually represents efforts to spur local development and consequently national development, or whether it is primarily a political project aimed at benefitting MPs by providing them with the resources to help them gain popularity with the electorate. The study aims to assess the effectiveness of CDF as a tool for community development. This has been done through a case study of Katuba Constituency in the Central Province of Zambia, using qualitative research methods. The study seeks to gain insight into of the impact of CDF projects in relation to the goals espoused by the CDF as laid down in Zambia’s Guidelines for the Utilisation and Management of the Constituency Development Fund.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Over the course of the past three decades bi-lateral and multi-lateral donor agencies, academics and practitioners have expressed the conviction that decentralisation of administrative and political authority to the local level is of central importance to public sector reform programmes in developing states both as a means to improve service delivery and to deepen democracy. However, many states in Africa have had disappointing experiences with decentralisation which have variously been attributed to the underfunding of local governments, a lack of administrative capacity and corruption. In the light of this, a number of scholars have argued that decentralisation in Africa has achieved little in the delivery of basic services and in the deepening democracy at the local level. This has raised concerns that decentralisation, whilst necessary, is not a sufficient condition for ensuring local socio-economic development and participatory governance. This thesis sets out to examine the process of administrative and political decentralisation in Tanzania since it attained independence in 1961, paying particular attention to the current local government reform programme which consists of a parallel system of devolved and de-concentrated government authority implemented through the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF). This hybrid model of decentralisation, which is heavily reliant on donor aid, has been in place for over a decade and a half. The thesis considers the extent to which the combination of decentralised and de-concentrated forms of administration represents an accommodation between the neo-liberal agenda of donors (concerned with the diminution of central state power) and the policy interests of the Tanzanian government (concerned about a lack of local capacity and domestic politics). Based on a case study of three municipalities (Tanga city, and the Lindi and Morogoro district councils) the thesis examines the extent to which the hybrid model is meeting its stated objectives of strengthening local government, improving service delivery, and promoting effective citizen participation. In so doing it examines the particular role of TASAF and the extent to which its activities are supporting the development of effective local government. Empirical evidence, which was generated through a mixed methods approach based on both quantitative and qualitative research, suggests that, notwithstanding the concerns of some local politicians that the model has undermined the authority of local councils, the v combination of local administrative coordination and the technical and financial support of TASAF, has led to significant improvements in the delivery of social services since the reform programme was launched. The thesis also found that the majority of respondents believed that the hybrid model had served to deepen local democracy to a far greater extent than decentralisation reforms of the past. It also concluded that, in spite its evident potential, the future of the hybrid model in Tanzania is highly uncertain, given that it remains heavily reliant on donor funding and is subject to the aid conditionalities imposed upon it. Unless the government is able to increase its own funding of TASAF, the hybrid model is likely to collapse due to the changed funding priorities of bi-lateral and multilateral donor agencies.

Entre 1945 et 2008, le nombre de pays reconnus internationalement a augmenté de 74 à 193 (Spolaore, 2008). Plus récemment, plusieurs pays ont vécu une vague croissante de décentralisation. Dans les pays de l’OCDE, par exemple, le nombre de gouvernements infranationaux a atteint 140 000 en 2014. De plus, ces gouvernements infranationaux ont une influence croissante dans ces pays (OCDE, 2014). Compte tenu de ces tendances vers une décentralisation croissante, cette thèse étudie deux aspects de celle-ci : la concurrence fiscale, et le choix endogène des frontières. En matière de concurrence fiscale, cette thèse étudie la mise aux enchères de nouveaux investissements par une firme à plusieurs établissements. Le but de cette analyse est d’étudier le comportement stratégique de la firme dans ce type de concurrence. En effet, contrairement à la littérature déjà existante qui ne considère que des firmes qui ne produisent qu’en un endroit, le premier chapitre de thèse montre que la firme peut modifier l’allocation de ses investissements en les différenciant, pour attirer des subsides plus élevés. Dans le deuxième chapitre, la thèse étudie comment l’ajout de coûts en infrastructure pour les régions avant la mise aux enchères affecte la concurrence entre les régions ainsi que le comportement de la firme. En matière de choix endogène des frontières, cette thèse fournit deux analyses: une empirique, et une expérimentale. Dans le troisième chapitre, la thèse étudie la décision d’électeurs dans 213 villes du Québec de quitter une fusion municipale qui leur fût imposée quelques années auparavant. L’analyse révèle que les électeurs choisissent de faire sécession d’autant plus quand les différences de revenus et de langue entre leur ville et les autres villes dans la même fusion sont plus élevées. L’analyse révèle aussi que ces deux facteurs ne sont pas indépendants. En effet, les différences de revenus ont un effet plus prononcé sur le vote sécessionniste lorsque les différences de langue sont aussi élevées. Étant donné l’importance de la langue comme groupe ethno-linguistique au Québec, les résultats de ce chapitre suggèrent que le choix des électeurs est sensible aux différences ethniques, et non seulement à des différences de goût pour les biens publics, comme suggéré par Alesina, Baqir et Hoxby (2004). Finalement, le dernier chapitre présente les résultats d’un expérience en laboratoire sur le lien entre décentralisation et sécession. La littérature sur le sujet suggère l’existence de deux effets contradictoires. La décentralisation pourrait permettre de contrer les mouvements de sécession en permettant aux régions de prendre plus de décisions à un niveau local, mais pourrait aussi fournir des ressources supplémentaires aux mouvements sécessionnistes, ce qui renforcerait les tendances vers la séparation. Les résultats de l’expérience montre que l’effet total de la décentralisation est de diminuer la probabilité de votes pour la sécession. / Between 1945 and 2008, the number of internationally-recognised countries grew from 74 to 193 (Spolaore, 2008). More recently, many countries experienced increasing decentralisation. In OECD countries, for example, the number of sub-national governments reached 140,000 in 2014. Moreover, these sub-national governments have an increasing influence in these countries (OECD, 2014). Given these trends towards an increasing decentralisation, this thesis studies two aspects of it: fiscal competition, and the endogenous choice of borders. In terms of fiscal competition, this thesis studies the competition between regional governments to attract one of a firm's new plants. The goal of this analysis is to study the strategic behaviour of the firm in such competitions or location contests. Indeed, in contrast to the existing literature on the subject that considers only firms producing in a single location, the first chapter of this thesis shows that the firm can modify its allocation of production across sites by differentiating the plants, thus attracting larger subsidies. In the second chapter, this thesis studies how the addition of prior investment in infrastructure by the regions before the location contest affects both the competition between the regions, and the behaviour of the firm. In terms of endogenous border choice, this thesis provides two analyses: one empirical and one experimental. In the third chapter, this thesis studies the decision of voters in 213 cities of Quebec to secede from a municipal merger that was imposed to them a few years earlier. The analysis reveals that voters choose secession more when the language and income differences between their own town and the other towns in the same merger are larger. The analysis also reveals that these two effects are not independent. Indeed, income differences have a larger effect when language differences are also large. Given the importance of language differences in the formation of ethnic groups in Quebec, these results suggest that the choice of voters is sensitive to ethnic differences, and not only to differences in preferences for public goods, as suggested by Alesina, Baqir, and Hoxby (2004). Finally, the last chapter presents the results of a laboratory experiment on the relationship between decentralisation and secession. The literature on the subject suggests the existence of two opposite effects. Decentralisation could quell secessionist movements by giving regions more liberty to take their own public goods decisions, but could also provide additional ressources to secessionist movements, which would reinforce secessionist movements. The results of the experiment show that the total effect of decentralisation is to decrease to probability of votes for secession.

Parallèlement à son développement économique, la Chine connaît à l'heure actuelle une évolution de son organisation territoriale, la réforme des « districts provinciaux ». Mais de quel type de réorganisations territoriales s'agit-il ? Et quels en sont les enjeux ? Cette thèse s'attache à analyser le mouvement de décentralisation en Chine à partir de l'étude de ce processus dans deux provinces, à savoir celle du Zhejiang et du Sichuan. L'hypothèse développée est que la déconcentration de l'État et le mouvement de décentralisation locale constituent un nouveau mode gouvernance locale en Chine. Cette thèse repose sur la combinaison de plusieurs perspectives d'analyse : une perspective nationale et historique d'abord, centrée sur les évolutions du système centralisé et la genèse de cette réforme ; ensuite, une autre perspective visant à rendre compte du changement de la relation intergouvernementale au sein de la province et de la formation d'une confrontation entre les partisans de la croissance effrénée du pays faisant face à de plus en plus de résistance de la part du mouvement « anti-croissance ». Ces deux types d'analyse permettent de montrer que le mode de gouvernance dépend non seulement du système national, mais plus particulièrement du mode d'action publique associée à un territoire. Les niveaux administratifs : districts/régions, zones urbaines/rurales, les acteurs sociaux comme les entreprises et les associations de protection de l'environnement ainsi que les dynamiques individuelles jouent un rôle de plus en plus important dans ce mouvement de déconcentration / With its economic development that enhanced the power of local governments, China is experiencing an evolution of its territorial organization called the « provincial Districts » reform. But what kind of territorial reorganization is it ? And what are the stakes? This thesis aims to analyze decentralization reforms in China through the cases of two provinces, Zhejiang and Sichuan. The hypothesis is developed that the devolution of state and local decentralization movement present a new model of local governance in China.This thesis is based on the combination of several analytical perspectives: first, historical and a national perspectives, focusing on the evolution of centralized system and the genesis of this reform; then another perspective accounts for the change in the intergovernmental relations under the level of province and the formation of« growth » coalition and the « anti-growth » coalition. These two types of analysis show that the governance depends not only on the national system but especially on what is the local public action associated with a territory, such as the action of Districts / urban areas/ province, social actors, such as entrepreneurs and green associations and individual dynamics which become more and more important

Gaston Defferre aura été ministre de la France d'outre-mer en 1956/1957 sous la IVème République et ministre de l'intérieur et de la décentralisation de 1981 à 1984 sous la Vème République. Si les événements de la guerre d'Algérie - départements qui ne relevaient pas de sa compétence ministérielle - ont « balayé » le régime constitutionnel de la IVème République, la loi-cadre restera comme une initiative éphémère, sauf dans les autres territoires de la France d'outre-mer qui n'accéderont pas à l'indépendance dans les années 1960. Vingt-cinq ans plus tard, Gaston Defferre qui avait prédit en 1957 que s'il revenait au pouvoir dans l'appareil de l'Etat, il décoloniserait la province par rapport à Paris, sera chargé dès la mise en place du gouvernement de Pierre Mauroy en juillet 1981 de conduire avec l'appui remarqué du premier ministre, « la grande affaire du septennat de François Mitterrand ». Centrée sur les débats parlementaires des deux périodes étudiées, la recherche démontre qu'il n'est pas anodin de voir derrière ces deux textes, une ambition continue, une capacité d'anticipation incontestable et une parfaite maîtrise des débats parlementaires. A l'heure ou l'acte III de la décentralisation paraît s'enliser dans les méandres et les renoncements, l'acte I de 1982 a montré qu'un homme d'Etat pouvait par la force de ses engagements et sa personnalité, conduire à leurs termes deux réformes législatives majeures dans des contextes très différents, mais puisant toutes les deux dans la promotion des libertés locales / Gaston Defferre will have been a Secretary of overseas France in 1956/1957 under the IVth Republic and a Secretary of inside and the decentralization of 1981 in 1984 under the Vth Republic. If the events of the Algerian War - departments which did not raise his ministerial competence - "swept" the constitutional regime of the IVth Republic, outline law will stay as a short-lived initiative, except in the other territories of overseas France which will not reach the independence in the 1960s. Twenty five years, Gaston Defferre who had predicted in 1957 that if he returned to the power in the state apparatus, he would decolonize the province with regard to Paris, will be in charge from the implementation of the government of Pierre Mauroy in July, 1981 to lead with the support noticed by Prime Minister, " the big affair of the seven-year term of François Mitterrand ". Centered on the parliamentary debates of two studied periods, the search demonstrates that he is not harmless to see behind these two texts, an ambition continues, a capacity of indisputable anticipation and master's degree of the parliamentary debates. At the hour or the act III of the decentralization appears to sink into meanders and renunciation, the act I of 1982 showed that a statesman could by the strength of his commitments and his personality, to lead to their terms two major legislative reforms in very different contexts, but drawing both from the promotion of the local liberties

The research investigates individual human resource capacity building for local governance within the context of decentralised human resource management in Thailand by profoundly examining its current implementation of recruitment, selection, training and development and performance management after the decentralisation policy was enacted. The human resource capacity building process in this research includes five stages of core capabilities building: committing and engaging, performing and accomplishing, building relationships and attracting resources, learning and adapting and managing trade-offs and dilemmas. The research firstly focuses on examining the consequences of decentralised human resource practices implementation in Thai local governance. Secondly, it aims to explore the ways in which human resource practices are supportive to individual human resource capacity building. Finally it proposes the prospective implications of effective capacity building through human resource practices for potential policy formulation. This research is based on three related theories: capacity building, human resource management and decentralisation. The research was conducted by using qualitative methodologies. The case study of Thailand was selected because of the uniqueness of its paradoxical decentralised-Unitarian state. Municipal officials were chosen as the unit of analysis. The first findings have illustrated that the decentralisation initiative has certainly affected the HRM at the local level of Thailand. However, this scheme has launched some degree of re-centralisation and partially confirms the pseudo-decentralisation in Thai public administration. Secondly, the research also found that HR practices can be supportive and compatible as a capacity building strategies. However, these HR practices must be designed, conducted and evaluated for the purposes of the local government only. The aim of capacitating individual staff must be taken into account as a part of policy to develop the human side of the organisation. Therefore, there have been both challenges and opportunities for human resource capacity building through HR practices. To conclude, this research has contributed to fill the theoretical gap by examining the capacity building processes through HR practices and it provides the practical suggestion that local context is decisive. The capacity building issue has never been investigated through human resource practices, especially recruitment and selection, training and development and performance management. Moreover, in practice, the research has focused on the development of the local government unit in a country of paradoxically decentralised-Unitarian state like Thailand.

This study is an analysis of administrative governance in South Africa post 1994, aiming at investigating the effects the change of administrative governance from decentralisation to recentralization had on service delivery and provision of education at provincial, regional and circuit levels of Mpumalanga Department of Education. This study adopted a qualitative research approach in gathering and analysing data. For data collection, interviews, documentary analysis, literature review were used. During the period 1994-1999, there were many administrative and governance problems that were experienced at district and circuit, levels of education provision. These problems included, lack of resources, poor communication, poor coordination and lack of support and this led to the abolition of districts, introduction of regions and restructuring of circuits. Research findings have revealed that there has been an improvement of service delivery and education provision since the introduction of regions. Regions have been given more administrative and governance powers by the Head Office than it was during the district era. Regions have devolved and delegated certain powers to circuits and this has improved the administration in many circuits. However, there are also challenges that have been brought by this arrangement such as lack of office space for regional personnel, racial discrimination, insubordination and lack of support by some of the members of Regional Management Team, poor communication, lack of physical resources at circuits and schools and work overload on the part of circuit managers. As a result of these challenges administration at circuit and regional levels still needs to be re-aligned in order to ensure efficiency and delivery of services in education within the province. This recommends that among others Mpumalanga Department of Education should improve the circuit’s structure by introducing extra personnel to offload circuit mangers with many responsibilities. Circuits without circuit offices should be supplied with their own buildings. Communication between the four-tiers of education administration should be revisited and more resources should be provided for circuits. Curriculum implementers should be based at the circuits in order to be abreast with the reality of education provision on the ground. However Schools were not targeted for by this study, therefore further investigation at school levels in terms of the effects of the shift from decentralisation to recentralisation have to be undertaken. Copyright / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Distributed ledger technology (DLT) stands to benefit industries such as financial services with transparency and censorship resistance. DLT systems need to be scalable to handle mass user adoption. Mass user adoption is required to demonstrate the true value of DLT. This dissertation first analyses scalability in ethereum and EOS. Currently, ethereum 1.0 uses proof of work (PoW) and handles only 14 transactions per second (tps) compared to Visa's peak 47 000 tps. Ethereum 2.0, known as Serenity, introduces sharding, proof of stake (Casper), plasma and state channels in and effort to scale the system. EOS uses a delegated proof of stake (DPoS) protocol, where 21 super-nodes, termed ‘block producers' (BPs), facilitate consensus, bringing about significant scalability improvements (4000 tps). The trade-off is decentralisation. EOS is not sufficiently decentralised because the BPs yield significant power, but are not diverse. This dissertation conducts an empirical analysis using unsupervised machine learning to show that there is a high probability collusion is occurring between certain BPs. It then suggests possible protocol alterations such as inverse vote weighting that could curb adverse voting behaviour in DPoS. It further analyses whether universities are suitable BP's before mapping out required steps for universities to become block producers (leading to improved decentralisation in EOS)

Magister Economicae - MEcon / This study is an evaluation of development strategies that have been followed in South Africa. Lebowa is used as a case study for an assessment of the present strategy. The basic question is whether or not it is economically, politically and socially effective to follow the "homeland" development strategy. This approach places "homeland" states within confined political borders. Development policies are also confined to these borders. An alternative is to follow a broader regional development strategy, that spans across both political and economic borders. This may provide a more feasible approach to development. The present regional pattern of development, which focuses mainly on industrial decentralization, is discussed. The evaluation of the present strategy explores various other alternatives which may provide for a more effective regional development policy. In this context an assessment of 'backward regions/homelands' is provided. The central problem addressed is the country or 'homeland' versus regional orientation. To understand the problem, the core-periphery view on South Africa's regional growth pattern, is utilized. The PWV, Durban/ Pinetown and the Cape metropole areas may be taken as "core", where most of the economic activity takes place. One can also distinguish between the "inner-periphery", which is close to the core, and the "outer-periphery", further away from the core and which includes the Black Homelands. This core-periphery approach provides an understanding of the polarisation effect, which results in the "homelands" becoming poorer, whilst the urban areas grow richer. The main criticism of the of the modernisation or diffusionist approach is that the "trickle-down" or spread-effect from the core to the other regions does not really take place. Thus, regional aspirations are not satisfied. The South African Government's attempts to counter some of the forces of concentration have been questionable. Within the context of the diffusionist paradigm, trickle-down effects have not occurred because of the super-imposition of a political ideology onto this approach. Rather these areas are the result of polarization (re-inforced by political consideration) brought about by the concept of separate development. It is clear that South Africa's approach to regional development is in a process of change. This is mainly due to the failure of the "homelands" strategy. Since the mid 1970's it has become increasingly clear that the "homelands" could not really become economically independent (and internationally recognised), and development strategy concentrating on each that the uneconomic and inefficient."homeland" would be uneconomists critical of this unified economy. planners and politicians. approach have suggested that the whole South African economy should be planned as one economy, even if the homelands still maintain political independence. The nine development region mapping of South Africa, Regions A - J, came about as a result of attempting to address South Africa as a more unified economy. Up to now, the proposed role of the regions have not been clearly stated