Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 1993. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

This thesis is about psychological constructions underpinning intentional action to improve well-being by people in a neighbourhood on the urban fringe of Bamako, Mali. There is a large deficit in the theorisation of psychological elements of agency and empowerment in the development literature. Instead empowerment is generally defined as a favourable opportunity structure, as choice or as the distribution of power. Further still, the examination of the psychological literature reveals a lack of empirical research related to non-Western contexts and development policy. In view of this, I present the results of an empirical study using the inductive mixed methods to examine the central factors contributing to initiatives people undertake to improve personal and collective well-being. Informants articulated that the psychological concepts of dusu (internal motivation) and ka da I yèrè la (self-efficacy) were most important to their purposeful agency. The empirical analysis is divided into three parts and based primarily on qualitative data, enriched by quantitative analysis. Firstly I will examine the concepts of dusu and ka da I yèrè la, which are characterised as having an instrumental and intrinsic significance to people’s purposeful agency. They were also characterised as important factors in supporting local social development initiatives. Secondly, I will show how these psychological concepts were not related to the agent’s socio-economic characteristics or decision making ability, rendering both variables weak proxies for measuring psychological agency. Instead I found that measures of intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy are more viable for evaluating psychological agency. Thirdly, however, whilst dusu and ka da I yèrè la are important to people’s agency and the social development of the neighbourhood, they cannot be viewed as a silver bullet to social development in Kalabankoro Nerekoro. Specifically, in the examination of collective purposeful agency in group work (associations), the functioning of groups is impacted by the internal dynamics within the group, causing sometimes breakdown of the group. Further still, gender and age norms as well as capability deprivation and conflicting world views all thwart the ability of associations to achieve their goals. I underline that agents cannot always succeed in the pursuit of their well-being goals, even though they demonstrate high levels of psychological agency unless structural inequality at the micro, meso and macro levels of Malian society are addressed. Through this empirical study, this thesis will contribute the closing of the gap between psychological and development literatures as well as work towards developing measures of psychological agency.

Thesis (M.M. (Public Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, 2013. / Increasingly, literature suggests that there is a causal link between the development of the Small, Medium and Micro-enterprise (SMME) sector and economic and social development, especially in developing countries. It is for this reason that many countries are pursuing SMME development policies as part of their growth and social development strategies, including South Africa. To this effect, the South African government has also developed policies and established institutions to support SMME development. However, the development of the SMME sector in South Africa is still lagging behind that of many developing countries and the failure rate of SMME remains very high. Research has predominantly attempted to find reasons for SMME failure by focusing on challenges faced by SMMEs. However, literature now suggests that the problem also lies within the institutions that are meant to provide support to the SMMEs. The purpose of the study was to investigate short-comings in the provision of support services by Seda to SMMEs, particularly training and mentoring. In this regard, the study found that the main challenge faced by Seda is with regards to its poor accessibility. Other challenges include poor quality of trainers and mentors skills; training programmes that fail to respond to SMMEs‟ needs; lack of resources; poor monitoring and evaluation. The study concluded that the challenges faced by Seda have contributed, to some extent, to the slow progress in the development of SMMEs.

Thesis (Ph.D.). / Written for the Graduate Program in Communication Studies. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/05/08). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 1997. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

The Canadian foreign aid program increasingly has been linked to trade and other commercial objectives- How and why has this happened? Has this been a successful linkage? What are the implications for Canada and its foreign aid program of this pursuit of the aid-trade linkage? This thesis attempts to answer these questions by exploring the origins and evolution of Canada's aid program, the political and bureaucratic status of Canada's aid agency, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and the various policies and policy instruments employed in this recent orientation of aid. It is here argued that in the pragmatic origins of Canada's aid efforts, beginning with the Colombo Plan of the 1950s, lay the seeds for today's aid-trade policy linkage. These origins enabled the interests and objectives of other federal government departments to intrude on and often supersede developmental considerations in Canadian development assistance. As a result, the creation of a strong central aid agency has consistently been impeded, and the needs of Third World nations consistently overshadowed by domestic concerns. Exacerbating this situation was the fiscal restraint and domestic recession of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The pressures stemming from these twin problems gave the final impetus for the increasing integration of aid and commerce. While it is questionable whether linking aid with commerce serves Canada's political and economic interests, in either the short term or the long term, the federal government seems intent on continuing this policy trend. Indeed, the aid-trade linkage superficially resolves a number of administrative problems for CIDA, and enthusiastically is promoted as a bright new opportunity for Canada and its development partners. Conversely, efforts to reverse this policy trend face many obstacles in the Canadian polity and society. In the absence of decisive political leadership on this issue, then, aid-trade linkage is likely to continue. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

In parallel to developments around the world, regional policy issue has become an important issue in Turkey&rsquo / s agenda. However, political tools such as projects and plans were performed poorly due to the fact that these policy efforts failed to take into account bottom-up institutional setting according to own dynamics of each region. The European integration has made a positive impact on Turkey&rsquo / s highly centralized structure. Turkey displayed a series of changes within the scope of institutional reforms. Firstly, NUTS Classification in accordance with EU&rsquo / s statistical regions was introduced and then, Development Agencies were established by The Law on The Establishment and Duties of Development Agencies, based on NUTS-II regions. Thus, institutionalization at regional level was emerged for the first time in Turkish history as one of the significant movement. Following experiences gained during the institutional establishment efforts, this thesis aims to examine the existing DA&rsquo / s institutional performance in the regional plan activities. Izmir Development Agency (IZKA) was chosen as a case study topic in order to explore how Development Agencies perform regional plan in terms of institutional infrastructure. To achieve this aim, the research was formed into two stages. Firstly / factors, affecting the institutional performance were determined. Secondly / IZKA was assessed over these factors. Qualitative research method through in-depth interviews was conducted in order to assess IZKA&rsquo / s institutional performance in operationalizing Izmir Regional Plan 2010-2013. In addition, documented texts were incorporated as the secondary data.

This study explores the notion of partnership as an approach to long-term sustainable development in Africa, by examining relationships Canadian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) forge with their donors and with counterpart NGOs in developing countries. A case study methodology was used to examine how Canadian NGOs in general, and CARE Canada in particular, work in partnership with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and Kenyan local NGOs. The findings indicate that the development themes and agendas of the past three development decades are reflected in the activities and programs of Canadian NGOs. However, very little was learned about the contribution of partnership to African development. CARE Canada's partnership relations seem to be guided by the development priorities of funding agencies such as CIDA, which dictate how CARE relates to its Kenyan partners. Partnership seems only to facilitate an environment for dialogue between organizations, concerning needs, constraints and fiscal accountability. The study proposes that further research on the concept of development partnerships needs to be carried out in-depth to determine how this model can be used in building capacities of African organizations.

Youth development in South Africa remains one of the greatest challenges. Due to the legacy of apartheid policies and the existing gaps in current policies, most young people still face socio-economic challenges, such as a high rate of unemployment, poverty, lack of business opportunities, lack of skills and a high rate of HIV infection, among other health-related challenges. The advent of democracy transformed the government’s response to the needs of young people. New policies and legislative documents have been formulated since 1994. As part of constant efforts to promote youth welfare, in November 2008, the government launched the National Youth Policy (NYP). The policy stands as an essential guiding tool for youth development in the country. It stresses that mainstreaming youth development requires not only transformation of municipal structures, but also a deliberate willingness of leaders, and that their existing economic policies, strategies, programmes and institutions consider youth priorities. The government established the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) to spearhead co-ordination of youth development. In the Msunduzi Municipality, NYDA is guided by the Youth Advisory Programme that translates the policy at a local level. The purpose of this research was to ascertain whether or not the NYP is being implemented in the municipality through the Youth Advisory Programme. Through a case study done at the NYDA office, the findings indicate that the programme focuses on economic empowerment. First, activities concentrate on career development, which is mainly directed at technical skills, writing and communication skills of the youth, both in and out of school. Second, activities concentrate on entrepreneurial development, which means increasing entrepreneurial culture, business managerial capacities and book-keeping, thereby contributing to sustainable human development. However, for the programme to be effective, it needs a holistic approach to development. It must thus focus on all four pillars of the NYP, namely health and wellbeing, education, economic empowerment and social cohesion. For this to happen, the NYDA needs both financial and human resources, which currently, are under-resourced. Shortage of human and financial resources will continue to hamper youth development in the branch. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 1983. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.