Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2000. / "February 2000." / Includes bibliographical references. / Three studies were conducted to analyze the relationship between public infrastructure investment and regional economic performance. The first study examines the literature on economic development and productivity growth. I show that conflicting results from studies by other analysts are the likely result of poor public capital data spanning to short an interval, and an inadequate modeling framework. Public investment may generate small improvements in productivity, but models understate economic impacts owing to the public goods character of some forms of public capital. The second study explores the relationship between economic distress and public infrastructure investment. I use a sample of U.S. counties to analyze public investment according to level of economic distress. With simple investment models, I estimated infrastructure needs for counties with apparent shortfalls. I analyzed the needs-estimates in a series of case studies in which jurisdiction planning and budget personnel were consulted about the accuracy of the estimates. I show that short-run economic distress is not to be linked to public infrastructure investment. Over the long-run, investment varies by level of distress, but as a consequence of private residential investment. The needs-estimating models were reasonably accurate, but missing investment data proved troublesome. Counties proved to be a poor unit of analysis for infrastructure needs, as since significant variation was observed among jurisdictions within counties. The third study demonstrates the need for better estimates of public infrastructure capital stock. I prepared new capital stock estimates for two regions using local investment data and survey-based public capital service lives. I surveyed one thousand jurisdictions in the New England region and the state of Texas. Survey-based service-lives seem to differ significantly from estimated lives. Stock estimates using local investment data and survey-based service-lives produce dramatic differences compared to estimated stocks at the state and regional level. The new data, however, performed just as poorly as other series when used to estimate aggregate production functions. Prior analysts' understanding the relationship between economic performance and public infrastructure investment has been limited because of poor data, and inadequate appreciation of infrastructure's inherent complexity. The research presented here demonstrates that significant improvements are possible and worth undertaking. / by Nicholas O. Rockler. / Ph.D.

This dissertation is a case study, which examines the state of agricultural development in Nigeria. The study is intended to be a mirror for a wider undertanding of the state of agriculture Sub-Saharan African (SSA). Pitching its tent in a typical rural Nigerian agrarian community, and applying the political economy ideological framework, the study examines factors that impact and shape agricultural production in the country. It employs the plethora of social research techniques at the disposal of applied anthropologists including structured and unstructured interviews, questionnaires, participant observation, probing for history, and the use of photography and video recording among others. The study worked with a wide focus group including farmers, traders and government officials and analyzes field data through descriptive data analysis; the use of tables and charts; and comparing of results with related studies. The study found that many factors form a landscape and conspiracy of far-reaching significant negative impact on Nigerian farmers and hence on the agriculture sector of the whole country. The factors negatively impacting agricultural development in Nigeria include land tenure systems rooted in the social organization of farming communities; continually increasing populations against limited and constantly decreasing farmland size; lack of capital especially for the adoption of improved agricultural production technology; incessant conflicts; mass rural-urban migration; low level of education; repressive and exploitative State apparatus; systemic corruption of government officials; excessive dependence of oil economy to the exclusion of agricultural economy; application of institutional and economic development policies that are unfavorable to the agriculture sector; and poor or total lack of infrastructure among others. Correspondingly, the constellation of unfavorable social condition these factors create produces very far-reaching consequences for farmers and the country at large. These indlude farmers producing at levels of productivity below their potential; food insecurity; constantly rising poverty especially among Nigerian rural farmers; roof-high rate of unemployment; backwardness of other sectors that work hand-in-glove with agricultural production; poor health and reduced length of life directly connected with malnourishment; further occurrence of conflicts among and between communities as a result of poverty and hunger; sharp and continuous fall of farmers’ contribution to national GDP; inability of rural agricultural development to translate into rural and community development; entrenched poverty cycle especially among rural farming families; general backwardness in the socioeconomics of Nigerian rural farmers; and many more. In response to these telling findings, and in order to mitigate if not overcome the factors and sociopolitical, economic and institutional factors and conditions that militate against agricultural development in Nigeria, the study lays out some recommendations revolving around the installation and maintenance of policies that are pro-poor and pro-agriculture in order especially to boost agricultural productivity and ultimately to help lift farmers out of the assaults of poverty, food insecurity, hunger, and other problems that go with these. The recommendations fronted by the study cover the areas of the problems discovered especially that there needs to be installed institutions to effect changes in land tenure system; improvement in conflict management and resolution; giving back the democracy of agricultural production to farmers by restoring the sector and its former place in the overall economy; disengaging agriculture from its entrenchment in the “project” disposition associated with the development ideology; and above all, allowing agriculture to be a “process” in the hands of the people. In engaging in this on-going dialogue, this study has set to its merit the standard of how an applied anthropologist can contribute to wider study and understanding of social issues in Nigeria and in SSA at large.

Principles, structure and problems of project financing today. Evaluation of real estate development projects. Analysis of risk factors of the projects with emphasis on their influence over quality, time heftiness and project expenses. General influence of the risk factors on the economic result of the project. Retrieving solutions for work with hazard factors in common plains. Application of the knowledge on specific case study of a real estate development project and comparison of the actual project course with the theoretical course according to Risk Management.

A presente dissertação analisa o conflito ambiental que se instalou entre coletivos Kaingang e Guarani e interesses ligados à construção de quatro pequenas centrais hidrelétricas (PCHs) no rio Jacuizinho/RS. O trabalho foca, especificamenteuma das etapas do processo de licenciamento ambiental das obras, no caso, a elaboração do Componente Indígena a ser incluído no EIA/Rima.O licenciamento será analisado sob a perspectivade um ritual, um evento vivido coletivamente como drama social, com etapas mais ou menos formalizadas, onde cada um dos envolvidos(órgão ambiental e indigenista, empreendedor, empresa intermediadora, lideranças políticas locais, coletivos Kaingang e Guarani e seus aliados) ocupam um papel(ou são levados a tal), desempenham uma performance e constituem ações e estratégias na defesa da apropriação material e simbólica de um mesmo território.Após a explicitação dos procedimentos metodológicos e da discussão sobre como a noção de desenvolvimento insere-se dentro da lógica do licenciamento ambiental, o foco central da pesquisa recaisobre como os coletivos Guarani acionam elementos cosmológicos diante do confronto/negociação com o aparato técnico-burocrático estatal e os defensores das obras, estas últimas vistas pelos primeiros como mais uma investida do jurua reko achy (modo de ser dos não índios), contra seu território ancestral e seu modo de ser, estar e viver (mbya reko). Para fins de análise, estabelece-se ainda um diálogo com outras experiências vividas nas últimas décadas pelos coletivos Guarani no Rio Grande do Sul envolvendo projetos de duplicação de rodovias.Em linhas gerais, os eventos aqui descritos, ao serem vividos dentro de um processo ritualizado, evidenciam como interesses econômicos inerentes à ideologia universalista do desenvolvimento pressupõem a construção de mecanismos técnico-reguladores como o licenciamento ambiental. Este, por sua vez, possui uma eficácia no sentido de produzir fatos, mobilizar pessoas e condicionar expectativas num determinado sentido, no caso, a concessão da "licença" para as PCHs serem instaladas e operarem, sendo que, para tanto, são necessários seguir determinados ritos específicos (reuniões "participativas", audiências públicas, elaboração de EIAs/Rimas etc.) que posteriormente se materializam de diferentes formas (compensações, mitigações, indenizações, medidas de ajustamento de conduta etc.). / The present paper analyzes the environmental conflict spread among Kaingang, Guarani and business connected with four little central hydroeletrics construction (PCHs) at the Jacuizinho river/RS. The work focus essentially in one of process stages for environmental permission to the works, in that case, to draw up the Indian Component to be exclude at the EIA/Rima.The permission will be analysed on a ritual perspective, a joined event lived as a social drama, with stages more or less formal, where each one of the envolved (environmental institutions and indigenous, enterprisings, intermediated firms, local political leaderships, the Kaingang and Guarani communities and their allieds) occupy a part (or they are taken to do that), they develop a performance and join claims and strategies to defend the same territory against the symbolic and material apprehension. After the explanation about the methodical procedures and the discussion about the understanding on development, it is insented into the environmental permission logic, the central focus of the research falls on how the Guarani community set in cosmological elements to the confrontation/negotation presence with the bureaucratic-técnic stated owned machinery and their defensors of the works, those understood by them as one more attack of the jurua reko achy (the way of living of the non indians) on their ancestral territory and their way of living, be and live (mbya reko).To the analizes, there are still a dialogue with another experiences lived in the last decades by the Guarani communities in Rio Grande do Sul involving the roads duplication projects.In synthesis, the events here described, when lived inside a ritualized process, show us how economics interests inherent in a universal ideology of development presume the construction of técnic-regulators mechanisms as the environmental permission. This gets an efficiency to produce facts, mobilize people and conditional expectations in a certain sense, in this case, the consent of the “permission” to the PCHs to be settle down and work, but for that they need to follow certain specific rites (“participative” meetings, public audiences, EIAs/Rimas and so on), and after this they are materialized into many different ways (compensations, payments, adjustment conduct rules etc).

Submitted by Celso Magalhaes (celsomagalhaes@ufrrj.br) on 2017-10-23T10:26:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2016 - Fernando Oliveira Mateus.pdf: 4428090 bytes, checksum: 328440bdde67b772d9be4e74428efbb1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-23T10:26:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2016 - Fernando Oliveira Mateus.pdf: 4428090 bytes, checksum: 328440bdde67b772d9be4e74428efbb1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-10-26 / Throughout History, electricity has proven to be an important vector for development. In general, national Human Development Indexes ? HDIs have evolved in straight correlation with the country?s per capita consumption of electric energy. In line with this inference, Brazil set a legal framework that requires universal access to electric energy. Such universal access still hasn?t been reached though, in spite of successive rural electrification programs in the past and the LUZ PARA TODOS (LIGHT FOR ALL), in course since 2003. In the wake of these programs, as a strategy to effectively turn energy into a vector for development, ELETROBRAS conceived the implementation of community projects to benefit the production of communities that receive electrification and demonstrate vocation to a given economic activity, thus fostering the local economy. These projects were named Community Centers for Production ? CCPs, which have been implemented in rural Brazil with the support of ELETROBRAS or the MINISTRY OF MINES AND ENERGY itself. However, the number of implemented CCPs still falls short of Brazil?s needs, and, judging by the CCP cases addressed in this study, the consolidation of a specific program to better explore the productive potential of Brazilian rural communities is well deserved. Currently, the biggest challenge is delivering electrification to communities in remote regions, which cannot be connected to conventional power grids. In these locations, electrification must be done mainly with photovoltaic systems, which are substantially more expensive. As it happens in regions electrified with conventional power grids, electrification may offer Brazilians living along rivers and in remote regions not only access to the comforts of lighting and refrigerating food, but also a sustainable way of generating income and/or promoting their own food security. Among the challenges to the implementation of CCPs in rural Brazil and especially in remote regions, we highlight the elaboration of projects, and the lack of regular financing to fund equipments that could benefit the local production. As alternative, we point out possible institutional arrangements with agents of complementary vocations, organized with the Avant-garde Entities developed by the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Post-graduation and Research Institute in Engineering ? COPPE, using regulatory resources already available in the electricity sector that nowadays are exclusively destined to R&D projects. For CCPs in remote regions of northern Brazil, the Amazon Fund, run by the National Social and Economic Development Bank ? BNDES, could also be used / Ao longo da hist?ria tem se verificado que a eletricidade ? um importante vetor de desenvolvimento dos povos. De modo geral, os ?ndices de Desenvolvimento Humano-IDH dos pa?ses t?m evolu?do com estreita correla??o com o consumo per capta de energia el?trica. Alinhado com essa constata??o foi definido no Brasil um Marco Legal que exige a universaliza??o do acesso ? energia el?trica. Tal universaliza??o ainda n?o foi alcan?ada, apesar de sucessivos programas de eletrifica??o rural do passado e do PROGRAMA LUZ PARA TODOS-PLpT, em curso desde 2003. Na esteira desses programas, como estrat?gia para que a energia seja efetivamente um vetor de desenvolvimento, foi idealizado pela ELETROBRAS que tamb?m pudessem ser implementados empreendimentos comunit?rios para beneficiar a produ??odaquelas comunidades que seriam atendidas e que tivessem uma reconhecida voca??o produtiva, de modo a dinamizar a economia local. A esses empreendimentos deu-se o nome de Centros Comunit?rios de Produ??o-CCP, que foram implantados em algumas localidades do interior brasileiro com o apoio da pr?pria ELETROBRAS ou pelo pr?prio MINIST?RIO DE MINAS E ENERGIA. Entretanto, o n?mero de unidades implementadas ainda ? muito aqu?m do que a realidade brasileira exige e, a julgar pelos exemplos de CCPs abordados no presente estudo, merece que se consolide um programa espec?fico para que o potencial produtivo das comunidades rurais brasileiras possa ser mais bem explorado. O maior desafio atual ? o atendimento das popula??es das regi?es isoladas, que n?o podem ser interligadas ?s redes convencionaisde distribui??o el?trica. Nessas localidades, o atendimento dever? ser feito, principalmente, por sistemas fotovoltaicos de gera??o, que s?o substancialmente mais caros. Tal como ocorre nas regi?es atendidas com redes el?tricas convencionais, o processo de eletrifica??o pode oferecer aos brasileiros ribeirinhos ou que vivem em regi?es remotas, n?o apenas o acesso aos confortos da ilumina??o e refrigera??o de alimentos, mas tamb?m uma forma sustent?vel de se obter renda e/ou promover a sua seguran?a alimentar. Dentre os gargalos que t?m dificultado a implementa??o dessas unidades produtivas no interior brasileiro e em especial nas regi?es isoladas, neste trabalho o autor destaca como principais, a elabora??o dos projetos dos empreendimentos e a aus?ncia de fonte de recurso regular para custear os equipamentos que iriam beneficiar a produ??o local. Como alternativa, aponta poss?veis arranjos institucionais com atores com voca??es complementares, organizados pela metodologia dos Organismos de Vanguarda desenvolvida pela COPPE, trabalhando com os recursos regulat?rios j? dispon?veis no setor el?trico e que hoje se destinam exclusivamente a projetos de P&D. Para unidades nas regi?es remotas do norte do pa?s, opcionalmente se poderia lan?ar m?o do Fundo Amaz?nia que ? gerido pelo BNDES

Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / Rural areas of South Africa are characterised by high levels of unemployment and poverty resulting from lack of economic infrastructure. This led to the initiation of the Comprehensive Rural Development (CRDP) in 2009 to address poverty and lack of development in rural areas. Infrastructure provision to rural communities was identified as one of the main priorities of government. It was piloted in Muyexe village of Limpopo Province due to its lack of basic infrastructural services. This study was undertaken to investigate the impact made to cooperatives through the utilization of the infrastructures in terms of income generation and poverty alleviation. It also aimed at determining how sustainable the programme will be in the long-term. The key research questions asked were to determine if infrastructure provision could contribute to poverty alleviation and to determine how sustainable such programmes may be. Again, the study had to evaluate how the programme was implemented, to identify challenges faced and the gaps. It also recommends the solutions for future implementation of the programme. The study used a quantitative survey questionnaire which was administered to 30 beneficiaries of the projects. The findings of the study revealed that infrastructure for farming, brick laying, arts and craft and cosmetics manufacturing were provided to the cooperatives depending on their needs. The infrastructure provision programme contributed to improving the working conditions of the cooperatives but the impact made in terms of job creation, income generation, improving livelihoods and poverty alleviation is limited to a number of households. The programme had loopholes during its implementation due to lack of integration between the spheres of government and also lack of proper consultation. Cooperatives are still faced with a high challenge of lack of infrastructure because the infrastructure supplied was insufficient. The study recommends that proper consultation must be done to ensure that there is maximum participation by all concerned stake holders including the community. Effective mechanisms for training, supervision and designing of monitoring tools must also be done. Due to time, a larger sample could not be done and future research needs to be undertaken on a lager sample and also on the management of infrastructure provided to ensure that there is accountability amongst cooperatives.

Thesis (M.Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / Rural areas of South Africa are characterised by high levels of unemployment and poverty resulting from lack of economic infrastructure. This led to the initiation of the Comprehensive Rural Development (CRDP) in 2009 to address poverty and lack of development in rural areas. Infrastructure provision to rural communities was identified as one of the main priorities of government. It was piloted in Muyexe village of Limpopo Province due to its lack of basic infrastructural services. This study was undertaken to investigate the impact made to cooperatives through the utilization of the infrastructures in terms of income generation and poverty alleviation. It also aimed at determining how sustainable the programme will be in the long-term. The key research questions asked were to determine if infrastructure provision could contribute to poverty alleviation and to determine how sustainable such programmes may be. Again, the study had to evaluate how the programme was implemented, to identify challenges faced and the gaps. It also recommends the solutions for future implementation of the programme. The study used a quantitative survey questionnaire which was administered to 30 beneficiaries of the projects. The findings of the study revealed that infrastructure for farming, brick laying, arts and craft and cosmetics manufacturing were provided to the cooperatives depending on their needs. The infrastructure provision programme contributed to improving the working conditions of the cooperatives but the impact made in terms of job creation, income generation, improving livelihoods and poverty alleviation is limited to a number of households. The programme had loopholes during its implementation due to lack of integration between the spheres of government and also lack of proper consultation. Cooperatives are still faced with a high challenge of lack of infrastructure because the infrastructure supplied was insufficient. The study recommends that proper consultation must be done to ensure that there is maximum participation by all concerned stake holders including the community. Effective mechanisms for training, supervision and designing of monitoring tools must also be done. Due to time, a larger sample could not be done and future research needs to be undertaken on a lager sample and also on the management of infrastructure provided to ensure that there is accountability amongst cooperatives.

Thesis (M Dev.)--University of Limpopo, 2006. / Eliminating poverty and deprivation and their negative social effects is a critical challenge facing South Africa today. No political democracy can survive and flourish if the masses of the people remain in poverty, are landless, and do not have tangible materials for a better life. Attacking poverty and deprivation should be a priority of any democratic government (RDP 1994:1, 2, 9). Then South African government like its counterparts in the developing world is being restructured to improve governance and alleviate poverty. Optimal agricultural performance by small-scale farmers for poverty relief, food security, is shown to increase income and employment. Recognizing the contribution of these farmers in agricultural development and helping them improve their farming methods and secure small loans would impact favorably on poverty alleviation in the rural areas. The aim of this study is to determine the role played by rural development projects in poverty alleviation. In addition policy options, consequences and recommendations will be entertained. / Not listed

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2009 / This study focuses on the impact of the community development projects on the livelihoods of the people. The aim of the study is to assess the impact of the community development projects and the livelihood of the community of Lepelle-Nkumpi Municipality. The study examines the operations and performance of the community development projects since they started. The objectives of the study are to assess the impact of the community development projects on the livelihood of the beneficiaries and the community in terms of income, jobs and living standards, as well as identify and recommend appropriate intervention strategies where necessary. The finding of the study revealed that the community development projects did have an impact on both job creation and income generation, although the income part of it is not satisfactory. The other findings were the skewed participation where women were dominating. The study reveals that the government and the private sector should play an active role in training the beneficiaries, encourage youth participation in order to ensure sustainability of the projects, and also expose the project members to different technologies available in agriculture to ensure mass productions which will translate into better incomes from the projects.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2006 / The purpose of the study was to identify material benefits that households participating in poverty alleviation projects receive. The study used both the qualitative and quantitative research design in the context of a random sample of 70 non-project households and 42 households participating in projects. A structured interview schedule was used to collect data. The major findings of this research study are that poverty alleviation projects are effective in alleviating poverty especially amongst rural women. The significance of the study lies in insights on improved methods in the management of poverty alleviation projects