A revision of the author's thesis, Université de Paris. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 347-364).

Doctoral dissertation. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

Thesis (M.A.(Anthropology))-University of Pretoria, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987.

A1302 Introduction: Peru is a country that is undergoing a process of democratic transformation. Local and international development agencies are established in Peru in order to support this process. In the last decade, there has been an encouragement for these agencies to use strategic management in their project work. The Logical Framework Approach (LFA) is an objective-oriented approach that has become widely employed for the planning, implementation and evaluation of development projects. The so called “vertical logic” of the LFA, rests on the assumption that project stakeholders can predetermine and agree on how certain activities will lead to the accomplishment of a hierarchy of formally stated goals. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the applicability of the vertical logic of LFA on development projects in Peru. Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework of this paper is based on theories and arguments raised for and against Management By Objectives (MBO) from which the LFA originates. In addition, the special features of the development sector are discussed in regard to this rational goal approach. Method: This paper has been carried out as a Minor Field Study (MFS) in Peru where representatives of local as well as international development agencies have been interviewed. Empirical findings and Analysis: This paper highlights the special characteristics of development work in Peru. Projects are typically large with abstract, complex goals and multiple stakeholders. In addition, they are carried out in an environment typified by significant instability and change. These characteristics potentially make some of the features inherent in the vertical logic of LFA, such as strict planning and goal congruency, unrealistic. This potentially limits its usefulness as a strategic management tool.

South Africa is currently experiencing a paucity of skills in certain occupations and high rate of illiteracy. In order to address these challenges, the government promulgated legislations such as the Skill Development Act, 1998, Skills Development Levies Act, 1999, South African Qualifications Act, (SAQA) and other policies aimed at reducing the rate of illiteracy through providing Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET). These are progressive and commendable policies, as part of their implementation, many people (unemployed and employed) have received training in various trades using funds from the National Skills Fund (NSF). The study was therefore undertaken in order to learn about beneficiaries’ experiences and perceptions they hold towards these programmes. This study was conducted at KwaCeza through the Masibumbane community development project. The members of the Masibumbane community development project received skills training which was funded by the Department of Labour (NSF) in 2005. The training was aimed at enhancing their chances of accessing income generating opportunities. They were trained in carpentry, bricklaying, sawing and poultry farming. The study sought to establish how these project members perceived the skills development programme and learn more about their experiences during and after receiving training. The findings of the study revealed that the Skills Development Programme is perceived certainly as one of the effective programmes the government has ever introduced in South Africa. If well co-ordinated, it can play an important role in closing the skills gap that exists in the South African economy. However, the main challenge is that the majority of the people trained could not access job opportunities and have therefore lost hope. It became clear that the training they received was not demand led. The training was not linked to job opportunities available in the community, the people that were trained had no choice, but to take what was offered to them as they were desperate for income generating opportunities. The group that was trained in sewing and poultry farming had no market for their produce. This therefore implies that the Department of Labour as the custodian of skills development cannot successfully create employment opportunities for the unemployed people without the participation of various state departments and private sector. Other stakeholders need to work hand in glove with the Department of Labour in order to ensure that people are equipped with relevant skills and are able to access income generating opportunities in the open labour market. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

The purpose of the study was to describe and analyse community participation in attempts to start a community garden project in the Shakashead community. A key focus of the study was to identify the level of participation of the community in all aspects of the project cycle, that is, the planning, implementation monitoring and evaluation phases. The study was carried out in an informal settlement situated in the North Coast about 75km from Durban. The community garden project was funded by the Luthuli Education Trust and initiated by the Borough of the Dolphin Coast as an endeavour to address abject poverty and unemployment in the community. Qualitative research methodology guided the evaluative nature of the research. The case study research strategy was used as the community garden project in the Shakashead community served as an example of a development programme in action. The data collection methods included participant observation and semi-structured, individual interviews. Purposive sampling was used to obtain respondents for this study. This process involved the deliberate selection of members who played significant roles in the attempts to start a community garden project in the Shakashead community. These research respondents included members of the Shakashead Civic Resident's Association, a Development Consultant who represented the funding organisation and the client liaison officer employed by the Dolphin Coast Borough. The overall aim was to document their perceptions and understanding of the attempts to start the community garden project and the reasons for the unsuccessful operation of the project. Four major themes emerged from the data to exemplify the significant elements of community involvement experienced in the attempts to start a community garden project in the Shakashead community. These themes included: a) the structural components required for full community participation; b) the importance of support and training for community members; c) local leadership and its impact on development; d) the hierarchical procedures of organisations. The recommendations included areas for further research and several changes ID working practices. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

This thesis argues that development requires policies which promote comprehensive human development, rather than simple economic growth. While international law and the human rights system mandate that the individual be the central focus of the development paradigm, there are other reasons in addition to legal obligation to engage in people centred development planning. It also addresses the broad support for participatory processes found in the development planning literature. The World Bank is a multilateral development agency charged with providing low interest loans to developing nations. Frequently the development interventions financed by these loans violate the human rights of neighbouring residents. Such violations are contrary to the Bank's international legal obligations as a member of the United Nations system. This thesis enumerates steps the Bank must take to align its project planning and implementation policies with international human rights law. Chapter One summarizes World Bank history, addresses its structure, and discusses its lending policy then moves on to comment on the human rights system, providing the theory and methodology to be used throughout the thesis. The following chapters address specific Bank policies regulating project planning. Chapter Two discusses the policy regarding involuntary resettlement arising from development, and summarize the Bank's indigenous policy. Chapter Three concerns the Bank's environmental assessment policy. Chapter Four investigates two areas where no Bank policy has been developed, contrary to the requirements of the human rights system: formation of national development policies, and the detriments suffered by project affected people not covered by other policies. Each chapter discusses the nature of the relevant human rights issues, outlines Bank policy (where it exists), and recommends modifications and courses of action to bring the Bank into accordance with the human rights requirements. Chapter five reviews the conclusions reached in earlier chapters and offers a brief case study demonstrating how human rights can be practically applied in development projects. The World Bank must create policies consistent with international civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights to meet the challenges, and the legal obligations, of human development.

Rural development is a serious problem in Bangladesh, and so is the situation of women. This thesis assesses the programmes offered by a particular non-governmental organization, the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), which simultaneously promote rural development and improve the status of women. This assessment is achieved by examining the functioning and impact of these programmes in a single village. The study is exploratory and uses qualitative methods, employing principally unstructured but in-depth interviews. Results indicate that most village women were aware of the need for improvement in the position of women, but interest, and thus active participation, was greater among those who were widowed or divorced. For these women, the programmes did succeed in raising their income through better technical knowledge, and in some ways improved their position in the family and society. They did not, however, succeed in raising their administrative knowledge, confining them to "women's only" projects, and did little to increase political empowerment.

This study aims to develop a robust methodology for measuring the performance of equity-share schemes in South African agriculture. Equity-share schemes are privately owned farming operations that are generally restructured as companies with the original owner and the farmworkers as shareholders. Several studies have investigated various aspects of the performance of these schemes but no single study has yet measured their performance using a comprehensive and objective set of criteria. Four categories of criteria are proposed: poverty alleviation; empowerment and participation; institutional arrangements and governance; and financial performance. This study does not aim to assess the performance of existing equity-share schemes rather a methodology for the four criteria based on empirical evidence gathered in 2004 from a land reform project in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal and seven established equity-share schemes in the Western Cape. Poverty alleviation is measured using a transition matrix of households grouped by four different symptoms of poverty: current income, wealth, health and a principal component index of housing quality based on building materials, access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. Eight. categories of indicators are recommended for empowerment and participation: control and ownership; skills transfer; understanding of the structure of the scheme; information; outcomes; trust; outreach; and participation. A scorecard applying norms based on empirical evidence gathered at equity-share schemes in the Western Cape is used to assess the indicators. A scorecard approach is also applied to institutional arrangements and governance, which are measured using three categories of indicators: accountability, transparency and property rights. Recognised indicators ;of financial performance are applied to balance sheet and income statement data provided by four of the seven equity-share schemes in the Western Cape. This analysis highlights problems with several of the conventional ratios used to measure the profitability, solvency and growth of recently restructured farming enterprises whose 'empowerment' status attracts exceptionally high levels of debt capital to finance long-term investments. To avoid these problems it is recommended that, for equity-share schemes, profitability should be measured by the return on assets or dividend return; solvency by the debt/asset ratio; liquidity by cash flow projections; growth by changes in the (estimated) real. value of shares; and workers' total returns by changes in the sum of the real wage bill, capital gains, dividends, interest and other benefits accruing to workers in aggregate. The proposed performance measures are relevant, manageable in number and have feasible norms based on empirical evidence. These indicators and their norms need to be tested on a wider scale and over time. Further research should be undertaken to estimate weights for the empowerment and institutional indicators. / Thesis (M.Sc.Agric.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.