This research study evaluated and assessed the extent to which strategic management processes integrated economic, environmental and social sustainability elements in the fiveyear strategy (2012) of Elundini Local Municipality (ELM). The study focused on three areas of strategic management, that is, environmental analysis, strategic direction and strategy formulation. The study also looked at possible reasons for sustainability integration in ELM strategy or lack thereof and also recommended possible solutions. The literature reviewed revealed that there was adequate basis for municipalities to integrate sustainable development in their strategies even though sustainability was noted as an evolving, complex and changing phenomenon. Local Agenda 21 principles, national legislative & policy framework, regulations and other relevant guidelines were found to be adequate for municipalities to develop credible sustainability strategies. The objectives of the study were achieved by data collected through the review of existing literature; the review of ELM Five Year Strategy (2012-2017); and SIAT-based questionnaires that were filled in by ELM employees. The results of the study showed that economic and social sustainability activities were identified most in the ELM strategy compared to environmental sustainability. The study then mainly recommended the review of the current strategy in order to improve all areas of strategy formulation; introduction of Economic, Social and Environmental sustainability – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (ESEs-SWOT) for internal analysis as an improvement of SWOT analysis; introduction of Sustainability Integration and Strategic Management Framework (SISMF) as an improvement to existing framework.

Creating the concept of buildings is the primary task of architects, designers in the field of architecture and engineering. Although the basic requirements remain the same across time , possibilities of their solution are constantly evolving and changing. In addition, with the increasing globalization, in context of the housing and the architecture is expected new requirements go beyond the horizons of the interests of bouth investor and designer. Global view of each project and the evaluation of its traces left in our environment and society, although is much discussed but rarely taken into account or even just considered. In this context, we are witnessing the development of new trends of the concepts of buildings, consisting in the use of natural materials, in reducing the environmental burden of a surroundings, in reducing energy demands, or even in an effort to achieve energy independence thus trends, whose common denominator is sustainable construction, hence sustainable development in general. Feasibility of the creation of the concept of energy self-sufficient building doesn´t consist only in the precise solution of the assigned task from the perspective of the designer or investor, but also in finding such a solution which, even with using new trends and principles, will not go against the initial idea itself. The present instrument processed and presented in this dissertation has the ambition to move global view of the project into the perspective of a particular individual design process and in small way contribute to the creation of better projects from the perspective of sustainable development The term of energy self-sufficient buildings are not clearly defined. To work with them it was necessary to determine their basic definition that describes their diverse conceptual variations and allows precisely define the solution area. To correctly select the optimal solution in terms of sustainable development is necessary the assessment and mutual comparison since the beginning. As a basic tool for this assessment was used and partially modified SBTool, which is built on three basic pillars of sustainable development - SOCIAL - ENVIRONMENTAL - ECONOMIC. SBTool tries to determine the degree of left traces of the approach from the perspectives of these three aspects and evaluate the effectiveness of the selected solution. This tool allow to compare the different concepts for the same project among themselves, their parts but also various projects among each other. All of course with regard to the development of various aspects in the time.

Women constitute the largest proportion of the rural adult South African population. The rural areas host women with the lowest levels of education and skills training in the country. The lack of basic education and skills has resulted in many of them being marginalised, rejected and discriminated against, unemployed and living in poverty. These social problems have serious negative effects on them and their families, which is why the educational provision of Adult and Community Education and Training in South Africa is a significant tool for their socio-economic advancement. This educational provision is aimed at empowering adults in general, and rural women in particular, with the necessary livelihood skills to lead productive lives and consequently the study sought to investigate the socio-economic lives of rural women through skills training for poverty reduction in the Mthatha area of South Africa. A qualitative research approach and an exploratory design were employed for the study. A sample of 35 participants, comprising 20 female learners, 4 educators, and 7 former learners were in addition to 4 learners selected for a focus group discussion. Other instruments with which data were collected constituted in-depth individual interviews and documentary analysis. The theories underpinning the study are Maslow‘s theory of motivation, empowerment theory and critical pedagogy. Among others, the findings revealed the absence of adequate resources with which to empower rural women and consequently the study recommends that Adult and Community Education and Training providers include programmes that can up-skill rural women based at community learning centres in an effort to enhance their economic development. Community learning centres must be fully resourced in terms of facilities and appropriate learning tools to render Adult and Community Education and Training a beneficial educational intervention for these rurally based women. / Educational Studies / Ph. D. (Socio-Education)

The presented work deals with social-pedagogy approaches in the issue-based youth work centres. The first part attends to the analysis of the idea {\clqq}unattached youth``. It takes aspect of the lifestyle sociology, the social education and the developmental psychology. The viewed group of the unattached youth is presented as a group of the adolescents; they have problems with the coping strategies in the post-modern society. The second part of the work takes their problems as a starting-point for the next reflec-tion. It determines criteria of the effective youth work dealing with the unattached youth. Finally the third applied part evaluates the four current types of the issue-based youth work: the German open youth work (Offene Kinder- und Jugendarbeit), the British youth work, the Czech issue-based youth work centres and the Czech open youth centres. The evaluation is focused on the criteria of the effective youth work dealing with the unat-tached youth; we derived in the second part. Overall the main aim of this work is to point out the effective issue-based youth work has to take into account the social and developmental needs of the target group.