<p>Provincial governors constituted an important part of the decentralization package unveiled in Zimbabwe in 1984 and 1985. The President appoints provincial governors among other duties, to coordinate development planning and implementation at the provincial level. This paper seeks to examine the appointment and role of a provincial governor and in that way establish the extent to which such appointment and role hinder or enhance representative and participatory democracy, accountability, devolution and empowerment, as ideals of decentralization. This contribution examines provincial governance in Zimbabwe as part of the local government system.</p>

This project sets out to create a critical edition of the DEVO song “Jocko Homo,” which is found on multiple releases throughout the band's career, most notably on their breakthrough studio album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are DEVO! The album recording was used as the base text for this edition (the words themselves determined by what is heard on the album and the formatting determined by the lyric sheet which accompanies the album), with variants from five other officially-released recordings included as footnotes. Explanatory notes are also included at the end of the text, to illuminate surrounding contexts and allusions. Finally, an appendix is attached featuring an early live performance found on the bootleg album DEVO Ultracore 1974-77, along with explanatory notes. While it was not included in the main body of the project on the basis of its being an unofficial fan release, it is still worth examining as an early version of “Jocko Homo.”

<p>Ethiopia is exercising decentralisation of the health system and thus this study assesses lessons learned about the experiences of the decentralization of institutions in heoretical terms. The problem investigated in this study concerns the lack of institutional capacity to effectively provide services, lack of transparency, responsibility and accountability. Decision making is also very remote from the people with regard to resource allocation and public health service delivery. The scope of this study covers the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People&rsquo / s Regional State of Ethiopia and its relationship with the Cheha District in the area of health service decentralization. The objective of this study was to identify fundamental elements of decentralization of health institutions and the impact on the performance of the health system at local government level in the Cheha District in Ethiopia.</p>

<p>Provincial governors constituted an important part of the decentralization package unveiled in Zimbabwe in 1984 and 1985. The President appoints provincial governors among other duties, to coordinate development planning and implementation at the provincial level. This paper seeks to examine the appointment and role of a provincial governor and in that way establish the extent to which such appointment and role hinder or enhance representative and participatory democracy, accountability, devolution and empowerment, as ideals of decentralization. This contribution examines provincial governance in Zimbabwe as part of the local government system.</p>

The notion of accountability assumes different meanings and emphasis in different contexts depending on the purpose for which it is used. In essence, accountability has to do with the demand for improved services, operations and products. In the public sector in particular, the spread of democratization has led to growing public demand for improved and better services and standards. This demand led many governments to introduce administrative reforms to bring about the desired changes in the delivery of services to the general public. Education, as a public service, and against the backdrop ofpoor learning outcomes, has over the years been subjected to intensive public scrutiny leading to increased demand for education accountability. The huge expectations imposed on educational establishments have led to a significant change in the nature and scale of education accountability. Equally, the lack of confidence in public schools to meet the educational needs of society is a further justification for the demand for accountability in education. Education accountability, in the final analysis, has as its primary goal, the need to improve learning outcomes. This study is about the development of a conceptual framework to enhance accountability in public schooling. Existing accountability processes and practises fall far too short of making public education accountable. Partly because approaches to accountability are not grounded on fundamental values and principles. Accountability in general and education accountability in particular, must be underpinned by sound values and principles to be effective and developmental. This study takes as its point of departure, the view that education accountability is both necessary and desirable if the growing educational needs of communities, particularly the poor, are to be met. To that effect, the conceptual framework has to afford every learning institution, regardless of its unique characteristics and circumstances, the opportunity to meet its accountability obligations. In this study, the quantitative and qualitative designs were employed to gather information relating to accountability processes and practises in the N orth-West education system and schools in particular. A survey questionnaire (quantitative) was used to compile data regarding the views and perspectives of principals on education accountability. Focus group interviews (qualitative) were conducted with both district officials and teacher unions to solicit their views and perspectives on the processes and practises of accountability in the North-West education department. The sample involved 222 principals from both primary and secondary schools in the province. Nine (9) union representatives drawn from the three major unions in the province participated in the focused group interviews. In addition, 7 district officials, drawn from the four education districts in the province also participated in the focus group interviews. The research, as stipulated above, yielded the following results: • Most of the principals surveyed managed schools that are located in rural and generally poor areas. These demographic challenges imposed serious limitations on the capacity of principals to manage effectively since rural schools are often geographically dispersed and poorly resourced. Consequently, accountability processes and practises must be sensitive to the context within which these schools operate. • Most of the principals sampled have the requisite qualifications and managerial experience suggesting that they are reasonably equipped to do their work. There is also evidence that provision is made for in-service training in management. It could therefore be concluded that if experience and qualifications alone were taken as key determinants in securing effective management, many of the sampled schools would be performing reasonably well. This finding however, is inconsistent with the widespread school level dysfunctionality that characterise the North-West schooling system. Effective accountability would therefore go beyond the principal to find answers to this incongruecy. • Teacher quality and teacher professionalism were identified as key levers of educational quality and school level accountability • There is a clear and direct link between an accountable school and the role of the principal. The characteristic features of an accountable school tended to overlap with the roles and responsibilities of the principals. • The role ofstakeholders in enhancing education accountability was supported by most respondents, suggesting therefore that schools must strive to develop healthy relationships with all stakeholders, both internal and externaL • Collaboration and networking among principals were seen as important in providing principals with opportunities to share ideas and thereby enhance their own capabilities • Accountability was seen by most respondents in a positive light, however, participants maintained that accountability processes and practises were poorly understood and implemented in the North-West education system. • There was general concern that the various parties to the accountability relationship did not understand their respective roles and responsibilities and thus diluting instead ofenhancing accountability. • The views of participants on the importance of performance agreements as a way of enhancing accountability were generally negative. Fear was expressed that these agreements would be abused. This finding is consistent with the finding that accountability practises were poorly understood and implemented. The general conclusion from this study is that education accountability is both necessary and desirable. However, the complex contexts within which education is delivered must be fully appreciated if accountability practices and processes are to be effective. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

The notion of accountability assumes different meanings and emphasis in different contexts depending on the purpose for which it is used. In essence, accountability has to do with the demand for improved services, operations and products. In the public sector in particular, the spread of democratization has led to growing public demand for improved and better services and standards. This demand led many governments to introduce administrative reforms to bring about the desired changes in the delivery of services to the general public. Education, as a public service, and against the backdrop ofpoor learning outcomes, has over the years been subjected to intensive public scrutiny leading to increased demand for education accountability. The huge expectations imposed on educational establishments have led to a significant change in the nature and scale of education accountability. Equally, the lack of confidence in public schools to meet the educational needs of society is a further justification for the demand for accountability in education. Education accountability, in the final analysis, has as its primary goal, the need to improve learning outcomes. This study is about the development of a conceptual framework to enhance accountability in public schooling. Existing accountability processes and practises fall far too short of making public education accountable. Partly because approaches to accountability are not grounded on fundamental values and principles. Accountability in general and education accountability in particular, must be underpinned by sound values and principles to be effective and developmental. This study takes as its point of departure, the view that education accountability is both necessary and desirable if the growing educational needs of communities, particularly the poor, are to be met. To that effect, the conceptual framework has to afford every learning institution, regardless of its unique characteristics and circumstances, the opportunity to meet its accountability obligations. In this study, the quantitative and qualitative designs were employed to gather information relating to accountability processes and practises in the N orth-West education system and schools in particular. A survey questionnaire (quantitative) was used to compile data regarding the views and perspectives of principals on education accountability. Focus group interviews (qualitative) were conducted with both district officials and teacher unions to solicit their views and perspectives on the processes and practises of accountability in the North-West education department. The sample involved 222 principals from both primary and secondary schools in the province. Nine (9) union representatives drawn from the three major unions in the province participated in the focused group interviews. In addition, 7 district officials, drawn from the four education districts in the province also participated in the focus group interviews. The research, as stipulated above, yielded the following results: • Most of the principals surveyed managed schools that are located in rural and generally poor areas. These demographic challenges imposed serious limitations on the capacity of principals to manage effectively since rural schools are often geographically dispersed and poorly resourced. Consequently, accountability processes and practises must be sensitive to the context within which these schools operate. • Most of the principals sampled have the requisite qualifications and managerial experience suggesting that they are reasonably equipped to do their work. There is also evidence that provision is made for in-service training in management. It could therefore be concluded that if experience and qualifications alone were taken as key determinants in securing effective management, many of the sampled schools would be performing reasonably well. This finding however, is inconsistent with the widespread school level dysfunctionality that characterise the North-West schooling system. Effective accountability would therefore go beyond the principal to find answers to this incongruecy. • Teacher quality and teacher professionalism were identified as key levers of educational quality and school level accountability • There is a clear and direct link between an accountable school and the role of the principal. The characteristic features of an accountable school tended to overlap with the roles and responsibilities of the principals. • The role ofstakeholders in enhancing education accountability was supported by most respondents, suggesting therefore that schools must strive to develop healthy relationships with all stakeholders, both internal and externaL • Collaboration and networking among principals were seen as important in providing principals with opportunities to share ideas and thereby enhance their own capabilities • Accountability was seen by most respondents in a positive light, however, participants maintained that accountability processes and practises were poorly understood and implemented in the North-West education system. • There was general concern that the various parties to the accountability relationship did not understand their respective roles and responsibilities and thus diluting instead ofenhancing accountability. • The views of participants on the importance of performance agreements as a way of enhancing accountability were generally negative. Fear was expressed that these agreements would be abused. This finding is consistent with the finding that accountability practises were poorly understood and implemented. The general conclusion from this study is that education accountability is both necessary and desirable. However, the complex contexts within which education is delivered must be fully appreciated if accountability practices and processes are to be effective. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / Provincial governors constituted an important part of the decentralization package unveiled in Zimbabwe in 1984 and 1985. The President appoints provincial governors among other duties, to coordinate development planning and implementation at the provincial level. This paper seeks to examine the appointment and role of a provincial governor and in that way establish the extent to which such appointment and role hinder or enhance representative and participatory democracy, accountability, devolution and empowerment, as ideals of decentralization. This contribution examines provincial governance in Zimbabwe as part of the local government system. / South Africa

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / Ethiopia is exercising decentralisation of the health system and thus this study assesses lessons learned about the experiences of the decentralization of institutions in heoretical terms. The problem investigated in this study concerns the lack of institutional capacity to effectively provide services, lack of transparency, responsibility and accountability. Decision making is also very remote from the people with regard to resource allocation and public health service delivery. The scope of this study covers the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Regional State of Ethiopia and its relationship with the Cheha District in the area of health service decentralization. The objective of this study was to identify fundamental elements of decentralization of health institutions and the impact on the performance of the health system at local government level in the Cheha District in Ethiopia. / South Africa

This thesis describes history of Catalan nationalism and analyzes the motives that lead to separatist tendencies in Catalonia. It also focuses on the impact of devolution and separation on Catalonia and Spain. Catalans are a historic nation with their own language and traditions. Since the establishment of the Kingdom of Spain they have sought a greater autonomy within pluralistic Spain until now. In the history, they experienced numerous efforts of assimilation and suppression, mostly during the dictatorship of General Franco. But the Catalans defended their uniqueness and during the transition to democracy and with the new Constitution of 1978, they gained considerable portion of autonomy. In the history, Catalans did not demand independence, they wanted to be part of the federal Spain. However, due to the economic crisis and the rejection of the greater autonomy, Catalan nationalism converted to separatism.

The topic of what HRM (Human Resource Management) responsibilities are devolved from the HRM department to line managers has attracted much interest in recent years. We report findings from a study on the devolution of HRM practices in four POCs (Project-Oriented Companies) and argue that although HRM practices are carried out beyond the HRM department, they are also carried out beyond the line. While the literature on devolving HRM responsibilities to line management is burgeoning, the HRM responsibilities of managers beyond the line organization are neglected. We make two contributions to the literature. Firstly, our study reveals that some HRM practices are the domain of the project manager rather than either the line manager or the HRM department. The complex interplay of the roles of the HRM department, line management and project management creates challenges and pitfalls where people are managed across the boundaries of the permanent and temporary organization. We identify a potentially powerful role for the HRM department in both monitoring and guiding the different players from the line and project organizations, and in protecting the well-being of employees whose work traverses these organizational boundaries. Our second contribution is that we map the diversity of practices in different POCs for managing the interplay between the three main parties delivering HRM practices and offer project-orientation as a contextual indicator that contributes to diversity in HRM practices.