Over the past decade, the world has witnessed significant changes in global and national polities. These changes, which include the re-emergence of semi-authoritarian regimes have had a substantial effect on the space for civil society advocacy. In Uganda, there has been an undulation between the promising eras of democratization in the 1990s to low days of oppressive legislations and institutions since 2005. What these changes dictate is that stakeholders working within and outside of the state ought not only to change their approach and strategies to cope with the changes in the rules of engagement but also win and sustain their operating space. This paper explores strategies employed by civil society actors to win and sustain space for operation in Uganda’s semi-authoritarian setting. The analysis is situated in Uganda’s Semi-Dominant Neo-Patrimonial Space, characterized by patronage and party dominance. Two case studies from civil society advocacy have been explored to delineate key lessons for civil society advocacy across the world. The case studies are presented in periodized interactions between the state and NGOs in order to contrast the outcomes of different strategies which predominated in different eras. The evidence presented shows that where civil society organizations and actors used more collaborative strategies and techniques in their advocacy, they achieved advocacy results and goals. One the other hand, where civil society engaged through less collaborative and confrontational strategies, they did not achieve results. It follows from the analysis therefore that in semi-authoritarian political settings, where civil society is relatively powerless, change cannot be achieved in ways that are contradictory and conflictual to the interests of a dominant regime. As such, incremental collaborative changes are more preferable and more effective than confrontational change options. The scope and extent of incremental changes would be larger the more collaborative is the civil society engagement.

From the use of manual payment systems in the delivery of social cash transfers, most developing nations nowadays are resorting to electronic payment solutions to improve the timeliness and effective delivery of the social grants amidst programme scale ups. Like most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Zambia recently introduced an electronic delivery system through a commercial bank (ZANACO) and within two years, the Zambia Postal Services Corporation (ZAMPOST) was also engaged as an alternative payment solution for the Social Cash Transfer programme. Zambia’s manual system was designed in such a way that it used teachers or other local civil servants to make cash payments as ‘Pay Point Managers’ (PPMs). The system also uses Community Welfare Assistance Committees (CWACs) to help in the identification of eligible beneficiaries and to monitor payments. This manual payment system was assessed to have administrative and operational weaknesses including corruption and insecurity (because of the physical movement of cash from the bank to the pay points), prompting the introduction of electronic payment solutions. The e-payment system was introduced through ZANACO which is partly owned by the Government and partly private. Apart from Lusaka, this channel was slow in scaling up its services to other areas prescribed in the contract with the responsible Ministry, the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services (MCDSS), and was not very convenient for people with disabilities especially the blind and older persons not used to Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and pre-paid cards. ZAMPOST was subsequently engaged to cover two provinces with the aim of accelerating e-payment services and improving service delivery of the programme. Instead of developing such a system, however, the Post Office opted to operate just like the manual system, but instead of using PPMs, it opted to use its own employees to physically carry cash to pay points and make payments. This system posed several challenges including poor record keeping leading to payment of ineligible beneficiaries and failure to produce reports. Audit reports revealed grave irregularities with this payment method xii and many stakeholders, including donors were concerned about the poor performance of ZAMPOST. As a contribution to scholarship in the improvement of delivery systems in social protection, this dissertation therefore, highlights the advantages and disadvantages of using the manual as well as the electronic delivery systems in the delivery of social grants. Through the analysis of the manual payment system, e-payment system and the use of the Post Office in Zambia, I investigate how delivery systems are identified, designed and how they function. How they impact on beneficiaries as well as their implication on Government policies. I argue for participatory identification and designing of delivery systems of social grants. In addition, I argue that social grants delivery systems are largely influenced by global trends, whereby some countries adopt what others are using without necessarily considering local implications and capacity to sustain; for instance, mimicking electronic systems used in economically sound countries in the quest to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of social grants. This study sheds light on how Zambia’s social grants have been delivered vis-à-vis structural fundamentals, design and stakeholder engagement.

The early 1990's marked the beginning of a new era for Southern Africa when a number of single party states began the transition to multiparty democratic systems. Within this process, democratic institutions were established and then have since played varied roles in normalizing of democratic norms in their respective countries. The elites who make these institutions play a vital role in maintaining democracy within these countries. This study examines their perceptions and actions in order to get a better understanding of the quality of representation and as a result the quality of democracy. More specifically the study examines how possible micro and macro level factors, such as electoral competitiveness, role orientations and electoral systems affect the level of constituency service performed by legislators in five Southern African countries (South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, Kenya and Zambia). The majority of data used in this study comes from Module 3 of the African Legislatures Project. Electoral data was also collected from national electoral commissions and country experts. The results indicate that as a whole the electoral system has an effect on the level of constituency service conducted by legislators. Role orientation does not appear to be a factor in legislator's decision about the amount of constituency service they will perform. Electoral competition is a factor for number of countries in the study. However, the evidence shows that in some cases higher levels of electoral competitiveness actually induce legislators to perform less constituency service.

Bibliography: leaves 66-68. / The aim of this study is to evaluate how the new and democratically elected South African Parliament as an institution has been able to hold the executive accountable for their activities. Accountability of the rulers has been identified as a central element In democratic government. In representative democracies there are two major models of government: presidential and parliamentary government. These two models have different methods for dealing with the issue of legislative oversight. Literature shows that this function is more effective in presidential systems than in parliamentary systems, since the presidential model provides a stronger constitutional framework for legislative oversight. The model that can be used to analyse South Africa is closely linked to the parliamentary model. However, the role of the President, the sovereign Constitution, and the anti-defection clause makes South Africa more of a hybrid-parliamentary model. As South Africa can be linked to the parliamentary model, this implies that Parliament will not be able to hold the executive effectively accountable. There are other non-constitutional factors that have an impact on Parliament's oversight function. In South Africa, the non-constitutional factors that have been in place in these five first years of democracy enhance the consequences of the parliamentary model. This means that these factors add to the existing provisions for ineffective accountability of the executive by Parliament. These are the large majority of the ANC, the strict internal discipline of the ANC, the weak opposition in Parliament, the lack of resources and staff in Parliament, and the lack of capacity, experience and expertise by the MP's. As the example of Sarafina 2 shows, these factors, and especially the large majority of the ANC in Parliament, add to the inability of the new South African Parliament to effectively hold the executive accountable.

The aim of this research project is to empirically unpack South African public opinion on government's performance in the area of school education. The descriptive analysis chapter shows that school education has not been as politically salient an issue amongst South Africans in post-apartheid South Africa. In addition, this chapter also shows that a vast majority of South Africans positively evaluate government's performance in the area of school education. Furthermore, the multivariate analysis chapter shows that the significant demographic variables collectively formed the strongest basis on which South Africans evaluated government's performance, followed by the significant general experiences with education variable and the significant heuristics variables respectively. Moreover, South Africans' perceptions of the present versus the past appear to be the strongest individual determinant of government's performance. The evidence therefore suggests that South Africans are making use of a schema that deals with their experiences of school education under apartheid to evaluate government's performance.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-131). / Establishing clear goals for a sustainable framework of good governance and development based on increasing equality and citizen participation has been the main concern of the government of Rwanda since the 1994 genocide. This was to be achieved by implementing decentralization based on the principle of participation and empowerment of local communities through the provision of mechanisms which encourage and motivate local citizen to initiate and implement development activities based on local needs.One particular interesting initiative has been the design of new institutional arrangements for decentralization of political, fiscal and administrative institutions for the purpose of good governance and, in particular, for poverty reduction. To attain this, strategic objectives were implemented, these included: Enabling and reactivating local people to participate in initiating, making, implementing and monitoring decisions and plans that concern them taking into account their local needs. Strengthening accountability and transparency in Rwanda by making local leaders directly accountable to the communities they serve. Enhance the sensitivity and responsiveness of public administration to the local environment by placing the planning, financing, management and control of service provision at the point where services are provided. Enhancing effectiveness and efficiency in the planning, monitoring and delivery of services by reducing the burden from central government officials who are distanced from the center where needs are felt and services delivered. Developing sustainable economic planning and management capacity at local levels that will serve as the driving engine for planning, mobilization and implementation of social, political and economic development to alleviate poverty. The aim of this study is to explore the linkage between the implantation of decentralization and poverty reduction. The implementation of the policy of decentralization for the purpose of poverty reduction in Rwanda has seen mixed results.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-63).

Includes bibliographical references. / This study has explored the New Language Policy of South Africa, with special reference to African languages as possible media of instruction, at pre-tertiary level of education. The most critical and relevant linguistic aspects examined here, takes into account the issue of multilingualism in education or multilingual education (particularly the issues that still handicaps it), the development of African languages and linguistic rights. The study provides a brief overview with regard to individual and collective rights in South Africa. In sum, the South African government’s attempt to implement the New Language Policy, in part, has been carefully examined. The study has also investigated the relationship between the New Language policy and the people it directly affects. In this respect, much attention has been paid to the attitudes of teachers and students of the African community, that is, African-language speakers, toward the New Language policy. However, the legitimacy of the New Language policy amongst the Afrikaans-speaking populace is not explored in this study. It is anticipated that further research will he conducted in this respect. This study has further demonstrated how the government can be entrapped through the designing of its public policies. Sometimes governments fail to implement the policies they have formulated and announced to the public. The New Language policy of South Africa is no exception. This study indicates that although the New Language policy is politically correct, it is practically unworkable, complex, problematic and controversial with regard to African languages as media of instruction. Some recommendations are provided to shed other alternatives with regard to the successful implementation of the New Language policy. The study indicates that the South African Government should minimise its eleven media of instruction. Whilst one language (English) should serve as a medium of instruction in predominantly African or Black public schools, other languages (African languages) should be taught as subjects in the school curriculum.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-84). / Across the globe more than 33 million people are believed to be infected with HIV/AIDS. The majority of these cases are in sub-Saharan Africa. Now that biomedical causes and behavioural risks are firmly established in the literature, social scientists must attempt to understand the underlying cultural foundations that may account for behavioural change, or a lack of change. This work is an empirical study into cultural explanations for HIV diffusion since the year 2000. Its main goal is to inform attempts to create more effective prevention programs and policy. This study utilizes a database constructed from interviews with ordinary citizens in five sub-Saharan African countries surveyed during the 2000 wave of the World Values Survey (WVS), and various health and demographic information sources. Eight thousand interviews were aggregated into thirty-one regional units for the analysis. Cultural values obtained from the WVS were compared with changes in HIV prevalence rates from 2000 to 2005 (HIV diffusion). The study focuses on three aspects of culture: female disempowerment, levels of social capital, and religiosity. Each of these broad concepts was dissected into at least three sub-concepts using data reduction methods. The relationship between these sub-concepts and HIV diffusion were compared before and after controls for education, poverty and urbanization were utilized. Based on these correlations, culture appears to be important to understanding HIV diffusion. However, its effects are not consistent. Broadly, two conclusions can be drawn from the data. First, cultural impacts vary by country. Programs based on each country's cultural dynamics will likely have more success than continent wide programs. Culture has stronger correlations with HIV diffusion in countries with smaller epidemics. Secondly, the data shows no clear relationship between different religious denominations and HIV diffusion. In addition, the correlations that exist between HIV diffusion and religiosity all show that increased religiosity leads to more diffusion. Therefore, international aid programs should avoid using religious doctrine and religious organizations as ways to enact sexual behaviour modification and reduce the spread of HIV. By creating secular, country specific programs international aid agencies can help counteract the cultural norms that appear to increase HIV diffusion.

Bibliography: leaves 82-86. / South Africa has embarked upon a major transformation process and this implies fundamental alterations in the social structure. Of course, the transformation process in South Africa cannot be described as a mechanical change intended to introduce inconsequential cosmetic changes because it entails fundamental alterations of the interaction between the state and its citizens. Beyond this, the transformation process in South Africa is not confined to the alteration of the various institutions of the state, it implies as well, fundamental alterations in culture, the manner in which different groups perceive and interact with each other and a complete eradication of supremacy mentality of one racial group over others. The magnitude with which these changes take place is bound to produce tensions and social problems in any country engaged in the democratisation agenda of its society. However, the moral precision of these social changes needs to be questioned and investigated on a continuous basis. It would be naive and dangerous for social engineers to assume that all changes brought by the transformation process are morally unobjectionable. This study explores, therefore, South Africa's past discrimination and investigates the arguments for and against affirmative action within the libertarian and contractarian frameworks. Through literature survey, the study investigates whether the application of these philosophical models can be appropriate for the South African situation. Moreover, although this study has established that both the libertarian and contractarian models offer a room for the justification of affirmative action in a situation such as South Africa's it is concluded that the scope within which these models justify affirmative action is too narrow to undo the harm created by South Africa's past injustices. Beyond this, the study explores a link between the transformation process and the restructuring of the Public Service and argues that the two should not be viewed in isolation from each other given their interdependent relationship. Equally important, the need and rationale behind instituting new management styles in the Public Service and the possible impact this would have on the overall transformation project is investigated. The entrance of South Africa into the global economic market entails serious implications on the formulation and implementation of its local programmes and other transformation initiatives and thus, the study explores this area to establish South Africa's response to global demands and expectations. Finally, it is recommended in this study that South Africa should continue with the transformation process and application of affirmative action not only because of its history but largely because of its moral correctness.