Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / This study is an assessment of participatory monitoring and evaluation in NGOs: a case study of SOS Children’s Village,Cape town, South Africa. The aim of the study is to examine the process of application of PM&E framework in the SOS Children’s Village Project, with a view to ascertaining its impact on the project and to provide suggestions and recommendations to SOS and NGOs in South Africa. There were four primary objectives of this study:to provide a theoretical and conceptual framework, through the discussion and/or analysis of applicable PM&E theories and concepts; to provide an overview of organizational structure of the project implementation team of SOS; to identify the different stakeholders involved in the monitoring and evaluation process; to empirically assess the process of PM&E in the SOS Project. The theoretical and conceptual framework of participatory development approach and the child rights based approach is used in this study. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of research are used throughout the study and measurement of key variables are made. While the systematic random sampling technique is utilised to collect data for the quantitative research, purposive sampling was used to select respondents for semi-structured interviews in the qualitative research. The study identified that the monitoring and evaluation process in SOS Children’s Village, Cape Town, South Africa is participatory in which the relevant stakeholders, especially the beneficiaries i.e. children participate in the monitoring and evaluation process. However, the study recommended that there should be an updated training and seminar for the staff to empower them to enhance their understanding of participatory monitoring and evaluation

O desenvolvimento de filmes finos e nanotecnologia tem proporcionado imensos avanços nas áreas científicas e tecnológicas. A nanotecnologia, em sua essência, não pode ser considerada como uma simples redução das dimensões das propriedades dos materiais. Na verdade surgem novas propriedades que não podem ser caracterizadas por técnicas convencionais. Assim surgiram novos sistemas que são empregados na identificação destas novas propriedades e características. Muitas vezes os avanços tecnológicos que podem ser observados no dia a dia são frutos de pesquisas que foram recentemente realizadas. A demanda por óxidos condutores transparentes (TCO) para aplicações em optoeletrônicos, tais como painéis de toque, monitores de tela plana, diodos orgânicos emissores de luz (OLEDs) e outros dispositivos móveis, tem aumentado continuamente e se enquadram neste desenvolvimento. O objetivo desse trabalho é analisar filmes finos de óxido de zinco produzidos por magnetron sputtering. Procuramos quais filmes de óxido de zinco possuem as melhores características de um TCO. Após esta análise temos condições de determinar quais foram os melhores parâmetros de deposição para a construção do filme de óxido de zinco. Os filmes finos foram analisados por: Rutherford backscatering spectroscopy (RBS), CxV, IxV, Efeito Hall, Interferômetria e Espectofotômetria UV-Vis-NIR. / can not be considered as a simple reduction of dimensions and scaling of material properties. In fact, CxV, flat panel monitors, Hall Effect, Interferometry and UV-Vis-NIR Spectrophotometry., has continuously increased and fits into this development. The objective of this work is to analyze thin films of zinc oxide, in its essence, induced by magnetron sputtering. We look for which zinc oxide film have the best characteristics for a TCO. From these results it is possible to concl, IxV, new properties that arise can not be characterized by conventional techniques. Thus new systems have emerged which are employed in the identification , organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and other mobile devices, such as touch panels, The development of thin films and nanotechnology has provided immense advances in scientific and technological areas. Nanotechnology

Esta tese analisa os pilares da gestão fiscal responsável, dispostos na Lei de Responsabilidade Fiscal (ação planejada, transparência, controle e cumprimento de metas e limites fiscais), sob a perspectiva teórica da Nova Gestão Pública e da Teoria da Escolha Pública. Considerando o caráter multidimensional da gestão fiscal (Araújo & Loureiro, 2005) e a relevância dos pilares, o objetivo do trabalho é investigar a relação entre indicadores de cumprimento de metas e limites fiscais com a gestão fiscal responsável, sob a perspectiva do planejamento, da transparência e do controle. O estudo foi conduzido para os 282 municípios brasileiros, com população superior a 100 mil habitantes, e utilizou dados do período de 2010 a 2013, oriundos de fontes primárias, o que permitiu a construção de uma base de dados original. As três hipóteses de pesquisa relacionam variáveis de cumprimento de metas e limites fiscais com variáveis representativas dos pilares da gestão fiscal, respectivamente: com planejamento (primeira hipótese), com transparência (segunda hipótese) e com controle (terceira hipótese). As análises e testes das hipóteses utilizaram técnicas multivariadas e regressão com dados em painel. Constatou-se que as variáveis relativas ao cumprimento de limites (exceto despesa total com pessoal) apresentam margens folgadas em relação aos limites legais e reduzida variabilidade. Estes resultados sugerem reflexões acerca da razoabilidade dos limites fiscais estabelecidos para os municípios, para que estes representem adequadamente a situação fiscal dos municípios (Fioravante, Pinheiro & Vieira, 2006; Afonso, 2008). As variáveis relativas a resultado nominal e primário apresentaram significativa dispersão e valores discrepantes das metas definidas na Lei de Diretrizes Orçamentárias. Quanto à acurácia do planejamento, os munícipios realizaram, em média, 94% das receitas e 91% das despesas totais previstas na Lei Orçamentária Anual, e com média de 11% de utilização de créditos adicionais. Apesar da exigência legal de divulgação dos instrumentos de transparência fiscal, os municípios divulgaram em média 50% dos itens requeridos. Sobre o controle exercido pelos tribunais de contas, cerca de 75% dos pareceres foram favoráveis à aprovação das contas (inclusive com ressalvas), porém os tribunais de contas não têm sido tempestivos na emissão dos pareceres prévios em mais de 40% dos casos. As conclusões foram: as variáveis de planejamento apresentaram relação positiva com as variáveis relativas ao resultado nominal e primário, ao limite de despesa total com pessoal e de dívida consolidada líquida (primeira hipótese); as variáveis de transparência apresentaram relação positiva apenas com a variável de limite de despesa total com pessoal (segunda hipótese); as variáveis representativas do pilar controle apresentaram relação positiva com as variáveis relativas ao resultado primário, ao limite de despesa total com pessoal e de dívida consolidada líquida (terceira hipótese). Como contribuição teórica, esta tese amplia a discussão sobre a avaliação da gestão fiscal responsável, indo além de indicadores de cumprimento de metas e limites fiscais. Em termos de metodologia, a análise fatorial das variáveis de cumprimento de metas e limites fiscais não se mostrou ex-post uma técnica adequada, devido ao caráter idiossincrático das variáveis. / This study analyzes the fundamentals of Fiscal Management Responsibility, displayed in the Fiscal Responsibility Law (planning, transparency, control, and compliance of fiscal targets and limits), from the theoretical perspective of New Public Management and the Public Choice Theory. Considering the multidimensional character of fiscal management (Araujo & Loureiro, 2005) and the relevance of these fundamentals, the objective is to explore the relation between indicators of compliance\' fiscal targets and limits and fiscal management responsibility, from the perspective of planning, transparency and control. The study was conducted for 282 municipalities (with a population of 100 000 inhabitants), and used data from 2010 to 2013 gathering from the primary sources, which allowed the construction of an original database. The three research hypotheses related variables of compliance\' fiscal targets and limits with variables representing the fundamentals of fiscal management, respectively, with planning (first hypothesis), with transparency (second hypothesis) and with control (third hypothesis). The analysis and hypotheses tests used multivariate techniques and regression with panel data. Findings suggests that the variables of compliance\' fiscal limits (except personnel expenditures) have wide margins in relation to legal limits and reduced variability. These results suggests reflections about the reasonableness of fiscal limits for municipalities, in order to adequately represent the fiscal situation of them (Fioravante, Pinheiro & Vieira, 2006; Afonso, 2008). The variables on the nominal and primary results have shown significant dispersion and outliers compared to the targets set in the Budget Policy Law. Regarding the planning accuracy, the municipalities executed, on average, 94% of revenues and 91% of the total expenditure of the Annual Budget Law, with an average of 11% utilization of additional credits. Despite the legal requirement to disclose the instruments of fiscal transparency, municipalities disclosed on average 50% of the required items. About the control exercised by the courts of accounts, about 75% of opinions were favorable to the approval of the accounts (including with reservations), but the courts of accounts have not been timely in issuing the preliminary reports in over 40% of cases. Conclusions: planning variables showed positive relation with nominal and primary results variables, with limits of personnel expending and net consolidated debt (first hypothesis); variables related to transparency showed positive relationship only with the personnel expenditure limit (second hypothesis); variables of the pillar control showed a positive relation with variables of primary result, and limit of personnel expenditure and net consolidated debt (third hypothesis). As theoretical contribution, this thesis extends the discussion about responsible fiscal management evaluation, going beyond compliance indicator targets and fiscal constraints. In terms of methodology, the factor analysis of the variables of compliance\' fiscal targets and limits was not ex post adequate technical, due to the idiosyncratic nature of the variables.

Hållbarhet, vilket kan förklaras som en balans mellan sociala, ekonomiska och ekologiska faktorer, är ett ständigt aktuellt ämne och Transparens ett relativt nytt sådant. Transparens beskrivs som den mängd information som ett företag är villig att avslöja om deras leverantörskedja. Det sägs att människor vill höra klädesplaggets historia, så som vem, var och hur det har blivit tillverkat, men trots detta är Fast Fashion fortfarande ett utbrett koncept. Fast Fashion innebär att företag prioriterar låga priser, kort leveranstid och snabbt föränderliga trender. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka om Transparens kan räknas som ett verktyg för Hållbarhet inom Fast Fashion, utifrån studenters perspektiv. Genom en kvantitativ enkät är förhoppningen att få svar på frågor om vad dessa konsumenter anser om hållbarhet och om det kopplas ihop med Transparens. Studien är menad att bidra till modeföretag med indikationer på konsumenters kunskap och åsikter om ämnet, för att ge dem en eventuell anledning att implementera Transparens i sin verksamhet. Resultaten visar på att intresse för Transparens finns hos målgruppen studenter och indikerar på att dessa ser ett samband mellan Hållbarhet och Transparens. / Sustainability, which can be explained as a balance between social, economic and ecological factors, is a constantly relevant topic and Transparency is a relatively new one. Transparency is described as the amount of information a company is willing to disclose about their supply chain. It is said that people want to hear the history of the garment, such as who, where and how it has been manufactured, but despite that, Fast Fashion is still a widespread concept. Fast Fashion means that companies prioritize low prices, short delivery times and fast-changing trends.This study aims at investigating whether Transparency can be regarded as a tool for sustainability in Fast Fashion, based on student perspectives. Through a quantitative survey, the hope is to answer questions about these consumers opinions about sustainability and if it is connected to Transparency. The study is intended to contribute to fashion companies with indications of consumer knowledge and opinions about the subject, to give them a possible reason to implement Transparency in their business. The results show that interest in Transparency is found in the target audience of students, indicating that they see a connection between Sustainability and Transparency. This paper is written in Swedish.

This paper examines the effect of the mandatory adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on transparency for investors by measuring the increase in earnings management during the post-adoption period of IFRS. One sign of earnings management is current year earnings being only slightly higher than the previous year’s earnings. An increase in earnings management means a decrease in accounting quality and a decrease of transparency for investors. By comparing firms that mandatorily adopted IFRS to similar benchmark firms in terms of strength of legal enforcement, book-to-market ratios, market values and net incomes, I am able to run empirical regressions examining variables of growth, equity issuance, leverage, debt issuance, turnover, size, cash flow, and time period in order to determine the effect of the adoption on IFRS on earnings growth. After looking at 516 firms from 20 countries for the years of 2002-2007, I conclude that IFRS is decreasing financial reporting quality and decreasing transparency for the investing public, and therefore is not accomplishing its goal of bringing efficiency, accountability, and transparency to global financial markets.

En 2002, l’Initiative pour la transparence dans l’industrie extractive (ITIE) est lancée par le Premier Ministre britannique en réponse à la campagne Publiez ce que vous payez (PCQVP). Celle-ci avait participé à la mise sur agenda de la malédiction des ressources, un ensemble de maux économiques et socio-politiques qui pèsent sur de nombreux Etats riches en ressources naturelles. L'ITIE reprend l’une des préconisations de PCQVP, à savoir l’injonction à la transparence : la publication des revenus pétroliers, gaziers ou miniers permettrait aux citoyens de demander des comptes à leurs dirigeants pour la gestion de la manne générée par l’extraction de matières premières. L’exercice de transparence de l’ITIE, à laquelle les états riches en ressources naturelles adhèrent librement, consiste à réconcilier les paiements déclarés par les entreprises extractives d’une part et les recettes déclarées par l’Etat d’autre part. Il s’appuie par ailleurs sur une gouvernance tripartite inédite dans l’industrie extractive : organisations de la société civile, compagnies extractives et gouvernements négocient ensemble pour déterminer les exigences du standard ITIE. Comment des acteurs d’horizons divers sont-ils venus à partager cet intérêt commun et que peut nous apprendre ce consensus sur la notion de transparence et ses usages contemporains dans les politiques de coopération internationale ? Cette recherche raconte l’histoire d’une conquête normative, ses enjeux, ses acteurs, ses batailles afin de réfléchir – par le biais du renouvellement des attributs de légitimité de ceux qui concourent à définir la norme – à la refonte de l’autorité politique dans le système international. / The British Prime Minister launched the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in 2002 in response to the transnational Publish What You Pay campaign (PWYP). The NGOs, which are member of the PWYP coalition, had been fighting the resource curse by advocating for more transparency in the extractive industries. They argued that empowering citizens of resource rich countries by informing them about the wealth generated by extraction would help insure that those extractive revenues were properly accounted for. The EITI took over this idea and gathered representatives from civil society organisations, extractive companies and governments to design a global standard which resource rich countries can voluntarily decide to comply with. the EITI standard is based on a reconciliation of payments declared by companies on the one hand and revenues declared by the state on the other. The reports that come out of this reconciliation process are then disseminated and can lead to a general public discussion about the way extractive rents are managed. What lead actors from different backgrounds, with often conflicting interests, to agree on a transparency norm and what can this consensus tell us about the notion of transparency and its present (and profuse) use in international development programmes ? This thesis investigates the reasons for the emergence of the transparency norm and its fast diffusion on the international scene in the last 10 to 15 years. It also looks at some of the concrete practices that resulted from this normative evolution, which contributes to a thinking about the renewal of political authority in the international system.

The study explores price transparency in the healthcare system. With the increase in healthcare spending resulting in the advent of high deductible plans, consumers have been exposed to high healthcare cost. Despite being burdened with outrageous and extravagant bills, studies have shown that the consumers are not using price transparency tools to their benefit. The literature review reveals that the major stakeholders in the healthcare industry have never been studied together to understand the research question on ‘Why is there lack of price transparency in the healthcare system?’ moreover, there is no theory to explains this phenomenon. This study undertakes a 360-degree, exhaustive view of all the major stakeholders of the healthcare industry in aims to understand the reasons behind the lack of price transparency in the healthcare system and what is holding the industry back. The study followed a grounded theory methodology approach, utilizing the data from 78 semi-structured interviews. The 78 professionals and executives representing the major stakeholders in the healthcare industry contributed to providing information to uncover the key factors for an opaque healthcare industry. Eighty-five hours of interviews resulted in 1,686 transcribed pages that provided insights and discernment to understanding the complexities and intricacies in the healthcare industry that prevent it from becoming fully transparent. The results provide the richness of data for an emergent theory that explains the actions taken by major stakeholders to reduce healthcare spending based on their intrinsic interests and their perceptions of complexities of the healthcare industry. The study presents practical implications on how a complex industry is slow to evolve and that a change is not possible unless it is deconstructed layer by layer to recognize the root cause. The change has to start from the core by simplifying the complexities that are created over time by the stakeholders who have always looked to optimize their motivations and have had no incentives to make the industry efficient.

Mobility in distributed object systems is useful as it can provide such properties as load balancing, code to data movement, fault tolerance, migration to stable storage, and autonomous semantics. In a widely distributed system, these properties are important as they can help alleviate latency issues and increase performance within the system. Additionally, they provid more flexibility in the programming of distributed systems by relaxing static location restrictions. Location transparency removes the need for client objects to explicitly know or define the location of a server object when communicating. If a server object is capable of migration, relocation transparency maintains reference validity throughout the migration. Several models for providing relocation transparency exist, including the home location, forwarding location, and broadcast models. This thesis proposes a model that uses a distributed registry system and dynamic reference updating to provide location and relocation transparency. A registry system is used to provide location independence by resolving a location independent name to a reference that can be used by a client. A naming system is used to provide correct binding and production of names within the naming restrictions of the system. The thesis proposes that the choice of naming system within a distributed or mobile object system has a large effect on the system's ability to support efficient transparent object relocation. This thesis proposes that a formal analysis of naming systems enables the selection of an appropriate naming system for a distributed or mobile object system given the object system's naming, distribution and transparency requirements. This thesis presents a new classification scheme for naming systems, based on analysis of a broad spectrum of naming systems. A classification of existing mobile and distributed object systems with respect to existing naming models is provided. It is shown that the current models need to be refined and extended to completely and correctly classify the example systems. This thesis proposes extensions and refinements that enable correct and complete classification of mobile and distributed object systems with a need for transparency. The extended naming model is then used to describe a naming system that is capable of implementing any naming system classifiable by the extended model. A classification of a naming system to support the proposed model of location and relocation transparency is presented. A distributed ORB system is designed and implemented to support the distributed namespace and generic naming system implementation. The distributed ORB system is hierarchically structured and is capable of adapting in response to node failure. This ORB system is used to support client and server object integration in the DISCWorld metacomputing environment. The ORB system is used to provide migration, replication and cloning services to the DISCWorld metacomputing environment. A qualitative analysis of the generic naming system and the DISCWorld ORB system is performed. A comparison between the proposed model for location and relocation transparency and existing models is also presented. This comparison shows that the proposed model exhibits better location and relocation performance within the DISCWorld environment. The distributed nature of the ORB system and namespace provides a scalable nature in terms of namespace size, the number of objects within the system, and the frequency of location and relocation requests. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Engineering (Department of Computer Science), 2000.

<p>Opinions, rankings and evaluations of states’ development are proliferating. In the context of the transformation and EU accession of the Baltic States, there were many organizations involved in the scrutiny of their efforts to become accepted as modern and European. This scrutiny directed towards states can be seen as a new practice of transnational regulation. Especially in times of major transformation, as was the case in the Baltic States after the collapse of the Soviet bloc, monitoring and evaluation of achievements can be expected to shape how reforms were prioritized and how problems were perceived. In order to gain a better understanding of these transformations it is necessary to study the practice of organizations that scrutinize the states.</p><p>The aim of the thesis is to analyze the role of scrutiny as a practice of transnational regulation. By analyzing how international organizations scrutinize states, this thesis adds knowledge to how transforming states are constructed in the everyday practices of scrutiny. A main argument is that by evaluating and reporting on states, international organizations can be seen as ‘auditors’ of transformations in states. The thesis compares three such ‘auditors’ and their respective relations to the states under scrutiny, namely: the European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the NGO Transparency International. </p><p>The thesis contributes to discussions about the role of transnational regulation in the transformation of states. By comparing the three cases of scrutiny it is concluded that scrutiny produces both comfort and critique for and about these transforming states. In addition, through processes of scrutinizing, states are constructed as auditable and comparable. Scrutiny also inscribes states into a story about progress, it thus offers hope about reforms and of a better future.</p>

<p>Aim of the Thesis: To investigate from a company’s perspective if the pressure for companies to produce quarterly reports has turned away their attention from working towards long-term value creation. The companies investigated are listed on the large-cap section on the Swedish stock exchange (OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm AB).</p><p>Methodology: A quantitative approach has been used and empirical data has been collected through questionnaires. The data has been analyzed and presented with descriptive statistics.</p><p>Theoretical Perspectives: A literature review has been conducted and resulted in a theoretical framework illustrating the concepts of quarterly reporting, long-term value creating, short-termism and forecasting.</p><p>Empirical data: The empirical data was collected by distributing questionnaires to the companies listed on the large-cap section of the OMX.</p><p>Conclusion: Companies listed on the large cap section of the OMX do not perceive that the pressure to produce quarterly reports affects them in a negative way. The study also showed that many companies lack awareness of the risks associated with short-termism.</p>