In the accomplishment of good governance South African municipalities need to develop measurable objectives related to performance measures and targets that capture strategically important aspects of performance. This allows performance to be easily monitored and aligned with municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs). Performance information should be used in conjunction with strategic planning, budgeting, policy analysis and evaluations, organisational reviews and performance appraisals for the managers. This is necessary in order to improve performance and for assuring the public that they are receiving value for money. A Performance Management System (PMS) is the principal management mechanism intended to determine outcomes and impact of municipal service delivery on the communities they are commissioned by legislation to service. The PMS measures should always be relevant, meaningful and informative to political and administrative decision-makers. The data gathered from the PMS should be presented in a balanced, comprehensive and credible manner. The aim of this study is to analyse the challenges that influence the implementation of the local government PMS in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality. The analysis entails identifying the challenges, evaluating them and then suggesting possible solutions to the challenges. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

In the accomplishment of good governance South African municipalities need to develop measurable objectives related to performance measures and targets that capture strategically important aspects of performance. This allows performance to be easily monitored and aligned with municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs). Performance information should be used in conjunction with strategic planning, budgeting, policy analysis and evaluations, organisational reviews and performance appraisals for the managers. This is necessary in order to improve performance and for assuring the public that they are receiving value for money. A Performance Management System (PMS) is the principal management mechanism intended to determine outcomes and impact of municipal service delivery on the communities they are commissioned by legislation to service. The PMS measures should always be relevant, meaningful and informative to political and administrative decision-makers. The data gathered from the PMS should be presented in a balanced, comprehensive and credible manner. The aim of this study is to analyse the challenges that influence the implementation of the local government PMS in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality. The analysis entails identifying the challenges, evaluating them and then suggesting possible solutions to the challenges. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

This thesis investigated the restoration of mauri (life-force) to Ōkahu Bay, Auckland New Zealand. Ōkahu Bay is part of the land and waters of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, a Māori hapū (sub-tribe). Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei has been driving the restoration, restoring Ōkahu Bay based on their worldview, visions, and concerns. This vision and control of the restoration process allows them to bring in the hapū in sustainable engagement and have the long-term vision and commitment necessary for self-determination. However, while there has been progress with projects and improved decision-making authority, hapū members are still not seeing their whānau (family) swimming in and caring for Ōkahu as much as they would like. Interviewees wanted to see an explicit focus on encouraging hapū members to use the bay, such as more educational programs and water-based activities, and continued efforts to improve water quality. Shellfish populations have also not recovered after a decade of monitoring due to structural aspects such as existing stormwater pipes. Changing these requires Auckland City Council to make stronger commitments to supporting Ngāti Whātua’s restoration. Overall, this investigation showed that in this restoration, a clean environment is essential to build community and a community is essential to build a clean environment. This community-driven restoration, while not perfect, has great potential to truly reconnect people with their environments, decolonize the land and the people, and create thriving ecosystems and people that benefit themselves, their communities, and the wider Auckland community.

Cette recherche doctorale porte sur les mutations diverses qui s’opèrent aujourd’hui à Bat Trang, un village de métier au Vietnam. Comme d’autres économies en transition, le Vietnam est entré dans une phase de transition, marquée par son ouverture à l’économie internationale et son inscription au marché mondial. Dans ce contexte, nous cherchons à comprendre les mutations induites lors du passage d’une économie planifiée à une économie de marché et à montrer la spécificité de l’agglomération industrielle du district de Bat Trang. Pour ce faire, il convient d’étudier la dynamique sociale des acteurs politiques, économiques, institutionnels et sociaux qui forment la configuration de Bat Trang. La reconstitution de l’évolution des relations articulées entre ces acteurs permettra d’éclairer les mutations de Bat Trang. En suivant une approche socio-anthropologique et en nous référant à la théorie des districts industriels, nous avons procédé à une analyse approfondie de la mutation de Bat Trang sur la dimension tant politique qu’organisationnelle. Le village de métier de Bat Trang constitue un véritable modèle de transition portant des ruptures et des continuités par rapport à son système antérieur. A l’aide de la théorie sociologique de Norbet Elias, nous avons reconstitué le jeu entre les différents acteurs (sociaux, économiques et institutionnels) qui structurent le développement de Bat Trang, en montrant la dynamique de leur interaction constante. À travers l’étude de Bat Trang, nous avons aussi mesuré l’originalité d’une forme d’agglomération industrielle au Vietnam. Pour nous, Bat Trang, c’est tout d’abord une zone traditionnelle qui a su s’appuyer sur son savoir-faire et son organisation traditionnelle ; qui a su surmonter ses handicaps pour promouvoir l’adaptation de toutes ses activités. Bien qu’il existe très peu d’aides des autorités locales, les entreprises de la zone sont en train d’opérer une conversion de leur technologie par un remplacement (des fours à charbon par des fours à gaz) ou une adaptation (invention de nouveaux fours à gaz). Les nouveaux acteurs introduits dans le système (club, association) ont pour tâche principale de fournir une assistance aux entreprises qui peuvent ainsi créer de nouvelles filières d’activités et trouver de nouveaux débouchés de commercialisation. Bat Trang constitue également une zone en cours d’institutionnalisation qui se manifeste par la création de la zone industrielle et d’un centre de formation professionnelle. La transformation profonde de Bat Trang amène les artisans à se tourner vers une production plus industrialisée. Au cours des dernières années, la zone de Bat Trang a reçu, à l’évidence, un appui important des autorités locales, qui ont lancé des actions de politique locale. Nous avons également pris en compte des nouveaux phénomènes qui exercent une certaine influence, négative ou positive, sur le développement de la zone de Bat Trang : délocalisation des activités, faible capacité d’innovation du district, les liens avec la R&D, marketing etc. Pour résoudre les problèmes auxquels la zone est confrontée aujourd’hui, il faudrait une mobilisation des ressources internes et externes pour développer une synergie locale. / This doctoral research focuses on the various changes taking place today in Bat Trang, a craft village in Vietnam. Like other transition economies, Vietnam is entering the transition period, marking its openness to international economy and its entry in the global market. In this context, we seek to understand the changes induced during the transition from a planned economy to a market one and to show the specificity of industrial district Bat Trang. To do this, it is necessary to study the social dynamics of political, economic, institutional and social settings that shape the Bat Trang. The reconstruction of the evolving relationship between these articulated actors will illuminate the changes in Bat Trang. Following a socio-anthropological approach and referring to the theory of industrial districts, we were able to carry out a thorough analysis on the mutation of Bat Trang on both political and organizational dimension. The craft village Bat Trang really constitutes a model of transition having the discontinuities and continuities from its old system. With the help of sociological theory of Norbet Elias, we were able to reconstruct the interplay between different actors (social, economic and institutional) that structure the development of Bat Trang, showing dynamics of their interaction. Through our study in Bat Trang, we could also measure the originality of a form of industrial agglomeration in Vietnam. For us, firstly, Bat Trang is a traditional area where people know how to mobilize its expertise and its traditional organization; to overcome its handicaps and to promote an adaptation of its activities. Although there is very little help from the local authority, the firms are in the process of making a technological conversion by either a replacement (from coal-fired kilns to Liquid Petroleum Gas kilns - LPG kilns) or an adaptation (invention new LPG kiln). New introduced actors (clubs, associations) whose main task is to provide technical assistance to firms can create new activities and figure out new outlets for marketing. Bat Trang is also an area being institutionalized as manifested by the presence of the industrial and vocational training center. It lives a profound transformation in which the artisans are turning to a more industrialized production. In recent years, it is clear that the Bat Trang receives substantial support from local politics. Of course, we must take into account new phenomena in Bat Trang that exert some influence (negative or positive) on this area development. This is the relocation of activities, low innovation capacity in the industrial district, the weak link to R & D, marketing, etc. To all resolve, it requires mobilization of internal and external resources for a local synergy.

Magister Artium - MA / The objective of the study was to find out whether the decentralisation of responsibulities for social economics development facilitated the management of disaster risk during the 2007 floods in Mozambique. the specific aims of the study were to : analyse and discuss national policies for decentralisation and their significance for DRM. Investigate which responsibilities, human and financial resources were available to local governments for the planning, implemantations and monitoring of DRM activities. Identify mechanisms institutions and activities for DRM and find out whether they provided to be effective. Explore how concerned communities participated in DRM activitiesto reduce their vulnerability to disaster risk.

En analysant le processus d’appropriation des normes de bonne gouvernance (participation citoyenne, transparence, redevabilité et lutte contre la corruption) par les fonctionnaires au Rwanda et au Burundi, cette thèse cherche à comprendre l’impact réel des politiques de développement, dans le domaine de la gouvernance. La recherche met en exergue l’influence importante des bailleurs sur la structure formelle des Etats, mais sans modifier les rapports de force sous-jacents, au sein de la structure étatique. Au contraire, la recherche prouve qu’un faible niveau de considération des relations informelles de pouvoir et de la perception cognitive des acteurs durant le transfert de technologie peut porter à un détournement et une instrumentalisation de la technologie transférée, renforçant les dynamiques de pouvoir préexistantes. / By analyzing the appropriation process of good governance norms (civil participation, transparency, accountability and the fight against corruption) by civil servants in Rwanda and Burundi, this thesis try to assess the real impact of development policies, within the governance framework. The research emphasizes the influence of bilateral and multilateral donors on state formal structure, but without modifying underlying power relationships, within the state structure. At the contrary, the research shows that a lack of consideration for informal power relations and actors’ cognitive perception during technology transfer may reinforce pre-existing power relationships, as well as the misappropriation and the instrumentalization of the transferred technology.

Recently, the ‘Smart City’ label has emerged as a popular umbrella term for numerous projects around the world that claim to offer an enhanced urban experience, often provided in collaboration with international companies through private-public partnerships. As smart cities pledge to create long-term economic sustainability and progressive form of urban entrepreneurialism, it is getting important to highlight risks such as the reduced role of the public sector, technological dominance and data privacy.In contrast to more a conventional, long-term, holistic master planning, a technologically pre-determined form of Smart City endangers the emancipator usage of public spaces as spaces of diversity, creativity, inclusive citizen participation and urban sustainability.This research approaches the concept of Smart Cities as a future category and, thus, targets to develop a comprehensive visual analysis based on architectural representations in the form of computer-generated images (CGI’s). The Quayside project, a notable and widely criticized urban development project, by Sidewalk Toronto, a cooperation between Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs which is a sister subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., has been selected as Smart City case study as. Visual analysis was conducted by using the theoretical frame advocating ‘Coordinating Smart Cities’ in contrast to ‘Prescriptive Smart Cities’ by Richard Sennett. In addition to Sennett’s concept of ‘Incomplete Form’, Jan Gehl’s ‘Twelve Quality Criteria’ was used as coding categories to elaborate the content analysis which was followed by semiological and compositional interpretations. Visuals have been investigated in three sequential sets and analyzed focusing on time-based comparative frequency counts for sets of visuals. Concentrating on how future public spaces are illustrated, the study aims to uncover and to discuss how Smart Cities are being imagined and advertised.

Masters of Commerce / Despite having a significant agri-food sector, South Africa is faced with strong food security issues related to high inequalities and the legacy of the apartheid regime. The South African food system finds itself at risk of alienating the majority of its citizens from realizing their right to access food granted by the South African Constitution (1996) Section 27(1)(b). Increasing poverty, unemployment and poor governance are making it harder for ordinary South African citizens to put safe and nutritious food on the table. Part of the food security issue in South Africa is that there is an inefficiency in public policies. It can be explained by the extreme segmentation of public action between departments and also by the limitations and ineffectiveness of decentralization resulting in little to no involvement from local governments. Like most socio-economic issues, the effects of food insecurity are first experienced on the ground at the local level where municipalities are at the forefront. The absence of effective policy around food security and food systems at the local level in South Africa leaves room for research on improved local food governance. Municipalities should be best suited to understand the consequences of food insecurity and could therefore use some of their constitutional mandate which provides some room for manoeuvre with regard to food issues. The aim of this study is to raise awareness of food security issues at the municipal level and to identify ways to facilitate engagement by municipalities. Its main objective was to adopt a foresight approach, using scenarios with local actors, and to understand how it can help improve the engagement of municipalities and citizens in the food security debate and take possible action. This research has made use of an existing collaboration between the Centre of Excellence in Food Security (CoE-FS) and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) developed in the Western Cape. The collaboration focuses on the understanding of the food policy space in South Africa, the results of existing policies, and how the co-production of knowledge between stakeholders, notably at the local level, can contribute to policy improvement.

The concept of participation seems to reflect in most development programmes that involve people at the grassroots level. In Ghana, the introduction of the decentralization programme in the late 1980s that aimed at promoting effective, comprehensive and rapid development, more especially in the rural areas also adopted participatory approach. The approach led to the introductory of district assembly system which was to enhance the involvement of people at the grassroots in participatory activities. However, since the introduction of the decentralisation system to promote grassroots level participation, the people are still inactive and the level of involvement in development decision-making still remains weak. To clearly understand these problems, the thesis has aimed at answering the following research questions; how are rural people involved in participatory practice in the development activities in their area; what barriers affect and hinder the active participation of rural people and how could these be addressed? Answers to those questions helped to examine the nature of participation at the grassroots level; understand how the district assembly adopt participatory practice and to ascertain the nature of barriers that hinder effective participatory practice. Using a case study approach for the investigation, an interpretivists and constructivists were the philosophical underpinnings of the investigation. The data was gathered through the use of focus group discussions and one-to-one informal interviews. It was observed that, participation continues to reflect in most rural development programmes, but there are key barriers that still continue to hamper the effectiveness of participatory practice. Power relations, threats, intimidations and more especially the use of juju and witchcraft which never featured in most development literature are among the major barriers that continue to weaken local people readiness to actively participate. Most rural people feel threaten to participate for the fear of being bewitched or killed through the use of juju, witchcraft or black magical powers. Without critically and effectively addressing those bottlenecks and barriers, and put community members at the pivot of decision-making, the use of outsiders¿ knowledge and ideas alone to address the problems of participation with the hope of improving the lives of the rural people will not yield any significant result. / Title page missing

This study aims to understand a swedish BID (business improvement district) partnership as a local form of urban governance in neighborhood improvement. The study explores challenges with the collaborative governance of various actors with a majority of private property owners. It highlights the need of public meta-governance and the challenges the network's public leader face in its governing of the network. As a framework for this, the study uses governance theory, which discusses the effective and democratic implications for network governance and how it can be improved by a meta-governor. It also uses various perspectives of BIDs as governance networks and its influence as urban actors. The empirical data is collected through qualitative interviews with involved network actors as well as the network leader, and focus is on their perceptions of the partnership's role and challenges with the collaborative governance. The findings of the study demonstrate the complexity of a multi-organisation partnership as well as the challenges to manage it. The results suggest that the partnership's practice of meta-governance do not live up to the definition presented by the theorists, due to a weak political accountability, and the network actors' governing are therefore left to be determined by their intentions. However, if their intentions are good, the network has the potential to create a well-functioning and committed local democracy with an effective decision-making process with less bureaucracy. Of importance for the discipline of urban studies, the identified aspects of diverging interests and the partnership's weak bond with public deliberation, BIDs as a way of managing space should be questioned in ways of who's interest is taken into consideration in the planning and development of our public spaces.