Executive summary: last page (unnumbered) / The Sustainable Livelihood framework approach is a comprehensive method for determination of food insecurity and poverty at household level. The objective of this study was to determine the livelihood strategies and the coping mechanisms used by rural households in Abela Lida PA, Shebedino district, Southern Ethiopia. This study used both qualitative and quantitative methods to estimate the contribution of different resources to total food access and cash income, detailing expenditure patterns, asset holdings and capacity to cope with shocks. Simple random sampling was used for selecting 72 households for the survey. The data was collected during the hunger season using the checklists designed for livelihood and coping strategies. The study showed only 30% households had all the adults as working members, due to poor work skill, low awareness and lack of job opportunities. The main sources of income are sale of cash crops mainly coffee (55.6%) followed by sale of cash crops plus livestock (18%), labour (12.5%), PSNP (8.3%). The average annual income for the households was found to be birr 4,727.92 (~$293.34) and agriculture is the main livelihood strategy. Awareness and access to basic social services has improved and escalated price of staple foods, has negatively affected poor households and safety net beneficiaries who rely on purchase. Seasonality has also affected agricultural activities, prices and employment opportunities. The increase in fuel price was found to be the main shock followed by coffee price fluctuations and failure in purchasing power of money. About (63%) households faced shortage of food or money to buy food, medical expenses, cooking fuel and school fees. / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology / M.A. (Human Ecology)

Executive summary: last page (unnumbered) / The Sustainable Livelihood framework approach is a comprehensive method for determination of food insecurity and poverty at household level. The objective of this study was to determine the livelihood strategies and the coping mechanisms used by rural households in Abela Lida PA, Shebedino district, Southern Ethiopia. This study used both qualitative and quantitative methods to estimate the contribution of different resources to total food access and cash income, detailing expenditure patterns, asset holdings and capacity to cope with shocks. Simple random sampling was used for selecting 72 households for the survey. The data was collected during the hunger season using the checklists designed for livelihood and coping strategies. The study showed only 30% households had all the adults as working members, due to poor work skill, low awareness and lack of job opportunities. The main sources of income are sale of cash crops mainly coffee (55.6%) followed by sale of cash crops plus livestock (18%), labour (12.5%), PSNP (8.3%). The average annual income for the households was found to be birr 4,727.92 (~$293.34) and agriculture is the main livelihood strategy. Awareness and access to basic social services has improved and escalated price of staple foods, has negatively affected poor households and safety net beneficiaries who rely on purchase. Seasonality has also affected agricultural activities, prices and employment opportunities. The increase in fuel price was found to be the main shock followed by coffee price fluctuations and failure in purchasing power of money. About (63%) households faced shortage of food or money to buy food, medical expenses, cooking fuel and school fees. / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology / M.A. (Human Ecology)

Mother-Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB MLE) has become an important concept in the field of primary education in many parts of the world. MTB MLE is a form of education that deals with the bridging of learning in the mother tongue to using one or more languages as languages of instruction in schools. This study took place in the Southern Nation and Nationality Peoples Regional State of Ethiopia (SNNPRS) to investigate the implementation challenges faced by two sample minority languages, namely Dawuro and Kontaatho, that use the mother tongue as both medium of instruction and as a subject in primary schools. The study focused on the drawbacks that hindered the proper implementation of the education and training policy regarding mother-tongue education in minority language areas. To conduct the study, the qualitative research method was employed. Representatives from the Ministry of Education, Colleges of Teacher Education, primary school directors and teachers of mother tongue as a subject and as a medium of instruction, parents and relevant community representatives took part. From the Ministry of Education, two experts from the Curriculum Design and Implementation Directorate and two participants from Mother tongue and English Language development directorate were purposively invited to participate in individual interviews. Similarly, three instructors from one of the Colleges of Teacher Education and 32 mother-tongue teachers drawn from eight schools of the target area were also individually interviewed. In addition, three heterogenous focus group discussions were conducted with stakeholders comprising community and parents’ representatives, schoolteachers’ representative, students’ representatives and school directors. The study was based on the social constructivist and Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development theoretical assumptions. The findings of the study indicated that MTB MLE is not being successfully implemented in the minority language areas in the SNNPRS because of the deficits in awareness raising, proper teacher training, readiness of the languages in relation to orthography and scientific terminology to be used as medium of instruction, availability and quality of teaching and learning materials, standardised orthography, availability of guidelines and a strategy to carry out the MTB MLE programme, support and follow up of the implementation of the MTB MLE programme. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / Ph. D. (Curriculum and Instructional Studies)

This thesis aims to understand the formation of the Russian identity in the Kazakh Steppes by examining the migration flows of Russians and the affects of state policies and pattern of inter-ethnic relations between the Russians and the Kazakhs during different historical periods. Constructionist theoryhas guided the analysis of the research. The Russian identity formation in the Kazakh Steppes is examined within the contextof three consequtive historical periods that correspond to fundamental social, political and administartive re-structuring. Firstis the period of the Russiam Empire, during which the resettlement policy of the Empire shattered the traditional social structures of the native Kazakhs and entailed extensive inter-ethnic contact between the Russians and the Kazakhs. Second period corresponds to the period of the Soviet Union, which experianced the intensification of Russian settelments in the Kazakh Steppes. The soviet policy, while encouraging Russianness as a component of soviet identity, atthe same time, granted autonomy todiverse ethnic entites. The third period, which correspondes to the current era starting with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, witnessed the emergance of Kazakh State. A large portion of the Russian population in the Kazakh Steppes remained in the independent republic of Kazakhstan and face a new challenges in tearms of identity formation due to the Kazakh nation building policies.

Sociological and demographic analyses of minority fertility in the United States have suggested that the processes of socioeconomic, cultural, marital, and structural assimilation will lead to convergence in fertility. So far, little research has used the assimilation approach to study the fertility of the minority populations of China, and also, no research has taken both individual-level and group-level characteristics as predictors. Using micro-data from the One Percent 1990 Census of China, this dissertation performs multilevel analyses, hierarchical generalized linear modeling, to examine the effects of assimilation and the one-child policy at both the individual level and the group level on minority women's fertility. Several patterns are found in the multilevel analyses. First, the contextual characteristics of minority groups have strong correlations with fertility across thirty major minority groups in China. It suggests that community power and subculture have strong influences on women's decisions regarding their number of children. Second, the effect of the one-child policy is positive and highly significant on minority women's fertility. However, the strong policy effect does not cover the effect of assimilation. After controlling for policy, the impact of all the assimilation predictors, at both the individual and group level, still remains statistically significant. At the individual level, minority women's educational level, occupational status, status of intermarriage, and migration status have significant and positive impacts on their fertility. At the group level, the levels of minority groups' residential segregation, educational segregation, illiteracy, intermarriage rate, and their Moslem group culture have significant and negative impacts on individual women's fertility. Third, several cross-level interactions in the rural models are not consistent with the complete models, which suggests that some indirect effects of assimilation on minority fertility may come from the urban minorities. Finally, in addition to the direct impacts of socioeconomic, marital, and cultural assimilation on minority fertility, several cross-level interactions are significant and indirectly affect women's fertility. Findings reported in this dissertation indicate a successful integration of individual and contextual variables in analyses of minority fertility. The results contribute to the understanding of the assimilation impacts on minority fertility in China.

Thesis--Toulouse, 1914. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [227]-232).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 2002. Graduate Programme in Philosophy. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 240-266). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ82825.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 97-104).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-104). Also available in print.

Thesis, Toulouse, 1914. / Bibliography: p.[227]-232.