Student Number: 9408497V Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree for Masters of Arts. / In this research report an analysis of the message of pre-marital sexual abstinence as a strategy for HIV prevention and its implications for development was carried out. The Christian Action Fellowship, a student Christian organization at the University of the Witwatersrand provided a case for the research study. The alternative development paradigm informed my discussion of the message of pre-marital sexual abstinence in relation to development. In particular, it is its emphasis on participatory development and on the fact that development focus should be given to particular localities that I drew from the paradigm. However, the paradigm falls short of capturing the religious dynamics pertaining to local realities. Thus the results of the research study I carried out are meant to contribute to the development of the paradigm by factoring in the religious dimension of local reality in discourse of development. In this study, the religious dimension of local reality was captured in my focus on the message of pre-marital sexual abstinence as advanced within the evangelical faith based movement in South Africa. Furthermore, this research study is meant to contribute to discourse of development by stimulating intellectual reflection on the message of pre-marital sexual abstinence as a strategy of prevention and its implications for development in South Africa. The study demonstrated involvement by the evangelical movement in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The study further demonstrated the existence of particular methods employed to advance the message of pre-marital sexual abstinence as a prevention strategy against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. One such method is the strategy of identification. This method is employed to appeal to the targeted audience when ii presenting a case. Other methods employed are debate and argumentation as well as rhetoric. The deployment of these methods point to a religious construction of an identity that upholds pre-marital sexual abstinence as a lifestyle and a better HIV preventive option to other strategies of prevention. This research study is recommending further work in the areas where HIV prevention interventions and development interventions intersect within the local context (in all its dimensions) of identity construction.

This study proposes a beyond modernist conceptual model for businesses' social engagement to address social development through public relations. This model is based on the premises that social thinking shifted towards beyond modernist thinking, that the same shift is evident in social development and that businesses' social engagement to address social development through public relations should be aligned with this shift in social thinking and in social development. The social shift towards beyond modernist thinking means that it is assumed that people are interdependent on one another for their future survival on earth, and that people and nature are, in the same way, interdependent. Accepting interdependency implies acceptance of 'multiplicity' and 'reciprocity'. This leads society to increasingly expect that businesses should be socially engaged. In developing countries this implies social development. This shift in society towards beyond modernist thinking is echoed in social development discourse: through an an equal-status relationship between benefactor and beneficiary beyond modernist social development enables members of a developing community to develop themselves. These shifts in social thinking and in the field of social development, has not matured to the same extent in the practice and theory of businesses' social engagement to address social development through public relations. The conceptual model proposed in this study addresses this concern. The proposed conceptual model formalises this shift in thinking on a theoretical/conceptual level, which indicates an ecological business-society relationship where the business regards itself as being part of society, where public relations should have a social orientation and where the businesses' social engagement through public relations should be directed towards the improvement of society. Based on this model, guidelines towards the practice of businesses' social engagement to address social development through public relations are deduced / Communication Science / D.Litt. et Phil. (Communication Science)

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-26T13:28:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 texto completo.pdf: 5265265 bytes, checksum: 6ea4809ccb3b5d8cb07a565ff0282116 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-11-30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / In Brazilian rural areas there is still a lack of basic sanitation, especially concerning to wastewater treatment, exposing the communitis to all sorts of contamination. The participation of rural communities in the decision making for choosing an adequate technology for wastewater treatment is essential to guarantee the access of information to the community and ultimately the success of the proposed treatment system. In this context, the present work aimed at the development and construction of wastewater treatment systems with fundamental participation of families of the Rural Settlement Olga Benário, Minas Gerais. The methodology based on research-action was used in order to approximate the research to the community needs. The wastewater treatment plants were composed of two units: evapo-transpirator tank and constructed wetland used for black and grey water treatment, respectively. The plants used for the evapo-transpiration tanks were banana-nanica (Musa paradisiaca) and taioba (Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott). The plants used in the wetland units were lirio do brejo (Hedychium coronarium). They were built in three households, in a dynamic self-managed collective effort. The systems were monitored physical-chemical and microbiological analyses. The evapo-transpirator tanks achieved efficiencies above 90%, in terms of turbidity, COD, BOD5, TSS, VSS and FSS removals. The vegetation used in the evapotranspirator tank had a desirable development and absence of total coliforms and E. coli. in analyzes performed on the cocoyam´s leaves and stems. The constructed wetlands achieved a satisfactory performance in the grey water treatment, obtaining an organic matter removal average above 80%, reaching 86% and 88% for COD and BOD, respectively. In terms of suspended solids, the treated wastewater showed a concentration in a range of 19 and 37 mg.L-1. / No Brasil, o saneamento básico em zonas rurais encontra-se ainda em situação precária, sobretudo em relação ao tratamento do esgoto domestico, expondo as famílias a focos de contaminação. A participação das comunidades rurais no processo decisório para a escolha das tecnologias de tratamento torna-se essencial para o acesso às informações e o sucesso dos sistemas a serem implantados. Neste contexto, este trabalho foi realizado com o objetivo de conceber e construir, de forma participativa com famílias do assentamento rural Olga Benário, MG, sistemas de tratamento de esgoto mais apropriados à realidade local. No que se refere ao tratamento de efluentes domésticos, destaca-se a gravidade da realidade das famílias, principalmente, nas zonas rurais, onde a situação de saneamento é precária, as quais ficam constantemente sujeitas e vulneráveis a focos de contaminação. A participação da comunidade no processo decisório para a escolha das tecnologias de tratamento é de suma importância para garantir o acesso às informações e a indissociabilidade entre o usuário e o produto. A metodologia com base na pesquisa-ação foi utilizada de forma a aproximar a pesquisa aos anseios da comunidade. O sistema de tratamento de esgoto domestico, composto de duas unidades: tanque de evapotranspiração e wetland construído, foi selecionado para o tratamento de águas negra e cinzas, respectivamente, e construído em três residências do assentamento pelos próprios moradores. A vegetação utilizada no tanque de evapotranspiração foi banana-nanica (Musa paradisiaca) e taioba (Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott) e na unidade wetland construída foi lírio do brejo (Hedychium coronarium). Os sistemas foram monitorados em diversos parâmetros físicos, químicos e microbiológicos. As unidades de evapotranspiração alcançaram eficiências médias acima de 90%, em termos de remoção de turbidez, DQO, DBO5, SST, SSD, SSV e SSF, obtendo desenvolvimento foliar desejável e ausência de coliformes totais e E. coli em análises realizadas nas folhas e talos das taiobas. As unidades wetland construídos obtiveram bom desempenho no tratamento de águas cinzas com remoções médias de 86% e 88% para DQO e DBO5, respectivamente, e concentrações de sólidos suspensos totais no efluente variando de 19 e 37 mg.L-1 .

The current research considers the capacity of a local organic food system for producer and consumer empowerment and sustainable development outcomes in western Guatemala. Many have argued that the forging of local agricultural networks linking farmers, consumers, and supporting institutions is an effective tool for challenging the negative economic, environmental, and sociopolitical impacts associated with industrial models of global food production. But does this work in the context of agrarian development in the developing world? Despite the fact that there is extensive literature concerning local food system formation in the global north, there remains a paucity of research covering how the principles of local food systems are being integrated into agricultural development projects in developing countries. My work critically examines claims to agricultural sustainability and actor empowerment in a local organic food system built around non-traditional agricultural crops in western Guatemala. Employing a mixed methods research design involving twenty months of participant observation, in-depth interviewing, surveying, and a self-administered questionnaire, the project evaluates the sustainability of this NGO-led development initiative and local food movement along several dimensions. Focusing on the unique economic and social networks of actors and institutions at each stage of the commodity chain, this research shows how the growth of an alternative food system continues to be shaped by context specific processes, politics, and structures of conventional food systems. Further, it shows how the specifics of context also produce new relationships of cooperation and power in the development process. Results indicate that structures surrounding agrarian development in the Guatemalan context give rise to a hybrid form of development that at the same time contests and reinforces conventional models of food production and consumption. Therefore, participation entails a host of compromises and tradeoffs that result in mixed successes and setbacks, as actors attempt to refashion conventional commodity chains through local food system formation.

No description available.

South Africa, like many other developing countries, faces a growing problem of informal settlements which are mushrooming in and around the major urban centres. Living conditions within these settlements are typically poor with residents facing a range of basic livelihoods challenges, exacerbated by poverty, inequality and social exclusion. Unplanned and rapid urbanisation, from which informal settlements originate, and existing conditions in these areas, heighten risk to disaster and provide the conditions that turn natural and man-made events into major livelihoods disruptions. The most devastating of these disruptions are disasters brought on by uncontrolled fires, extreme wet weather and associated flooding. To forestall disaster, minimise livelihoods disruptions and debilitating loss of assets, and safeguard developmental progress, local governments have increasingly adopted risk reduction approaches to their development planning and implementation. Among some of the critical risk reduction measures adopted is the deployment of communication interventions meant to cultivate a culture of risk avoidance among at-risk communities. While it is largely accepted that developmental losses can be considerably reduced if people are properly educated and well-prepared for a disaster, it is also widely recognised that current tools and guidelines for communication of disaster risk in developing communities have largely proved inadequate. Among leading criticisms is that the communication interventions implemented neither fully cater for the contemporary proactive and pre-emptive (risk minimising) approach to disaster risk management nor the developmental imperatives of the disaster risk reduction paradigm. This study, therefore, sought to propose a conceptual framework for the reorientation of thinking and improvement of the on-the-ground practice of disaster risk communication in South African municipalities, and to ensure, among other things, that the practice of disaster risk communication in South Africa places participation of at-risk communities at the centre of communication interventions for disaster risk reduction. A literature study was conducted to explore what principles of the participatory approach to development communication could be applicable to a framework for disaster risk communication interventions. Following the literature study, an empirical study into the contemporary disaster risk communication practice in the three study sites of Cape Town, George and uThungulu District was carried out. The field study comprised semi-structured interviews with disaster risk communication managers and other key informants, and focus group discussions with members of informally settled communities in the study areas. Using a hybrid thematic analytic approach, the data gathered empirically were analysed against the salient themes derived from the literature study and those emerging as the empirical study progressed, and from that process a conceptual framework for disaster risk participatory communication for at-risk communities in South African municipalities was developed and proposed. In conclusion, guidance was also given for translation of the conceptual framework into actual practice by disaster risk managers and other disaster risk reduction role-players in South Africa. / PhD (Communication Studies), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

South Africa, like many other developing countries, faces a growing problem of informal settlements which are mushrooming in and around the major urban centres. Living conditions within these settlements are typically poor with residents facing a range of basic livelihoods challenges, exacerbated by poverty, inequality and social exclusion. Unplanned and rapid urbanisation, from which informal settlements originate, and existing conditions in these areas, heighten risk to disaster and provide the conditions that turn natural and man-made events into major livelihoods disruptions. The most devastating of these disruptions are disasters brought on by uncontrolled fires, extreme wet weather and associated flooding. To forestall disaster, minimise livelihoods disruptions and debilitating loss of assets, and safeguard developmental progress, local governments have increasingly adopted risk reduction approaches to their development planning and implementation. Among some of the critical risk reduction measures adopted is the deployment of communication interventions meant to cultivate a culture of risk avoidance among at-risk communities. While it is largely accepted that developmental losses can be considerably reduced if people are properly educated and well-prepared for a disaster, it is also widely recognised that current tools and guidelines for communication of disaster risk in developing communities have largely proved inadequate. Among leading criticisms is that the communication interventions implemented neither fully cater for the contemporary proactive and pre-emptive (risk minimising) approach to disaster risk management nor the developmental imperatives of the disaster risk reduction paradigm. This study, therefore, sought to propose a conceptual framework for the reorientation of thinking and improvement of the on-the-ground practice of disaster risk communication in South African municipalities, and to ensure, among other things, that the practice of disaster risk communication in South Africa places participation of at-risk communities at the centre of communication interventions for disaster risk reduction. A literature study was conducted to explore what principles of the participatory approach to development communication could be applicable to a framework for disaster risk communication interventions. Following the literature study, an empirical study into the contemporary disaster risk communication practice in the three study sites of Cape Town, George and uThungulu District was carried out. The field study comprised semi-structured interviews with disaster risk communication managers and other key informants, and focus group discussions with members of informally settled communities in the study areas. Using a hybrid thematic analytic approach, the data gathered empirically were analysed against the salient themes derived from the literature study and those emerging as the empirical study progressed, and from that process a conceptual framework for disaster risk participatory communication for at-risk communities in South African municipalities was developed and proposed. In conclusion, guidance was also given for translation of the conceptual framework into actual practice by disaster risk managers and other disaster risk reduction role-players in South Africa. / PhD (Communication Studies), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This study is geared at an open systmes critique of the macro theories of development. It is highlighted in this study that we are living through the realities of the open systems, and yet much of development thought is based on closed systems philosophies, principle and ideologies. The first chapter gives an orientation into the origins of both the closed systems and open systems paradigms respectively. Included in this orientation chapter, is the literature review of the various research contributions of the major trends in development thought. The second chapter expands on the evolution of the closed systems paradigm and its influences on development thought. This chapter further explains the attendant philosophies, principles and ideologies that underlie the closed systems paradigm. The third chapter captures the open systems paradigm and its influences on contemporary development discourse. Further to the discussion on the closed systems paradigm, the chapter elaborates on the philosophies, principles and processes that underlie this paradigm. The fourth chapter is on a discussion of trends in development thinking, traced from the traditional, through the medieval to the modern, right up to the contemporary. This entails tracing the theory to its ontological background right up to its implications for social reality in contemporary development thought and experience. The fifth chapter is on the open systems critique of the trends in development thinking, while the sixth chapter revisits the open systems paradigm and its implications for development thought. In the seventh chapter is the recapitulation of the findings in the study and recommendations for both development thought and practice. / Development Studies / D.Litt. et Phil. (Development Administration)

This study is geared at an open systems critique of the macro theories of development. It is highlighted in this study that we are living through the realities of the open systems, and yet much of development thought is based on closed systems philosophies, principle and ideologies. The first chapter gives an orientation into the origins of both the closed systems and open systems paradigms respectively. Included in this orientation chapter, is the literature review of the various research contributions of the major trends in development thought. The second chapter expands on the evolution of the closed systems paradigm and its influences on development thought. This chapter further explains the attendant philosophies, principles and ideologies that underlie the closed systems paradigm. The third chapter captures the open systems paradigm and its influences on contemporary development discourse. Further to the discussion on the closed systems paradigm, the chapter elaborates on the philosophies, principles and processes that underlie this paradigm. The fourth chapter is on a discussion of trends in development thinking, traced from the traditional, through the medieval to the modern, right up to the contemporary. This entails tracing the theory to its ontological background right up to its implications for social reality in contemporary development thought and experience. The fifth chapter is on the open systems critique of the trends in development thinking, while the sixth chapter revisits the open systems paradigm and its implications for development thought. In the seventh chapter is the recapitulation of the findings in the study and recommendations for both development thought and practice. / Public Administration and Management / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Administration)

This dissertation analyzes the role of tourism within development process in the case of the role of Mawlana tourism in the urban development process of Konya, around the theoretical approaches about tourism and development such as new modernization school, global local nexus approach, glokalism, and TBD (Tourism Business District) approaches. The study finds out that Mawlawi tourism has been playing crucial roles in articulation of Konya to the global markets and urban identity building process. Mawlana tourism establishes a city trademark and international business connections, rather than taking place as a supplementary economic sector in the development process of Konya. Within the diversification in the global tourism, Mawlana tourism can be defined as cultural, religious, and spiritual tourism. Although Mawlana tourism is a limited sector compared to others, it is crucial for Konya to be articulated to the global markets with an urban identity and business connections through Mawlana and Mawlawi Order.