This dissertation reports on an outcome evaluation of The Shine Centre's literacy intervention, Literacy Hour. The Shine Centre is a South African non-governmental organisation that offers literacy support to Grade 2 and 3 learners at risk of reading failure. The programme takes the form of one-to-one or one-to-two tutoring. The learners who are chosen to participate in the Literacy Hour programme are selected based on their results in Shine's diagnostic assessment completed at the end of Grade 1. The selected students work with trained volunteers twice a week for an hour at a time. Each hour of the Literacy Hour programme is divided into four 15-minute components, namely: (a) paired reading, (b) shared reading, (c) have-a-go writing, and (d) wordplay. The evaluation design was a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent group design. The assignment into the experimental/intervention group and the control group was done by means of a sharp regression-discontinuity cut-off. The sample included six Centres and two Chapters in the Western Cape with complete data for the 2011 to 2013 cohort. Learner results were monitored using various assessment tools at the end of Grade 1 and during Grades 2 and 3. The two Shine diagnostic assessments, D1 and D2, tested the learners' literacy skills against the level that they should have acquired by that point in their school career. Additionally, the reading level assessments were used to determine the learners' actual reading level/age.

This dissertation reports an outcome and process evaluation of the Ndinogona ''I Can'' Stimulation Programme. The programme caters for children with disabilities by targeting Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres attended by children with disabilities. The programme facilitators provide training to the caregivers within these centres in terms of the importance of play and how to handle and position children with disabilities correctly. The centres are also provided with stimulation kits including a variety of toys and activities aimed at children with all types of disabilities. The programme aims to encourage stimulation and inclusion of children with disabilities as well as to improve child developmental outcomes. The programme has been implemented in several centres since it began in 2011. This dissertation focused on 18 centres within the Western Cape which received the programme during 2015. The Ndinogona ''I Can'' Stimulation programme theory was investigated for its plausibility in the form of a literature review. The evaluation focused on evaluating programme outcomes to determine the programme's effectiveness as the programme requires an independent evaluation for a funder. This evaluation therefore primarily addressed two outcome evaluation questions and one process evaluation question. The outcome evaluation used secondary data which was set to be collected by the programme's facilitators using data collection forms developed by the evaluator in collaboration with the programme staff. This outcome evaluation could not be realised due to a lack of empirical data stemming from inadequate data collection tools and procedures. The available data was analysed using the SPSS statistical programme. The descriptive statistics and the initial exploration of the data are presented. The results for the outcome evaluation questions are limited due to the lack of empirical data. Preliminary findings for child assessments showed a positive trend however more data is needed to confirm this. As a result of the lack of data the evaluator engaged with additional process questions in the discussion chapter and presents a revised monitoring and evaluation framework for the programme to facilitate an in-depth outcome evaluation in the future. This includes a clear and simple set of data collection tools which cater for all the organisation's information needs whilst taking into account their monitoring capacity.

The need to improve animal welfare and control companion animal populations is necessary for South Africa, especially in impoverished communities lacking resources and education to care for their pets responsibly. These programmes are often multi-dimensional in nature and aim to improve animal welfare in different ways. Sterilisation is often the first step but is not enough. Consequently, education is often used in combination, to teach responsible pet care and ownership to pet owners. By increasing their understanding and knowledge of animals it is hoped that the pets’ overall quality of life and welfare improve. The following dissertation presents the findings of an evaluation conducted for the Mending Mamre Mass Education and Sterilisation Programme. This programme had four components: surgical sterilisation of pets and feral cats, basic veterinary care, education sessions and the rehoming of stray dogs. Three evaluations were performed (as requested by the clients): a programme theory evaluation of the education sessions, a process evaluation to understand why some residents refused sterilisation and an outcome evaluation to measure if the pets’ living conditions and body scores had changed 16 months after the programme. Overall, the results of the programme theory evaluation demonstrated that: the activities and outcomes of the education sessions were consistent with similar programmes but the two causal pathways underlying the programme are not plausible. The results of the process evaluation highlighted that the most common reason why pet owners refused sterilisation was due to fear. Finally, the results of the outcome evaluation indicated mixed results; with an increase observed in the pets’ physical wellbeing but an overall decrease observed in their quality of living conditions. With the results, the evaluator was able to make recommendations to the client and highlight considerations for programme improvement. Overall this study contributes to the paucity of research on evaluations of animal welfare interventions at the community level.

This dissertation examines the City of Cape Town municipality's Waste Wise Programme. It examines one of the three models, namely the Sustainable Education and School Recycling model and consists of a theory as well as a process evaluation. On commencement of the theory evaluation, the evaluator investigated the plausibility of the programme theory. In order to extract this information, a literature review on international and local literature was completed to answer the evaluation questions. The literature review suggests that the programme theory is plausible but that it could be further enhanced by incorporating a few additions to the programme. It investigated the Waste Wise Programme's impact theory, the service utilisation and the organisational plans, and found that, with a few minor amendments, the beneficiaries of the programme may benefit more.

Includes bibliographical references / This dissertation is an outcome evaluation of the Always Keeping Girls in School Programme. The nationally run programme is a series of workshops and educational talks designed to reduce the absenteeism rates of pubescent girls who live and attend schools in underprivileged areas. The programme regularly supplies participants with sanitary products that they would otherwise not have access due to financial constraints and thus prefer to remain at home when menstruating where they can better manage their personal hygiene needs. During this period of absenteeism girls miss valuable teaching time which has a negative impact on their ability to achieve academically leading to grade repetition and ultimately dropping out of school permanently. Without a basic education girls are at a disadvantage in finding meaningful employment. The literature supports the various facets of the programme but also reveals that other influential factors such as access to adequate sanitation facilities (including water), distance and time spent travelling to and from school, and access to pain medication. The evaluations of similar interventions have produced mixed results, but it is clear that the provision of any one of the tools, such as those provided by the Always Keeping Girls in School programme, does make a positive difference in the life of the participants. One school was selected by the programme manager to provide the necessary secondary data to conduct a time - series quasi - experimental design for the evaluation. A cohort of learners was selected and their absenteeism and school performance data was tracked over a three year period from grade 9 in 2012 until grade 11 in 2014 (their current grade). The data from 2012 formed the baseline data as the programme was implemented in 2013. All of the girls in the cohort are programme participants and fell into the experimental group and as a result all of the boys in the cohort formed a non - equivalent comparison group. There are seven outcomes belonging to the programme, but only two outcomes were evaluated: reduction in absenteeism and improved school performance and the existence of a relationship between absenteeism and school performance. A total of 32 observations of absenteeism and 3 observations of school performance were used. The absenteeism observations were made on a monthly basis, while school performance data was taken at the end of December 2012, December 2013, and June 2014. To conduct the analysis a combination of descriptive statistics (measures of central tendency and dispersion) and inferential statistics (Pearson's Correlation and logistic regression analysis) were used. The statistical analysis revealed the programme was successful during the first year when it was implemented (with both the educational workshops and the provision of sanitary products) as the experimental group showed a large decline in absenteeism. However during the second year (only sanitary products were provided) the participants showed an increase in attendance and even surpassed their baseline scores. In terms of school performance both groups showed a small increase during 2013 but in 2014 many learners performed poorly in their June examinations. The logistic regression revealed that there was a very low probability that relationship between absenteeism and school performance existed The finding that the programme is successful when all of its facets are available to the participants is in line with literature that rates the importance of education around puberty and sanitation very highly. The provision of sanitary products alone is important to the well - being and dignity of the participants but it is insufficient to bring about the sustained desired behavioural change.

This evaluation was based on a youth-development-through-sport programme in Africa. In the present study the Success Case Method was used to demonstrate initial changes experienced by participants in the training and to inform the Youth Empowerment through Sport (YES) programme about quick and effective modifications that could be made to it. Several evaluation questions enquired what courses participants were using to achieve results at their projects, what barriers prevented participants from using the skills from training and what the quality of the training programme was like. Questions were also asked as to whether there were aspects of the programme that could be improved. Results revealed that the YES programme improved personal development and sessions at the participant's project through good leadership. There was also evidence that longer term outcomes were achieved, including increased employability. At the same time, there is a lot of valuable information in the report that highlights where the programme could focus its effort to maximize the potential of future impact that could be achieved.

Water is a scarce resource without which human survival is at risk and major economies would collapse if not carefully managed. Water stewardship involves collaboration between role players from the public- and private sector as well as civil society to effectively mitigate some of the water related risks and improve water security. Good practice examples of water stewardship have been captured in only a limited number of international studies through the work of a few organisations driving adoption of stewardship practices. Most of these are internal documents and remain unpublished. There are a few local, unpublished studies that are specific to water stewardship as an approach to water resources management in South-Africa. A comprehensive literature review on water resource management institutions in South published between 1997 and 2011, shows that research is predominantly focused on catchment management agencies (CMA) than on other entities such as international water management bodies, water user associations or water irrigation boards (Meissner, 2013) The uMhlathuze Water Stewardship Programme (UWaSP) is a South African programme selected to evaluate if the programme has been established against globally recognised good practices of water stewardship and to what extent it has been implemented accordingly. The programme is part of an international water stewardship programme which provided an ideal opportunity to evaluate a local programme against a global good practice model. The international literature on water stewardship as well as literature on adaptive co-management approaches to water resources management enabled the development of a consolidated global good practice evaluation model of water stewardship. The research included consideration of contextual influences that may have enabled or hindered the implementation of the establishment of the water stewardship programme. The South African literature shows that a specific type of integrated water resources management ( IWRM) , catchment management associations (CMA’) share certain adaptive co-management elements with a water stewardship approach to water management. These include three concepts extracted from the literature namely collaborative stakeholder engagement, adaptation through learning (experimentation) as well as a bioregional approach to water resources management which means implementation of management structures at the river basin level (Meisner, 2016). The local contextual factors influencing implementation of the UWaSP and commonalities with CMA’s are considered during the discussion, against the background of the findings of local studies.

This dissertation includes an outcome evaluation report of the LifeMatters Foundation Numeracy Programme. This programme focuses on strengthening the foundational numerical skills of the participants, in this case a group of Grade 2 learners from two schools in the Western Cape area. In total, these two schools had five Grade 2 classes of which constituted the sample. While this programme has run before, the LifeMatters Foundation decided to redesign the programme and run a new pilot programme in 2016. This dissertation focuses on the evaluation of this pilot programme with the goal to attain information on two outcome questions. The first of these questions examined whether the programme participants' foundational numerical skills improved by the end of the programme and if they improved more than the skills of the comparison class. The comparison class for this evaluation was made up of 12 learners of one class that met the criteria for selection, but did not receive treatment. Each of the other four classes had the weakest 12 learners selected on the results of a class-based assessment delivered by the teachers. Therefore, in total, the evaluation included 60 participants. The second question examined if programme dosage, or the amount of attendance, was a significant contributor to the improvement of participants' numerical skills. As the programme was conducted over the course of the year, this question sought to control for the impact of maturation on the results and identify a programme effect. Secondary data, provided by the LifeMatters Foundation, were used in order to answer the two evaluation questions. This data consisted of the results of the participants on eight measurements conducted throughout the year. These measurements were standardised tests, known as Formal Assessment Tasks, designed by the Western Cape Education Department. The data analysis methods included descriptive and inferential statistics for learners' performance and average programme dosage, a repeated measures ANOVA with a betweensubjects factor for the differences between classes on each measurement, and a linear regression model for determining the effect of programme dosage on learners' final year mark. Results highlighted that two of the four classes were significantly different from the comparison class. Furthermore, analysis revealed that, on average, the programme was not having the desired effect on the learners' performance. These results must be interpreted with caution as there was an issue of overcoverage in the programme. This refers to the ratio of participants in the programme that should not be in the programme over the total number of participants. More than half of the participants should not have been included in the programme, as they were far more academically advanced than the rest of the participants. In order to improve this facet, it is recommended that the LifeMatters' foundation develop a selection measure that is standardised, valid, and reliable. The second evaluation question dealt with the impact of programme dosage on overall final mark, and as the average attendance of the programme was approximately 50%, there was no significant impact of attendance on final year mark. It is suggested that the requirements for attendance be re-evaluated as the low attendance rates played a role in the low programme effect. The evaluation was limited by a lack of an adequate comparison of groups at baseline, as well as poorly controlling for maturation, a threat to internal validity, through the poor attendance. Despite the limitations, the evaluation has provided useful information for programme improvement, and if the recommendations are followed further evaluations will provide more conclusive results around programme effect.

Personal mobile devices (PMDs) such as tablets (also referred to as tablet computers or tablet pc) have become important educational technology components for university students. Although advances in wireless, mobile technology have resulted in PMDs becoming widely available and less expensive, PMD ownership still presents a substantial capital outlay beyond the means of many South African university students. Thus, there is a need to explore the opportunities low cost PMD initiatives present. Thus far, limited research has been conducted on if and how flexible learning is achieved through low cost PMDs in the South African higher education context, where access to technology and internet access is inconsistent amongst the student population. This study aims to evaluate the outcomes of the PMD Programme at the University of Cape Town (UCT). The programme aims to create a flexible teaching and learning environment for students in higher education, through the use of low cost tablets. This study focused on whether the programme's short‐term outcomes, namely, improved mobile technology knowledge, portability, mobility, communication, information sharing and collaboration were achieved. The extent to which the programme's medium‐term goals (digital literacy and access to course information) were achieved, were also investigated. Lastly, the degree to which students believed the low cost tablet was good enough for their studies was assessed. This evaluation found that the UCT PMD Programme plays a crucial role in providing students with access to affordable mobile technology in the form of low cost tablets and has demonstrated enhancement of students' ability to learn in a flexible manner. The UCT PMD Programme facilitated improvement in students' mobile technology knowledge, mobility of learning and portability of information immensely. Improved communication and collaboration between peers and lecturers were noted. Information sharing was not enhanced through the use of the tablet. Students' digital literacy skills increased and access to information improved immensely through using the tablet. Overall, through the use of the tablet, improvement in students' flexibility of learning was achieved and students found the low cost tablet adequate for their studies.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 78-83). / The current study examines the Contractor Development Model (CDM) as used by Working for Water. The overarching goal of the WfW programme is to alleviate poverty by creating short to medium term jobs for unskilled workers through clearing alien vegetation. WfW aims to appoint contractors based on targets from the Expanded Public Works Programme which are 60% women, 20% youth (18 - 36 years) and 2% disabled people. The CDM’s main objectives can be seen as: the employment of youth, women and people with disabilities; skills development through training. The programme aims to to develop contractors so that they become less dependent on WfW. It aims to develop contractors’ alien clearing and business skills to such an extent that contractors eventually exit the CDM in order to pursue more lucrative opportunities outside of WfW.