Few studies have attempted to determine the tenability of Community Participation (CP) theory is explicating Water Production and Management dynamics in Urban Informal Settlements. Consequently, several gaps exist in knowledge of the value of this important theory for efforts to improve water service delivery in such settlements. The main purpose of this study is to contribute to efforts addressed to filling these gaps. Four water schemes established by Sustainable Aid in Africa International in partnership with different communities in the informal neighborhoods of Kisumu Kenya are used as empirical referent. The study is guided by the following three Research Questions; 1) what is the relationship between community participation and beneficiary satisfaction with the work of the water management committees in the four schemes? 2) what are the contributions (positive or negative) of community participation on the production of clean potable water supply in the informal settlements? 3) what are the participation-related factors affecting the performance of the schemes? Uncovering answers to these questions entailed the use of a mixed methods approach. The approach involved the application of both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The former was employed mainly to answer the first two Research Questions and latter to deal with Research Question Three. The quantitative component of data collection involved administering a survey questionnaire through a simple random sampling technique. Logistic Regression and Chi-square Tests were employed to analyze the quantitative data. In the qualitative phase, Focus Group Discussions, Observation, Transect Walks and Photographic evidence was used to collect data analyzed through Constant Comparison Analytic technique. For Research Question One, the logistic regression results indicate that five participatory variables are significantly associated with beneficiary satisfaction with the work of the water management committees. These are provision of paid or unpaid labor to the water schemes, household willingness to intervene against pipe vandalism, meeting attendance, willingness to contribute money or time to the community water scheme and whether a household has ever made a complaint about water supply/quality issues. For Research Question Two, the chi-square test shows that households who use community managed water schemes and attend water and sanitation meetings tend to practice better water handing hygiene in the settlements. For Research Question Three, the following factors are identified to be either aiding and/or impeding the success of the schemes; networking and collaboration, continuous community engagement/participation, the formation of water consumer groups, coordination and organizational management, extent of institutional formalization, provision of dividends to the community, clannism, population increase, and poverty and community fatigue. This dissertation sheds new light on the role played by CP in managing vital resources such as water in urban informal settlements/neighborhoods. An important policy contribution is that CP can be used as a viable strategy in the establishment of effective water schemes in urban informal settlements. Furthermore, it can act as an antidote with regards to water quality improvements in urban informal settlements/neighborhoods.

Despite consumption and retailing having grown to form a meta-narrative in historical enquiry, the village shop has largely escaped attention. Remarkably little is known about the long-term development of rural services, particularly shops, which are often ignored as marginal and undynamic. Moreover, whilst their recent decline has highlighted their perceived importance to the vitality of village life, the extent to which this is based on a romanticised or historically myopic image is unclear. This thesis seeks to rectify this lacuna by critically assessing the real and imagined role of the shop and shopkeeper within village life during the nineteenth century, in terms of supplying goods and services, integrating and representing community as a place and a network of people, and projecting images of the rural into the wider national consciousness. It adopts an innovative interdisciplinary approach and offers an integrated analysis of a wide range of visual, literary and historical sources: from paintings and serialised stories to account books and trade directories. Central to the argument is a sustained interrogation of the shifting historic construction of the village shop and its keeper, from exploitative and anti-rural to the epitome of a nostalgic and sentimentalised view of England’s rural communities. This is compared to the lived experience, as established from the historical record, quantitative analysis conducted at both village and county level. This synthetic approach has required the amalgamation of multiple perspectives: writer and artist; reader and consumer; observer and participant; patron and critic; shopkeeper, customer and villager. The thesis inputs into debates relating to the commercial history and cultural understanding of rural communities, the findings broadening our understanding of the history of rural retailers and the communities they served, shedding light on rural consumption and how changing attitudes to retailing, rural communities and the countryside were developing. It also contributes to other key areas of research including the notion of community (places and networks) and cultural representations of people, place, space and everyday life.

The discussion surrounding the planning and definition of actions has been gaining attention on the Technical and Social Environment Advice Program (ATES) of Rio Grande do Sul (RS). This study aimed to seek to understand the relevance of regional planning for the formation of action strategies ATES and carrying out the activities planned by CETAP under the RS ATES program in 2009-2014. For its realization were analyzed CETAP planning documents of the years 2010, 2011 and 2014 seeking to identify the operational strategies in two selected settlements in the Operational Nucleus of Vacaria. The settlements chosen were the Settlement Project Followers of Natalino and Settlements Project Three Pines, located in the municipalities of Ibiaçá and Sananduva respectively. In addition to the planning documents, information was analyzed in the ATES Monitoring System (SAMA / INCRA) in order to verify how much of the planned actions were executest as well, the instructions given in the technical visits. In addition, was performed interviews with focus groups of ATES team of CETAP and semi-structured interviews with some families with a view to interpret qualitatively information on the planning as: control, learning, emergency, strategy. Information were analyzed using the literature on planning in organizational theories, especially Mintzber Henry and Richard Whittington and planning literature in the context of public policy, where stands out the writings of Sergio Buarque. Among the survey's results it can be stated that in the period 2009 to 2014, the structure of ATES program's goals was gradually flexibilized, with a growing incorporation of planning by the teams and dwellers. This flexibility was made the CETAP could present working strategies differentiated for the two settlements, as these, even though they have similar geographical conditions, they have different social characteristics. Another result, refers to a significant difference between the planned actions and the actions being performed, results also appear in the literature on planning in the context of organizational theories. Still, it was evident the growing importance of teams and families in the planning process, the increasing flexibility of the goals that allowed greater emergency at the expense of control and change the top-down planning to bottom-up model, closer to local realities each camping. This process, in that it increases flexibility and reduces the possibilities of control, implies that the results (of planning of work ATES) in a context of "institutional pluralism" depend much more perspective of the provider and the quality of teams local techniques. That is, depends on the technical capabilities, commitment and involvement with work and the congruence of interests, values and ideas with major purposes that the ATES. In this scenario, the study indicates that the training work with the technicians gained increasing importance above the monitoring. / A discussão em torno do planejamento e definição das ações vem ganhando destaque no Programa de Assessoria Técnica Social e Ambiental (ATES) do Rio Grande do Sul (RS). Assim, este estudo teve como objetivo geral buscar compreender a relevância do planejamento regional para a formação das estratégias de atuação da ATES e a execução das ações planejadas pelo CETAP no âmbito do Programa de ATES do RS, no período 2009-2014. Para sua realização foram analisados os documentos de planejamento do CETAP nos anos de 2010, 2011 e 2014 buscando identificar as estratégias de atuação em dois assentamentos selecionados no Núcleo Operacional de Vacaria. Os assentamentos escolhidos foram o Projeto de Assentamento Seguidores de Natalino e o Projeto de Assentamentos Três Pinheiros, localizados nos municípios de Ibiaçá e Sananduva, respectivamente. Além dos documentos de planejamento, foram analisadas informações no Sistema de Acompanhamento da ATES (SAMA/INCRA) buscando verificar o quanto das ações planejadas foram executas bem como, as orientações realizadas nas visitas técnicas. Além disso, foi realizado entrevista com grupo focal da equipe de ATES do CETAP e entrevistas semiestruturadas junto a algumas famílias, na perspectiva de interpretar de forma qualitativa informações relativas ao planejamento como: controle, aprendizagem, estratégia, emergência. As informações foram analisadas utilizando a literatura sobre o planejamento nas teorias organizacionais, principalmente Henry Mintzber e Richard Whittington, bem como da literatura de planejamento no âmbito das políticas públicas, onde destaca-se os escritos de Sergio Buarque. Entre os resultados da pesquisa pode-se afirmar que no período 2009 à 2014, a estrutura de metas do Programa de ATES foi progressivamente flexibilizada, havendo uma crescente incorporação do planejamento pelas equipes e assentados. Essa flexibilização fez com que o CETAP pudesse apresentar estratégias de trabalho diferenciadas para os dois assentamentos uma vez que estes, apesar de terem condições geográficas semelhantes, apresentam características sociais distintas. Outro resultado, refere-se a uma significativa diferença entre as ações planejadas e as ações executadas, resultados que também aparecem na literatura sobre o planejamento no âmbito das teorias organizacionais. Ainda, ficou evidente o crescente protagonismo das equipes e das famílias no processo de planejamento, a crescente flexibilização das metas que permitiram maior emergência em detrimento do controle e a mudança do planejamento top-down para o modelo botton-up, mais próximo das realidades locais de cada assentamento. Este processo, na medida que aumenta a flexibilidade e diminui as possibilidades de controle, implica que os resultados (do planejamento ou do trabalho de ATES), em um contexto de pluralismo institucional , dependem muito mais da Perspectiva da prestadora e da qualidade das equipes técnicas locais. Isto é, depende das capacidades técnicas, do comprometimento e envolvimento com o trabalho e a congruência de interesses valores e ideias com propósitos maiores que a própria ATES. Diante deste cenário, o estudo indica que o trabalho de formação junto aos técnicos ganha cada vez mais importância em detrimento do monitoramento.

M.Phil. (Industrial Psychology) / The aim of the study was to explore the managing of employee performance in the Department of Human Settlements (DHS). The study was necessitated by increasing dissatisfaction by the public in general regarding the performance of the DHS. A qualitative study was undertaken and four participants were interviewed. This study was particularly important because the performance of government departments in South Africa continues to fall under scrutiny as pressure for service delivery mounts. Recent studies indicate that public sector performance is a critical issue for governments around the world (Kealesitse, O’Mahony, Lloyd-Walker, Polonsky, 2013) and that an efficient public service in most cases enhances or improves the social conditions of the citizens. Hope (2012) acknowledges that citizens hold high expectations for their government to continuously provide quality and timeous services. Interviews were conducted with respondents at management level. The study established that while problems regarding the performance management of employees are experienced in the DHS, this has not reached a crisis stage. These problems occur due to subjectivity of the role players, vague performance standards in performance contracts, prioritisation of compliance with submission of performance contracts rather than managing the whole process diligently, lack of training of performance moderating committees, and lack of adequate management of poor performance. The researcher has offered recommendations for the management of subjectivity, the content of performance work plans, the referral to the incapacity code, and procedure for addressing poor performance as well as other areas that could enhance the management of poor performance in the DHS.

D.Ed. / This study applied a qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual approach. The purpose of the study was to develop, implement and evaluate a peer counselling psycho-educational programme to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements around Gauteng. Based on the purpose of the study, the objectives of this research were: a) to explore and describe the experiences and challenges related to life threatening behaviour challenges among late adolescents; b) to develop a conceptual framework as basis for a peer counselling psycho-educational programme on peer education to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements; c) to describe a peer counselling psycho-educational programme to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements; d) to formulate guidelines and principles for the implementation of a peer counselling psycho-educational programme to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements; and e) to evaluate this peer counselling psycho-educational programme to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements. To achieve the purpose of this research, the research method followed four phases to develop, implement and evaluate the psycho-educational programme. Phase one was a situational analysis by means of fieldwork. Phase two outlined a conceptual framework for a peer counselling psycho-educational programme that was developed from the results of phase one and the literature. Phase three was the outline of the implementation, and phase four the evaluation of the developed peer counselling psycho-educational programme to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements around Gauteng. ii The researcher sought to understand the targeted area and targeted populations; this exercise helped the researcher to identify and address the research problem and also to gain knowledge on the attitudes, norms, and values, and also the lived experiences, of the targeted community. It gave the researcher an understanding on cultural norms and beliefs and assisted in demarcating the extent of the problem. The importance of this exercise was to help the researcher to know the population demographics and the demarcation of the targeted area, which also assisted with resource allocation. During this situation analysis, the researcher identified the need for the exploration of life threatening sexual behaviour challenges among late adolescents in informal settlements. He identified these young people by observing them during site visits in their communities and also through conversations with them. Therefore, the researcher underwent experiential learning to understand the life threatening sexual behaviour, experiences and problems among late adolescents in informal settlements around Gauteng.

D.Litt. et Phil. (Sociology) / This study explores local state constructions of citizenship for the residents of informal settlements in urban South Africa during the first decade of local democracy, with a focus on the last electoral term of this period. While many studies in the social sciences have reported on citizenship experiences and self-help strategies of various categories of residents of post-apartheid South Africa, few have directed their gaze at the state, or studied up by investigating powerful respondents or sites and processes of power. Given that the state has its most direct dealings with the grassroots at local government level, and that compared to ordinary people it holds a disproportionate amount of power over citizenship, the character and strategies of the local state in South Africa are critical for a comprehensive understanding of post-apartheid urban citizenship. The study focuses on the policy area of housing as a key response to informal settlement. A constrained developmental local state has emerged in the post-apartheid period in South Africa, exhibiting both Weberian and non-Weberian qualities in its political-administrative interface. While very little evidence of a skills shortage or limited capacity has surfaced in the policy area of housing in the metropolitan municipalities of Johannesburg and Tshwane, respondents in both sites reported that the available funds from the central state were vastly insufficient for addressing the identified housing need. This severely limited local state capacity to respond to the priorities identified by community consultation and systematic needs assessment and resulted in a perceived imperative to limit responsibility and supplement funds. Consequently, the two local authorities have managed their level of responsibility by changing definitions of informal settlement. In an attempt to lower dependence on the local state, they have also moved some responsibility for responding to informal settlement and housing need away from the local state. Although the lack of funds was deplored in both cities, their specific strategies have differed in important ways. In the City of Johannesburg, the local state recognised that housing shortages and informal settlement could not be adequately addressed if categories of nonqualifiers such as foreigners were excluded from city programmes. Elected councillors therefore argued for a relaxation of the criteria in the national Housing Code. To access more funds, the local state has relied heavily on the private sector, but this is likely to push the poor out of the urban centre and to isolate them from economic opportunities, which reinforces the apartheid spatial distribution. In order to reach a larger proportion of the population in need of assistance, the City of Tshwane preferred to focus its efforts on the provision of serviced sites rather than on housing. This strategy was implemented in addition to severe repression in the form of eviction and destruction of informal settlements as well as a policy of zero tolerance of new informal settlement, for which two related rationalisations were offered by respondents: the high portion of non-qualifiers who live in informal settlements and, in particular, the presence of foreigners, for whom they would not accept responsibility. While the City of Johannesburg’s outsourcing of low-income housing serves to extend the disproportionate influence of the private sector over elements of urban citizenship, the City of Tshwane’s exclusion of non-qualifiers and its forced removal of informal settlements represent a unilateral approach to constructing citizenship. In both cases, the result is a degree of continuity with the early colonial administrations and the apartheid government. Both methods have also inflated the achievements of the cities. The overall result has been the construction of a narrow, shallow and punitive urban citizenship for residents of informal settlements in South Africa since the advent of local democracy in 2000.

Global change is substantially led by greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions (Ruddiman, 2013). In Brazil, the largest emission rates come from the forestry & land-use change sector, which historically accounts for more than half of Brazil’s emissions (SEEG, 2016a). Within the Legal Amazon, deforestation is the main driver of land-use change (TerraClass, 2014). Furthermore, Amazon-based settlements, established by Brazil’s Land Reform, play an important role in this process, as 28.6% of all Amazon deforestation stemmed from this type of land property in 2016 alone (Azevedo et al, 2016). Even though public policies aim at curbing this source of land-clearing, they often fail to achieve this goal. Hence, this thesis will analyse why policies do not efficiently prevent clear-cutting in Amazon-based settlements. This analysis is done through a multilevel comparison between political priorities and local perceptions on deforestation. The inquiry relies on text analysis to assess the Land Reform as a land-use policy and the Forest Code as a deforestation policy. It further summarizes the impressions of local family farmers collected in the fieldwork. Then it compares both results to understand why policies fail to fully curb deforestation. The main conclusion is that policies fail because they are erratic, they do not sufficiently take into account the social aspects of deforestation and they do not promote resilience in local communities. The geographical scope of the case-study is western Pará state, in which 30.8% of all deforestation occur in Amazon-based settlements (Ibidem). It is in Pará where the case-study takes place, namely the PAS Project carried out by the Amazon Environmental Research Institute. The main contribution of this thesis is to adopt a socio-ecological systems approach to compare policy priorities to local case-study results and to emphasize the interlinkages between income-generation and land-clearing.

This study aims to investigate the exploitability of the pegmatite deposits in the lower Orange River area, situated between the settlements of Vioolsdrif, Henkries and Steinkopf in the Northern Province, in the light of current methods of financial analysis. A summary of the prevailing ore deposit model and a description of the geology are presented, and a financial analysis is undertaken taking into account the resources, current market conditions, and the legal requirements associated with a mining venture on the pegmatite bodies. The most acceptable ore deposit model for the formation of pegmatites currently presents the pegmatite body as the final stage of crystallization of a cooling magma (Cerny, 1998a). Recent studies suggest that the crystallization of the pegmatite occur at an unexpectedly fast rate by the working of undercooling, in which the rate of cooling exceeds the rate of crystallization (London, 2005). The pegmatites of the study area are mostly developed in granites of the Vioolsdrif Suite, in a post-orogenic tectonic setting and in many respects, fit well into the model of Ginsburg et al. (1979). Although resources are difficult to estimate, it can be said that individual pegmatite bodies in the study area host reserves of up to 50 Mt of pegmatite ore. The markets for feldspar, currently the primary commodity in pegmatites, show an increase in price and a positive outlook for the future. Legal requirements (licensing) are rigorous, under the new Act even more so than under the old, especially with regard to environmental issues. A financial analysis suggests that, although mining operations on pegmatite bodies are highly sensitive to changes in commodity prices, revenue and fuel-related expenses, they are feasible under the current market conditions. Zebrakop pegmatite is identified in this study as a potential target for the exploitation of a homogeneous pegmatite, coupled with the necessary development of bulk mining methods and a beneficiation plant. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Geology / Unrestricted

This study uses the re-blocking policy adopted by the City of Cape Town to explore an alternative approach to the housing backlog crisis in South Africa. The two re-blocking projects examined in Mshini Wam and Kuku Town illustrate the benefits of re-blocking and the challenges that were overcome in both of these informal settlements. This study is descriptive in nature and explores the challenges that informal settlements present not only for their inhabitants, but also the impact these challenges have on the city itself. The re-blocking policy is explored as a potential approach to addressing these issues and how the in situ upgrading approach to informal settlements is an improved and sustainable approach for South Africa. Key findings suggest that the Re-blocking Policy can potentially address the challenges that informal settlements present and it could serve as a sustainable housing model for improving service delivery to informal settlements.

Development is an idea, an objective and an activity (Kothari and Minogue, 2002). Development emerged as an idea that nations had to adopt in their journey through post-war history. Development is seen as an ambiguous concept (Allen and Thomas, 1992: 23). In other words, it is defined in many ways to suit different purposes. Furthermore, over the long term development implies increased living standards, improved health and well being for all, and the achievement of whatever is regarded as a general good for society at large (Allen and Thomas, 1992: 23). Therefore, from the above development appears as a “one size fits all” concept, because it is an attempt to address the problems in society. Furthermore, development has been defined as a participatory, people-centred process intended to reduce the incidence of poverty and achieve better livelihoods for all (Kingsbury, McKay, and Hunt, 2004: 43). The definition of development as participatory and people-centred is the most applicable for the purposes of this study. Participation has been widely used in the development discourse. Within the development sphere, participation has been associated with the community sector (Gaventa and Valderrama, 1999:2). The definition of participation in development has been located in development projects and programmes (i.e. sustainable human settlements for our study purposes), as a means of strengthening their relevance, quality and sustainability (Gaventa and Valderrama, 1999:2). Strengthening of participation in local governance has to do with the strengthening of directcitizen involvement in decision-making by individuals or groups in public activities, oftenthrough newly established institutional channels, such as monitoring committees, planning processes, etc (Gaventa and Valderrama, 1999:8-9). Hence, participation could be seen as involvement in decision-making in all phases of a project (Gaventa and Valderrama, 1999:2). Citizen participation is about power and its exercise by different social actors in the spacescreated for the interaction between citizens and local authorities. However, the control of thestructure and processes for participation - defining spaces, actors, agendas, procedures - is usuallyin the hands governmental institutions and can become a barrier for effective involvement ofcitizens (Gaventa and Valderrama, 1999:7). The above discussion has been an attempt to show what participatory development or participation in a development process is all about. This has been done through briefly defining and discussing development and participation and also showing the relationship between the two concepts. Now the discussion will focus on enlightening the reader about sustainable human settlements – the main issue of this study. The decision to do research in this area came after the realization that there is still a shortage of houses in the Eastern Cape, and when the government does deliver these houses in a particular area people still have complaints regarding the new houses delivered to them. Then a question that came to mind was whether people are consulted or not before these houses are constructed during the planning stages so that they can give their own views or ideas on houses. Overall the reason for choosing this topic was to look at people’s participation on the development of houses. It is evident in the Provincial Medium Term Sustainable Human Settlement Research Agenda that community participation is lacking in the housing delivery process of the Eastern Cape (Province of the Eastern Cape Human Settlement,2011:9).