<p>This study, in contrast to contemporary held views relating to the US policy premises, aimed to look at the inherent disabilities and inconsistencies of the policies of succesive Washington administrations. More so, it investigated the US interventionist strategies to perceived threats from communist regimes and their allies, especially in Southern Africa. To be able to embark on such an investigation, Namibia and the Soviet-Cuban involvement in Southern Africa were selected as a special focus of this study</p>

<p>The researcher has been working for CIAT, as a community development facilitator and research assistant for past five years (2001-2006). CIAT has been involved in testing tools and methods for promoting participation and tracking changes at community level under different pilot projects in Eastern and Central Africa in partnership with national research organizations of respective countries. One of CIAT&rsquo / s areas of research is developing participatory monitoring and evaluation systems that are appropriate for rural communities. The researcher has been involved in designing and setting up community-driven participatory monitoring and evaluation systems on a pilot basis with communities in Eastern and Southern Africa.</p>

Thesis (MTech (Business))--Peninsula Technikon, 2002. / Word processed copy. Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-108). Also available online.

Namibia’s community based natural resource management program (CBNRM) integrates local participation in rural development and biodiversity conservation. This effort was launched through key legislation that devolved the right to manage wildlife and other renewable resources on communal lands from the state to community level conservancies. Local participation is dependent upon the capacity of the locals to self mobilize and establish conservancies, plan and implement their programs, and monitor and evaluate their progresses and impacts. Accordingly, this study examines the role of capacity development (CD) in CBNRM, particularly its processes, products, performance, and permanence at the individual, organizational (conservancy), and community levels. The research was carried out using interviews and participatory self-assessment exercises with various conservancy stakeholders. This study uncovers why and how capacity development has to be based on local realities and aspirations where capacity users need to have ownership of the process through partnerships with service providers in order to enhance endogenous capacity. However, such notion of “partnership” between CD stakeholders is challenging to translate into reality in the face of power imbalances, where government and NGOs are continuously influenced and coerced by donor interests, where NGOs are considered stronger than the government because they control more financial and human resources, and where conservancies tend to report upwards to NGOs and government instead of their constituents. Moreover, this research reiterates that CD has to be holistic enough to incorporate individual, organizational, and community level changes in order to create sustainable capacities and prevent problems of elitism, manipulation, and dependency on few individuals. With respect to CBNRM, the research argues that its basic premise of diversifying rural livelihoods using incentives to bring about sustainable resource management can only be achieved when conservancies have the capacity to create representative and participatory democratic processes, and when they are able to generate equitable and reliable tangible benefits with manageable costs to their constituents. As seen in this study, when such governance and benefit sharing structures are in place, they enhance local participation by promoting political empowerment, trust, ownership, and positive attitude towards living with wildlife. However, if such conditions are not met, local participation is reduced, while intra-community conflicts from marginalization to nepotism and members’ dissatisfaction and disinterest are inevitable.

<p>This study, in contrast to contemporary held views relating to the US policy premises, aimed to look at the inherent disabilities and inconsistencies of the policies of succesive Washington administrations. More so, it investigated the US interventionist strategies to perceived threats from communist regimes and their allies, especially in Southern Africa. To be able to embark on such an investigation, Namibia and the Soviet-Cuban involvement in Southern Africa were selected as a special focus of this study</p>

<p>The researcher has been working for CIAT, as a community development facilitator and research assistant for past five years (2001-2006). CIAT has been involved in testing tools and methods for promoting participation and tracking changes at community level under different pilot projects in Eastern and Central Africa in partnership with national research organizations of respective countries. One of CIAT&rsquo / s areas of research is developing participatory monitoring and evaluation systems that are appropriate for rural communities. The researcher has been involved in designing and setting up community-driven participatory monitoring and evaluation systems on a pilot basis with communities in Eastern and Southern Africa.</p>

This thesis is an ethnographic study of the life of female migrants in Cape Town. The thesis is based on material gathered through informal conversations, semi-structured interviews and participant observation conducted among female migrants in Cape Town. South Africa is today the strongest economy in the Southern African region which attracts people from other poorer African countries. They migrate to South Africa for a chance to a better life or an opportunity to support themselves and their families. However, South Africa´s restrictive immigration policies make it difficult for many migrants to obtain the right documents and be able to ‘legally’ cross the South African border. Even if migrants get an asylum-seekers permit they are not allowed to legally work in the country. They are included and excluded at the same time. The constant ‘criminalization’ of migrants´ acts makes it hard for migrants to access any human rights and protection in general, which makes them more vulnerable to exploitation. More and more women are crossing the borders to South Africa to get work and physical security as a part of the global ‘feminization’ of migration. Women´s movement therefore questions the picture of the man as the sole breadwinner. Even though this is the reality women are excluded from the discourse about migration and existing immigration policies in South Africa. Female migrants are not acknowledged as important actors and are even more vulnerable in the forced and marginalized position of ‘illegality’, then male migrants. This study explores the female migrants´ own experiences of struggles like getting documented, work, secure housing and being exposed to xenophobia. The women have also developed different strategies to handle these difficulties. This thesis criticizes the ‘victimization’ of female migrants, which ascribes them with powerlessness and being without agency, and shows that they are active in seeking solutions and creating strategies to increase their scope of action.

Theoretical work indicates that HIV-1 epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa will cause major demographic changes. The current study assesses the extent to which these changes can already be seen in two rural areas of Manicaland, Zimbabwe and investigates the determinants of the epidemic and its demographic impact. The study utilizes demographic survey methods and qualitative sociological techniques. Data analysis is conducted using statistical packages and is guided by insights generated from mathematical models of the epidemiology and demographic impact of HIV-1 infections. HIV-1 prevalence is high in both areas. Among women, HIV-1 infection is associated with age and marital status. Indirect evidence indicates that religion, education, migration and socio-economic characteristics of husband may also be important determinants. Each of these factors influences the pattern of sexual behaviour. Rates of sexual partner change are heterogeneous for women but appear more homogeneous for men. Mixing patterns are disassortative: men form partnerships with women with high and low rates of partner change. Mortality has undergone a recent upturn, almost certainly associated with HIV-1 infections. Adults aged 20-45 years and men, in particular, are most affected at this (early) stage of the epidemic. Religion is an important local determinant of demographic patterns, whose influence on mortality appears to be changing vua its effect on sexual behaviour and the spread of HIV-1. Orphanhood has increased, but, as yet, there is little change in population structure. Fertility has declined since the late 1970s. It is too early in the AIDS epidemic to see an impact of HIV-1 at the population level. However, some signs of behaviour changes which affect the proximate determinants of fertility were detected. These changes may accelerate the decline in birth rates, especially at younger ages. New demographic projections for Zimbabwe are developed, based on observed trends in HIV- 1 infection and fertility, and underlying behaviour patterns. These indicate substantial further increases in mortality, particularly among women and young children, greatly reduced population growth, relative shortages of young children and older adults, and further increases in orphanhood. Families and communities will require support in facing this slowly unfolding disaster.

Namibia’s community based natural resource management program (CBNRM) integrates local participation in rural development and biodiversity conservation. This effort was launched through key legislation that devolved the right to manage wildlife and other renewable resources on communal lands from the state to community level conservancies. Local participation is dependent upon the capacity of the locals to self mobilize and establish conservancies, plan and implement their programs, and monitor and evaluate their progresses and impacts. Accordingly, this study examines the role of capacity development (CD) in CBNRM, particularly its processes, products, performance, and permanence at the individual, organizational (conservancy), and community levels. The research was carried out using interviews and participatory self-assessment exercises with various conservancy stakeholders. This study uncovers why and how capacity development has to be based on local realities and aspirations where capacity users need to have ownership of the process through partnerships with service providers in order to enhance endogenous capacity. However, such notion of “partnership” between CD stakeholders is challenging to translate into reality in the face of power imbalances, where government and NGOs are continuously influenced and coerced by donor interests, where NGOs are considered stronger than the government because they control more financial and human resources, and where conservancies tend to report upwards to NGOs and government instead of their constituents. Moreover, this research reiterates that CD has to be holistic enough to incorporate individual, organizational, and community level changes in order to create sustainable capacities and prevent problems of elitism, manipulation, and dependency on few individuals. With respect to CBNRM, the research argues that its basic premise of diversifying rural livelihoods using incentives to bring about sustainable resource management can only be achieved when conservancies have the capacity to create representative and participatory democratic processes, and when they are able to generate equitable and reliable tangible benefits with manageable costs to their constituents. As seen in this study, when such governance and benefit sharing structures are in place, they enhance local participation by promoting political empowerment, trust, ownership, and positive attitude towards living with wildlife. However, if such conditions are not met, local participation is reduced, while intra-community conflicts from marginalization to nepotism and members’ dissatisfaction and disinterest are inevitable.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1951. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.