No description available.

Five years from the end of the 15-year span of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) it is already plain that progress has been patchy and that the larger goals will not be met. The scale and profile of the MDGs will make them subject to eventual success or failure judgments and 'lessons learned' analyses, but the evidence of the past decade and current trajectories are sufficient to reveal our conceptual and operational shortcomings and the kinds of reorientation needed to ensure that the last five years of the MDGs will exhibit positive momentum rather than winding-down inertia. Such reorientations would include prioritising actors over systems; disaggregated targets over global benchmarks; qualitative aspects of complex forms of human relatedness over technical 'solutions'; and the painstaking work of developing country enablement over quick outcome indicators, not least for the purpose of sustainability. Thinking and planning beyond 2015 must be made integral to the last five years of the MDGs, for normative as well as practical reasons.

Magister Legum - LLM / The aim of this study is to critically analyse corporate social responsibility as a tool to accelerate the achievement of development goals in Zimbabwe. The main question is how CSR can be used to speed up the achievement of development goals? The paper will focus on how CSR can be used to achieve national development goals and MDGs that will soon be integrated into SDGs. Attention will be paid to MDG1 which goal is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; and MDG 5 which aims to improve maternal health and national development goals in Zimbabwe. The research is guided by the following objectives: 1. To examine international, regional and national legal frameworks that seek to promote corporate social responsibility in Zimbabwe. 2. To establish the connection between CSR and development goals in Zimbabwe, and explore how CSR can be used as a tool to fast-track the achievement of national development goals and UN development goals. The paper will investigate the efforts made by the Zimbabwean government to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and to improve maternal health. The two MDGs are proving to be difficult to be achieved by the end of 2015. 3. To recommend measures that would facilitate the promotion of CSR into Zimbabwean companies and assist the government in achieving the developmental goals within the specified time frame.

In the 1960s, Nigeria was on a par, in terms of aspirations to attain a very high level of economic growth and development, with its fellow-oil producing and exporting countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, but has since failed to keep pace with them. Nigeria’s agricultural, manufacturing and mining and quarrying sectors have played a continuous and significant role in the development of the country’s economy. The approval of the millennium development goals (MGDs) by the United Nations General Assembly therefore raises three pivotal questions for Nigeria. 1) Why is Nigeria still an underdeveloped and lowincome country? 2) What should the country do to make rapid economic and social progress? and 3) How can it attain a high level of economic development and growth?. This is the background of this study, which is an empirical investigation into the factors affecting Nigeria’s bid to achieve sustainable economic growth and development with particular reference to such sectors as agriculture, manufacturing and mining and quarrying (solid minerals) over the period of 1970-2005. This involves the analysis of the relevance of the health care and education sectors and examination of impediments to past economic development, a development model applicable to Nigeria, the efforts made and the challenges facing the country in achieving the MDGs, and the role of foreign development partners in complementing Nigeria’s development efforts. The methodology adopted for this study is sectoral-econometric modelling, using the Engle- Yoo (1991) model, which contributes to bridging the gap seen in empirical studies in the application of a multivariate dynamic econometric cointegration model on the effect of domestic and foreign financial resources investment for the development of the growth sectors in the Nigerian economy. The model captures the essential linkages between the growth sectors and the country’s efforts to achieve a high level of economic development. The results from the simulations are broadly consistent with findings described in theoretical and empirical literature. There is a strong positive relationship between the gross output of the agricultural, manufacturing and mining and quarrying sectors and labour input and public capital expenditure for the growth sectors. Also there is a strong positive relationship between the agricultural credit guarantee scheme, fertiliser and the gross output of agriculture. Furthermore, the findings show a positive impact of the structural adjustment programme with the agricultural and manufacturing production. Dynamic simulation of results was undertaken to assess the path of the 10 percent dynamic adjustment (shocks) on the relevant exogenous variables and the response properties show remarkable and positive significant impact due to the shocks. The estimated actual and forecast values of the equations in the model show notable increase in the amount and growth of the gross domestic product of the real sectors in Naira billion from 2005 to 2008. The study calls to question rigid government control over the mining and quarrying sector. The importance of mining and quarrying in accelerating the pace of economic growth in Nigeria should rather motivate the government to deregulate and reform the sector. This will enable the government to attract investors into the sector, while effectively planning to encourage the proliferation of small-scale artisan, medium-scale and large-scale miners. The deregulation of the mining and quarrying sector will boost production, growth and development through employment creation, increased income of household miners and upliftment of the social and economic status of the vast majority of Nigerians. Some of the reasons identified for Nigeria’s poor economic performance include: the serious effect of “Dutch disease”, reflected in the country’s inability to manage and diversify its oil wealth to transform and achieve dynamic industrial (manufacturing), agricultural, mining, health and educational and other growth sectors. Nigeria also suffers the effects of a troubled political history, during which military rule persisted for extended periods. This study shows the importance of improving the knowledge base for policymaking, where intersectoral linkages between economic and social factors can be identified, and direct and indirect macroeconomic policy effects discerned. This distinguishes the study from earlier work in Nigeria on development policy. Achieving a high level of economic development through transforming the country’s real sectors will not only reduce poverty by providing food security, increased agricultural and industrial exports, increased per capita income and consumption, but will also bring about improved literacy and a healthy workforce and foster peace and security in Nigeria. In addition, success in transforming the real sectors will strengthen and broaden the productive base of the country, which currently relies heavily on the petroleum sector as the major earner of foreign exchange. In order to achieve a high level of economic development and growth, attention should be concentrated on channelling global financial resources to the above-mentioned sectors because of their strong linkages with and powerful value-added effect to the rest of the economy. Under the new democratic dispensation, there ought to be large investment into the growth and support sectors from domestic and external sources if the country is to attain the international growth target of achieving a high and sustainable level of economic development. Therefore, with a strong will to become a patriotic civil society, stable and prosperous, and enough wisdom to elect leaders with good will and fairly good knowledge of the country’s economy, great prospects lie before the Nigerian economy. / Thesis (PhD (Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Economics / unrestricted

The issue of child mortality is currently under international spotlight, as the rates of neonatal and under five mortality are sobering. „About 29,000 children under the age of five [approximately] 21 each minute die every day, mainly from preventable causes‟. Although there has been a decline in global child mortality rates since 1990, sub-Saharan Africa still has the highest rates, where one child in eight dies before age five. As contained in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2010 report, in 2008, sub-Saharan Africa bore half of the 8.8 million deaths in children under five. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa))--University of Pretoria, 2012. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / nf2012 / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

The purpose of this study was to investigate parents' perceptions of the food consumption practices and nutrition-related needs in a resource-constrained community, in terms of daily eating patterns, current knowledge and attitudes with regards to food choice, food production and food preparation, as well as community-based nutrition-related needs and information to be included in an intervention aimed at community-wide health and well-being. The study forms part of a broader research project, which aims to facilitate health and well-being in resource-constrained communities, in support of reaching identified Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs). Interpretivism was utilised as meta-theoretical lens and a qualitative research approach was followed. I selected Bronfenbrenner's Ecosystems Theory as guiding framework for the current study. A Participatory Reflection and Action (PRA) research design was utilised to generate data with 22 purposefully selected parents from three primary schools in the Bronkhorstspruit area. Data were generated and documented through PRA-based workshops, observation, visual techniques, field notes and a reflective journal. Following inductive thematic analysis, five themes and related sub-themes emerged. The first theme relates to the daily eating patterns of the community, reflecting food consumed during breakfast, lunch and dinner. Secondly, healthy eating practices were identified as a theme, indicating that community members had a clear understanding of what healthy eating practices entails, available resources to inform healthy eating practices and current informational needs in terms of healthy eating practices. The third theme highlights food preparation practices, where women take responsibility for food preparation by means of a variety of methods. The fourth theme emphasises food purchasing practices, where community members buy from larger chain-stores, local shops and informal traders. Finally, the fifth theme indicates food production practices, where community members prefer to grow their own vegetables. Based on the findings it can be concluded that this community's food consumption patterns are primarily affected by factors in the macrosystem, namely poverty and unemployment. At the macro-level, access to healthy food, cost of healthy food and the influence of the media are aspects influencing the perceptions and decisions of community members such as parents. Changed food consumption practices and nutrition-related needs within the community may, in turn, effect change in the macrosystem by informing related future interventions. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted

This paper examines the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on health using the data of 61 countries between 2000 and 2009 from the World Bank. The ICT variables considered in this paper include internet, fixed phones, and mobile phones. Based on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations, we select several health variables and examine the impact of ICT on these variables. These variables include life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate, under-five mortality rate, maternal mortality ratio, and prevalence of HIV. The estimation strategies are the pooling OLS model, the fixed effect model, and the random effect model. The empirical results suggest that ICT indeed plays a significant role in improving the health level of a country. ICT effectively decreases infant mortality rates and children mortality rates, and also increases life expectancy. This finding supports the viewpoints of United Nations (UN), World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank, and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) that ICT has great potential in improving a country¡¦s health. The finding also confirms the arguments of several literatures, including McNamara (2007) and Lucas (2008), that ICT can lead to a more effective health system. In addition, we also find that fixed phones and mobile phones, which have more powerful functions in communicating and have greater flexibility, help decrease deaths due to acute diseases or emergencies; while internet displays more profound impact on improving health with the accumulation of time. Our results suggest that adopting and promoting ICT is an effective way for developing countries and less-developed countries to enhance the level of health of people. We also expect that ICT can help these countries to meet at least part of the Millennium Development Goals.

This thesis investigates the utilisation of maternal health care in Zambia, where despite being a signatory to the Safe Motherhood Initiative and Millennium Development Goals, which are aimed at improving maternal health, indicators of maternal health continue to perform poorly. The need to understand crucial factors in improving maternal health motivated the current research, especially since there is a dearth of literature in this area in Zambia. The thesis focuses on two aspects of maternal health care: antenatal care (ANC) and facility-based deliveries, to answer two broad questions. Firstly, what factors determine the use of ANC in Zambia? Secondly, to what extent has the abolition of user fees affected facility-based deliveries? An assessment of the factors, which explain the utilisation of ANC in Zambia, using three sets of comparable datasets reveals that, while there are differences in the factors explaining the decision to use ANC and the frequency of visits over time, the decision to seek ANC and the frequency of use is low among the poor and less educated, and there are marked regional differences in utilisation. The most appropriate econometric specification for antenatal visits, according to different performance indicators, was the two-part model, which differs from recent research favouring more complex methodologies. The analysis is further extended through the inclusion of supply-side factors and the examination of individual and community level factors associated with inadequate and non-use of ANC, following the adoption of the focused ANC approach in Zambia. To incorporate the supply side factors, the 2007 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey was linked to administrative and health facility census data using geo-referenced data. To assess the factors associated with (1) the inadequate use of ANC (defined as three or less visits), and (2) the non-use of ANC in the first trimester of pregnancy, we specify two multilevel logistic models. At the individual level, the woman’s employment status, quality of ANC received and the husband’s educational attainment are negatively associated, while parity, the household childcare burden and wealth are positively associated with inadequate utilisation of ANC. Both individual and community level characteristics influence inadequate use and non-use of ANC in the first trimester; however, community level factors are relatively stronger in rural areas. Although ANC is an important facet of maternal care, it occurs before delivery, but does not necessarily provide much information with respect to delivery decisions. Therefore, the thesis investigates delivery decisions, as well, in particular, the effect of user fee removal in rural areas of Zambia on facility-based deliveries. To account for regional differences, we employ a Seemingly Unrelated Regression model incorporating an Interrupted Time Series design. The analysis uses quarterly longitudinal data covering 2003q1-2008q4. When unobserved heterogeneity, spatial dependence and quantitative supply-side factors are controlled for, user fee removal is found to immediately increase aggregate facility-based deliveries, although the national trend was unaffected. Drug availability and the presence of traditional birth attendants also influence facility-based deliveries at the national level, such that, in the short-term, strengthening and improving community-based interventions could increase facility-based deliveries. However, there is significant variation and spatial dependence masked in the aggregate analysis. The results highlight the importance of service quality in promoting facility-based deliveries, and also suggest that social and cultural factors, especially in rural areas, influence the use of health facilities for delivery. These factors are not easily addressed, through an adjustment to the cost of delivery in health facilities. Additionally, we analyse the effect of user fee abolition on the location of childbirth, focussing on deliveries that occur in public health facilities using household survey data. To elicit the causal relationship, we exploit the relative change in fees across health districts within a difference-in-differences framework. Surprisingly, although reductions in home deliveries were observed, as expected, reductions in public health facility-based deliveries were also uncovered, along with increases in deliveries at private health facilities. However, these findings were statistically insignificant; suggesting that the abolition of user fees had little, if any, impact on the choice of location for childbirth. The statistically insignificant, but unexpected, causal effects further suggest that the removal of user fees have unintended consequences, possibly the transference of facility costs to the client, which would deter the utilisation of delivery services. Therefore, abolishing user fees, alone, may not be sufficient to affect changes in outcomes; instead, other efforts, such as improving service quality, could have a greater impact. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Economics / unrestricted

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T20:21:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Cecilia da Silva Oliveira.pdf: 3966277 bytes, checksum: 4c57885866b646fbc854e0618ac947d8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research analyses the investment in the aesthetics of secure life, which emerges from the proximities between development and security. The focus of the analysis is on the governmental practices accompanying the Millennium Development Goals derived from the Millennium Declaration of the United Nations. The aim is to study development through the relationship between government and governmentality, which evidence the investments in the management of life by means of political economy as a principle of calculation aiming at the improvement of human capital. Through the depletion of biopolitics, this thesis shows the operation of planetary governmentality through the shifts that make poverty management a shared objective aimed at the planet's population, providing interventions and regulations of governmental practices in environments. The United Nations used the turn of the millennium as a strategy to upgrade its structure and mission, and adopted the goal of reducing poverty and hunger as a transterritorial risk. This approach triggered development discourses about promoting sustainability, financial aid flows, expert knowledge and repositioned the UN s role in the humanitarian field. Relations formerly centered on the state were reshaped to include and expand civil society participation, illustrating how the diplomatic dispositif and development programs are actualized by the exercise of neoliberal freedom in the 21st century. This is the main axis of investment that improves the productivity of the population without giving up the predominance of control, and that makes security an essential mechanism for capitalist development to operate its technologies. The genealogy of power discussed by Michel Foucault guides the mapping of strategic knowledge produced in main conferences. These conferences highlight the interest in new nuances produced by the introduction of the diplomatic dispositif in the field of political economy, which acts as technology and language to expand development programs between the twentieth and twenty-first century. The emergence of food security was crucial in connecting sustainable development and the management of hunger, environment and misery on the planet. The case study shows how the use of food security in Brazil operationalized technologies to expand the discourse of the MDGs and the ethics of secure life as a universal project / Esta pesquisa aborda a emergência e investimento na estética da vida segura, a partir das proximidades entre desenvolvimento e segurança, situando as práticas governamentais esperadas pelos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento do Milênio das Nações Unidas, derivados da Declaração do Milênio. O objetivo é apresentar os estudos sobre o desenvolvimento a partir do interesse nas relações governo e governamentalidade, que evidenciam os investimentos na gestão da vida por meio da economia política como princípio de cálculo para o aprimoramento do capital humano. A partir do esgotamento da biopolítica, esta tese mostra o funcionamento da governamentalidade planetária por meio dos deslocamentos que fazem da gestão da pobreza um objetivo compartilhado voltado à população do planeta, que proporcionam intervenções e regulações das práticas governamentais nos ambientes. As Nações Unidas utilizou a virada do milênio como estratégia para atualizar sua estrutura e missão, e adotou a redução da pobreza e da fome como risco transterritorial. Isto a fez acionar os discursos do desenvolvimento para impulsionar a sustentabilidade, os fluxos financeiros à assistência, os saberes dos especialistas, e reposicionar seu papel no campo dos humanitarismos. As relações centradas no Estado foram redimensionadas para incluir a participação da sociedade civil ampliada, mostrando que o dispositivo diplomático e os programas de desenvolvimento são acionados pelos exercícios da liberdade neoliberal no século XXI. Este é o principal eixo de investimento que viabiliza a produtividade da população sem abdicar da predominância dos controles, e que fazem da segurança mecanismo essencial para que o desenvolvimento capitalista possa operar suas tecnologias. A genealogia do poder tratada por Michel Foucault orienta o mapeamento de saberes estratégicos produzidos nas chamadas grandes conferências que marcam o interesse em ressaltar novas nuances produzidos pela introdução do dispositivo diplomático no campo da economia política, como tecnologia e linguagem própria da expansão dos programas de desenvolvimento entre o século XX e XXI. A emergência da segurança alimentar foi decisiva para associar desenvolvimento sustentável, gestão da fome, do meio ambiente e das misérias no planeta. O estudo de caso apresenta como o uso da segurança alimentar no Brasil operacionalizou as tecnologias necessárias para expandir o discurso dos ODM e da estética da vida segura como projeto universal

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:55:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Cecilia da Silva Oliveira.pdf: 3966277 bytes, checksum: 4c57885866b646fbc854e0618ac947d8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research analyses the investment in the aesthetics of secure life, which emerges from the proximities between development and security. The focus of the analysis is on the governmental practices accompanying the Millennium Development Goals derived from the Millennium Declaration of the United Nations. The aim is to study development through the relationship between government and governmentality, which evidence the investments in the management of life by means of political economy as a principle of calculation aiming at the improvement of human capital. Through the depletion of biopolitics, this thesis shows the operation of planetary governmentality through the shifts that make poverty management a shared objective aimed at the planet's population, providing interventions and regulations of governmental practices in environments. The United Nations used the turn of the millennium as a strategy to upgrade its structure and mission, and adopted the goal of reducing poverty and hunger as a transterritorial risk. This approach triggered development discourses about promoting sustainability, financial aid flows, expert knowledge and repositioned the UN s role in the humanitarian field. Relations formerly centered on the state were reshaped to include and expand civil society participation, illustrating how the diplomatic dispositif and development programs are actualized by the exercise of neoliberal freedom in the 21st century. This is the main axis of investment that improves the productivity of the population without giving up the predominance of control, and that makes security an essential mechanism for capitalist development to operate its technologies. The genealogy of power discussed by Michel Foucault guides the mapping of strategic knowledge produced in main conferences. These conferences highlight the interest in new nuances produced by the introduction of the diplomatic dispositif in the field of political economy, which acts as technology and language to expand development programs between the twentieth and twenty-first century. The emergence of food security was crucial in connecting sustainable development and the management of hunger, environment and misery on the planet. The case study shows how the use of food security in Brazil operationalized technologies to expand the discourse of the MDGs and the ethics of secure life as a universal project / Esta pesquisa aborda a emergência e investimento na estética da vida segura, a partir das proximidades entre desenvolvimento e segurança, situando as práticas governamentais esperadas pelos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento do Milênio das Nações Unidas, derivados da Declaração do Milênio. O objetivo é apresentar os estudos sobre o desenvolvimento a partir do interesse nas relações governo e governamentalidade, que evidenciam os investimentos na gestão da vida por meio da economia política como princípio de cálculo para o aprimoramento do capital humano. A partir do esgotamento da biopolítica, esta tese mostra o funcionamento da governamentalidade planetária por meio dos deslocamentos que fazem da gestão da pobreza um objetivo compartilhado voltado à população do planeta, que proporcionam intervenções e regulações das práticas governamentais nos ambientes. As Nações Unidas utilizou a virada do milênio como estratégia para atualizar sua estrutura e missão, e adotou a redução da pobreza e da fome como risco transterritorial. Isto a fez acionar os discursos do desenvolvimento para impulsionar a sustentabilidade, os fluxos financeiros à assistência, os saberes dos especialistas, e reposicionar seu papel no campo dos humanitarismos. As relações centradas no Estado foram redimensionadas para incluir a participação da sociedade civil ampliada, mostrando que o dispositivo diplomático e os programas de desenvolvimento são acionados pelos exercícios da liberdade neoliberal no século XXI. Este é o principal eixo de investimento que viabiliza a produtividade da população sem abdicar da predominância dos controles, e que fazem da segurança mecanismo essencial para que o desenvolvimento capitalista possa operar suas tecnologias. A genealogia do poder tratada por Michel Foucault orienta o mapeamento de saberes estratégicos produzidos nas chamadas grandes conferências que marcam o interesse em ressaltar novas nuances produzidos pela introdução do dispositivo diplomático no campo da economia política, como tecnologia e linguagem própria da expansão dos programas de desenvolvimento entre o século XX e XXI. A emergência da segurança alimentar foi decisiva para associar desenvolvimento sustentável, gestão da fome, do meio ambiente e das misérias no planeta. O estudo de caso apresenta como o uso da segurança alimentar no Brasil operacionalizou as tecnologias necessárias para expandir o discurso dos ODM e da estética da vida segura como projeto universal