Submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree in Master of Arts in Development Studies in the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies at the University of Zululand, 2008. / The purpose of this study was to examine the role played by rural women in development. KwaNdaya case study will be used to show their role. History has shown that rural community development programs in the past have been based on a variety of policy approaches, but many have not addressed women's roles as producers, caregivers and reproducers. Women's work, priorities and lives have not been incorporated into development agendas and policies, and as a result many development projects have failed. Women need to be seen as having the role of producers, caregivers and reproducers, all being essential for the maintenance of the family and community system. The assumption that there is some universal position that all women occupy in all societies must be eradicated. This is a descriptive exploratory study that explored the major role of rural women who are practicing small-scale community development project. In addition the study highlights the challenges and successful stories as reported by rural women in the study. This study was conducted in a remote rural area of KwaZulu-Natal Province. The population for the study was women who are working as a co-operative in their community production centre. The KwaNdaya production centre steering committee was used as a focus group to collect data, unstructured interviews was conducted, a questionnaire was formulated and used to ask open-ended questions concerning their project in the Zulu language. Participatory research was used at KwaNdaya because it emphasizes the concepts of people, usually the oppressed whose concerns inform the focus of the research (Freire, 1972). Participatory action research (PAR) was also applied, because it claims to be an approach with less exploitative qualities than research which treats people as research material and as objects, such as ordinary surveys and especially research which uses people as test cases (Reason, 1990:142} Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) principles were applied while gathering information at KwaNdaya that is, learning from, with and by local people where local people's criteria, classifications and categories was used. Their understanding, indigenous knowledge, viewpoints skills and practices was discovered and appreciated. Qualititative content analysis was used to analyse information that was collected as Huysamen (1994:36) confirmed that the qualititative analysis is less abstracted and closer to raw data analysis since it is in a form of words, which are context based and also can have more than one meaning. It was found that at KwaNdaya Production Centre women are faced with so many challenges but still are working together on a daily basis to achieve their goal that is, the alleviation of rural poverty and still their project which is small-scale in nature, is almost sustainable. / University of Zululand's Senate Research Committe

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Boston University, 1983. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 218-223).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 106-114).

This thesis presents post modern, feminist narratives written from the author’s experiences as a community development worker over a period of twenty years. The contexts are largely based in Sydney and the housing developments in western Sydney. The author writes from within the post modern tensions between subjectivity and objectivity, consciously choosing to represent her own experiences, thoughts, beliefs and actions as case studies. She names and explores her changing ideologies as a community worker through cameos of critical incidents throughout her career. Different styles of narratives are presented of a community development engagement in Fairfield, NSW in 1990-1991. It is argued that community development has a role in the sustainability of civil society, to foster a peaceful oppositional force so necessary as part of a vigorous democracy which values and respects difference. / Master of Science (Hons) Social Ecology

Thesis (M. A.), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1999. / Bibliography: p. 325-333.

The study to investigates the livelihood activities of female-headed households in Letlhakane village. In its attempt to examine how these activities are organised, maintained and diversified, it analyses the challenges in carrying out the activities and the possible solutions to these challenges at the household level. The study concerns itself with the views of female heads on the livelihood activities done in their households. The main focus is on what these women and their household members were doing for the survival of the entire household in the remote rural village of Letlhakane between December 2004 and January 2005. For this study a qualitative methodology was vital to gather information on the livelihood activities and composition of households and the contribution of the members to the survival of the household. In-depth, follow-up interviews were used as the research method. The informants of the study were female heads from female-headed households. This was supplemented with observation by the researcher on the activities and the physical surroundings of the village. Photos were also taken in the village. This study reaches a number of conclusions. First, female-headed households in Letlhakane village are a diverse group in terms of the activities they embark on and the composition of their households. But they share a common aspect: their livelihood activities are not sufficient for the survival of their households. There were few or no activities for household survival, even for those households that have been female-headed for a long period of time. As compared to single household heads, female heads with partners were better off when judged by overall returns from the activities. The activities in the households studied were keeping goats, fowls and domestic animals such as dogs and subsistence agriculture in the form of growing maize, melons, cabbages, spinach, beans and fruit gardens. They also grew trees and plants for medicinal purposes such as aloes and lemons. Boyfriends were another source of income for some of the female-headed households. Most of the activities were geared towards immediate consumption, and could not stretch as far as investment. Lower returns from the activities affected children from these households in two ways. Firstly, they had to engage in activities to help provide for the household and secondly some had to drop out of school because of insufficient means to afford schooling. Women heads had the responsibilities of caring for and nurturing the family, raising children and providing food for their household in the households studied. The absence of opportunities for survival and insecure livelihood activities pose a threat to the continued survival of these households. The main obstacles to the livelihood activities were lack of resources such as sufficient land and water, cooperation between residents, skills and financial capital. A major difficulty for women especially, is that voices are only listened to in the village if they come from an adult male figure in the household. Positive aspects for livelihoods that came out from the study were the prevalence of social capital amongst neighbours and relatives. / Carina van Rooyen

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1992. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 279-294). Also available via the Internet.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

No description available.

Thesis (M.E.S.)--York University, 2005. Graduate Programme in Environmental Studies. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 225-228). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=0&did=1216719341&SrchMode=1&sid=11&Fmt=2&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1195054593&clientId=5220