1,720,958 research outputs found
An evaluation of the sustainability of the social sector of the expanded public works programme to empower women, youth and the disabled
Full text linkThesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2013.The study is a programme evaluation of the sustainability of the social sector of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) to empower women, youth and persons with disabilities as vulnerable groups. The study gives a background to the EPWP program and the problem of poverty in South Africa.
The Strengths Perspective and the Social Development Approach are used as theoretical frameworks to underpin the study. These two approaches are appropriate as they focus on the well-being of people and communities. The social development approach emphasises the social and economic well-being of people, and the strengths perspective focuses on the strengths that people possess, and not on their weaknesses. The study describes poverty, providing a basis for its understanding and also contextualising the EPWP as a poverty alleviation strategy. The study continues to discuss the empowerment of women, youth and persons with disabilities on a national and international level, and also as the official targets of the social sector of the EPWP.
In the context of applied research, the study utilised programme evaluation to evaluate the sustainability of the social sector of the EPWP to empower women, youth and persons with disabilities. The research question for the study was “how sustainable is the Social Sector of the Expanded Public Works Programme to empower women, youth and persons with disabilities?”
In the context of a mixed methods research approach the researcher utilised the triangulation mixed methods research design to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Quantitative data was collected by means of mailed and hand-delivered questionnaires from officials involved in the implementation of the social sector of the EPWP. Qualitative data was collected through focus group discussions conducted with groups of women and youth as beneficiaries of the social sector of the EPWP. The evaluation revealed that the target to include persons with disabilities as 2% of the participants in the programme was not reached, as no persons with disabilities were registered as beneficiaries of the Home Community Based Care and Early Childhood Development programmes within the EPWP.
The findings confirmed that the strengths perspective and the social development approaches are applicable as theoretical frameworks which underpin the social sector of the EPWP. The study also revealed that poverty can be defined and measured using different dimensions, and not only the monetary approach.
The study has also shown that Public Works programmes are used in South Africa and globally by policy makers as a strategy to alleviate poverty, and that in some instances they target specific vulnerable groups. In South Africa the official targets are women, youth and persons with disabilities. Women and youth participated in the social sector of the EPWP in Gauteng Province, but the target of including persons with disabilities was not reached. The social sector of the EPWP in Gauteng has made a positive contribution to poverty alleviation, job creation, skills development and empowerment of women and youth.
The study also brought to light the fact that although the social sector of the EPWP is under good management, it may not be sustainable in the long term.gm2013Social Work and Criminologyunrestricte
A lifeskills programme for technikon students
Full text linkDissertation (MA (Social Work))--University of Pretoria, 1991.An empirical study and a literature review were done to determine the relationship between
lifeskills training needs and students' level of study, and also to determine which are the most
suitable methods of teaching lifeskills.
A survey, using self-administered questionnaires, was conducted, involving students in the
Engineering Faculty at the Technikon Northern Gauteng. A stratified random sample was drawn,
involving all departments in the faculty, and also students at different levels of study.
The study established that lifeskills needs of students differ based on their different levels of
study, although there were some needs that were common across all levels. Working in small
groups was identified as an effective method of teaching and learning lifeskills.Social Work and CriminologyMA (Social Work
BARRIERS AFFECTING EFFECTIVE MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROJECTS WITHIN WATERBERG DISTRICT
Full text linkCommunity projects aimed at alleviating poverty under the supervision of social workers employed by the Department of Social Development (DSD) in the Waterberg district of the Limpopo Province seem to be collapsing. This prompted the researchers to undertake a qualitative study using a contextual, descriptive and explorative research design aimed at obtaining an in-depth understanding of the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) mechanisms applied in supporting community projects for alleviating poverty. This article reports on findings based on interviews conducted with 21 participants. The study identified a lack of knowledge and training, as well as poor management and supervisor support as contributors towards weak M&E
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (ICT) ACCESS FOR PRACTICALS AMONG SOCIAL WORK STUDENTS IN AN OPEN DISTANCE LEARNING UNIVERSITY
Full text linkThis study utilised a non-experimental, quantitative research design to describe the ICT experiences of fourth-year Social Work students of the University of South Africa. Non-probability purposive sampling was used to select a sample of 317 students for the study. A questionnaire was used as a data-collection instrument and the data collected were analysed using SPSS. The study’s findings indicated that the majority of the students (83.5%) have access to computers, but some of them could not access the internet because of inadequate knowledge of computer usage, lack of financial resources to buy a laptop, and the cost of commuting to a computer centre
Experiences and Challenges of Peer Educators as Part of a Health and Wellness Strategy in the Workplace in Gauteng, South Africa
No full textPeer education is a behaviour change strategy employed to mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS. It is widely used as a behaviour change strategy, both globally and in the southern African region. The researcher explored the experiences and challenges of peer educators in four companies in Gauteng, South Africa, and utilised a qualitative research approach with an exploratory and descriptive design. Convenience sampling, as a type of non-probability sampling, was used to identify four companies that had peer educators and were part of the Swedish Workplace HIV and AIDS Programme in Gauteng, South Africa. Four focus group discussions were used as a method of data collection and the data that were collected were analysed according to the themes that emerged. The study revealed that the experiences of peer educators in the workplace were mainly positive and offered them some opportunities, but also presented them with some challenges in the execution of their tasks. There was also a need to ensure that peer education becomes sustainable
THE PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENTS IN AN OPEN DISTANCE LEARNING (ODL) INSTITUTION ON LIFE SKILLS AS AN HIV AND AIDS PREVENTION STRATEGY
Full text linkMost people, including university students, are faced with the challenge of preventing infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). There is a need to ensure that students, future graduates and the future workforce enter the workforce as health-conscious citizens. This descriptive, explorative, qualitative study was conducted among students of the University of South Africa (Unisa), and it explored the students’ perceptions of developing life skills as an HIV and AIDS prevention strategy. Focus group discussions were used as a means of data collection. The data collected were subjected to content analysis. The perception of the students showed that life skills may play a crucial role in the prevention of HIV and AIDS. The study revealed that learning about life skills is absent from the students’ curriculum, and students want it to be included in their education. Some recommendations were made: the inclusion of HIV and AIDS education in the students’ curricula and qualification; student support services should provide services that go beyond the provision of medication and condoms to include counselling services for students on mental health, behaviour and general health; compulsory life skills workshops and educational sessions should be made available to students at the beginning of registration cycles; and topics for the life skills workshops should encompass aspects that are related to HIV and AIDS as well as those that are not HIV- and AIDS-related
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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