Chapters in books

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 74

Open Access
Employment and labour market trends
(HSRC Press, 2003) McCord, Anna; Bhorat, Haroon
Open Access
The state of the public service
(HSRC Press, 2005) Naidoo, Vinothan
The transformation of the public service in South Africa is an all-encompassing project corresponding to the complexities of wider political and socio-economic change. Despite these complexities, there appear to be interrelated yet discernible dimensions in the post-apartheid evolution of the public service, which require comment. One dimension emphasises practical-administrative capacity for improving the processes of executing public policy. Another dimension emphasises historical-political factors of culture change, which forces a consideration of the normative basis of transformation itself, and the influence of such factors on evaluating the effectiveness of measures to enhance practical administrative capacity. It often appears that, in urgently responding to severe socio-economic disparities and deprivation, calls to strengthen practical-administrative capacity risk sterility in underplaying historical-political factors associated with wider public service transformation. This chapter follows from this observation, and debates the substance of practical administrative improvement in the public service, referred to in recent presidential ‘State of the Nation’ speeches, against the background of historical and political factors inherited from the pre-liberation period.
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Economic growth and transformation in the 1940s
(Juta Double Storey, 2005) Nattrass, Nicoli
Open Access
Sustainability of electricity supply and climate change in South Africa
(UNEP Risø Centre, 2006-11) Winkler, Harald; Mukheibir, Pierre; Mwakasonda, Stanford; Halsnæs, Kirsten; Garg, Amit
Global responses to climate change are gradually considering the potential synergies between sustainable development and climate change policies. In the coming years developing countries face great challenges in development and its impact on climate. The path of development chosen by the region, upon which lies the future growth of energy and emission trajectories, would be greatly influenced by technological developments, economic cooperation between countries, and global cooperation in mitigation and adaptation of climate change. In many developing countries policies that are sensible from a climate change perspective can emerge as side-benefits of sound development programmes. In the energy sector, for example, price reforms, sector restructuring, and the introduction of energy efficiency measures and renewable energy technologies - all undertaken without any direct reference to climate change - can mitigate climate and other environmental risks while achieving their main goal of enhancing economic and social development. Moreover national development policies in these countries pay considerable attention to extending developmental benefits to the poor people. These include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, ensuring primary education for all, women empowerment, enhancing life expectancy, energy access to all, and environmental sustainability. Most of these align with the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and also enhance the adaptive capacities of the populations towards adverse impacts of climate change.
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Comparing AIDS governance: a research agenda on responses to the AIDS epidemic
(Ashgate, 2007) Strand, Per; Poku, Nana K; Whiteside, Alan; Sandkjaer, Bjorg
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Program evaluation:principles, procedures and practises
(Oxford University Press, 2007) Aurelio Jose Figueredo; Olderbak, Sally Gayle; Schlomer, Gabriel Lee; Garcia, Rafael Antonio; Wolf, Pedro
This chapter provides a review of the current state of the principles, procedures, and practices within program evaluation. We address a few incisive and difficult questions about the current state of the field: (1) What are the kinds of program evaluations? (2)Why do program evaluation results often have so little impact on social policy? (3) Does program evaluation suffer from a counterproductive system of incentives? and (4) What do program evaluators actually do? We compare and contrast the merits and limitations, strengths and weaknesses, and relative progress of the two primary contemporary movements within program evaluation, Quantitative Methods and Qualitative Methods, and we propose an epistemological framework for integrating the two movements as complementary forms of investigation, each contributing to different stages in the scientific process. In the final section, we provide recommendations for systemic institutional reforms addressing identified structural problems within the real-world practice of program evaluation.
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A monitoring dilemma: orphans and children made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS
(HSRC Press, 2007) Dawes, Andrew; van der Merwe, Amelia; Brandt, Rene'
Open Access
Children's constitutional right to social services
(Children's Institute, 2008) Dutschke, Mira; Monson, Jo
Open Access
Budget allocations for implementing the Children's Act
(Children's Institute, 2008) Budlender, Debbie; Proudlock, Paula; Monson, Jo
Open Access
Developmental social welfare policies and children's right to social services
(Children's Institute, 2008) Dutschke, Mira
Open Access
Assessing Racial Redress in the Public Service
(HSRC Press, 2008) Naidoo, Vinothan
Efforts to make South Africa’s public service more representative were propelled by the introduction of a non-racial democracy in 1994. The racial profile of South Africa’s public service was integral to sustaining the policy of apartheid, which was designed to promote a segregated and unequal system of social, economic and political relations between legally defined race groups. Van den Berghe (cited in Marger 1994: 402) interestingly referred to apartheid South Africa as a Herrenvolk democracy, defined paradoxically as a ‘state that provides most democratic features of political rule to whites while ruling blacks dictatorially’. More specifically, the creation of geographically separate and administratively distinct homeland territories to house South Africa’s black African population represented the pinnacle of a race-based system of public administration designed to strategically regulate the representation of the country’s black population in the public service relative to its white population.
Open Access
Making the link between social services and social assistance
(Children's Institute, 2008) Smith, Charmaine
Open Access
Key legislative developments affecting children in 2007
(Children's Institute, 2008) Jamieson, Lucy; Proudlock, Paula; Waterhouse, Samantha
Open Access
Human resources needed to give effect to children's right to social services
(Children's Institute, 2008) Loffell, Jackie; Allsopp, Merle; Atmore, Eric; Monson, Jo
Open Access
Schools and communities: building effective partnership
(Children's Institute, 2009) Rudolph, Norma
Restricted
Reviewing South Africa’s Efforts to Combat Corruption in its Bureaucracy: 1994-2009
(HSRC Press, 2009) Naidoo, Vinothan; Jackson, Paula
This paper reviews efforts by the South African government to reduce corruption in its bureaucracy. It is based on a research study that covered the period 1994–2009, corresponding with the country’s transition to a non-racial democracy. The objective of the research was to identify and evaluate anticorruption measures targeting South Africa’s public service. While this paper draws on the findings of this study, its main aim is to consider the import of these observations on the wider institutional challenge of combating corruption in the government. It should firstly be noted that when this paper talks about ‘corruption’, it defines and analyses this according to how the issue has been both legally defined and functionally described in the context of public bureaucracy in South Africa. From a more scholarly perspective, this paper examines the issue of corruption from the point of view of ‘public duty’ or ‘public office’ centred definitions, which focus on the deviation by bureaucrats from formal and legally defined duties and obligations (see Caiden & Caiden 1977: 302; Werner 1983: 147). In this regard, the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (No. 12 of 2004), much like its predecessor – the Corruption Act (No. 94 of 1992) – concentrates on persons who accept or offer to accept/give or agree to give any gratification, which results in them being influenced/or attempting to influence persons to act in a particular manner. Such a manner must moreover be deemed illegal, dishonest, unauthorised, incomplete or biased in exercising or carrying out the performance of any powers, duties or functions that arise from a constitutional, statutory, contractual or any other legal obligation, or otherwise constitute the abuse of a position of authority, breach of trust, violation of a legal duty or set of rules. Section 4 of the Act also applies this general definition to corrupt activities relating to ‘public officers’, and describes specific activities relating to the performance of public officials in particular.
Open Access
Black Consciousness in contemporary South African politics
(HSRC Press, 2009) Reddy, Thiven; Kagwanja, Peter; Kondlo, Kwandiwe
An ironic feature of contemporary South African politics is that while the organisations representing Black Consciousness (BC) ideas remain weak and fragmented, a revival in BC ideas, values and practices in official and civil society discourses seems evident. BC organisations dominated anti-apartheid politics in the 1970s, but their startling decline, particularly their weakened state under post-1994 democracy, calls out for analytical attention. In the 1999 and 2004 elections, the Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo) was the leading BC organisation. Together with the smaller Socialist Party of Azania (Sopa), Azapo received dismal support. Moreover, Azapo has split into three smaller organisations. Efforts to merge the three have so far faltered. One cannot conclude, however, that the obvious failure of BC political parties to challenge the ANC and the historically white political parties at the polls means that we should dismiss these organisations’ ideologies as ineffective and lacking in influence. The resurgence of BC ideas at the level of civil society, at a time when we might expect BC to be anachronistic, is intriguing. It is also the subject of this chapter.
Open Access
Meaningful access to basic education
(Children's Institute, 2009) Pendlebury, Shirley
Open Access
Children's right to basic education
(Children's Institute, 2009) Lake, Lori; Pendlebury, Shirley
Restricted
Clothing and textiles
(HSRC Press, 2009) Morris, Mike; Reed, Lyn