Bureaucratic intervention and the development of peasant agriculture : the case of ALDEP in Botswana

In an environment marked by high rates of economic growth and political stability, the state bureaucracy ln Botswana perceives its role as primarily that of 'modernisation' (as against that of maintaining the ruling party and politicians in power), and the elimination of structural biases in resource allocation. Along with other important socio-political and economic factors, since the late 1970s a section of this bureaucracy has played a major role ln the initiation, formulation and implementation of policies aimed at the redistribution of economic resources to the peasant sector.This study eschews instrumentalist, a priori and reductionist approaches which tend to see the state, including the bureaucracy, as synonymous with, and therefore as solely pursuing the interests of, the economically dominant class. It adopts an approach which sees the Botswana state as potentially autonomous vis-a-vis the economically dominant class. This facilitates the detailed analysis of the policy process focusing on the orientations and roles of the bureaucrats and their relationship to the peasantry within the context of the implementation of re-distributive policy. The thesis examines these issues ln detail by focusing on Botswana's major agricultural programme, the Arable Lands Development Programme (ALDEP). Field research was caried out in Kweneng District and Gaborone in 1988-89.Despite its 'progressive character', however, this bureaucracy is ill-equipped to deal effectively with various socio-economic situations facing some of the groups targeted to benefit from the re-distributive policies implemented since the early 1980s. The study highlights the all-too-familiar trend whereby such policies ultimately benefit better-off sections of the target group. In ALDEP's case this has to do partly with largely stereotypical notions of 'progressIve farming' developed in the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA). A direct outcome of these stereotypes is widespread resistance by small peasants to the recommended package of cultivating techniques.Since the middle peasantry fits into these stereotypes, this group has emerged to become the major beneficiaries from ALDEP, as shown by their increased output. On the other hand, the majority of small peasant households face dwindling sources of income, undermining their capacity to take part in the acquisition of inputs despite the programme's favourable grant/downpayment scheme. As it is presently constituted ALDEP therefore does not appear to provide the framework through which to improve the posi tion of these peasants. Vulnerable groups such as female-headed households have also suffered.A second form of bias manifests itself in terms of processes operating at the 'wider' political level and impinging on the implementation of peasant-focused redistributive programmes such as ALDEP. A case in point is the initiation in 1985 of the Accelerated Rainfed Arable Programme (ARAP) as a means of placating the politically precedent kulak farmers demanding an equally favourable policy. Incipient intra-bureaucratic conflict arising partly from these biases has served to weaken the autonomy of the bureaucracy and to strengthen the position of elite farmers more closely linked to the political interests of the ruling party

The National Rural Cable TV Development Task Force : a case study of a "coordinative approach" to federal policy and program implementation

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1981.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.Includes bibliographies.by William Gaston Polk, Jr.Ph.D

Suffolk University Academic Catalog, College of Arts and Sciences and Sawyer Business School, 2012-2013

This catalog contains information for both the undergraduate and graduate programs. The catalog is a pdf version of the Suffolk website, and the pages are not in numerical order. In order to navigate the program descriptions and degree requirements, please use the menu links on the left side of each page. To view the course descriptions, refer to the A-Z list of courses starting on page 1,220 (these are also included here as separate pdf files with lists of CAS and SBS courses). You can also search for a particular course or program by clicking ctrl+f and typing in the course number or name. Please contact the Archives if you need assistance navigating this catalog or finding information on degree requirements or course descriptions.https://dc.suffolk.edu/cassbs-catalogs/1165/thumbnail.jp

Public relations in community work : a public relations programme for direct service organisations

The community work method of social work is a method requiring creativity, application of specialised skills and knowledge, sound planning and administration and a persuasiveness to reach the various sectors of the community in order to accomplish broad based goals. Public relations is an occupation that has a sound body of literature and theory, a code of ethics or conduct, a host of tools and methods and also requires sound planning and administration, bound together with persuasiveness to reach the various publics in order to accomplish goals affecting image, quality of service rendering and marketing of services. The present study was concerned with identifying the commonalities and the differences between the profession of community work and the occupation of public relations in order to enhance the content of community work theory for practical application by community workers. The differences between the two would, in fact, teach content to community work. It was hypothesised that public relations has a necessary function and is an occupation that can be internalised with and applied to community work for the effective marketing of organisational services. A model for incorporating public relations into community work was designed and implemented in a direct service welfare organisation with positive results. This design is applicable to other direct service welfare organisations with innovative and flexible management teams. The results of an empirical research study, making use of random sampling and questionnaires, was analysed. The results indicated that public relations and community work were comparable entities with reference to knowledge bases, values, skills, tools, methods, techniques, ethics and programmes. A third group of respondents emerged in this study - community workers practising public relations firmly within the realm of community work. This group advocated the use of marketing and communication strategies in applying the community work method effectively. The primary difference to emerge from the work research was one of emphasis in applying methods and subsequently, community work can learn a great deal from these differences which will enhance service rendering correspondingly. The culmination of this study led to several highly relevant conclusions and recommendations for welfare organisations in a Post-apartheid South Africa. The most worthwhile conclusion was that community work has a great deal to learn from public relations, and that they are combinable entities at every level.KMBT_22