Theses

This research was aimed at establishing the effects of the global economic crisis on local nongovernmental organizations in relation to their financial resources, quality of services and coping strategies in the event of grant reduction or withdrawal. The research study was also conducted to establish how Non- governmental Organizations are planning to strengthen social service delivery capacities during the crisis periods.

In this thesis we have presented results from a simulated data set based on the 1997 Belgian Health Interview Survey. The aim was to describe the distribution of the disease with respect to the place of occurrence. Several methods in the Bayesian framework have been considered. We have shown in these results that basing our conclusion on the SMRs alone to describe the disease risk may prove inadequate.

Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) have been widely recognized for playing significant role in poverty reduction through income generation from sales, job creation at low cost, utilization of locally found resources, adding value to agricultural produce, and production of goods and services that meet basic needs of the poor. However, the contribution of MSEs to poverty reduction processes and development in general is much dependent on the length of period these enterprises survive.

Market access for agricultural products from developing and least developed countries is hampered by numerous trade barriers. Some of these barriers appear in the form of standards and technical regulations that have to be followed by both exporters and importers. While some of these standards and regulations are purposely crafted to restrict certain imports, others are genuine measures serving various purposes. These barriers to trade are commonly referred to as technical barriers to trade.

The research was aimed at producing low cost durable cement extenders from ash residues of agricultural co-products to enhance sustainable utilization of natural resources. Agricultural residues such as rice husks, wheat straw, maize stalks and industrial wastes such as sawdust and ashes present disposal problems to authorities. Cement is the main constituent material in the construction industry. However, the production of cement contributes up to 10% of the global CO2 emissions. Furthermore it is an expensive commodity to a majority of low income earners in emerging economies.