This study investigates the livelihoods impacts of eco-tourism in Hogsback, the extent to which local community members are effectively participating in eco-tourism activities as well as the negative implications of ecotourism in Hogsback. A qualitative research methodology was employed in order to have a deeper understanding of the issues under study. Simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques were used to select respondents. In-depth semi structured interviews were used to collect data from 40 respondents and 6 key informants. The study established that eco-tourism activities help mainly individuals rather than the whole community at large and those who benefit; it improves their lives as well as benefiting the economy of the country. This study also found out that the government plays a role to promote development of ecotourism in the community, this is through infrastructure development and providing services for tourism. Lastly the study found out that there are conflicts over ownership of eco-tourism activities, limited funds in promotion of eco-tourism activities and that there is no eco-tourism development strategy. The study recommends that the government of South Africa should design and implement a comprehensive eco-tourism development strategy that puts people at the core.

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Thesis (MTech (Business))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009 / The dissertation examines the levels of service delivery in Philippi through Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) and it suggests this model as a model that can be used to confront the challenges of underdevelopment, the mobilisation and sustaining of local economic development. The research investigates theoretical and practical approaches to address the developmental problems embedded in dependency theory utilised by government and non governmental organisations (NGOs) in the Philippi community. The research clarifies the important role of developmental stakeholders in depoliticising development processes and its endeavours to address issues of development ownership in Philippi. It suggests the employment of the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) approach which will focus on building Philippi from the inside out, utilising the available human capital, people’s expertise, formal and informal talents. The research employed both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. These methodologies rely on literature search, questionnaires, interviews, and observation as methods of data collection. At the end of the study, workable recommendations will be made informed by the research findings.

Thesis (MTech (Public Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2010 / When South Africa’s first democratic government was elected in 1994, the newly elected government committed itself to reduce the housing shortage in South Africa. By July 2001, approximately 1. 43 million as opposed to 3 million houses, were completed. In order to reduce the South African housing backlog, the government has established a number of Social Housing Institutions (SHI), but its social housing provision has still not lived up to its promises. While supply of social housing increased between 1994 and early 1998, it decreased between 1999 and 2004, whilst demand for social housing, continues to rise. Since existing government strategies have failed to meet the ever increasing social housing demand, there is a need to investigate the strategic elements and the efficiency of South Africa’s social housing provision. This thesis, therefore, determines strategies that the government should employ in order to close the gap between the supply and demand of social housing in South Africa. The thesis presents a comparative case study of social housing strategies and programmes in four countries namely: Brazil, Malaysia, China and England. The research identifies preconditions for successful housing programmes and strategies and concludes with policy recommendations. It proposes that public participation should be encouraged by all municipalities within South Africa. The research methodology which was used in this study is qualitative, where structured interviews were held with community members as well as with members of the municipality. The study reveals that there is no community participation in the housing process of the Mbashe local municipality. The findings of the research show that the municipality cannot be held accountable for non-participation of the community, as some community members do not want to work and learn. However, it is argued that local processes will not be effective if communities are not involved in development, in general.

M.A (Public Administration) / Training in local authorities in South Africa is seen against a background of development problems which include insufficient management skills and, inferior education. These are typical problem of black people in South Africa. It is against this background that, in the present day South Africa, there is a greater sensitivity to the importance of good local government management than ever before. Where skilled local government officials are scarce, as they were in the former black local authorities, they should be developed. Training and development are perhaps the first steps towards that end, though obviously they alone are not enough to solve all the human resource deficiencies within these local government structures. This dissertation identifies the priority training and development needs, describes current training and development efforts in local government and proposes further steps that local government should take to encourage, develop and support appropriate human resource development. Taking cognisance of lessons learned in training and developing elected councillors and appointed officials in local government, a need for a more scientific assessment of participants (councillors/officials) under going training and development was identified thereby ensuring that training becomes more targeted and effective. The original sample targeted for the assessment was 200 participants, being a little more than 20% of the total of potential partic.ipants. Eventually 107 respondents (11.2%) participated in the assessment. The sample is however enough to draw conclusions and make generalisations. The assessment was carried out in five centres: Germiston, Vanderbijlpark, Randfontein, Johannesburg and Pretoria. It was done largely using focus group discussions where open-ended questions gave participants enough opportunity to express themselves in an informal environment this proved to be very effective. The most pressing need identified by the participants was for training on the budgetary processes.

M.Ed. / With the democratic government in place in 1994, many donor agents put a lot of money into rural community development. This was done with the hope of addressing disparities that were caused by the apartheid era. Yet the availability of funds for rural communities has often not resulted in development as anticipated. This study looks at how community development projects should be planned, implemented and monitored. A case study of the Boschkop sanitation project has been used. In this case interviews, documents and observations (to a limited extent) were used to gather information. Two members of the Regional Sanitation Task Team, three Project Steering Committee members, three community members and two trainers were interviewed. Documents, ranging from the business plan to the closure report, were used. The data were analysed using the constant comparative method. From the data analysis it became apparent that the Boschkop sanitation project was not successful. The project was implemented over a very short period of time. There was not sufficient education on the project as the participants were not afforded the opportunity to apply what they had learned immediately. The community was not involved in making decisions and somehow they do not think they own the project. The study shows that reckless disbursement of money is not necessarily a solution to a problem. For rural community development projects to be successful there should be sufficient time allowed, a period of at least twelve months, to allow the participants to be actively involved right from the inception of the project to its evaluation. During the planning phase all the stakeholders have to indicate what it is they would like the project to achieve. Indicators of success have to be agreed upon

This thesis provides a provincial perspective on the limits of policy challenge within the post-apartheid South African state. This perspective is located in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, which is one of the poorest of the nine provinces into which the national territory was divided during the constitutional negotiations prior to the landmark democratic elections of 1994. The empirical foundation for this perspective is an analysis of the process of developing the Eastern Cape Provincial Growth and Development Plan 2004-2014 (PGDP), which took place in 2002-2004. Starting with a broader theoretical discussion, followed by a brief contextual analysis of the South African economy, the structure of the post-apartheid South African state, and key growth and development policies, the more detailed engagement with the PGDP process is undertaken. Drawing on Jessop’s (2008) strategic-relational approach, this thesis argues that the PGDP process arose within a particular spatio-temporal context where new opportunities for policy challenge were possible, but that such challenge had to be negotiated on a strategically selective terrain on which that challenge was neutralised. The PGDP process unfolded as a complex dialectic of agency and a range of path-dependent institutional processes with varying temporal and spatial horizons (cf. Pierson, 2004, 2005) in which no particular outcomes were guaranteed, but in terms of which some outcomes were more likely than others. Although the organisation of state power was expressed in the content of the PGDP, that power had to be understood as fractured across a range of state and non-state institutions, but with the state as the primary site of the contingent organisation of power. The provincial sphere of government faces particular constraints with the South African state, which has implications for its policy scope and the possibilities of policy challenge, even where wider social support is achieved.

The paradigmatic shifts in development approaches epitomised by contemporary discourses about development confer a prominent role on localised and territorial development. A growing scepticism on the efficacy of traditional development approaches provides the impetus for a strong understanding of the need to reconceptualise development theory and practices and to manipulate policies so as to remedy the imbalances of antecedent development approaches. This dissertation investigates the extent to which the existing training interventions can build skill capacity for Local Economic Development (LED) projects in the Cape Winelands municipalities. This will improve our understanding about how, and under what conditions, capacity building for LED can contribute to more inclusive economic and social change. In discussing the theoretical perspective of the study, the relationship between development, LED and capacity building is conceptualised through the lens of contemporary development theory of human development and capability approach. This will improve our understanding on how the capability approach aspires to re-orient approaches to socio-economic development and public policy, away from welfare, which is based on income and expenditure to well-being. The dissertation applies these ideas triangulating diverse research methods and data sources. It combines a literature review and documentary analysis, observation, surveys conducted with municipal authorities in Cape Winelands District Municipality. In addition, semi-structured interviews were held with LED Portfolio Councillors in the municipality as well as with key Officers from Local Government Sector for Education and Training Authority, Department of Economic Development and Tourism in Western Cape, South African Local Government Association and Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs. The methodological findings reveals the following pitfalls: Flaws in LED enabling policy framework for capacitating municipal staff; poor policy implementations; training fund difficult to access; lack of competent staff in local municipalities to effectively and efficiently implement LED policies and strategies; and lack of supportive environment in workplace to enhance transfer of trained skill to the job. Various recommendations resulting from the outcomes of the empirical study, namely the responses made by the respondents during the empirical survey, are proposed in the final chapter. It is shown that this research has, as a result, contributed to the body of knowledge of development theory and practices by improving our understanding of how, and under which conditions, capacity building training can support processes of social change in localised and territorial development.

The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) has been seen by government as a poverty-alleviation initiative in which many South Africans receive training and temporary employment that assist them in enhancing their employability. This has been seen in many rural communities as assisting with development of the community. It has been emphasize that this programme boosts the local economy while at the same time providing much needed financial support to those that are faced with lack of community development and unemployment. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the programme on community upliftment, with particular reference to community perceptions of the programme and training that is offered within the programme itself. Challenges with the implementation and execution of the programme were explored, in order to develop recommendations that will enhance the effectiveness of the programme within the local municipality. The literature study included interviews with key informants involved directly with the programme in the local municipality. A descriptive research approach within a qualitative paradigm was adopted for the study. Data was collected mainly from secondary sources. The findings of the study indicate that the Expanded Public Works Programme is the main source of employment within the local municipality, benefiting not only the beneficiaries involved in the programme, but also the community as a whole. The beneficiaries in the local area are able to sustain their needs through participating in the programme, and the community becomes safer and cleaner, with income being brought into families by participants in the programme. However, the local municipality is not achieving its set targets, and there is evidence of a lack of skills development and misuse of the beneficiaries by the local municipality officials, which is causing the programme to be ineffective.

This study is about the analysis of Community Participation in Local Government Integrated Development Planning with reference to Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality. The focus on the study was on full participation of community in the IDP processes. This report presents the findings of a study conducted to identify the strategies and consultation structures used in the development of IDP processes, together with the measures of effectiveness of these strategies. This study was triggered by the non attendance of the communities in the IDP road shows, the complaints of non service delivery and little understanding of the IDP concept. The results of this study show that the communities do not fully participate in their development planning processes. The communities do not understand the purpose and existence of IDP document. The researcher hopes that this study will sensitize the community to participate in the affairs of their development that will change the quality of their lives. King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality should improve their strategies and consultation structures in their IDP processes.