In this study, Local Economic Development (LED) is defined as an outcome of processes aimed at building the capacity of local areas for sustainable economic development. The study intended to investigate the challenges faced by Eastern Cape municipalities in implementing the LED programme. A sample of ten participants was drawn from two LED projects. The sample was distributed evenly with five beneficiaries per LED project. Data was collected using qualitative research methods through questionnaires. The sampling technique used was purposive to enable the researcher to select specific beneficiaries from each project and to allow the LED official responsible for each project to participate in the study. Budgetary constraints and staff shortages were identified as the main challenges facing the Great Kei Local Municipality. These two challenges have made it difficult for the municipality to implement proficiently LED programmes that are meant to effectively eradicate poverty and create employment. It is therefore recommended that the municipality should form partnerships with the private sector to boost the local economy by way of cooperative delivery of services, funding of projects and the supplementing of the municipal budget. The private enterprise/sector in an economy includes all large, medium, small and micro-enterprises (SMMEs). For example, large mining companies and factories as well the smallest spaza shop or stall at a taxi rank are part of private enterprise in a local economy. Whilst regulating such companies by way of licenses and taxes to raise national revenue, the government has limited control in the determination of how these enterprises are run. The result of such partnerships between the municipality and private sector will hopefully be the realisation of “a better life for all” as local people will be employed through investment promotion.

The study was about the impact of income generating projects on poverty alleviation and was conducted on Ibuyambo Secondary Cooperative Ltd at Emalahleni Local Municipality within Chris Hani District Municipality in the Eastern Cape. Ibuyambo Secondary Cooperative Ltd consisted of seven primary cooperatives from which data was collected from 18 respondents through questionnaires. To complement that, interviews were conducted with six key informants from government departments and other development stakeholders in the same area. The study was conducted in August 2013. The study covered a literature review on poverty as one variable, with focus on its definition; theoretical perspectives of poverty; poverty in development thought; global statistics on poverty; historical background of poverty in South Africa; structural adjustment programmes as a major cause of poverty; and causes of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. A literature review of income generation as another variable was also undertaken, with emphasis on definitions; the experience of income generation projects/activities (IGPs/IGAs); key factors for the successful implementation and management of projects; income generation projects and sustainable livelihoods; income generation and poverty alleviation programmes in South Africa; as well as a case study of projects under IRDP in India. The results of the study indicated that Ibuyambo Secondary Cooperative Ltd was generating income. However due to poor governance, mismanagement of funds and theft it was running at a loss and was struggling to finance its working capital and other member benefits. As such it was not making a meaningful impact on alleviating poverty on its members. The study also gave recommendations on the findings.

In an attempt to create employment opportunities and uplift economic development, government has embarked on industrial development through arms acquisition. The two major Spatial Development Initiatives namely, the Fish River SDI and the Wild Coast SDI were developed to enhance economic development in the Eastern Cape. The Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) is one of the elements of the Fish River SDI aimed at enhancing economic development through industrial development (Haines & Hosking, 2005). The Coega IDZ is one of government’s initiatives under the Industrial Participation program that has gained a lot of recognition. The Coega project has been under a lot of controversy since its conception and was highly linked to the arms deal as this project consumed most of government funds through the arms procurement program (Haines & Hosking 2005). The study therefore will attempt to address aspects premised in objectives of this study from the viewpoint of trade unions.

Black youth in South Africa has for decades, been marginalized in development programmes and many young blacks are experiencing poverty. With the advent of the new South Africa in 1994, the government initiated poverty alleviation projects for youth development. These projects offered black youth an opportunity to participate in their own development. The current study aimed at critically analyzing the contribution of a „Poverty Alleviation‟ programme for youth development. The study was conducted at Cala in the Sakhisizwe local municipality in the Chris Hani District of the Eastern Cape. The study utilized qualitative and quantitative research methods and took the form of exploratory research. The study revealed factors that appear to contribute to the ineffectiveness of youth development projects. The identified factors include the lack of participation of project members, lack of a sense of ownership and commitment, insufficient skills and non-use of policy and guiding documents by project members during the implementation stage. Stakeholder participation and sharing of expertise was identified as another important factor in determining the contribution of poverty alleviation projects to youth development. Lastly, the study shows that monitoring and evaluation of the project functions are necessary to ensure that a project like this achieves the desired outcome. A key recommendation made is that project members must be involved and participate fully in all project phases to enhance a sense of ownership and commitment to fellow project members.

The objective of the research was to assess the trends and forms of community participation to poverty alleviation in Bahir Dar town. The field study was limited to two projects, micro and small scale enterprise activities and credit service, however the finding and recommendation can be applied to all projects aimed to poverty alleviation and community self sustaining projects. In order to achieve the research objectives, a review of relevant literature was done. It began by reviewing definitions and concepts of poverty. The literature also over reviewed the importance of community participation to poverty alleviation efforts of a country and reviews the Ethiopian poverty reduction process. The literature further highlighted the role of community participation in achieving development goals. The data collection was done by means of focus group discussions complimented by face-to-face interviews. The data collected were analyzed thematically with the use of narrative summary and categorization in respect to the objective of the study. The findings of the study showed that there is low participation of community and therefore creating more opportunities for community participation activity and detailed study in the area is recommended.

Income generating projects represent one strategy adopted by the Department of Social Development to alleviate poverty. The purpose of this study is to explore challenges of an income generating project funded by the Department of Social Development in Kwa-Nobuhle, Uitenhage of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa., A sample of thirty respondents was drawn from ten income generating projects funded by the Department of Social Development. The sampling method of this study was purposive sampling. Data was gathered through semi-structured questionnaires. Related literature has been reviewed that focuses on income generating projects for poverty alleviation. Various recommendations have been made on the findings of the study. The findings of the study indicated the need for regular visits from the officials of the Department, to conduct monitoring and evaluation. Project members also need training on financial management so they cannot mismanage their finances. The research findings indicated clearly that strategies that were used by the Department were not effective enough to achieve desired goals of poverty alleviation.

This research report investigated the effects of a poverty alleviation project, the Cala bakery, on the community members of the Sakhisizwe Municipality in the Eastern Cape. This chapter provides a background to the study and also provides an introduction to the research report by discussing the relevance and problem statement, the research questions, sample and setting, research design and methodology and finally considers the ethical implications of the investigation. May 1997 described South Africa as being a developing nation with the majority of households in poverty, and having unequal distribution of income and wealth. Due to this, the democratic government of 1994 had adopted pro poor policy that focused on social services which its budget increases every year. Within this realm, poverty alleviation projects remained an important component of the government‟s challenge of tackling poverty (May, 1997). After almost 16 years of democracy in South Africa, poverty and unemployment remained a major challenge facing government in provision of basic services (Shasha, 2004). South Africa continued to be characterised by a large scale of unemployment and poverty in the formal sector of the economy in both rural and urban areas (Shasha & Liesle, 2004).Although there was poverty throughout South Africa, poverty was distributed unevenly among the nine provinces of the country. The Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Free State provinces have the highest poverty rates especially among the rural areas (DOS, 2009). The only people who survived poverty in the South African country were people that were well to do, people that could be able to make economic gains. Those people who were unemployed found themselves in debt, as it had been identified that a majority of homes and people do not save. This was due to being a country depending on social welfare services which resulted to disserving of people and to unsustainable levels of household debts. These debts were usually based on social, economic and psychological problems (Shasha & Liesle, 2004). In response, the South African government introduced community based projects whose operation was limited to a particular neighbourhood, and were run and managed by the local members of a community. The white paper for social welfare 1997 had encouraged the establishment of income generating projects which were run and managed by the group of community members who were predominantly unemployed people. The Department of Social Development (DOS, 2004) had further emphasised that these people had to include unemployed youth and that the project beneficiaries would not come from the same household to ensure that the initiative was touching a number of households within the community(DOS, 2004). Furthermore, these government intervention programmes aimed to reduce unemployment and poverty in South Africa by encouraging people to reduce poverty by themselves (Shasha, 2004). An example of one of these programmes was the Cala Development Project. The Cala community‟s youth had a business idea of producing baked products for the community and the surrounding areas. The purpose was to bring people together in order to reduce poverty and unemployment, specifically targeting young people who were household heads. The project has 8 beneficiaries that were committed to working together in this project, with the aim of producing baked foods.

Poverty in South Africa is vast. This is an open secret as it manifests itself in so many ways. It is widely known that South Africans are faced with one of poverty indicators, such as unemployment; hence our government is committed to fight poverty in various ways like, poverty alleviation, poverty eradication and poverty reduction programmes. This study looked at poverty of targeted people after Zamokuhle Ngcweleni was implemented. The researcher looked at the project’s contribution on poverty under sustainable livelihood approach with guidance of OECD(1991) criteria of judging the project these being; relevance, effectiveness and sustainability South Africa is committed in this regard with policies and strategies directed to fight poverty, Altman, Hart and Jacobs (2009). In the Constitution of South Africa (Act 1996) section 27 (1) (b)-(c) of this country, poverty is set to be fought, that people must have access to food sustainably through food security strategy. Government, through its departments commits to deliver to mostly affected people, services that deal with poverty reduction. The Department of Social Development is one of the vehicles to get these services to poverty stricken people blamed to history, politics and social ills. It is upon this background the study is done. The community of Ngcweleni with the assistance of the Department of Social Development and Special Programme has assumed this project, the Zamokuhle Ngcweleni with two activities, household gardens and egg production. 30 beneficiaries would sell for income and feed from the produce .This project started in 2010/11 financial year by the sub section, sustainable livelihood in the DOSD, based from the socio economic conditions of Ngcweleni where poverty is one the characteristic. The Zamokuhle Ngcweleni project was randomly chosen by the researcher for this study. The research was based on the aims and objective of the study. The study took place in a natural setting and was descriptive. Interviews, focus groups, documents and household survey were used by the researcher as data collection tools. The study was qualitative. Data was analysed using themes and interpreted thereafter. Participants were the beneficiaries of the Zamokuhle Ngcweleni project and officials of the department. Tables and graphs were used for biographical information to show age, gender, educational and marital status of the beneficiaries; for officials it showed qualification, designation and gender. The researcher gathered that the project has contributed positively to the poverty of the beneficiaries because of its relevance and effectiveness. It made beneficiaries food secure and the impact showed poverty is reduced. The project showed unsustainability and the researcher recommends the needs to investigate this further.

The study sought to evaluate the extent to which poverty alleviation programmes of the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR) addressed the agricultural needs of the Ndakana community. The emphasis had been on the effectiveness with which these programmes were implemented. Ndakana Village is situated in the Nqamakwe District. The village consists of Hili-hili, Mathafeni, Ncora and Diphini locations which are approximately twenty kilometres from the rural town of Nqamakwe in Amathole District. In the Eastern Cape, several poverty alleviation programmes are implemented which should, inter alia, alleviate the phenomenon of poverty in the rural areas. Despite these programmes it, however, appears that there is very little, if any, improvement in the poverty situation. Against this background it is essential that the progress in the alleviation of poverty be evaluated and if necessary, steps be taken to ensure that the envisaged objectives be achieved. On the importance of evaluating the program, Monette et al. (2011:5) write that in the past few decades, many large, ambitious expensive programmes intended to cope with social problems and to provide services to individuals have been developed. Along with the growth of these programs has emerged an increasing concern over their results: Do they achieve their intended goals? These programs are costly, and some evaluation is needed to assess whether resources are, indeed, being used effectively. Equally important, a program that fails to achieve its goals leave a problem unresolved or a service undelivered. Monette et al. (2011:6) further regard evaluation as a use of scientific research techniques to assess the result of a program and evaluate whether the program, as currently designed, achieve its stated goals In accordance with the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) (1994:20), a national land reform programme is the central driving force of rural development. Such a programme aims to effectively address the injustices of the forced removals and the historical denial of access to land. The RDP aims to ensure security of tenure for rural dwellers in implementing the national land reform programme, and through the provision of support services, the South African government intends to build the economy by generating large-scale employment, increasing rural income and endeavours to eliminate overcrowding.

Years of political unrest, forced removals, migrant labour and overly rapid urbanisation have had a negative effect on the lives of many South Africans and poverty, unemployment and the HIV/AIDS pandemic have increased the challenges facing young people in South Africa. With 54 per cent of South Africa’s population younger than 24 years and two-thirds of South Africans between the ages of 18 and 35 years unemployed, youth development is an urgent and critical social investment. Current research stresses the importance of an integrated and developmental approach that recognises young people’s optimism and resilience and builds on their strengths. Of the various youth developmental interventions being implemented in African countries, including South Africa, an initiative that is being used increasingly, is the international broad-base programme known as the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP). Using an experiential approach honed by over 35 years’ of working mostly in prisons in more than 35 countries, AVP teaches the attitudes and strategies (such as self-awareness, empathy and community-building) needed to transform conflict nonviolently and addresses the important psychological need for intimate connection with others. This study investigates how the experience of an AVP workshop can influence so-called ‘at-risk’1 young South African adults’ perceptions of personally-experienced conflict situations. The study was conducted in partnership with a local youth development project and used a narrative analysis approach to explore the pre- and post-AVP workshop conflict narratives of a group of Xhosa-speakers from the Eastern Cape. To support the analysis of the conflict narratives, focus groups were conducted three months later and again after six months with a selected sample of volunteers. Participation in the study was wholly voluntary and by informed consent.