Researchers have explored immigrant identity in various contexts, but few studies have examined identity in low-income immigrant women entrepreneurs. To address this research gap, I conducted in-depth interviews with eight low-income Latino immigrants who were starting their own businesses and receiving support through a local microenterprise development program (MDP). The study explored how participants' microenterprise efforts affected their identities and their investments in learning English. The research found that entrepreneurship promoted positive identity construction by providing opportunities for participants to develop personal and cultural pride, strengthened parental roles, and interdependence with the community. These benefits helped participants decrease family stress and increase optimism for the future, regardless of the microenterprises' financial success. Participants reported that their families were healthier and their children were doing better in school, suggesting a broad impact beyond the business owner. This finding indicates that MDPs and other social service programs should have explicit goals related to increasing participants' symbolic resources. In the language-learning realm, this study introduced the construct "relationship with English," extending Norton's (2000) notion of investment in language learning. The relationship construct encompasses the situated nature of immigrants' English use, investment in learning, and feelings about using English. The businesses helped most participants improve their relationship with English by providing motivation and informal learning opportunities. The non-English speaking participants improved their relationship with English by finding ways to use English even without working on their ability to speak. This finding suggests that social service agencies, ESL programs, and employers should broaden their view of immigrants' capabilities to use English and to invest creatively in their own learning. Another significant finding was that participants demonstrated signs of internalized racism, which can make it hard for immigrants to see their own strengths. New research could help MDPs and other social service providers address internalized racism and decrease its negative impact on identity construction. Looking ahead, long-term studies of MDP participants could help optimize program design, extend learnings to other types of programs, and help providers, policymakers, and funders allocate resources for maximum effect.

The key debates after apartheid have been on the successes and shortcomings of the social and economic policies that were adopted after apartheid. The ANC government decided to approach poverty reduction by closing the inequality gap between racial groups in the country. It planned to provide services that would improve the poor people’s lives and also create employment to sustain development. To provide the necessary services, the government formulated two broad, but linked macroeconomic policies namely: the RDP and GEAR which focused on the demand and supply side respectively (Venter and Landsberg (2006). This indicated the importance with which the people’s welfare and growth were regarded by the South African government. It indicated that the government believed in pro-poor growth. The purpose of this study was to gain better and deeper understanding about poverty reduction since the 1994 political transition, from the poor people of Airport Valley (in the Nelson Mandela Metropolital Municipality), who experience poverty from the real world. The study attempted to find out from these people if there was improvement in their lives since democratisation. This qualitative and quantitative study used three methods of collecting data namely: a questionnaire, interviews and observation. The results of the study suggest that there has been lack of commitment by RDP and GEAR, as the conditions under which the people live and therefore their standard of living have not improved. The study recommends that the government should speed up the process of service delivery at Airport Valley and also include the people in decision making about the future of Airport Valley.

South Africa is characterised by inequitable growth and development, a high degree of poverty, increasing demands and limited resources and the challenge of integration. The need for improved standards of living and access to better infrastructure which are seen as crucial issues in addressing poverty have necessitated the introduction of Integrated Development Planning (IDP). The IDP looks at the economic and social development of the area as a whole. It aims to coordinate the work of the local government in a coherent plan to improve the quality of life for all the people living in an area. In view of the above there is a need for proper planning and implementation of projects, as well as monitoring and assessment of success on the part of local government in order to help to eliminate poverty in the community. In this study I investigated the implementation of IDP as a mechanism to alleviate poverty in Port Elizabeth in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality. Due to the vastness of the problem and the extensive nature of the geographical area of Port Elizabeth, this study focused exclusively on Motherwell and KwaZakhele. For the purposes of this study, a mixed methods research approach was employed. This means that the study followed both the qualitative and quantitative approaches for in-depth understanding and verification. The data collection tools/techniques and instruments used in this study were mainly closed-ended questionnaire and structured interview questions. Data was collected from residents by conducting surveys, making use of questionnaires. Structured interviews were conducted with municipality officials and councillors in order to understand the situation better. The findings of the study revealed that there is a lack of adequate public consultation. It is indicated that people are left in the dark and projects are implemented without proper consultation with the community.

This study aims to achieve the following four research objectives: - To investigate the challenges that led to the KSDLM experiencing poor municipal service delivery, and its constraints to effective implementation of the IDP. - To develop and propose effective strategies for the continuous improvement of service delivery and good governance in KSDLM with specific reference to the town of Mthatha. - To reveal counterproductive variances between legislation and governance instruments crafted by the municipality which may, as a result of misinterpretation, result in distortions in carrying out the Constitutional mandate. - To work towards achieving conclusive findings to assist political office-bearers at national and provincial sphere to formulate legislation to promote the local government’s effectiveness and efficiency.

The South African democratic government has, since 1994, implemented various programs that aim to alleviate poverty through policy interventions. The Provincial Growth and Development Plan (Eastern Cape 2004-2014) commit its self to halving poverty by 2014. The research seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of poverty alleviation initiatives in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM), East London; focussing in Nompumelelo informal settlement. The study applied quantitative and qualitative approaches for biographical and socio economic information; and for in-depth understanding and verification respectively. Data collection was through structured interviews and survey questionnaires. The findings reveal that there are random, short-term poverty alleviation initiatives taking place in Nompumelelo informal settlement area. Projects that could have been self-sustaining collapsed due to lack of skills and training. The study indicates that the level of unemployment is high at 68 percent.

Job creation and poverty eradication have been the top priority of the South African government over the past few years and continues to be on the agenda. The government is making numerous efforts to aggressively address poverty levels and create jobs. In 1994 the African National Congress (ANC) led government inherited an economy that had glaring disparities. Most of the important economic resources of the country are concentrated in urban areas, while very few economic activities and resources are found in the rural areas. While about 70% of the country’s poorest people live in rural areas, the abundance of economic resources in towns and cities has led to minimal growth taking place in rural areas. High poverty levels continue to manifest itself in various forms and shapes in communities. The negative effects of unemployment continue to threaten our societal well-being and stability. It is evident that in poverty stricken communities there are limited economic development opportunities and have thus become trapped in a poverty cycle, and economic growth is the only sustainable approach of addressing poverty and unemployment. Local economic development (LED) is but one intervention that could be used to create jobs and eradicate poverty at a given locality. LED has been regarded as an approach towards economic development and growth whereby local people are encouraged to work in collaboration in order to achieve sustainable economic growth, bringing economic benefits and improved quality of life for all community members in a municipal area. LED is an intervention solely based at a local level being driven by local people to realise economic benefits that would improve their quality of life. A qualitative study was conducted at Alfred Nzo District Municipality to assess the contribution of LED on job creation and poverty eradication. The target population included LED managers, Project Practitioners, LED Project Beneficiaries, LED Portfolio Councillors in the Alfred Nzo District Municipality and its Local Municipalities as well as relevant sector departments and Public Entities. The study examined the contribution of LED funded projects in job creation and poverty eradication. The project also assessed the problems, issues and challenges in LED and how they are being addressed. The study found that the implementation of LED in Alfred Nzo continues to be ineffective and confronted with numerous challenges. LED has been viewed as one of the tools for job creation targeted at unskilled and unemployed members of the community. Municipalities seem to be under utilising the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) and Equitable Share for funding the LED programme. In most municipalities LED is still regarded as an unfunded mandate. Most municipalities rely heavily on grant funding from sector departments and state owned enterprises for LED. A point of concern is the lack of regular and structured discussions on LED issues within municipalities which continue to re-enforce uncoordinated planning, insufficient budgeting and poor implementation of programmes within the municipality. The study noted serious skills shortages within the project beneficiaries which hamper effective implementation of LED projects. These skills include financial management, project management, conflict resolution and business management. These are core skills for the sound and viability of management of LED projects. Access to markets has been raised as an on-going concern for LED practitioners. It is recommended that a change is made from project-based LED to a business-based approach in LED. This would require all LED projects to be registered business entities, be liable for tax and require them to produce sound business plans before receiving grant funding.

This study looked at the opportunities and challenges faced in promoting smallholder farming as an element in rural economic development. The main objective is to highlight the key factors affecting smallholder production; and how those factors affect smallholder farmers in rural areas of Buffalo City Municipality, and hence identify the ones likely to predict success for future use in intervention programs. The content and scope of this study is limited to the socio-economic constraints (economic activities, household assets e.g. natural assets, physical assets, financial assets etc.) faced by rural households and therefore prescribe the necessary interventions to enhance rural livelihoods. Data was collected through review of secondary sources, direct observation through field visits and interviews with households. Questionnaires were used as the main tool of inquiry to gather data from households in selected villages within Buffalo City Municipality. The collected survey data was coded and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 19.0. The study used Descriptive, Gini Coefficient and Binary Logistics model to analyze the collected survey data. For the descriptive model, the main pointers that were employed for this study were frequencies and mean values. The Gini Coefficient model was used to measure the contribution of different sources of income to overall inequality. The binary logistic regression model was used to uncover the correlates of the household income for different rural groups (famers and non-farmers). The results reveal that farm income has a strong association to overall household income per capita. Unearned income sources also have a substantial contribution to household income. Remittances and child grants were significant to non-farming household income per capita. Given the diminishing farm size of smallholder-led agriculture; these results suggest that a diversified household income portfolio is vital in addressing poverty in rural areas. Based on the results this study concluded that agricultural activities cannot solely enhance food security.

The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of RDP beneficiaries on the extent to which the RDP housing project meets their housing needs in South Africa through a case study of Golf Course Estate in Alice Town with the following specific objectives; to assess the extent to which the Alice Golf Course housing project has achieved the RDP programme objectives; to establish beneficiaries‟ perceptions on the extent the RDP Alice Golf Course houses meet their needs; and to explore the level of satisfaction on the RDP houses by beneficiaries. This study utilized triangulation of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies with qualitative as the dominant approach while quantitative was less dominant. The qualitative design took the form of a case study while the quantitative took the form of mini survey. The study sampled 72 participants from the study population. The study utilized an interview guide and a questionnaire as instruments of data collection. The findings indicated that the gender representation of the beneficiaries was skewed. This is because there were more females heading the houses than males; unemployment was also high; most participants were unmarried and most were adults. This study also discovered that most people residing in these houses are not the real owners who were allocated the houses. There were qualitative problems associated with the components of these houses such as poor roofing, doors, windows, floors and walls. Service delivery complaints were based on inadequate access to clean water, small size and spacing of the RDP house. Security was also a challenge because all the houses did not have street lights and the roads were very bad. Though it is commendable that drainage and sewer facilities are available, but they are not serving their purpose since there is no water in these houses. The findings also indicated that there were discrepancies in allocation of the houses; pervasiveness of social ills; inadequate consultative meetings between the RDP Administrator or social worker and the beneficiaries; as well as the pervasiveness of HIV/AIDS among other issues. This researcher recommended that the government needs to promote economic empowerment to deal with unemployment; to improve the quality of the material building the houses; improvement on service delivery gaps; to beef up infrastructure; renovation and revamping of current houses; to establish commissions of inquiry to deal with corruption; to honour and monitor waiting lists. Partnership with other stakeholders was also critical, in addressing access to social services and helps deal with social ills and run behaviour modification campaigns. This researcher also recommended that there is a need to carry out further research on the role played by the municipalities in the RDP housing project as well as conducting a purely qualitative research to further explore the perceptions of other stakeholders, NGOs, traditional leaders, church leaders, and police on the implementation of the housing project. This researcher advises that such a research could be carried out through focus group discussions and also since this study was bound by a case study it is also necessary for similar research to be carried out in different places in South Africa.

This study demonstrated that the demographic profile of the Eastern Cape Province portrayed high levels of poverty and underdevelopment in the mostly rural population. This is despite the fact that the Eastern Cape is characterized by a rich endowment of natural resources, hosting a wide range of natural plant species, numerous rivers, water springs from mountains and no less than six biomes due to the variety of climatic conditions prevalent in the Province. In contrast, the natural resources found in the Province were regarded to have a high potential to grow and transform the economy of the Province. In this study, the integrated approach was conceptualized, developed and implemented in action within the rural communities selected with varying degrees of success, as a function of the material and objective socio-economic conditions prevailing in each community. A model for rural enterprise development based on agricultural production utilizing the principles of Community-Public-Private Partnerships was conceptualized and executed with the assistance of specialist professionals from various disciplines and organizations. Case studies structured on the basis of methodologies derived from the integration of natural sciences and indigenous knowledge systems were conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of the conceptual framework of the study as indicated by the following case studies. The first case study undertaken was the development of agricultural enterprises in the selected rural communities in joint ventures through the commercial production of food and vegetable crops for local markets and to provide nutrition for the rural communities as the first line of therapy against the HIV/AIDS infection and other diseases associated with malnutrition. The second case study was the establishment of an agricultural enterprise in partnership between rural communities, government agencies and agricultural specialist for the commercial production of grain crops, namely, Sorghum alternating with Wheat to satisfy the demand of local markets for these crops. The third case study was the establishment of a community-based enterprise through the commercial production of two Pelargonium plant species, namely, Pelargonium reniforme and P. sidoides. The two species had a high market demand in the pharmaceutical industry; hence, the plant species were V domestically cultivated to satisfy the industry demand and to ensure the survival of the plant species. The enterprise succeeded in sustaining the livelihoods of the rural communities and conserving the plant species. The fourth case study was the commercial production of essential oil-producing plants in six selected rural communities providing employment for some of the members of these communities even though the initial phase of the start-up enterprise was a trial cultivation to determine the suitability of the environmental and climatic conditions for the propagation of the selected essential-producing plants. The demand for essential oils in local and international markets was determined to relatively high. The incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge Systems of the rural communities in the planning and implementation processes in the areas of Commercial Agricultural Production and Primary Health Care resulted in a gradual paradigm shift on the part of rural communities from a dependence mindset to one of self-reliance that is critical for sustainable rural economic development and the improvement of rural livelihoods. An integrated approach in the strategic planning and execution that involved the rural communities by government stakeholders, the academic community and other stakeholders from the Private Sector was piloted. The recognition of Indigenous Knowledge Systems by all the relevant stakeholders and their essential role in rural enterprise development, food production and primary health care as a pre-requisite for a successful transformation agenda was highlighted as never before. An all-inclusive approach that accorded the rural communities the status of equal partnership had a positive impact on most aspects of planning and implementing programmes for sustainable rural economic development and biodiversity conservation. Working in partnership with rural communities was found to be a challenge; hence, an understanding of the sub-cultures and the social dynamics that often manifested themselves in the form of internecine conflicts became necessary for successfully initiating the research programme in the rural communities. Furthermore, recognition of the rural communities as an integral part of the solution towards biodiversity conservation and the sustainable exploitation of natural resources was found to be a critical component for an effective strategy to ensure the continued survival of the endangered plant species. This attitude underpinned the co-operation of the rural communities and the overarching goals of rural transformation towards the consistent and sustainable improvement of rural livelihoods. Theapproach also marked a radical shift from all the preceeding practices in biodiversity conservation and the management of sustainable natural resource utilization. The study demonstrated that the integration of Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Natural Sciences for sustainable rural economic development with the ultimate strategic objective of contributing towards the reduction of poverty, the improvement of the quality and cost-effectiveness of primary health care and adequate food production is feasible.

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute of Governance and Policy Studies / See the attached abstract below