Thesis (M. Dev.)-- University of Limpopo, 2011. / Sustainability of poverty relief projects: an evaluative case study of Madumeleng community bread making project in Greater Letaba Municipality in Limpopo Province This mini-dissertation was conducted on a community poverty alleviation project that was implemented by government through the Department of Social Development at Madumeleng village. Madumeleng is a village in Bolobedu(Modjadji) under the Greater Letaba Municipality in Mopani District. The Greater Letaba Municipality is one of the rural municipalities in the district of Mopani. The project was identified by the community members as a flagship towards addressing poverty within the village and eventually in the municipal area. The project was initiated by a group of women who started as volunteers. Their objective was to make the project big and viable within the society. The women had wishes also that the project should eventually create more jobs for the community members and thereby contribute in alleviating poverty and unemployment. The above resonates well with the objective of government and in particular the Department of Social Development in funding these projects. The study was ignited by the fact that after all the efforts by government to provide funding and ensure that the project members are capacitated, still the project collapsed. The project could not last longer than it was expected and this was the main reason for the study. The study should contribute in surmounting some factors which might have contributed into the collapse of the project. Government should also be able to draw lessons from the study to improve on the approach when they fund future projects.

Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2016. / The study was conducted to investigate the impact of the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme on poverty alleviation in the Muyexe village of Greater Giyani Municipality in the Limpopo Province. The objective of the programme was to alleviate poverty in the village. The researcher collected data in and observed the projects which were being executed there. The methodology involved interviewing community members who are projects beneficiaries of the programme as well as the implementers of the programme. As such, the sample consisted of 33 project beneficiaries, three implementers and six participants from the food security wing of the CRDP. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used to explore, describe and understand the nature of the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme in poverty alleviation. The study found out that the project beneficiaries do not have skills to mobilize funds from other organisations as they depend on the budget which is specifically earmarked for the community. The same budget is also meant to sustain the infrastructure after the handing over of the programme. The study recommends the re-alignment of the timeframe for the programme to be successfully implemented and for the district departments to be the ones responsible for implementing the programme at the local level. This will also assist the government to implement projects in a longer timeframe and to have implementers who have in-depth knowledge about the area. The CRDP has also changed the livesof the community members from depending on social grants to monthly wage income and they no longer travel long distances for basic services. The food security situation of the households which were participating in the food security project has improved. The study also recommends that the CRDP must be implemented in other areas which are struggling from poverty as the CRDP has alleviated poverty in Muyexe village.

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute of Governance and Policy Studies

MSCAGR / Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness / Poverty and unemployment are the main problems facing many people in the Vhembe District Municipality. Due to these main problems, most people turn into farming as a tool to reduce poverty, ensure food security and create employment in their rural communities. Because of high production and marketing costs, farmers often find it difficult to pool their resources together in order to raise farm income and substantially improve their living conditions. In order to deal with this problem, farmers form cooperatives to pool their resources for increased agricultural productivity, employment creation and poverty reduction. The study assessed the role of agricultural cooperatives in poverty reduction within the rural communities of the Vhembe District Municipality. The research study was a combination of both qualitative and quantitative research method. There are 70 agricultural cooperatives producing field crops and vegetables in Vhembe District. A clustered random sample of the 4 Local Municipalities within Vhembe District Municipality was employed. It involved the selection of 9 cooperatives from Thulamela, 3 cooperatives each from Makhado and Mutale respectively and 1 cooperative from Musina. Relevant data was collected from both primary and secondary sources. Descriptive and Binary logistic regression modelling was used to analyse data. The study revealed that socio-economic characteristics of respondents have an impact on the role agricultural cooperatives play in reducing poverty. The study further showed that agricultural cooperatives play a significant role in reducing poverty and ensuring food security to members’ households. The respondents showed a positive response in the effectiveness of cooperatives in poverty reduction. The study also showed that cooperatives have a significant role in creating employment opportunities. Cooperatives were also faced with various challenges which hinder their success in poverty reduction. Some of the challenges include; market access, lack of funding, conflicts within cooperatives and high electricity costs. The study concludes by recommending different strategies which will enhance the success of cooperatives in poverty reduction. Further studies concentrating on poverty reduction, food security and employment creation need to be carried-out which will help cooperatives respondents to eradicate poverty in their households and communities.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / This study sought to investigate the role and impact of social security grant on poverty alleviation on a case of Child Support Grant at Mankweng. Child Support Grant is a poverty alleviation mechanism implemented with the aim of exploring new alternative policy options targeting children and families in South Africa. The grant has proven to be successful as it was able to put about 8 million orphans and poor children in the safety net in 2008. However, although the grant has proven to be successful, not all the deserving children receive the grant. Children‟s access to a full measure of security and the basic needs as prescribed in the Bill of Rights remain agitated with problems as the grant‟s extent of coverage due to the limited amount structure does not provide all the basic needs of the children. The study also revealed that majority of participants due to the grant‟s extent of coverage experienced hardships in terms of inflation rate. The participants‟ stressed about the price of goods which is perennially increasing as they are unable to cope with price trends, which led them to adopt the practice of layby. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were utilised which adopted structured questionnaires and in-person interviews to hear the participants‟ perspective on the impact that Child Support Grant has as a poverty alleviation mechanism on the livelihoods of the beneficiaries as well as the challenges of Child Support Grant‟s administrative system. The study recommended that the Child Support Grant despite its limited amount structure enables people to participate on economic activities wherein they are able to engage in farming activities in that during harvest time they are able to sell their produce to the market like Pick „n Pay and Shoprite though its seasonal.

Thesis (MDev. (Planning and Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / The purview of this project is to interrogate the alleged rural-urban dichotomy effects of social grants on poverty alleviation. One major problem that sophisticates rural-urban comparative studies is that there is no universally agreed upon definition of "urban" or "rural". By virtue of their contrasting contexts, rural and urban areas are diametrically divergent in terms of their characteristics. These inherent contrasts are critical to the applicability and effects of concerted interventions due to the diversity of actors, agendas, underlying intentions and so on. On one hand, people in rural areas are characterized by socio-economic homogeneity and thus they enjoy communitarianism. On the other, urbanites generally belong to different castes, creeds, religions and cultures, thus they rarely share same social statuses, norms and values. Socio-economic narratives are thereby intrinsically distributed among rural and urban households as well as societies and so are the effects of intervention strategies such as social grants. Literature documents increased blurring of urban-rural distinctions in developed countries, but a multidimensional characterization of settlement type based on style and density of housing, predominant commercial and agricultural activities, and access to services still vividly demonstrates the rural-urban dichotomy in South Africa. The study, thereby, puts the Polokwane Local Municipality on the spotlight to argue that by virtue of contrasting contexts and divergent characteristics between rural and urban areas, social grants have dichotomous effects as strategy for poverty amelioration. The study engages on a scholarship synthesis of characteristics and contexts of the rural-urban dichotomy, roles and types of social grants and dimensions and dynamics of poverty in rural and urban areas prior to a presentation a resume of theoretical and empirical findings from the cross-sectional survey in the Municipality. Employing snowballing to sample a total of a hundred grant-receiving households, the study qualitatively and quantitatively analyses and interprets data from the two study areas. The key finding emanating from the core of the research problem was that despite arguments about modern rural areas across the globe experiencing factors traditionally associated with the urban environment and the ensuing increased blurring of urban-rural distinctions, a multidimensional characterization of settlement type based on style and density of housing, predominant commercial and agricultural activities, behaviour and access to services in South Africa still vividly demonstrates the rural-urban vi | P a g e dichotomy. In the same line of thought, the study concludes that not only are the effects of social grants dichotomous between rural and urban grantees but the effects empirically show dissimilarities at different levels of analysis, including individual, household, location and cash values of various grants.The conclusion also consolidates recommendations revolving around the augmentation of rural-urban effects of social grants so as to synchronize poverty alleviation.

The study was aimed at exploring the relationship between poverty and aggravated robbery in Limpopo Province. Sampled secondary data of aggravated robbery of- fenders, obtained from the South African Police (SAPS), Polokwane, was used in the analysis. From empirical researches on poverty and crime, there are some deductions that vulnerability to crime is increased by poverty. Poverty set was categorised by gender, employment status, marital status, race, age and educational attainment. Variables for aggravated robbery were house robbery, bank robbery, street/common robbery, carjacking, truck hijacking, cash-in-transit and business robbery. Canonical correlation analysis was used to make some inferences about the relationship of these two sets. The results revealed a signi cant positive correlation of 0.219(p-value = 0.025) between poverty and aggravated robbery at ve per cent signi cance level. Of the thirteen variables entered into the poverty-aggravated model, ve emerged as sta- tistically signi cant. These were gender, marital status, employment status, common robbery and business robbery. / Mathematical Sciences / M. Sc. (Statistics)

The study was aimed at exploring the relationship between poverty and aggravated robbery in Limpopo Province. Sampled secondary data of aggravated robbery of- fenders, obtained from the South African Police (SAPS), Polokwane, was used in the analysis. From empirical researches on poverty and crime, there are some deductions that vulnerability to crime is increased by poverty. Poverty set was categorised by gender, employment status, marital status, race, age and educational attainment. Variables for aggravated robbery were house robbery, bank robbery, street/common robbery, carjacking, truck hijacking, cash-in-transit and business robbery. Canonical correlation analysis was used to make some inferences about the relationship of these two sets. The results revealed a signi cant positive correlation of 0.219(p-value = 0.025) between poverty and aggravated robbery at ve per cent signi cance level. Of the thirteen variables entered into the poverty-aggravated model, ve emerged as sta- tistically signi cant. These were gender, marital status, employment status, common robbery and business robbery. / Mathematical Sciences / M. Sc. (Statistics)

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017. / The study was undertaken to examine the contribution of child support grant (CSG) towards alleviation of poverty in South Africa. This is necessary because CSG is meant to support children from poor background in order to improve their general wellbeing. The literature review undertaken in this study shows that CSG is contributing towards alleviation of poverty in Masodi village. The literature review further highlights that there are various challenges that disturbs the strategies of the government in delivering world class social assistance to the citizens of South Africa. Another finding are that there are barriers in the utilization of system that are used to pay CSG as it is outdated, and need to be updated. This challenge justifies why there are several corruption cases in the social pension system (SOCPEN). One of the findings of the study is that CSG plays a direct role in the life of beneficiaries in improving socio-economic conditions in their lives; children are able to attend school, improve on nutrition and access health services. The main recommendation of the study is that government should increase the amount of CSG; it should be extended to the age of 21 to enable the children to attend higher learning institutions. In order to assist children to overcome the challenges of poverty, accessing higher education would reduce dependency on the government in the long run, as they will acquire skills that will make them employable. / South African Social Security Agency

MA (Sociology) / Department of Sociology / This study focused on the effects of the school feeding programmes in addressing food insecurity in Mutale Municipality of Vhembe District, Limpopo Province. The study placed school feeding programmes within the wider context of social assistance and a component for securing food for the wellbeing of Mutale rural inhabitants. The major problem identified in this study was the inadequacy of governmental interventions, specifically the social assistance component, to eliminate food insecurity in rural areas. This failure motivated the researcher to venture into an investigation of the school feeding programme and its impact, as a social intervention, in addressing food insecurity among rural citizenry. The study openly delineated various factors contributing to the ruthless chronic food insecurity which has ravaged many families in rural areas. On the theoretical framework, the research incorporated the Capability Theory and the Entitlement approach as the foundational basis of the study. The qualitative approach was used to ensure an in-depth understanding of the contribution of school feeding programmes as a right based in-kind social safety net implemented by the government in addressing the discourse of food insecurity on a rural setting. Respondents of the study included the supervisor at circuit level, the school principal, educators, food handlers, smallholder farmers, learners and their parents. The researcher utilised Quota sampling in the selection of respondents. The researcher gathered data through the use of interviews, non-participant observation and document analysis. The findings of this study were analysed by organizing the data and presenting it in a descriptive manner. Literature revealed that the provision of feeding schemes at schools have the capability to stimulate an enabling environment which can empower rural families with adequate resources essential for eliminating food insecurity. However, this study found out that the feeding scheme marginally created employment, reduced poverty and hunger and increased health and nutrition education among the community members. The programme achieved minimal results as it confronted implementation constraints which ruined its capacity to exterminate rural food insecurity.