Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / Rural areas of South Africa are characterised by high levels of unemployment and poverty resulting from lack of economic infrastructure. This led to the initiation of the Comprehensive Rural Development (CRDP) in 2009 to address poverty and lack of development in rural areas. Infrastructure provision to rural communities was identified as one of the main priorities of government. It was piloted in Muyexe village of Limpopo Province due to its lack of basic infrastructural services. This study was undertaken to investigate the impact made to cooperatives through the utilization of the infrastructures in terms of income generation and poverty alleviation. It also aimed at determining how sustainable the programme will be in the long-term. The key research questions asked were to determine if infrastructure provision could contribute to poverty alleviation and to determine how sustainable such programmes may be. Again, the study had to evaluate how the programme was implemented, to identify challenges faced and the gaps. It also recommends the solutions for future implementation of the programme. The study used a quantitative survey questionnaire which was administered to 30 beneficiaries of the projects. The findings of the study revealed that infrastructure for farming, brick laying, arts and craft and cosmetics manufacturing were provided to the cooperatives depending on their needs. The infrastructure provision programme contributed to improving the working conditions of the cooperatives but the impact made in terms of job creation, income generation, improving livelihoods and poverty alleviation is limited to a number of households. The programme had loopholes during its implementation due to lack of integration between the spheres of government and also lack of proper consultation. Cooperatives are still faced with a high challenge of lack of infrastructure because the infrastructure supplied was insufficient. The study recommends that proper consultation must be done to ensure that there is maximum participation by all concerned stake holders including the community. Effective mechanisms for training, supervision and designing of monitoring tools must also be done. Due to time, a larger sample could not be done and future research needs to be undertaken on a lager sample and also on the management of infrastructure provided to ensure that there is accountability amongst cooperatives.

Thesis (M.Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / Rural areas of South Africa are characterised by high levels of unemployment and poverty resulting from lack of economic infrastructure. This led to the initiation of the Comprehensive Rural Development (CRDP) in 2009 to address poverty and lack of development in rural areas. Infrastructure provision to rural communities was identified as one of the main priorities of government. It was piloted in Muyexe village of Limpopo Province due to its lack of basic infrastructural services. This study was undertaken to investigate the impact made to cooperatives through the utilization of the infrastructures in terms of income generation and poverty alleviation. It also aimed at determining how sustainable the programme will be in the long-term. The key research questions asked were to determine if infrastructure provision could contribute to poverty alleviation and to determine how sustainable such programmes may be. Again, the study had to evaluate how the programme was implemented, to identify challenges faced and the gaps. It also recommends the solutions for future implementation of the programme. The study used a quantitative survey questionnaire which was administered to 30 beneficiaries of the projects. The findings of the study revealed that infrastructure for farming, brick laying, arts and craft and cosmetics manufacturing were provided to the cooperatives depending on their needs. The infrastructure provision programme contributed to improving the working conditions of the cooperatives but the impact made in terms of job creation, income generation, improving livelihoods and poverty alleviation is limited to a number of households. The programme had loopholes during its implementation due to lack of integration between the spheres of government and also lack of proper consultation. Cooperatives are still faced with a high challenge of lack of infrastructure because the infrastructure supplied was insufficient. The study recommends that proper consultation must be done to ensure that there is maximum participation by all concerned stake holders including the community. Effective mechanisms for training, supervision and designing of monitoring tools must also be done. Due to time, a larger sample could not be done and future research needs to be undertaken on a lager sample and also on the management of infrastructure provided to ensure that there is accountability amongst cooperatives.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / Poverty among communities is not a static condition. There are many factors which contribute to its causes and depth. In South Africa, the economic gaps imposed by the previous apartheid government aggravated economic inequalities and caused considerable disparities, which resulted in the high unemployment rates. This led to a call for pro-active initiatives by post 1994 democratic government to remedy the living condition of the previously disadvantaged people. As part of its poverty relief drive, the South African government has embarked on a series of developmental initiatives to bring services to the poor and to reduce enormous prevailing backlogs, with the aim of increasing community participation and improving the lives of the poor. This study evaluates the egg layers project as a poverty alleviation effort within Blouberg Municipality of the Limpopo Province to respond to the prevailing poverty and underdevelopment among the poor communities. This study revealed from the observations, interviews conducted and questionnaires administrated to sampled beneficiaries of Blouberg Municipality who faces poverty. The study formulated strategies and made recommendations regarding the impact and implementation of the egg layers on poor people.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2006 / The purpose of the study was to identify material benefits that households participating in poverty alleviation projects receive. The study used both the qualitative and quantitative research design in the context of a random sample of 70 non-project households and 42 households participating in projects. A structured interview schedule was used to collect data. The major findings of this research study are that poverty alleviation projects are effective in alleviating poverty especially amongst rural women. The significance of the study lies in insights on improved methods in the management of poverty alleviation projects

South Africa‟s social, economic and political landscape was shaped by a long and bitter history of land reform and dispossession. It is against this background that the land reform policy was introduced. According to the Department of Land Affairs the objective of land reform was to alleviate poverty and improve the livelihoods of the poor. Since the introduction of the land reform policy in South Africa, there is no empirical evidence that land reform is improving the livelihoods of its beneficiaries and other affected groups such as farm workers. However government focus has been on how much land was redistributed to the previously disadvantaged and dispossessed. The study sought to assess the impact of land reform on the livelihoods of farm workers with specific reference to the Oaks/Willows Citrus farm in Maruleng Local Municipality, Limpopo Province. The study focussed on whether this land reform project achieved its intended objective of improving livelihoods and alleviating poverty. The following groups participated in the study: The farm workers, project committee members, representative of the traditional leader and a representative of the Department of Rural development. The study found that the livelihoods of the farm workers had not improved after the implementation of this land reform project. The study also revealed that government intervention with post settlement support programmes to monitor progress or offer assistance with regard to farm management and extension services, is very important to ensure that land reform projects achieve their intended objective of reducing poverty and improving the livelihoods of the poor.

Thesis (M.Dev. (Planning and Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / Although motivations vary across households, livelihood diversification is commonly adopted as a coping strategy against income-poverty and food insecurity in Africa. Income-poverty is disproportionately the main integral dimension of poverty in relative countries across Sub-Saharan Africa. This study investigated the extent to which rural livelihood diversification contribute to income-poverty alleviation in Madumeleng Village, South Africa. This exploratory research has adopted the methodological triangulation through qualitative and quantitative approaches. Additionally, these approaches were convenient for specific analysis of textual, factual, observation and conceptual data as well as to ensure credibility of the results. Moreover, normative design was applied to observe the relationship of livelihood diversification and income-poverty alleviation as the measurable variables of the study. Primary data was collected in Madumeleng Village through questionnaire survey which was administered to 144 respondents of the households. The households were selected through simple-random sampling and, purposively sampled traditional leader through interview schedule. The study argued that an increase in number of diverse livelihood activities strengthens ability and potential of the household to alleviate income-poverty. Notwithstanding poverty is multidimensional, findings of the study ascertained that most people embrace livelihood diversification as ideal route out of poverty. However, non-farm activities has been acknowledged as an important pathway out of income-poverty albeit prevalent barriers such as inadequate education, inaccessible formal credit facilities and fragmented infrastructure. The study recommended measures such as provision of quality rural infrastructure development and establishment of skills acquisition training programmes by local government authority, to widen access of the poor into non-farm activities and grant poor people an opportunity to eradicate entry barriers of high return livelihoods / Indigenous Knowledge Systems, National Research Foundation (IKS-NRF)

Thesis (M. Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2007. / Apartheid land policy and its constitution as a whole conceptualized and structured South African in a way that encouraged inequalities in terms of land ownership, job opportunities and access to education and recreational facilities. The privileged few (whites and a few black elites and whosoever summarized with the former apartheid regime) got richer and richer while the less privileged people, (in this case, the majority of the black people of South Africa) got poor. They were even denied reasonable access to land and quality education. This investigative study examines the state in which they lived and how they are still living in Squatter Camp as an attempt to make qualitatively justifiable recommendations. Informal settlement is as old as the origin of urban settlement, which existed through industrialization process worldwide. A need for peace, jobs, security, housing and land ownership resulted in the establishment of informal settlement near big towns and mines. The most disadvantaged people, those characterized by poverty due to unemployment, lack of land ownership due to one reason or another move to informally settle nearer to areas in which there are possibilities for employment opportunities and better standard of living. Specifically, this study examines the deficiencies associated with the existing informal settlement through its assessment and evaluation. In this regard all aspects of assessment techniques of the way in which inhabitants of Disteneng informal settlement live i.e. interviewing processes (both structured and informal), observation through site visit, checking of documented information with regard to informal settlement etc have been used. The gaps that exist between urban life and the living conditions of people from squatter camp have been investigated and reflected.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2012

Thesis (M.A. Agricultural Science (Agricultural Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / Livelihood diversification in South Africa has become the backbone for many of the households‟ in rural areas and it is perceived as a strategy to cope with the growing population and the rapidly increasing poverty rate. A sizeable number of rural households in South Africa work two or more jobs to generate more income. This serves as a strategy to alleviate their poverty. In spite of these, it is evident that poverty and high rate of unemployment are still prevalent in the rural Capricorn District. Thus, this study examined the nexus between poverty and diversification of livelihoods and to ascertain whether the different livelihood diversification strategies engaged in make rural households better-off or worse-off in the study area. A multistage and simple random sampling technique was employed to collect data from a sample of 216 respondents. Analytical techniques employed were descriptive statistics, FGT Poverty Index and the Probit Regression Model. Nine variables were included as explanatory variables in the Probit Regression and only six variables (gender of the respondents, marital status of the respondents, years of formal education, household size, livelihood index and member of association) were found to be significant at 10%, 5%, 1%, 10%,1% and 5%, respectively. Based on the findings, the study recommends that the diversification of livelihood strategies needs to be strengthened among rural households, investment in formal and vocational training should be intensified to increase rural households‟ participation in more viable livelihood options in the study area.

Thesis (M. A. (Sociology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / In most developing countries including South Africa, the anti-poverty programmes aim to enhance and improve the living condition of the helpless people in the society (DSD, SASSA and UNICEF,2012). In addressing children poverty after the apartheid era, the Child Support Grant (CSG) was implemented in 1998 subsequently the State Maintenance Grant (SMG) was abolished after the review in 1997 by the Lund Committee (Grinspun, 2016 and Xaba, 2016). After twenty-two years of CSG existence, this study aimed to examine the successes of CSG in addressing child poverty and vulnerable households at Ha-Mulima. The study was guided by Structural functional theory as a theoretical framework and a qualitative research methodology was applied to examine the ways or mechanisms through which the Child Support Grant has been successful in attending to the problem of child and household poverty. An exploratory case study approach was used as a research design and the participants were selected through a purposive sampling procedure. In addition, data was collected from participants through semi-structured interviews and focus groups, while thematic content analysis was employed to analyse the findings. The findings of the study show that there are positive outcomes of CSG in relation to the utilisation of grant to eradicate child poverty and household poverty. The study found that the CSG has a positive impact in reducing child poverty since it reduces hunger, children access education and caregivers utilize the money to buy clothes for them. Regardless of caregiver’s dietary diversity in the households, the CSG has positive impacts on food insecurity and improved food consumption since families can use the money to buy food. The findings indicated that the CSG promotes self-reliance in communities whereby the caregivers create their own jobs and affiliate to various stokvels with the aim to empower themselves financially to avoid the dependability on the grant. The significance of the study lies in the way it has the potential of unravelling the dynamics of the Child Support Grant in rural communities. / HW SETA PHARMACY PRO