Introduction: Poverty is the burden of South African people and is the result of the laws of the apartheid system. Poverty affects millions of people most of which live in the rural areas. Thus poverty alleviation is one of the priorities of the government. The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) is one of the policy documents that aimed to build a democratic government. The RDP document (in African National Congress, 1994:4) stated that poverty alleviation or attacking poverty was the priority of the government from the beginning of democracy and that it is the same case today with the poverty alleviation projects by the Department of Social Development (DoSD):- “But an election victory is only a first step. No political democracy can survive and flourish if the mass of our people remain in poverty, without land, without tangible prospects for a better life. Attacking poverty and deprivation must therefore be the first priority of a democratic government”. Therefore the statement above echoed the sentiments of the newly elected democratic government of 1994. The aim was to provide houses for all specifically the disadvantaged people, to provide water and sanitation for all, to provide electricity, maintenance of roads, improvement of health facilities, job creation, improvement of skills, improvement of income and many more. These privileges were not enjoyed by all during the apartheid era specifically the black masses. The above promises are not all fulfilled but the government is busy providing programmes through different departments. For an example this research report is about poverty alleviation projects that are being provided by the DoSD. This section of the study attempts to provide an overview of the study, including the rationale and background of the study as well as the study area and its challenges. Included in this overview is the context of the study, the research problem, the research question, the research purpose, and the research objectives.

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 study investigates the concept and development of social entrepreneurial models in South Africa to demonstrate how social business initiatives can thrive and increase their impact on quality of life. Extreme poverty and diminishing natural resources threaten the future existence of the human race. Transformative, cost-effective and sustainable solutions are necessary to address the most challenging social problems. The study explores the speculation that creation of social value naturally progressed to increase economic value. Governments and philanthropic efforts have to date, failed to offer effective solutions to social problems. Independently, no sector is able to handle the scale, cost and extent of the current social issues facing humanity. In order to address this gap the study considers the business models followed by the public, private and non-profit sectors. It then introduces the concept of social entrepreneurship and explores the use of a hybrid business model as a possible solution. It is argued that transformative, cost-effective and sustainable solutions to the most critical social problems within South Africa can only be generated once these different sectors collaborate to leverage public and private resources. The method used in approaching the study was: Identifying the need for new forms of social value creation and identifying specific ventures emerging to address these needs; Recognising the key factors enabling social entrepreneurs to accomplish ambitious task, create large social impact and influence economic value; Establishing the most predominant social problems threatening the future sustainability of society and economy in South Africa; Identifying the most strategic business model able to create transformation, sustainability and deliver both economic and social value; Establishing the guidelines, support and resources needed to strengthen social entrepreneurial behaviour and social entrepreneurial initiatives within South Africa. The objective of the study was firstly achieved through an analysis of literature related to the topic of social entrepreneurship. The literature study explored the origins of traditional entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial characteristics. It then went on to discover the concept of social entrepreneurship and made a clear definition between the different types of social entrepreneurship, separating the social entrepreneurial venture from charity and corporate social responsibility. The literature study looked further into the characteristics of a social entrepreneur, the need for new forms of social value creation, the opportunities that exist and the impact created by social entrepreneurship. The second part of the analysis strictly focussed on social entrepreneurship in South Africa and the role each sector plays in addressing social issues. The most critical social issues in South Africa were identified with emphasise on the change needed. The methodology used was the case study method. A single-case study was conducted with the Freeplay Energy Group, presenting a successful social entrepreneurial venture, serving as a good business model example for the South African environment. A qualitative approach was followed with the objective of testing theory. By comparing the theory identified in the literary review with the findings of the case study, it was possible to investigate the concept and development of social entrepreneurial models in South Africa. The conclusions demonstrate how social business initiatives can thrive and increase their impact on quality of life. The most strategic business model identified was one which integrated the public, private and non-profit sectors with social entrepreneurship. The collaboration of all the sectors with social entrepreneurship results in social value creation which gives impetus to economic value creation. The findings were documented with specific conclusions being made and offered suggestions for future research.

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.

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.

Poverty is one of the major problems that Republic of South Africa is dealing with at the particular moment and the lack of unemployment makes it even worse. According to the South African Government, they are trying their best level to decrease the level of poverty. Yet according to the standard of living of the poor people nothing has been seen that make a difference on the way these community members are affected by the poverty. This chapter will outline the structure of this study pertaining on how the information will be gathered, what is going to be collected, who will be involved, where would this study be focused, which area and which department will take part in order to address the answers to the above topic. It will also give the background of why these projects were created.

Climate change has become a major concern globally and it clearly exerts a profound influence on the lives of poor rural populations who depend on agriculture for livelihoods.Generally, agriculture is more at risk from weather, pests and diseases than is industry or trade. Furthermore, many farming units are at low levels of development with little technological input in their production systems. This makes them vulnerable to any exposure to climate and environmental variation, given that there is little capacity for the system to adjust to change. Most at risk are the rural poor with low levels of development and limited ability to adapt to and overcome the effects of climate change. Using data from a sample survey of 120 households this study attempts to assess and compare indicators of vulnerability to climate change. The comparison was made at household level between three typical villages, an inland, a river catchment and a coastal village. This idea of comparison arises from the general understanding that different variables affect different regions differently so that the impact of and vulnerability to climate change differs across regions, areas and populations. The data was obtained using a questionnaire that was administered through face-to-face interviews. Given that sensitivity and adaptive capacity of farming systems to climate change is shaped by both socioeconomic and institutional factors, a multiple regression model was used to test the relationship between indicators of vulnerability and household socioeconomic and institutional characteristics. Indicators were selected based on significant statistical relationships. This means that the statistical procedure for selecting indicators involved relating a large number of variables to vulnerability in order to identify statistically significant factors. The results showed reliability of income and reliability of water resources to be good indicators of vulnerability. Many statistically significant variables as well as respective R2 of 0.988 and 0.825 confirm the foregoing. Another indicator was the Simpson index that measures diversification of agricultural production. The results show that vulnerability to climate change was highest for the households near the river and lowest for the inland village. Moreover, the results confirmed that most blacks that are practicing agriculture receive little if any support largely because available resources are highly skewed towards certain farmers rather than others.

No abstract available. / Dissertation (MA (Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

Thesis (M.Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017. / The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the poverty alleviation strategies post mine closure in the Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality. The study also focuses on the legislative framework of mine closure in South Africa, to guide the mining operations, downsizing and retrenchment processes. The study is qualitative in design, and semi-structured interviews were used for the mining officials, municipal officials as well as the retrenched employees. The literature review looks at how other countries of the world are effectively making use of the available resources in combating poverty in their respective countries, including African countries. It is evident that natural resources are the most important international commodity and thus play a major role in the socio-economic development. The study critically analysed how effective are the strategies to alleviate poverty currently implemented in the research community. This analysis includes the impact faced by mining communities post mine closure, owing to the depletion of Copper and phosphates ores which are the most mined natural resources in the area. The findings of this study reveal that mining companies are profit-making entities, and their survival depends on both their production and favourable market forces. Some of the key findings are that poverty alleviation projects are there but the administration of those projects is poor, and thus do not address their primary goal; and the partnership between the municipality and mining companies is not mutual. Recommendations made in this study are that there should be proper approach towards the implementation of those strategies; reinforce future plans of mining companies during downscaling and a complete closure; and also ensure that a municipality provides support to viable Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) that are linked to tourism sector to unlock socio-economic activities within the community.

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.