With a narrowly defined unemployment rate of 26.5% in South Africa, this paper contributes to the salient task of exploring a job creation programme in a high growth sector of the global coffee production network, namely the production of espresso based beverages by baristas for sale in restaurants, cafes, and hotels. Situated in the qualitative paradigm with an inductive research agenda, this research utilises the case study method to explore Ground UP, a skills training programme of a local not-for-profit, which provides barista skills training that unemployed people can use to become economically active in context of the specialty coffee industry. By applying the concepts of upgrading in the context of a global production network and a descriptive focus on both the Ground UP programme, as well as the characteristics and dynamics specialty coffee industry in South Africa, this research examines the potential for this industry to offer a pathway out of poverty. Applying a theoretical lens to this descriptive case study, the theme of governance features strongly, and the analysis reveals that Ground UP, as an agent of palliative development, can help beneficiaries to access a pathway out of poverty. It is also argued that the extent to which they will be able to capture the gains in the specialty coffee industry in the longer term will be impacted on external factors and other key players in the industry as well as their positioning in a global production network.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (Community Work) in Social Work at the University Of Zululand, South Africa, 2012. / The responsibility of social development and improvement of living standards for the rural poor has, in the past, been solely the responsibility of governments. Through changes in scope and new partnerships, this responsibility has been partially entrusted on the civil society which is deemed to be very close to the communities and has a better capacity to contribute towards the betterment of living standards in rural communities. This study, Assessing the Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Poverty Alleviation through the Creation of Sustainable Livelihoods in UThungulu District, seeks to bring an understanding on the role of the civil society towards creating sustainable livelihoods in a bid to alleviate poverty. The study comprises literature from various sources to present the argument on the subject. It also reveals the assessment of the work done by essential oils NGO, Winrock International, in the area of UThungulu District. It then proposes the recommendations for the future development initiatives on the role of the civil society towards creating sustainable livelihoods.

Published Article / The aim of this article is to examine the concept of poverty in terms of definition, types, causes, determinants and indicators. The relationship between inequality and poverty is also visited. The absolute and relative approaches to the definition of poverty are examined. Poverty is defined as the inability of individuals or households to attain sufficient resources to satisfy a socially acceptable minimum standard of living. Characteristics which determine poverty include individual, community, household and regional characteristics. Lack of access to basic services such as dwelling, electricity, water and sanitation was found to aggravate poverty. Socio-economic factors such as unemployment, education level, gender, income and household size also affect poverty. Causes, determinants and types of poverty must first be understood before poverty can be alleviated. Poverty remains a problem in South Africa twenty years after the transition to democracy. This article is thus intended to provide the public, politicians and policy makers with a better understanding of the word “poverty” and, therefore, help alleviation of poverty.

Background: In 2003, the Limpopo Department of Health and Social Development introduced a system to train students from poor families as auxiliary nurses as a poverty-alleviation strategy in the province. The programme was aimed at targeting the needy: those who depended on social grants for a living, were orphaned or who headed a family. Five years have passed but no formal evaluation has been done to estimate the impact of the programme. Objective: To evaluate the self-reported impact of auxiliary nursing training of youth from poor families in the Waterberg District on alleviation of their poverty Methodology: A cross-sectional study design using an anonymous structured questionnaire. The study population included 200 auxiliary nurses trained through the programme from 2003 to date. Results: This research found conclusive evidence that the poverty alleviation project in the Limpopo Province has significantly improved the economic conditions of the beneficiaries such as number of rooms in their houses, type of houses, type of floors, refuse collection, indoor water supply, indoor flash toilet, household assets, access to water and wood, number of meals, transport and domestic workers. This study also found positive changes in family income, bank and other accounts. This study shows significant changes in asset indicator scores after respondents had joined the programme. Conclusion: This is the first study to systematically evaluate a poverty alleviation programme in South Africa. Hopefully, both the Department of Finance and the Department of Health and Social Development in the Limpopo Province would utilise the findings of this study to review and to improve other poverty alleviation programmes in the Waterberg District and the Province.

No description available.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Recreation and Tourism, at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2011. / Large numbers of rural people in South Africa are stuck in a poverty trap that is characterised by extreme poverty to an extent that it is difficult to meet the evergreen challenges of the lack of infrastructure, the prevalence of diseases and the problem of hunger. These challenges, in turn, hamper economic growth and sometimes promote rural depopulation (Sachs, McAuthur, Schmidt-Traub, Kruk, Bahadur, Faye & McCord 2004:3). The irony of the whole situation is that the countryside still remains a tourism paradise which offers a variety of attractions including scenic beauty, diverse wildlife, a kaleidoscope of traditions, cultures, and an array of opportunities to explore the outdoors through sporting and adventure activities. As a result of this situation, concerned academics such as Bennet & George (2004:4) contend that there is inadequate information about the contribution of the rural tourism assets to the socio-economic conditions of the local people especially the alleviation of poverty. Similarly, scholars like Brown (2000) and Meyer (2006) insist that tourism development planners must change their focus from the enclave development of resorts which is characterised by exclusion of linkages to the local poor rural areas. The danger of such approaches to tourism development is that they undermine the role that the tourism industry can play in poverty alleviation. On basis of this background, this study was undertaken with an aim to analyse the direct and indirect livelihood impacts of tourism and their implications on poverty alleviation in Bergville. The analysis focused on tourism resources, contribution to job opportunities, entrepreneurial skills development, increased income generation and livelihood impacts. These focus areas were informed by a five-fold general research objectives which are:  To identify the resources that can be used for rural tourism development in Bergville. To establish the extent to which rural tourism development can contribute positively to job opportunities, entrepreneurial skills development and increased income generation in Bergville.  To find out the perceptions of Bergville residents relating to rural tourism development as a mechanism for economic development in their area.  To identify the existing management practices or strategies perceived as contributing to the improvement of the quality of livelihoods in the study area.  To propose an integrated development model that would contribute to job creation and thus result in poverty alleviation in Bergville. The survey approach was used to address the research question. A particular research methodology was used to capture the complexity of local perceptions towards tourism development. To cover a broader spectrum of the local community of the study area, three questionnaires were designed for the general public, the local business people as well as the local municipality employees. Triangulation of sources of data and methods blending the qualitative and quantitative methods enabled the study to have the broad understanding of the role that tourism development can play to alleviate poverty. Because of time limitations, the study used the convenience sampling method where the respondents who happen to be available at prominent points such as farm stalls, shopping areas, and public places were targeted for the survey. The sample size which was based on the estimated number of the population of the study area was deemed to be adequate for the purpose of collecting information required to answer the research questions and to achieve the objectives of the study. Questionnaires were used to collect data from the respondents. The administration of the questionnaires took into consideration the objectives of the study, the sequence of questions, question structure as well as ethical considerations. The analysis of the data provided insight into various issues that relate to the objectives of the study. The researcher converted the raw data into a form that is suitable for analysis before it was subjected to statistical analysis. A series of univariate data presented in percentages, frequencies, tables and graphs gave an understanding of the data that is purely descriptive. The interpretation of the data concentrated on tourism resources, contribution to job opportunities, entrepreneurial skills development and generation of income, economic growth, perceptions on tourism development and management practices that contribute to the improvement of the livelihoods of the people of Bergville. The study concludes that the people are convinced that the resourcefulness and accessibility of Bergville can support tourism development. Similarly, the findings imply that rural tourism is seen as a very important and probably the most important factor for economic development. The largest percentages of people agree that tourism development can contribute positively to the creation of job opportunities, development of entrepreneurial skills and the generation of increased income. The study found that the people have both advocacy and cautionary views about tourism development in Bergville. Furthermore, the findings imply that people have mixed feelings about the contribution of existing management practices in improving the livelihoods of local people.

Thesis (M.Soc.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010. / Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2008 / This study took place in four villages at gaMolepo area. The villages form part of Wards three and four of the Polokwane Municipality in the Limpopo province, Republic of South Africa. The purpose of the study is to explore factors that might have an impact on the communities' anti-poverty projects. The study focuses on four projects: two agricultural projects and two non-agricultural projects. The study applies both the qualitative and quantitative methodologies to collect and collate data from the projects. The findings of the study largely confirm what other researchers have already discovered, such as: the role played by the educational level of the beneficiaries of these projects on the success of their projects. The best performing project has 70% of its members who attained secondary education, and the worst performing has only 16.7%. Projects in which the beneficiaries show the best level of dedication and commitment as measured by the rate of members’ absenteeism succeed, unlike those having the highest rate of absenteeism. The top two best performing projects keep proper accounting records and have appropriate leadership than the bottom two least performing projects (Sehlale Women’s Project and Bethel Vegetable Project). The majority of members of these projects, as in most rural areas, are women. Interestingly, the top best performing project is registered as a Close Corporation. This might suggest that an anti-poverty project, which is accountable to the taxpayer, as in a Close Corporation, is likely to be successful as the law compels it to adhere to strict business practices. The same cannot be said of the Non-Profit Organisations. One noteworthy finding is an observation that the worst performing projects (Sehlale Women’s Club and Bethel Vegetable project)comprise largely of pensioners (58% and 57% respectively), and show the highest degree of disunity. However, the researcher suggests further in-depth research on the impact of anti-poverty projects registered as Close Corporations versus Non-Profit Organisations. Furthermore, the findings that the least performing projects tend to have the majority of pensioners and are the most disunited need further research to determine whether they perform poorly because of disunity, or because the members are pensioners, or both.

<p>The overall objectives of this thesis were to assess the theory and evaluate the development roles of MFIs in Uganda and Bangladesh. The study in particular focussed on MFIs impact on poverty reduction, empowering women, promoting health, as well as promoting children's education in Uganda and Bangladesh. The study preferred the selected countries because Bangladesh is internationally considered as the best practice for microfinance, whilst Uganda is assumed to be well-positioned in terms of microfinance as compared to other developing countries in Africa. The question that guided this empirical investigation was whether MFIs empower women, reduce poverrty, promote children's education as well as health among its beneficiaries in Uganda and whether Bangladesh has important lessons of experience for Uganda.</p>

Microfinance is perceived to be one of the poverty alleviation mechanisms in poor countries today. This study was set out to find out what impact microfinance has on the livelihoods of women in Kakondo sub-county, Rakai district in Uganda. The reason why the focus was put on women was to find out whether these women can manage to sustain their livelihoods on a long term perspective through the process of acquiring microfinance credit. In order to find out what impact microfinance has, a group of women from the same borrowing group (all BRAC microfinance borrowers) were interviewed. As speculated, the results from the study showed that microfinance credit does really play a key role in helping the poor cope with poverty however, as microcredit on its own does not alleviate poverty, which also brings us to the fact that these women can improve their livelihoods however sustainability on a long term perspective is doubtful.