The current study aimed at assessing the factors contributing to sustainability of Poverty Relief Projects by the Department of Social Development. The study was conducted in the Eastern Cape within Chris Hani District at Sakhizwe Local Municipality. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Purposive sampling procedures have been seen as most suitable for this study and have been utilized to identify participants of the study. The sample consisted of thirty project members from six different projects and also included five Community Development Practitioners from the Department of Social Development. Semi- structured interviews, document review and focus group discussion were used to collect data for the study. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic methods. The study revealed factors that contribute to the sustainability of the projects. These factors include the capacity of the project members and the departmental officials to implement and monitor the projects. Management and organization of the project plays an important role in determining the sustainability. Active participation of the project members in the planning of the project is important. Stakeholder participation and sharing of expertise is another important factor in determining the sustainability of the projects. Lastly, the study shows that monitoring and evaluation of the progress is necessary to ensure that the project achieve the desired outcome. It is recommended that the Department of Social Development should consider these factors and add them in the checklist before the funding of the project is approved. It is also important to determine the duration of the project in order to be able to measure its impact in a given period of time.

Poverty is one of the social problems plaguing South Africa. In South Africa it is required of municipalities as entities in the socio-economic and political transformation process and agents of change, to eradicate poverty and unemployment by facilitating local economic development in their respective areas. Local economic development has to be implemented in a way that takes cognisance of the different challenges that exist within various areas and contexts. Various district and local municipalities have initiated an array of agricultural programs such as community or food gardens as aspect of their Local Economic Development strategies. In this study I investigated the sustainability of community gardens as a mechanism to poverty alleviation in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. The study focused exclusively on community gardens in Bloemendal, KwaZakhele, Motherwell and Walmer. A mixed methods research approach was employed to gather data from the community garden members and municipal official who administers the community gardens. Semi-structured interview was conducted with the municipal official administering community gardens in Nelson Mandela Bay. A structured questionnaire was used to gather data from the community garden members. Observations were made on types of crops grown in the gardens, in order to supplement and validate data collected and information gathered during interviews. Community garden members identified funding as their main challenge. Community gardens have a potential to be sustainable if the requisite support structures that need to exist to support the micro-farmers are in place.

After 17 years of democratic freedom, South Africa is faced with a variety of challenges. Such challenges include crime, which is driving South African professionals of all ethnic groups to emigrate, discourages foreign investments and hampers growth; the spread of HIV/AIDS and unemployment which is steadily increasing. The country also inherited vast inequalities in education, health and basic infrastructure such as access for safe water, sanitation and housing (Hoogeveen and Ozler 2006, p.2). According to the Education and Training Unit for Democracy and Development (ETU), South Africa has a small wealthy population and a medium sized middle income and poor populations. There is a big difference between the wealthy and the poor people and if one looks at it, it looks like we have two nations, developed and developing living side by side in one country. This report will look at the role of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality in alleviating poverty in one of its critically distressed wards, the Walmer Township near the Port Elizabeth Airport. Even though welfare is national and provincial government’s role, municipalities are expected by the government to play a developmental role. The findings of this report revealed that the problem of poverty is still a challenge in the metro and a review of the current policies was advised and involving the people living in poverty in the processes.

This study investigated the challenges faced by the Masizame Bakery as a cooperative in Steynsburg. The co-operative sector, tracing back to the 1800s, has become recognised as a key vehicle for community development and poverty alleviation. According to the Department of Trade and Industry (2012), international practices show that countries which have achieved economic development also have a vibrant and a dynamic co-operative sector, contributing substantially to the growth of their economies. The sector’s international success and foundations in agriculture have found resonance with the post-apartheid government in achieving social transformation and alleviating poverty in South Africa. The co-operative model in South Africa proved a success during the apartheid era in the agricultural sector with a turnover of about R22.5 billion. Post-1994 the government hopes to achieve the same level of success through the sector to transform the country’s socio-economic landscape. The co-operative sector’s principles of self-help and self-reliance have become synonymous with democratic South Africa’s government plea to active citizenry in development – Vuku’zenzele. Some South Africans have responded to this call to change their economic conditions through co-operatives. However, investment in the co-operative sector has found varying degrees of success and failure across South Africa’s provinces, with the Northern Cape, the Eastern Cape, and Free State experiencing the highest mortality rates. The areas’ rural hinterland has been attributed to this high failure rate, thus posing the need to investigate the challenges faced by co-ops in small towns such as Steynsburg. The study provides an overview of the sector’s history, including its growth in countries across the world. The role of co-ops in poverty alleviation has also been discussed. This role was interrogated in discussions held through interviews and focus groups with both members of the Masizame Bakery and other projects in the area, including public officials involved in both community.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Within the academic fraternity poverty has traditionally been treated and analysed as a sociological concept. When poverty reaches critical proportions, its consequences may, however, spill directly into the political sphere. The author contends that poverty has become one of the major determinants of political debate in South Africa. The NP government (which changed its name to NNP in 1998), which ruled South Africa from 1948-1994 instituted apartheid, a policy, which gave priority to the interests of whites to the detriment of blacks, coloureds and Indians. This resulted in an unequal distribution of resources, and consequently also unequal social development of South Africa's different population groups. As a result poverty is concentrated in the non-whites groups, with blacks as a group being the worst affected. The aim of this assignment is to investigate the difference in attitudes between supporters of the ANC and NP towards poverty and the poor in South Africa. In this assignment the author proposes that ANC supporters have a better understanding of the nature of poverty and more experience of poverty than NP supporters. She bases her contention on the fact that the overwhelming majority of the ANC's supporters come from the previously disadvantaged groups. The finding of this study is that political party support is one of the major determinants of perceptions that South Africans hold towards the poor. ANC supporters seem optimistic about the future prospects of the poor, while NP supporters seem to be more pessimistic. It must, however, be noted that in many instances there seem to be a general trend that population groups in both parties have the same response pattern (e.g. blacks will show the highest percentage in a response to a question, followed by coloureds, Indians and then whites or vice versa). / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hoewel akademici armoede hoofsaaklik as sosiologiese konsep beskou, kan ekstreme en wydverspreide gevalle van hierdie kondisie direkte implikasies vir die dag tot dag politiek van 'n staat inhou. Die skrywer voer aan dat dit toenemed die geval binne die Suid-Afrikaanse politieke konteks is. Inderdaad het dit een van dié vernaamste dryfvere van openbare beleid geword. Apartheid was die breinkind van die NP (sedert 1998 die NNP) wat Suid-Afrika van 1948 tot 1994 regeer het. Die toepassing van dié stelsel het bygedra tot die sistematiese ontneming van die mees basiese regte van swart, bruin and Indiër Suid- Afrikaners tot voordeel van hul wit landgenote. 'n Byproduk van hierdie beleid, was die oneweredige verspreiding van hulpbronne wat oor 'n tydperk van byna vier dekades bygedra het tot 'n grootskaalse ekonomiese ontmagtiging van die bogenoemde groepe. Gevolglik is armoede vandag nog gekonsentreer binne die bruin, Indiër, maar veral, die swart bevolkingsgroepe. Die sentrale oogmerk van hierdie opdrag is om vas te stelof daar wesenlike opinieverskille tussen ANC en NP ondersteuners oor die kwessie van armoede bestaan. Die skrywer voer aan dat dit wel die geval is. Sy substansieër haar stelling deur te verwys na die feit dat ten tye van die relevante meningsopname die ANC se ondersteunerskorps hoofsaaklike uit swart Suid-Afrikaners bestaan het, terwyl dié van die NP hoofsaaklik uit wit, bruin en Indiër ondersteuners bestaan het. Haar bevindings bevestig dat party affiliase een van die primerê determinante van Suid-Afrikaners se houding teenoor armoede is. ANC ondersteuners blyk meer optimisties te wees oor die vooruitsigte van die armes as NP ondersteuners. Dit moet egter genoem word dat In vergelyking tussen die responspatrone van spesifieke bevolkingsgroepe 'n soortgelyke tendens binne die twee partye uitlig. In die meeste gevalle sal die persentasies vir of teen 'n stelling in dieselfe volgorde (swart, bruin, Indiër en wit) of omgekeer voorkom.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The cultural industries have been identified by the South African government as having significant potential to generate employment and hence alleviate the wide spread poverty suffered by many in the country. They have invested in the cultural industries with a view to developing SMMEs that have the potential to generate sustainable livelihoods. Craft, in particular is seen as an ideal vehicle through which poverty alleviation can take place, due to the combination of low technology requirements with high levels of manual labour. This study looks at one such multi-site craft-based poverty alleviation programme, Phumani Paper, and assesses the impact that it has had on the poverty of its participants (so far). Drawing on relevant theory “poverty” is defined as a deficiency with regard to three aspects of people’s lives: income, “human development” and capacity building. The results of the study indicate that the program did contribute to human development, but that income generation was less successful. In this regard success seems to depend on conditions at three levels of a programme: the programme management, the project model and the individual participants. Strategic intervention on these three levels will ensure that the impact of craft on poverty is more effective. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die kulturele nywerhede is deur die Suid-Afrikaanse regering geïdentifiseer as ‘n potensiële bron van werkskepping om te help om wydverspreide armoede in die land aan te spreek. Die regering het op kulturele terrein belê in klein- en medium sakeondernemings met die hoop dat hulle kan bydra tot die skepping van volhoubare bestaansgeleenthede. Kunsvlyt word as ‘n ideale roete tot armoede verligting gesien a.g.v. die kombinasie van lae tegnologie vereistes en intensiewe handearbeid. Die studie kyk na een sodanige kunsvlyt-gebaseerde programme vir armoedeverligting, nl. Phumani Paper, en meet die impak wat dit (tot dusver) op die armoede van diegene gehad het wat aan die program deelneem. Gebasseer op relevante teorie word “armoede” in hierdie studie gedefinieer as 'n gebrek op drie terreine van mense se lewens: inkomste, “menslike ontwikkeling” en kapasiteitsbou. Die resultate van die studie toon aan dat die program bygedra het tot menslike ontwikkeling, maar dat die skepping van inkomste minder suksesvol was. Sukses in hierdie verband blyk af te hang van kondisies op drie vlakke van 'n program: die programbestuur, die projek-model en die individuele deelnemers. Strategiese intervensie op hierdie drie vlakke sal verseker dat die impak van kunsvlyt op armoede meer effektief is.

This research centres on the church's involvement in human development and poverty alleviation programmes. This thesis acknowledges that many Third World nations received political freedom from Western colonialists, but many of these countries failed to successfully exploit the political freedom to improve economic growth and human development. Poverty is therefore one of the major problems facing people in Third World countries. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002

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.

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.