Evaluation is an important aspect of the project cycle. The evaluation results are used to determine new strategies of the programme as well as the future of the project. However, the problem is that most conventional evaluations are seen as external intervention because they often disregard the role project participants could play in the process of evaluation. Then there is sustainable livelihoods approach which is viewed as a holistic and participatory approach. Because the sustainable livelihoods approach is people-centred; is holistic; dynamic; builds on strengths; considers macro-micro links; and considers issue of sustainability, it could provide a framework with which evaluation could be conducted. The objective of this study was to find out the outcomes of using the sustainable livelihoods approach as a tool for evaluating developmental projects. The theoretical framework for evaluating projects was designed using sustainable livelihoods and evaluation literature. The framework was tested using two projects in the area of agriculture and rural education. The research process guide was also designed and guided the process of data collection. The study has shown that the sustainable livelihoods approach could be used to evaluate developmental projects. The opportunities and the challenges of evaluating developmental projects using the sustainable livelihoods approach in each step of evaluation process were discovered. Using SL framework to define evaluation programme revealed that projects could be viewed holistically though not covering everything. However, the volume of the data collected was large and required more time to analyse. The logical framework was useful in terms of planning the evaluation programme. On the downside, the logical framework was technical and required guidance from the researcher. Establishing success indicators required the participants to negotiate the yardstick for measuring. The participants could not select data gathering methods because 1) the participants had no knowledge of the participatory methods and 2) the methods already used were not appropriate for the data collected. Reliance on participatory methods alone affected the robustness of the evaluation data collected. Thorough planning and capacity building are critical in interpretation of evaluation results follow sustainable livelihoods approach guidelines. Further studies with more representative sample and with a longer time span are needed to refine the implementation of the evaluation of developmental projects using sustainable livelihoods approach. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.

This study seeks to investigate the impact of the state and the donors on Second Generation NGOs. The study argues that the state and the donors have an impact on Second Generation NGOs which tend to change the basic intentions of the latter. If the state is supportive of democratic social reform, it may have a positive impact on the civil society. If it is against democratic reform, it may have a negative impact on the civil society. As the NGO sector is part of the civil society, its behaviour can be influenced by the way the state relates to the civil society. Donors influence the behaviour of the NGOs through the conditions which they impose when they provide their funds. This study argues that such conditions have, to a large extent, a negative impact on the behaviour of the NGOs, though in some cases they are necessary due to the need to control the opportunistic behaviour of NGO officials. The study concludes that the state, the NGOs and the donors must work together as mutual partners whose main intention is to develop and enhance the welfare of grassroots people. The partnership must include the grassroots people because true development is participatory. The meaningfulness of such partnership is grounded in Christian ethical values of community life. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1999.

This study considered the work of the Department of Community Development in the City of Cape Town, through the manner in which it implemented its developmental vision, its institutional consequences and the obstacles to its realisation.

Thesis (MS en S) -- Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa has a housing backlog of approximately 900 000 houses. The government and non-government organizations tries to provide housing for the disadvantage people of our land through sustainable development in an attempt control the housing crises. This study makes the point that sustainable development not nessereraly means the same as acceptable development. In order to provide acceptable housing with in the contexts of sustainable development, it is necessary to give more in depth and equal consideration to the social, economical and environmental aspects of sustainable development. This study focus on what is meant by the above mentioned aspects of sustainable development and what the direct and indirect impacts will be if it is not taken into consideration during the planning and construction faze of low-cost housing. Even though this study doesn’t provide the solutions to providing acceptable housing, it does make a few suggestions on how to obtain acceptable housing, not only for the people directly involved but also for the greater community of South Africa. One of the suggestions that, according to this study, should strongly be considered is the use of alternative building methods such as straw and clay, not only for the obvious environmental benefits but also for the economical and social benefits. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Suid-Afrika sit tans met ’n behuisings-agterstand van ongeveer 900 000 huise. Die regering en nie-regerings organinsasies poog om deur die proses van volhoubare ontwikkeling, lae-koste behuising vir die behoeftige mense van die land te voorsien om sodoende die behuisingskrisis aan te spreek. Hierdie werkstuk maak die standpunt dat volhoubare ontwikkeling nie noodwendig sinoniem is met aanvaarbare behuising nie. Om aanvaarbare behuising te voorsien moet die huise binne die raamwerk van volhoubare ontwikkeling gebou word, maar daar moet meer in diepte gekyk word na, en gelyke hoeveelheid aandag aan alle sosiale-, ekonomiese- en omgewingsfaktore gegee word. Die werkstuk kyk in diepte na wat bedoel word met bogenoemde drie aspekte van volhoubare ontwikkeling en wat die direkte en indirekte gevolge is as dit nie in ag geneem word tydens die beplannings- en konstruksiefases van lae-koste behuising nie. Alhoewel die werkstuk nie defnitiewe oplossings bied vir die voorsiening van aanvaarbare behuising nie, word ‘n paar voorstelle gemaak van hoe behuisingsprojekte meer aanvaarbaar gemaak kan word, nie net vir die begunstigdes en owerhede nie, maar ook vir die res van die samelewing. Een van die voorstelle wat volgens die werkstuk baie sterk oorweeg behoort te word, is dat alternatiewe boumetodes (soos strooibale en klei) gebruik moet word, nie net vir die van selfsprekende ekologiese voordele wat dit inhou nie, maar ook vir ekonomiese en sosiale voordele.

This study evaluates the impact of Third Sector- supported rural development projects in three rural communities of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It focusses on how interventions driven by this sector – denoted by, among others, local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) - impact the lives and livelihoods of the rural poor. This is against the background of an established discourse that views NGOs as effective agents in the alleviation of poverty. The thesis contends that praise for the Third Sector is driven mostly by advocacy than based on systematic scientific evidence of the real impact of NGO-sponsored rural development interventions. Rural agricultural development projects supported by two Eastern Cape-based NGOs (the one a local NGO, and the other international) were selected for the study. A mini survey was conducted in the communities where the projects are located. Survey data were complemented by qualitative data obtained through focus groups, semi-structured and in-depth interviews as well as key informant interviews. The study found that whereas the projects had been established by the state later went moribund, they were resuscitated by the NGOs through a largely ‘bottom-up’ model of rural development intermediation. In other words, the interventions were resuscitated through a relatively robust prior engagement with project beneficiaries. As a result, while originally lacking a meaningful sense of local empowerment, ownership, and commitment, the projects had become revived and now played an important role in the livelihoods of some community members – even though social grants remained the primary and main source of income for those community members. Even so, the narratives of community members revealed what may be termed a ‘transformation paradox’ in the way the projects were implemented. The NGOs seemed to have replaced one kind of lop-sidedness in rural development (the exclusion of women) with another (the exclusion of men), by focussing on community projects that were ‘culturally’ deemed as ’women jobs’. In this way, the interventions appeared like a systematic attempt to do away with the ‘feminisation of rural poverty’ and entrench the ‘feminisation of rural development interventions’. The study concludes from these and other findings, that the key to understanding the significance and impact of Third Sector-supported development interventions in the rural arena – especially in the Eastern Cape context – is to go beyond the proliferation of NGOs and NGO-supported projects – and the broad sweep of advocacy that underpins it – and pay equally robust attention to systematically studying how these projects resonate at the grassroots, especially from a beneficiary perspective.

This study examines the use of ‘cultural’ imagery and messaging as a tool to revitalise crucial national industries. Specifically, it examines the use of Wear Local campaigns in Ghana and South Africa as strategies to rejuvenate their textile industries and to make them viable in an increasingly competitive global market. Conceptualising Wear Local campaigns as possessing both cultural and economic imperatives, this study highlights how both factors contribute to making products of Buy Local campaigns marketable by showing their importance as both cultural and economic products. Using a descriptive-evaluative design, the study adopted a triangulated research approach comprising a survey, key informant interviews and document analysis. Survey questionnaires were administered to a total sample of 308 respondents in Ghana and South Africa. The qualitative phase of the study involved 10 key informant interviews (comprising textile labour unions, clothing designers, and government officials in both countries) and document/documentary research. The quantitative data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, while the qualitative data were analysed using interpretive approaches, such as content analysis. The results indicate significant uses of national cultural elements in the campaign messaging in both Ghana and South Africa, as well as notable differences in the ways in which these campaigns resonated with consumers in the two countries. For instance, cultural differences accounted for high popularity of the campaign in Ghana and low popularity in South Africa. Following from these findings, the study concludes that the discourse on Buy Local and Wear Local, and the use of national culture in commerce, must go beyond the question of efficacy to examine the conditions under which these campaigns can become an effective economic/market tool. The study makes an important contribution to the existing knowledge on national culture, national economy and globalisation.

The objective of this study is to explore the role of aspirations on changing livelihood strategies of rural households of Ndabakazi villages in the Eastern Cape. A sample of 80 respondents was chosen randomly for the household survey and semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect the data. Focus group discussions were also used to supplement the household survey. The data was descriptively analysed using a triangulation method. The findings show that social grants, mainly pensions and non-farm employment, and child support grants are the major sources of income. The majority of the households own five hectares of land and more, in which they grow crops only in gardens adjacent to their homes. However, 29 percent do not produce any crops at all. Farming contributes a small portion to the household income. The choice of farming is more powerful than the external factors. Interest in farming is minimal and can be related to the declining farming activities; therefore, household aspirations have an influence on changing livelihood aspirations. In the case of the rural areas of Ndabakazi – as indeed in many other parts of South Africa - policies of rural development mostly take a top-down approach; as a result most of these policies do not become effective in achieving the intended outcome. Development practitioners should incorporate beneficiaries when planning so as to tailor the development initiatives with the aspirations of local people for them to be effect and achieve intended goals thus a bottom-up approach. The notion that rural household farming activities have declined because they lack inputs, farming implements other necessary support is not always true. Some households are not interested in farming and they cannot be forced.

Understanding stakeholders’ perception on the participation process is imperative so that strategies that foster people’s participation in community projects are implemented. This will facilitate that community members take part and contribute in their own development projects. In most projects perceptions can influence and impede participation. Most often the challenges experienced include acts of inequalities, lack of financial resources and informal and formal barriers that limit decision making and the capacity of people to participate effectively. As a consequence, authentic participation in community development projects intended to enhance and encourage more people to participate is not possible. The focus of the study was to explore and analyse perceptions of community stakeholders towards participation in community development activities in Mdantsane, a township situated between East London and King William’s Town. The research asked the following question: What are the perceptions of community stakeholders regarding the participation process in community development projects. This study was conducted using the qualitative approach to explore and gain an understanding of the underlying reasons, opinions and motivation for data gathered. The sample groups were the project staff and the government officials that had a better knowledge of the projects. Data was collected through the use of in-depth structured and semi structured interviews. The data showed that a large number of participants believed that participation involvement in project activities was motivated by regular meetings and material and financial incentives. The data further revealed that poor planning, lack of resources, constrained decision-making processes, selective reporting on the project progress were among the limitations of participation. Restraining these participation impediments will enhance and expand participation in community development projects. It is the author’s hope that recommendations made by this study, if implemented will improve participation in community projects in Mdantsane development projects to understand the concept and significance of community participation.

Despite the continuing perceived economic centrality of agriculture in Intsika Yethu local municipality, rural households engage and pursue diverse non-farm livelihood activities to cope with diverse challenges and risks such as drought. This study assessed the importance of existing livelihood strategies adopted by the different rural households in Intsika Yethu; the link between households’ ownership and access to different ‘assets’; factors determining households’ ability to adopt certain livelihood strategies in the area. A survey of 120 households in six administrative areas and informal discussions with key informants were used to collect demographic data, data on socio-economic activities and factors determining the choice of livelihood strategies of the households in Intsika Yethu. The research findings indicated that only about 10% of the interviewed households relied solely on on-farm livelihood strategy only. Credit, remittances, market distance, affiliating to cooperatives, education and household size have a potential of influencing households to shift from on-farm livelihood strategy to other livelihood strategies. The government may need to promote programs and awareness on how households can diversify their livelihood strategies as a way of coping with economic constraints in the area.

Property development (PD) is basically driven by the need or demand from the people. Sustainable property development has emerged in response to a global problem – and the need to maintain environmental integrity, according to Gurry (2011) cited by Botha (2013: 7). Keeping and Shiers (2004) state that property development, as a whole, has to balance social, economic and environmental needs. Emanating from the above, any successful development project must offer investors security, infrastructure and efficiency and should also put the needs of citizens at the forefront of all its planning activities. Availability of land, existing infrastructure, availability of finance, economic conditions, political influence and corruption always influence growth of property development in any area. This study aims to identify factors that contribute to lack of property development in Mthatha. Data collected shows that the challenges sometimes lead to failure and delays of the development. The purpose of this study is to identify these challenges, investigate the available literature, consider what has been done so far to address these challenges and make recommendations. It is essential to understand the state of the town and perceptions of the people in the area dealing with Property Development. Mthatha is the main focus of the study because of the perceived number of failed and delayed property development initiatives. The primary and secondary data collected provide the basis for understanding challenges that lead to such failures and delays. This research was conducted by means of a review of the related literature and an empirical study. The empirical study was conducted using a quantitative statistical approach by distributing research questionnaires to members falling within the sample population. The primary objective of the study is to develop a framework for successful implementation of property developments in Mthatha. The study’s findings reveal shortcomings which contribute to the study’s identified problems relating to property development in Mthatha, namely: decaying infrastructure, shortage of land, implementation of the IDP, availability of finance to promote real estate developments, political influence and corruption. Wikipedia defines Property Development as a “multifaceted business encompassing activities that range from the renovations and release of existing buildings to the purchase of land and the sale of improved land or parcels to others”. Harvey and Jowsey (2004), as cited by Botha (2013: 5), define Property Development as a process that involves changing or intensifying the use of land to produce buildings for occupation.