This study raises important questions about the motivation that is driving companies to adopt social responsibly programmes, and why they should engage in the field of social development in the first place. Many would argue that the role of business is to make profit and that their only responsibility is to act within the law, while others urge the need for business to get more socially involved and become more accountable in terms of their actions. Particular in developing countries, where governments are often dysfunctional and ineffective, private sector hold the key to resources that does not exist elsewhere, and should contribute to improve those societies. As a result of increased awareness of the role of business in society, which has been triggered through numerous corporate scandals throughout the past decades, the term corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained great attention. Today, most big companies invest a notable amount of money in CSR programmes of various kinds, however, it is not always clear why they do this. Is it because they really care and want to make a change, or is it because they want to gain or maintain a good public reputation? CSR has long been accused for what has been called “green-washing”, in the sense that it is only an attempt to conceal any forms of unethical and irresponsible behaviour. Nevertheless, there has also been a growing perception that business should play a greater role in the social aspects of society, and by carefully selecting their programmes, this can lead to win-win situations for all the stakeholders involved. This study aims to examine these issues by addressing the need for more sustainable and transparent stakeholder relationships between the companies and the beneficiary organisations. This attempt is achieved through the selection of case studies, as well as examinations of a wide range of literature existing in the field. / Thesis (M.Dev.Studies)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Poverty alleviation through employment creation is the focus of the South African government and other developing economies. The SMME sector has been identified as the leading vehicle for the creation of employment opportunities. South Africa in particular went through a phase when economic growth did not translate into employment creation. Consequently the benefits of economic growth did not filter through to the unemployed. In South Africa there is a strong link between unemployment and poverty. Essentially the country experienced jobless growth and it is the poor who missed out on the possible benefits of economic growth. The challenge then for South Africa is to come up with a revolutionary approach to ensure that the country's poor are not excluded from the of benefits economic growth. Almost half of the South African population lives in poverty. Poverty and the consequences thereof are most pronounced among the African population. This is due to the South African history of apartheid which systematically excluded them from accessing economic opportunities. Bringing development to communities is the thinking behind local economic development (LED). The urgency for the country to address poverty lies in the fact that poverty is not a static phenomenon and if left unaddressed it may to lead more people being poor when the numbers are already overwhelming. Government has come up with various strategies for poverty alleviation, employment creation being the chief strategy. The SMME sector is the most prominent employer in South Africa, said to be responsible for over 61 % of all employment. Even given these figures of there are still high levels of unemployment in the country. Growing industries like the tourism sector present a lot of hope for the ambitions of employment creation and poverty alleviation in developing countries including South Africa. The focus of this study will be the South African tourism sector. / Thesis (M.Dev. Studies)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Rural people in South Africal/KwaZulu-Natal makes up a large portion of the total population. They depend on a wide range of activities for living. Besides farming, they also engage in petty trade and wage work in towns and cities. Pensions (public welfare) and remittances also contribute a share to the household budget. Total cash earnings, however, are not enough to enable the majority of rural residents to escape poverty. This study attempts to present a case that the agriculture sector (farming) could contribute more towards improving the living conditions of these people. The argument centers on two facts: the fact that KwaZulu-Natal enjoys a plenty of agricultural natural resources and the second is that farming activity as a sector has certain characteristics worthy of consideration. Findings indicate two things: it establishes the low (measured) income flow from agriculture arrived at by previous studies but at the same time points out to the expansion in farming activities. Comparatively, income derived from farming still compares poorly with others as it was five years ago (1993-1998). The second point which may appear odd is that, consistent with findings by other sources, the number of people or households practicing farming is steadily increasing over time in contrast to other activities such as informal sector, migrant labor and income sources such as remittances. The study uses these facts and others to prove that the sector represents the central activity among the various components that constitute the livelihood system and that it has the potential to contribute more livelihoods as well as playing a lead role for the development of rural economy. The study recognizes the large magnitude of resources whether human or physical required and the constraints to tackle for realizing this but argues that in the absence of any realistic and feasible alternative, agriculture represents the second best route to poverty reduction in rural KwaZulu-Natal. It is also noted that the smallholder strategy in the short term can at best achieve an adequate level of household food security against hunger and malnutrition and may initiate a limited community level food and other farming related market transactions and employment. The study concludes with a number of recommendations deemed necessary to help rural producers enhance their productivity and thus livelihoods generated from the agriculture sector. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

Community based targeting mechanism has been widely utilized in the delivery of relief interventions and safety nets. In developing countries like Malawi the approach has been championed as the most effective and efficient way of reaching the most vulnerable. However, very little is known on how community based targeting mechanism actually works. Using the Agriculture Input Subsidy programme as a case study, the thesis attempts to explore whether community based targeting lives to its billing of enhancing social capital. The purpose of the study was to examine community perceptions and experiences about community based targeting approach and how it affects social relations and collective actions in the community. The results demonstrate that while communities have the knowledge and capacity to target the most vulnerable, the approach is largely a top down process. The choice on whether to target or not is a delicate balance of social, economic and political factors. Communities largely participate to fulfil or comply with official requirements so that they can cash in from the benefits. However, given a choice communities would largely share resources equally to prevent social costs. Consequently, a targeted programme at national level becomes a universal programme at community level since benefits are largely shared to all community members. The role and influence of social factors in the community based targeting has been largely underestimated in the targeting literature. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

Abstract not available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.

Since the end of the Cold War, the global development aid scene has evolved rapidly. At the heart of the changing world order is civil society and in particular NGOs, that are tasked to fill in the developmental gaps left by the state in retreat. Likewise, the abundance of foreign funds has also led to a dramatic growth of NGOs in both industrialized and developing countries. Philanthropy, at least in theory, has played a crucial role in addressing the global and regional causes of poverty and in advancing development. In South Africa, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) became visible in the 1980's as these organisations played a pivotal role in the provision of welfare services to communities who were largely neglected by the apartheid regime. However, the transition to democracy in the early 1990s significantly affected the NGO sector. Development aid was mainly channelled to the democratic government; meanwhile NGOs had to diversify funding sources. This situation resulted in uncertainties as NGOs had to compete for limited funds. Many NGOs had to reshape their activities in order to survive the turbulence. The various literatures uncover that, many NGOs became donor-driven as they surrendered their autonomy, very few NGOs managed to adhere to their core business in order to best serve their constituencies. This study explores the perceptions of KwaZulu Natal NGOs regarding the role and effectiveness of development aid, using comparative case study method. The intention in using this method is to compare experiences and opinions of different-size NGOs on how they survive the transition, more than ten years in the post-Apartheid South Africa. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.

This study explores the concept of Social Investment beyond the corporate domain. The issue of Corporate Social Investment (CSI) has been on the South African radar since the 1970's and on the international agenda since the 1950's. Very little, however is known about what small businesses are doing in the area of social investment (SI); in fact there is no national research currently looking at this area which makes this a significant research need. Given the fact that small businesses are significant contributors to our country's economy it is of essential importance to determine what (if anything) is happening in this field. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

In Mozambique, rural poverty is visible in the statistics and in real life. According to UNDP (2005), the index of Mozambique’s human development ranked 172 out of 177 countries and was far below the averages of the sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries, despite considerable improvement in the indicator over the previous five years. It had been determined that 54% of the population lived below the poverty level of $1/day surviving on as little as US$0.40 per day in 2003 (UNDP, 2005). The population distribution in Mozambique remained predominantly rural; with 64% of the 21.4 million people living in the countryside. The development prospects of rural areas remained a key concern (UNDP, 2005). Development was also a key problem for me. For this study it was decided to select a specific problem, the role of the traditional leaders in development, and a special case, a traditional chief - João Mapanguelana Mondlane, nominated in 1949. Between 1960 and 1974 Mapanguelana inaugurated a settlement scheme and a cooperative in the Aldeia das Laranjeiras north of Mandlakazi in Gaza province. I selected this case because several approaches assume that the nature of the relationship between key local development actors and communities has an impact on the development conditions observed at any point in time of the rural areas. From this case study, I can conclude that the involvement of the local leaders with legitimacy and credibility in the community and modern social and administrative networks was the key point that made it possible for the Aldeia das Laranjeiras to be different from her neighbouring villages. During the colonial period the government in Mozambique recognized the significance of traditional leadership as a way to reach the people and make their rule effective and legitimate, specifically in the rural areas. After independence, the new Frelimo government banned traditional leadership and accused it of having collaborated with colonialists and of practicing exploitative actions. In 2000, the Mozambican government reversed the earlier approach, particularly in line with policies that aim at carrying out developmental projects in the districts, and established legal procedures for the nomination of community representatives. The review of the literature and the findings suggest that Mozambique followed the new trends of incorporating the traditional leadership in the rural local governance as a way to reach rural economic development. The aim of this study is to assist policy makers in developing countries especially in Africa, and more specifically in Mozambique, in focusing on the problem of involving the local leaders in the struggle to reduce poverty in the rural areas where most of the population is located. / Thesis (M.Dev.Studies)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

Globally, old age has been identified as one of the key causes of poverty. Governments all over the world have taken the initiative to introduce policies aimed at protecting the elderly from poverty. However in most developing countries, the plight of the elderly often falls on the informal systems of care such as the extended family. This often leaves the elderly more vulnerable to poverty as the informal systems of care are becoming increasingly unreliable. This study explored the impact which an economic crisis characterized by hyperinflation and high unemployment had on the lives of elderly persons in a suburb called Mucheke in Masvingo, Zimbabwe, focusing mainly on their social networks. Most of the literature on Zimbabwe emphasizes that often people who are institutionalized in old age homes in Zimbabwe were those people who had weaker social networks, particularly due to the fact that they were of foreign origin. These individuals did not have an extended family they could rely on in Zimbabwe, whilst at the same time their links with their families had been broken due to a prolonged stay in a foreign country. Black locals rarely sought to be institutionalized in old age homes. However with the economic crisis, many facets of the elderly people’s lives were altered. These alterations included the depletion of the extended family’s capacity to continue its role of providing care to the elderly as resources were limited. The government on its own had been paralyzed by the economic crisis and no longer provided care for the destitute and desperate elderly people as had been the norm. The elderly established different coping strategies to see them through the crisis. The civil society also began to play a more central role in assisting the needy as the crisis worsened. / Thesis (M.Dev.Studies)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Dev.Studies)-University of Natal, Durban.