A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Political Studies, Johannesburg, March 2017 / The role of youth in development in South Africa is of increasing concern to development practitioners. Figuring out how to maximise youth participation in a way that is meaningful is often difficult, particularly in national discourse around development. This is important because of the centrality of youth in demographic trends as well as the role of citizen participation in advancing democracy. Currently, the scope for meaningful youth participation in South Africa is limited because of access to opportunities for participation, and a perception of social status as a requirement for involvement in development; this, coupled by a lack of political will and the inability to adopt people-centred approaches to development mean that youth participation is often ignored in development processes. Within these contexts, this paper looks to assess whether there is a developmental environment which is conducive to meaningful youth participation. Through an analysis of field data obtained through interviews with youth in Tembisa as well as National Planning Commissioners, this paper analyses the scope of youth participation as it related to the National Development Plan. This data draws conclusions about youth perceptions of development, the National Development Plan and their role in national development. It also draws conclusions about the ways the National Planning Commission envisions the role of youth in the implementation of the plan, as well as their role in creating an enabling environment for youth participation. These insights are grounded in a theory of a democratic developmental state and the Capabilities Approach, assessing which approach to development would best create an environment for meaningful youth participation / XL2018

The objective of this research is to establish how non-adherence of Amathole District development projects to the Department of Social Development’s Community Development Systems and Operational Manual has contributed to failure of these projects. The background to this research lies in the deliberate policy efforts of the post 1994 democratic dispensation in South Africa to drive development through community-based development approaches. Explicitly pro-poor public policies, development plans and fiscal frameworks were anchored on the concept of community empowerment. The Reconstruction and Development Programme was the first such policy and strategy framework that sought to enshrine the principles of community empowerment and participation. As such, Provincial and Local government are often seen as key strategic drivers of community empowerment initiatives and interventions. South Africa’s governance model is still evolving, but it is clearly committed to local development and service delivery through a decentralised system of government that espouses community involvement. Government strategy has been heavily focused on speed and delivery in order to deal with the historical socio-economic backlogs it inherited. In the focus area of youth development projects, one recognises that poor management has dramatically reduced the effectiveness of many interventions. This research explores how non-adherence of these projects to policy guidelines set out in the Community Development Systems and Operations Manual has contributed to their failure. The research does this by looking at the various management procedures that are supposed to be undertaken during both the initial planning phases and during the subsequent implementation phases of youth development projects. Actual methodologies are compared against this standard. The research is undoubtedly a contribution to the field of strategic management of youth development initiatives which have as their primary intention the reduction of youth unemployment. Research surveys on this topic are limited, and the objective is to enrich the discourse on effective youth projects management practices.

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.

This thesis relates the work of a non-governmental organisation, The Spirals Trust, to discussions on human and participatory development. The focus of the study is one of The Spirals Trust’s projects, the 2006/7 Tantyi Youth Empowerment Project, which is discussed in relation to theoretical material on human development and participatory development. Collectively these perspectives are defined in this thesis as ‘participatory human development’. The 2006/7 Tantyi Youth Empowerment Project illustrates some of the challenges that face the practice of participatory human development. Workshops and focus group interviews were conducted with participants who were part of the 2006/7 Tantyi Youth Empowerment Project in order to draw out their experiences of the project. Questions were created from themes that emerged from the participants’ discussion of their experiences and these questions were then posed to members of staff of The Spirals Trust. The experiences of both the participants and the staff members are discussed in order to explore issues that emerge in the practice of participatory human development in the 2006/7 Tantyi Youth Empowerment Project. The results highlight the challenges of putting into action the tenets of participatory human development. Feedback showed that a focus on personal development can help cultivate the ethic of participation. The effort that this entailed on the part of facilitators is discussed. The importance of exposing and continually working with power dynamics that may emerge in projects of this nature is revealed and the eroding influence of bureaucratic compliance in projects like this one is explored. The study also suggests that there is a need to promote development initiatives that challenge the political status quo rather than just finding ways to incorporate the marginalised more effectively into current systems. New questions that the research poses to the practice of participatory human development are considered in conjunction with suggestions for further research.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Management Sciences: Business Administration, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / Given the current, global, economic situation, the status of youth entrepreneurship in South Africa is no different to that of the youth in other countries. It is debatable whether similar support and mechanisms used by other countries can be used without contextualising them for the South African environment. Cultural differences, level of education, different market standards, and a different socio-political environment are some of the factors that should be taken into consideration, when aiming to create an enabling environment that will open entrepreneurial opportunities for South African youth. A major threat for youth, especially in South Africa, is that if their needs and desires are not addressed, the youth will lose faith in starting their own entrepreneurial activities and in that way, become more dependent on the government to create employment opportunities for them. This situation certainly could add to the currently high unemployment rate and in the long-term, high youth unemployment could destabilise the country. This study is aimed at investigating entrepreneurship activities in a semi-rural area, with the aim of identifying the inherent weaknesses that prevent young people from pursuing entrepreneurial activities, as well as those enabling factors that can mitigate against these identified weaknesses. The study is conducted in the UGu District Municipality, specifically, the Umdoni Local Municipal area has been selected. A mixed methods research approach was used and 120 respondents from the selected municipal area participated in this study, including the municipal official. The study highlighted that access to financial support is one of the primary obstacles for the setting-up of a new business, since the majority of young people in the area tend to come from disadvantaged backgrounds. In addition, the research pointed to other challenges, including the business registration process, lack of adequate entrepreneurial training and mentoring programmes, the impact of crime in starting a fledging business and general support from government departments and agencies. Should these challenges not be addressed through an enabling environment, young people will, in the process, be discouraged from engaging in entrepreneurial activities. Given that the study was conducted in a semi-rural area, there are certainly greater challenges to the development of youth entrepreneurship. Therefore, the recommendations include municipalities creating a special relationship with government agencies to obtain greater assistance; that Government and its agencies consider setting up a designated fund to assist young people who want to open business in semi-rural and rural areas; that the administrative requirements for such a group of young entrepreneurs, in respect of funding, training, support, mentoring and business registration, be much more accessible and easier to obtain. / M