PhD. thesis. University of the Witwatersrand, Wits School of Governance. 1st October 2015 / Two decades after South Africa’s transition to democracy, with a positive constitutional
and legislative framework in place, a vast number of South African households continue
to be subjected to serious inequalities and extreme poverty. The dual phenomenon of
poverty and inequality are complex problems of such a magnitude that silo approaches
and singular agency fixes are inadequate. South Africa has the potential to address
such issues at a multi-actor multi-institutional level, involving both civil society
organisations and government working together.
This study investigates the manner in which various stakeholders come together to
develop policy and implement strategies aimed at the alleviation of poverty, specifically
focussing on childhood poverty and vulnerability. Using the policy network approach to
illustrate the relationships that exist between actors, this study follows the policy
process from formulation to implementation. The policy network approach is utilised as
a lens through which the policy process is examined in two case studies — the
succession planning and children’s act projects. These case studies share a common
objective which is to equip service providers with the knowledge and skills to assist their
clients in accessing their legal rights.
Policy networks draw attention to the institutional arrangements needed for coordinating
complex interactions between various actors involved in the policy process, with a
specific interest on state-civil society relationships of policy cooperation. Hence, the
main focus of the research is to ascertain the networking relationships that develop
between government and civil society organisations and to explore the potential that
policy networks offer in the future pursuit of social justice and children’s rights. / MB2016
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/21562 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Colgan, Desia |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | Online resource (xviii, 394 leaves), application/pdf |
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