Cities, particularly in developing countries, are faced .with the challenge of
population increase aggravated by rural to urban migration. This has increased
the level of unemployment since job creation does not keep up with the rate at
which population influx to cities occurs. This leads to poverty that undermines
the economy of the city. Urban agriculture (UA) has the potential to improve
livelihoods of the urban poor people through contributing to food security and
generating income. However, UA has generally not been practised successfully
and in a sustainable manner, owing to the lack of resources (land and finance),
farming skills, and inadequate support services from organizations. This study
presupposes that the inadequacy of resources in support of UA strongly reflects
the level of co-operation and co-ordination among those who are, or could
support UA. It will also reflect the levels of commitment of a shared vision. It
thus sets out to explore the prospects of organizational collaboration to support
UAand uses the Greater Pietermaritzburg Area (PMB) as a focus for the study.
The local organizations in PMB were found to have frameworks through which
they supported UA and other development projects. They were however found
not to have any strategic plan, clear definition of organizations' roles, no
common understanding of UA, nor a shared mission or vision of UA. As a result
there was poor coordination and commitment to collaboration.
It appears that a successful collaboration requires most importantly, an
acknowledgement of the complexity of collaboration and a clear understanding
of its purpose among the collaborating partners. Also required is accepting the
need for leadership, integration of ideas when planning and implementing,
clarification of roles and accountability. To appreciate this, organizational and
individual empowerment is needed. Empowerment could take three forms:
objective (knowledge of collaborations' aim, objectives, and procedures), subjective (assertiveness to undertake work involved), and competency
(acquisition of skills to enhance ability to perform). The study believes these
.factors could help improve the performance of organizational frameworks in
developing UA to a point that its full potential is realized. The findings
emphasized the value of adopting a systems approach in organizing delivery of
services in support of UA. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/3592 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Ndlela, Zodwa P. |
| Contributors | Breen, Charles M. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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