This study explored the measures adopted by Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality for capacity building of rural community members to participate effectively in the Integrated Developmental Planning (IDP) process. Focus was on the rural areas of Berlin. Existing studies suggest that, due to low literacy levels and lack of knowledge and understanding about local government issues and the benefits of participation, rural residents have little knowledge of their rights, roles and responsibilities in the IDP process, and do not know the structures designed to enhance participation. The present study was conducted against this backdrop. A mixed-methods research approach was employed, utilising quantitative and qualitative research techniques. A survey was conducted with members of four rural villages in Berlin in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Questionnaires, with open and close-ended questions, were utilised, while in-depth interviews were conducted with IDP officials at Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality. The findings show that, while the Municipality did have community capacity-building measures in place; these were more about building the capacity of local government councillors and other local government officials and not rural community members. Whereas the municipality believed the capacity building of councillors would translate to building the capacity of rural community members, capacity building of rural community members did not happen. Community members appeared not to understand the IDP process, an indication that whatever capacity-building measures were targeted at them had no real effect in terms of engendering meaningful participation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufh/vital:29730 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Solani, M |
| Publisher | University of Fort Hare, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MSoc |
| Format | 82 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | University of Fort Hare |
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