Participatory development (PD): NGOs and developmental practice in Zimbabwe
- Authors: Hwati, Lucky
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Soc Sc (Dev)
- Identifier: vital:11446 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1015315
- Description: The rising to prominence of Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs) as essential partners to development was as a result of a shift in development authority into decentralized governance. Prior to this, the state was the central player in development. At liberation from political colonial control, most African governments adopted a centralized governance system. This meant that even in their drive to eco-socio development the state was the sole and most important driver. As explained by Allen (1995), in order to keep their grip on power, African leaders invented different solutions. Among them was an amplified centralization of its administrative device, or the creation of a centralized bureaucratic organization. Indeed, from 1960, the majority of African leaders banned political competition and instituted one-party regimes under which an ever-expanding bureaucracy was used to distribute resources to political allies, often under the form of membership in administrative positions (Allen, 1995). It was this need to keep a firm grip on power which saw most governments spearheading their own development, with NGOs playing a peripheral role. In the second instance, the state was instrumental in leading development. Throughout Africa, numerous government boards and ministries were created, each with a specific role to play in development (Willis, 2011; Allen, 1995). In the same way, most governments instituted policies and plans, with specific time frames, where certain development targets were supposed to be met. This system was adopted and became more pronounced in countries such as Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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- Date Issued: 2013
Sustainable community development programmes and rural poverty eradication in the Eastern Cape: the case study of Buffalo Municipality
- Authors: Muleya, Emmison
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Soc Sc (Dev)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/844 , vital:26502
- Description: Community development programmes as livelihoods strategies have been central to rural poverty eradication, development thinking and practice in the past decade. But where do such perspectives come from, what are their conceptual roots, and what influences have shaped the way they have emerged? This study offers a historical review of key moments in debates about sustainable community development programmes and rural poverty reduction, identifying the tensions, ambiguities and challenges of such approaches. A number of core challenges are identified in this study, centred on the need to inject a more thorough-going analysis into the centre of livelihoods perspectives. The study was done as a first step to identify, at a local level, evidence of the contribution of such programmes designated to tackle poverty in rural areas in Buffalo Municipality and to establish the challenges faced in providing sustainable livelihood outcomes. This will enhance the capacity of livelihoods perspectives to address key gaps in recent discussions, including questions of knowledge, politics, scale and dynamics. It is of utmost importance to note that funds per see cannot bring the rural poor out of their situation, rather as the study posits, continued support, empowering locals with ongoing training on marketing and how to run business, a culture of savings as well as the development of participatory monitoring and evaluation mechanisms can bring about reduction in poverty through sustainable community development programmes and eventually leading to eradication.
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- Date Issued: 2013