Exploring the philosophical engagements for community economic development analytical framework for poverty alleviation in South African rural areas

Abstract

This paper is the second paper in a series of papers on Community Economic Development Strategic Framework for Poverty Alleviation in Local Government with particular attention to the Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality (RMLM). The objective of this paper is twofold: (i) to examine the rationale for community economic development in contemporary philosophy for poverty reduction and (ii) to develop an analytical framework for community economic development for alleviating poverty. It uses existing statistics and research data from Statistics South Africa and other indexes cushioned with over 100 research papers to generate data for this argument. Theme and narrative analysis were used to analyse the data for this paper. In conclusion, the paper demonstrated that for poverty to be alleviated—local investments, buying locally made products, patronising local shops and spaza shops, local regeneration, local reconversion, community linking, and building sustainable capital and market in communities are integral for the survival of any community that intends to be economical viable or sustainable. It recommends that one of the ways in which community viability or sustainability may be guaranteed is through regeneration/reconversion policy and a framework that articulates and harmonise sustainability issues and localisation challenges of communities in each locality.

Keywords:

• Community development
• community economic development
• economic development
• localism
• poverty alleviation
• social justice
• social transformation
• sustainable development

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

The idea of collective action in solving communal problems is diminishing. The overdependence on government intervention and the feeling of entitlement has eaten deep into the fabrics of the South African society, especially in black communities. It is for this reason, that this study re-engineers the principles for participation in community development. In this paper, we see community economic development as a means through which a community could grow and flourish, thereby bringing about investment, trade, and prosperity. These in essence will help ensure that the economy is viable, and secondly, it may lead to the reduction of poverty in the community. Hence, it has been documented else that where the economy is viable, opportunities for employment and innovation tend to increase, which in turn affect the rate and intensity of poverty in a given area. Therefore, in this paper, we proposed and analysed a framework for community economic development engagement.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Notes

1. People of colour particularly black people of Africa.

2. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR855/mr855.ch5.html

3. People of African descent, for example, Black, White, Indian or Coloured.

4. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/08/confusing-country-continent-how-we-talk-about-africa/311621/

5. “Community Development Journal- about the journal” (http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/cdj/about.html). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 7 July 2014.

6. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-resilience-framework- for-practitioners/the-context-for-community-resilience.

7. http://www.unece.org/oes/nutshell/2004-2005/focus_sustainable_development.html

Additional information

Funding

The author received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

EA Ndaguba

EA Ndaguba specialises in community development, community economic development, peace and security, conflict resolution, corruption, development economics, monitoring and evaluation, development policy, and organisational procedure and design.

Barry Hanyane

Barry Hanyane is presently working as Professor in Public Management and Governance, University of North-west, South Africa.