Electronic Theses and Dissertations (PhDs)

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10539/37946

Browse

Browsing Electronic Theses and Dissertations (PhDs) by Keyword "Community development"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Capacity development of service delivery structures and programmes in Bojanala Platinum District Municipality
    (2021) Mphahlele, Matuku
    Bojanala Platinum District Municipality (BPDM), in the North West Province is a centre of the extractive economy in South Africa. The BPDM experiences challenges in relation to delivering quality public services. In this context, this thesis examines capacity development of service delivery structures and programmes of the local municipalities, in the BPDM, that is, Kgetlengrivier, Rustenburg, Madibeng, Moses Kotane and Moretele. In addition, the study explores the ways in which they can be overcome for enhanced service delivery. The BPDM is embedded in an extractive economy and experiences challenges of the largely heterogeneous and mobile population that results in high influx of labour migrants, socio-economic inequality, and unemployment that impact heavily on the municipal capacity to deliver services (Van Wyk, 2012; Alexander, Sinwell, Lekgowa, Mmope & Xezwi, 2012). Accordingly, the Mineral Petroleum Resource Development Act 28 of 2002 (MPRDA) unpacks legislative prescripts on what structures mining companies have to establish, how to monitor and report on collaborative Social and Labour Plans (SLPs) in conjunction with municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) for enhancement of service delivery. Thus, the study also examines the nature of structures and programmes, facilitators and inhibitors of skills development initiatives and how mining companies as local partners facilitate or impede improvement in delivering municipal services to the community. Within the context of local government capacity development, this study develops a theoretical framing incorporating scholarship on human capital, performance improvement and collaborative participatory governance perspectives. This framing is premised on the scholarly evidence that capacity development is an enabler of service delivery, influenced by skills development, municipal performance improvement and collaborative participation. ii )To generate perspectives in relation to capacity development of service delivery structures and programmes, a qualitative case study approach, using interviews is adopted. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with senior managers in the municipalities and the respective, locally based mining company. In addition to semi-structured interviews, documentary analysis and the descriptive statistics were employed. The study’s research questions examine the structures and programmes for enhancing capacity development in relation to service delivery. In addition, the study hones in on how local partners facilitate or hinder improvement in providing municipal services and how local municipalities better utilise their capacity development resources, including partnership with mining companies in relation to service delivery. This case study reveals that there are difficulties with respect to capacity development associated with skills retention, organisational relations and socio-political capacity building. The study concludes that political abandonment, poor communication and stakeholder engagements aggravate weakened inter-municipal co-operation and inadequate utilisation of resources. These challenges undermine cost-effective, efficient and effective implementation of capacity development of service delivery structures and programmes, underpinned by skills development and organisational learning. This study, suggests that socio-political resilience and administrative synergy are key enablers in the enhancement of service delivery. The thesis contributes to the body knowledge about the distinctive nature of the interface between learning and skills development, underscoring key enablers of improved capacity development of service delivery structures and programmes.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Complexities of the professionalisation process and ethics of community development in South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Ditlhake, Kefilwe Johanna; Pillay, Pundy
    This thesis examined the professionalisation process complexities and ethics of community development in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to examine the current move to professionalise the community development sector to explain professionalisation process complexities, the tensions, challenges, and the values of community development in South Africa. The quest for professionalisation calls for the standardisation of knowledge, certifications, the establishment of occupational membership associations, and a system of self-regulation for community development practitioners and community workers into a formalised profession and be committed to serving the public interest. The professionalisation process of the community development sector was explicitly acknowledged in the White Paper on Social Welfare in 1997. In October 2011, the national Department of Social Development (DSD) organised a three-day Inaugural Summit held at the Vulindlela Village in Coega, Eastern Cape, which paved the way for the professionalisation process, and consulted stakeholders within the community development sector to plan the professionalisation process in this field. This summit was the first step undertaken towards the professionalisation process. The national DSD was mandated to lead, oversee and coordinate the professionalisation of community development. The Steering Committee, the South African Council of Social Service Profession (SACSSP), and the Task Team to professionalise community development in the planning and implementation process. The study adopted multiple case study designs to explore and explain how the community development practitioners, social workers, and community development workers view the professionalisation process complexities and the values of community development. This case study research took place in Gauteng at the local, provincial, and national levels of government. The four cases underpinning the study include the practitioners from non-governmental organisations (NGO), community development workers (CDWs) from the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), the provincial and national Department of Social Development (DSD), and the higher education institutions (HEI). The case study analysis focused first on each case separately (within-case analysis), including the connection of each case to the phenomenon underpinning the study. Understanding each case (within-case analysis) was essential to understanding the case context. By adopting multiple case study research designs, contributions to existing research on community development and the professionalisation process are made. The research questions underpinning the phenomenon under study are answered by accumulating findings from all four cases (cross-case analysis findings). Interviews and secondary data analysis were used to collect data. The interviews are the primary data source, and documentary analysis was used to corroborate the findings of the interviews. Non-probability purposive sampling and theoretical sampling were employed in this study. The empirics consist of seventy-four interviews with community development workers, social workers, and community development practitioners. The data analysis process followed the constructivist grounded theory constant comparison iterative and coding process, including two cycles of initial and focused coding. The theoretical codes developed in the study represent the foundation of the theory developed. Given the plethora of research in this field of study, the constructivist grounded theory data analysis process was applicable in generating the nascent theory that suits the nature of this inquiry. This study found that the professionalisation process was motivated by the need for status recognition and that the process is evolving as state regulation. Professionalisation process complexities are connected to the complex context of the history of the multidisciplinary nature of community development practice, lack of engagement and broader consultative processes, the qualification versus the occupational wider set of professionalisation processes, a crisis of status recognition, professional identity issues, the unclear scope of practice, and a lack of regulatory framework. Against this backdrop, challenges, tensions, turf issues, and contestations are identified. Including the ethical issues of conflict of interest, professional misconduct, and malpractice are raised as the major challenge of the evolving profession of community development practice. A substantive theory developed in this study is inductively theorised from data and contributes to existing research on community development professional practice. Based on the study findings, recommendations for policy and practice and further research are suggested