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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Beyond the Development Impasse: The Role of Local Economic Development and Community Self-Reliance in Rural South Africa
Authors:Binns, Tony
Nel, Etienne L.ISNI
Year:1999
Periodical:Journal of Modern African Studies
Volume:37
Issue:3
Period:September
Pages:389-408
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:rural development
cooperatives
Development and Technology
Economics and Trade
international relations
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/161870
Abstract:The general failure of the grand development narratives of the post-World War II era, the theoretical vacuum left as a result of the collapse of State socialism in the 1980s, and the dubious results of structural adjustment, have together created an impasse in development thinking in the 1990s. Local development initiatives may be seen as a partial response, which is steadily gaining in prominence. This article presents a case study of local economic development (LED) in the rural Mpofu District of the former Ciskei homeland, which was incorporated into the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa in 1994. Field research in the district has identified three significant local development initiatives which are controlled by local communities: the Philani ('making a living') Community Development Project in the rural service centre of Balfour, which focuses on food supply and tourism; the women's Zamukphila ('trying to survive') Cooperative, established at Upsher village to supply vegetables to the local community; and the Hertzog Agricultural Cooperative, involving over 100 local farmers in intensive irrigated agriculture. The success of these self-reliant development initiatives is indicative of what local communities can achieve. Bibliogr., sum.
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