6.1 Introduction
This focus on the discussion as in chapter
four and five. It must be noted that various data collection methods were an attempting to get a comprehensive view of poverty alleviation in the province.
It is certain that the province has made significant towards alleviating poverty in province though might not these have up to now yield the desired results. It needs to be noted that poverty alleviation is a process and is a long- term vision that cannot
relates to:
• Empowerment
• The challenges of literacy levels
• Political and administrative commitments
• The need for committed staff that have make it a reality
overnight as it
competencies to
• Restructuring of departments ensure that poverty alleviation / social development sections have sufficient human resources dealing with this aspect of work.
• There are financial resource to fund deserving communities
For J. Streak [2000:1 the dawn of a new political era established greater political justice, but has thus far done little to address the issues of economic justice meaningfully. reason for this is that the power imbalances that South African society have not been significantly changed. Poverty reduction indicates the goal, implies improving economic growth, reducing unemployment and creating avenues for job opportunities. It also relates to educational poverty as well as growth of individual and the promotion of independence of people. It is hoped
6.2 Participants in the study
Most workers who participated in the study are involved in poverty alleviation programmes district which is where operations take place. It was, however, critical that they were not aware some of the critical mandates that guide alleviation programmes in KwaZulu - Natal for example, Urban Development Strategy, Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy it is one of cornerstones for funding in country includlng KwaZulu-Natal
Development Strategy.
reality but when they are not even aware of that the 2020 vision of the PGDS is unlikely to
Provincial Growth and make policies a it means a reality.
6.3 Targets of the poverty alleviation programmes
From findings it is clear that the of the poverty alleviation programme includes women, elderly, youth, disabled HIV/AIDS. This to a extent affected by changes for example the scourge of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. With the high unemployment in the it is
that men will be targeted as well.
6.4 Lack of poverty alleviation strategy
The Agenda [998:7J that an strategy for tackling the problems of poverty, development and environment simultaneously, should on production should cover demographic I"''''lj~'''.
enhanced health care and education, the rights of women, the role of youth and indigenous people and local commu and a democratic partiCipation process in association with improved governance.
The province not yet a strategy for poverty alleviation but it is currently using development which include the The Rural Development Strategy, Urban Renewal Strategy and Provincial Growth and Development as well as other national strategies as indicated in chapter two.
It is thc:.lrQ~1"l critical to note that these are good but include all other of development that might not relate to poverty alleviation are not necessarily focused on poverty alleviation. Regulation has been ignored and is to proceed with implementation. Formulation of a poverty alleviation strategy is in line with Hubbard (2001 :294), when he that current strategies particularly in Africa are inadequate and invite an exploration of ways to the poor directly. He the response is the, more comprehensive strategy to fight poverty" [attacking poverty], and going beyond economic policy,
A poverty alleviation strategy will address that poor people encounter and will have milestones related to poverty alleviation. This is supported by Franks [1999: 56] when he that - without a supportive policy! strategy it is difficult to perform effectively. planning and management poverty alleviation programmes can only take place when the agencies responsible have a clear understanding of the policies and strategies of the programme in the province. example, the Free state Province has a Poverty Reduction Strategy. This as a for staff, for all spheres of government, NGOS and sector in the province. It also
out the objectives, and roles of
The following was noted in procedural documents for implementation the poverty alleviation programmes that are currently being used, Anti- poverty procedural document volume 1: 1999 assumed that the cluster coordinators have capacity when in fact some of them did not which required them to first trained before they could render support. This also resulted in confusion of roles ",o'nAl">£:) development workers and coordinators.
This document on page 21 identifies four players in poverty alleviation programmes namely the cluster coordinators, Independent Development Trust and the Department of Social Welfare and Population
This document overlooks the fact that development is multifaceted and thus excludes major role players like other government departments, traditional leaders, local government and the community within which the project functions. This is a serious concern as it indicates that government initially did not support integration, yet in the constitution and other development mandates call for integration. This in i,tself explains the reason why other government departments are involved in poverty alleviation, lack of integration and the informal nature of integration.
The unavailability of a provincial strategy or plan is critical especially in terms of sustainability of projects and the use of the project management approaches to implement this programme. This probably could have been the reason for poor sustainability and dependency created as some of the projects have been in existence for more than seven years that still need as much monitoring as new ones.
6.5 Programme implementation 6.5.1 Top-Down planning
The results show that the perception of officials is that there is a top down approach in terms of planning. This is against the intention of the ISRDS which locates planning at local level to ensure that it is integrated, demand driven and aligned with other development initiatives taking place in that locality. This kind of planning has implications with regard to ownership and sustainability of the project. It also makes it difficult to know who defines the project's deliverables. Is it the project or the funding department?
This is also evident in the monitoring by the funding department, which apparently takes place on a monthly basis. Much as this might be necessary, it might create confusion around independence of the project especially in the light of the fact that the Department of Social Welfare and Population Development, for example, does have emerging organizations under social assistance for example in the department of but are not treated the same way as the projects.