113 The definition of ontology is to discover multiple realities that can be explored and constructed through human interactions and meaningful actions. In relation to this study, ontology will discover how people benefit from LED initiatives and make sense of their social worlds by sustaining them in a manner that will empower them economically and allow them to be financially independent. This can only be achieved through the sustainability of pro-poor LED initiatives. Many social realities exist due to varying human experiences, including people’s knowledge, views, interpretations and experiences. There are multiple realities. Reality can be explored and constructed through human interactions and meaningful actions. Other research projects on the subject have, however, not been conducted specifically on the implementation and sustainability of pro-poor LED, particularly in the case of those communities perceived as being at the periphery.
For instance, Koma (2014) conducted a study on the implementation of LED policy focusing on the Emakhazeni municipality in Mpumalanga province. In his study he states that LED serves as an important strategy to boost the local economy, to address the high level of poverty and unemployment and examine inequalities but his study does not articulate on the sustainability of LED strategies for the benefit of the poor whereas this study examined the sustainability of Local Economic Development strategies in the King Cetshwayo District Municipality. This study also examined the real lives of poor people in semi-urban areas, and experienced first-hand how the implementation and sustainability of pro-poor LED initiatives would benefit them, and was able to get an understanding of how they perceive government efforts in terms of curbing poverty and empowering the poor through LED initiatives, as well as the challenges, attitudes and aspirations that they think hinder the implementation of pro-poor LED initiatives.
114 research question. The research design includes qualitative, quantitative and mixed method, which also reflect the purpose of the inquiry that can be characterised as exploratory, descriptive and explanatory (Marée, 2016:53). In other words, the research design articulates what data is required, what methods are going to be used to collect and analyse this data, and how all of this is going to answer your research question. Cooper, Schindler and Sun (2006) stipulate that the choice of research design is informed by the research question and the kind of data required to answer the research question and to address the research problem. According to Van Wyk (2015) types of research design may be categorised as generating primary data (case studies and experiments) and analysing existing data (content analysis and historical studies). Two case studies from the King Cetshwayo Municipal District were used in the study. These include the uMhlathuze local municipality and the uMfolozi local municipality and this resulted in a comparative and comprehensive analysis of practical findings for rural development (uMfolozi local municipality) and urban/semi-urban development (uMhlathuze local municipality).
According to Yin (2003), case study research refers to an empirical inquiry about the existing phenomenon set within a real-world context especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident. Mariano (2001) maintains that the purposes of case-study research maybe exploratory, descriptive, interpretive or explanatory. Stake (1995) and Yin (2003) base their approach to case study research on the constructivist paradigm that recognizes the importance of the subjective human creation of meaning but does not reject outright some notion of objectivity. Moreover, case study research provides a holistic picture and depth of understanding of participants rather than a numerical analysis of data (Stake, 1995). It also enables the researcher to gain an overview of experiences, attitudes, opinions, suggestions, expectations and behaviour towards some issues of the targeted group (Babbie, 2000).
A case study research method was employed in this study because it allowed for intensive and integrated investigation of a certain unit, which in this study is a specific local government institution in South Africa. Furthermore, Babbie (2001) Mouton (2001)Van Wyk (2015) and Yin (2003) reveal that research design focuses on the purpose of enquiry and can be organised into various groups which includeexploring a new topic, describing a social phenomenon, explaining why something occurs, and describing people’s insights,
115 predictions and evaluations. Babbie (2001) and Mouton (2001) defined research design as a plan or blueprint of how one intends to conduct a research. It explains the what, where, when and how much of an enquiry or research study and also by what means an inquiry or a research study will be conducted. Therefore, the nature of the problem and the research question for this study requires the demonstration of thematic analysis using interpretive research. Thematic analysis was used to explore and interpret empirical evidence on peoples’ insights, socially constructed beliefs, norms and facts with regard to their perceptions of the government officials and local communities about the implementation and sustainability of pro-poor LED in the King Cetshwayo District Municipality. Marée et al. (2016) indicate that an exploratory case study explores those situations in which the intervention being evaluated has no clear, single set of outcomes.
Creswell (2014) indicates that exploratory research is research conducted for a problem that has not been clearly defined. It often occurs before we know enough to make conceptual distinctions or to posit an explanatory relationship. Rubin and Babbie (2014) explain that exploratory studies are mostly done for three purposes: firstly, to satisfy the curiosity and desire for better understanding, secondly, to test the feasibility of undertaking a more extensive study and lastly, to develop a model to be employed in any following study.
An exploratory research design was used through the use of focus groups and in-depth interviews to explore the implementation and sustainability of LED initiatives in the King Cetshwayo Municipal District. To understand the epistemology, the community members have to relate to the events that occur through the mental processes of interpretation that are influenced by interaction with social and economic contexts. Those active in the research process socially construct knowledge by experiencing the real-life or natural settings. Inquirer and the inquired-into are interlocked in an interactive process of talking and listening, reading and writing. Both non-empirical and empirical research were used to answer the research questions.
4.4.1 Non-empirical research
Both the empirical and non-empirical research in this study is qualitative in nature and the non-empirical research that was used consists of the following:
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Literature review: In the review a comprehensive analysis of the information that already exists in the study field was conducted. The review involved a theoretical analysis of the study grounds, definitions and a model. According to Marée et al.
(2016) a literature review provides an overview of scholarship in a certain discipline through analysis of trends and debate. It describes past and current research on a particular topic. It is characterized as being critical and integrative, using mainly inductive reasoning. The main purpose of conducting a literature review was to provide a rigorous and rational review of previous research in the area of study, and to identify gaps in existing literature and it positioned the research in a wider context, to ensure that important variables likely to influence the study were not left out of the study, to help develop the theoretical framework and hypotheses for testing and to avoid reinventing the wheel, while trying to rediscover what is already known. Various literature sources were consulted which include books, journals, theses, articles, internet sources, relevant policies and legislation concerning pro-poor LED. The review served as a theoretical foundation for the analysis of implementation and sustainability of pro-poor LED initiatives aspects to assist poverty alleviation in the King Cetshwayo District Municipality.
Document or textual analysis: The second tool for collecting data was to review documents such as policy documents, LED strategy and Integrated Development Plan documents. Bowen (2009) defines document analysis as a systematic procedure for reviewing or evaluating documents including both printed and electronic materials. Like other analytical methods in qualitative research, document analysis requires that data be examined and interpreted in order to produce meaning, gain understanding and develop practical knowledge.
Researchers normally analyse documents as part of their study and include that information in their reports. Documents are a source of data, requiring the researcher to rely on the description and interpretation of data that is rich and argumentative. Document analysis is less time-consuming and more efficient than other research methods as it requires data selection, instead of data collection (Bowen, 2009). This study also used documents as a data-gathering technique by
117 focusing on a written report which included a LED strategy, and other reports that were published by the municipality based on LED initiatives.
Models: A model to assess the implementation and sustainability of pro-poor LED was also used and it forms the basis of the research questions.
4.4.2 Empirical research
The empirical section of this research consists of interviews and focus group discussion.
Interviews were conducted with identified officials in two local municipalities, namely, the uMhlathuze local municipality and the uMfolozi local municipality. The focus was on existing initiatives and an assessment of their impact in poverty alleviation, skills development and creation of employment opportunities. Focus group discussions were also conducted with community members and community organisations in both local municipalities.
4.4.2.1 Interviews
This study used in-depth interviews as the instrument for collecting data. An in-depth interview is a qualitative research technique that involves conducting intensive individual interviews with a small number of participants to explore their perspectives on a particular idea, programme or situation (Babbie, 2014). This instrument assisted the researcher to collect relevant information from the participants and to explore the participants’ perspectives with regard to the implementation and sustainability of pro- poor LED in the King Cetshwayo District Municipality. Marée et al. (2016: 92) indicated that the interview is a two-way conversation in which an interviewer asks questions to collect data and to learn about the ideas, beliefs, views, opinions and behaviours of the participants. The aim of the qualitative interview is to see the world through the eyes of the participants. It allows the interviewer to pose some open-ended questions and the interviewee to express his/her own opinion freely (Hashemnezhad, 2015).
This type of interviewing was chosen because if a participant does not understand a question during the interview, the researcher can explain the question to the participant, or if the researcher senses that the respondent is not answering fully enough, the researcher can probe for data that is more complete by providing follow-up questions (Hashemnezhad, 2015). A recorder was used during the conducting of interviews.
118 However, conducting an open-ended interview is time consuming and expensive as it requires face-to-face contact with the participants. Interviews were conducted in the uMhlathuze local municipality and in the uMfolozi local municipality. These municipalities were selected because the surrounding areas include people who are living in extreme poverty and are living in rural areas. These interviews have been crucial for the research in terms of getting a practical and theoretical view of the realisation of LED strategies and programmes and how they aim to benefit the communities. In order to interrogate the LED strategies within these municipalities, it was important to map the area to know about the spatial opportunities and constraints that exist.
Furthermore, data regarding socioeconomic conditions in the area was collected from secondary sources, analysed, interpreted and compared. The focus was on levels of poverty, skills and views of local government office bearers with regard to rural communities. Interviews with the LED manager, the municipal manager, and the mayor in both local municipalities (uMfolozi and uMhlathuze) falling under the King Cetshwayo District Municipality were conducted in order to determine the existing views regarding LED initiatives, challenges and opportunities in the two areas. The LED strategies and agricultural plans of both local municipalities in the area were also analysed.
4.4.2.2 Focus groups interview
Secondly, the researcher conducted fourteen focus group discussions in the form of in- depth interviews with community members in five different areas, namely: Ngwelezana, Vulindlela, eNseleni, kwaMbonambi and kwaSokhulu. Focus group discussion (FGD) is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea or package. Questions are asked in an interactive group setting where participants are free to talk with other group members (Krueger andCasey, 2014). Marée et al. (2016) further stipulate that FGD is based on the theory that group interaction is productive in spreading a range of responses, activating forgotten details of experiences and releasing inhibitions that may otherwise discourage participants from disclosing information.
FGD was undertaken to collect data from community organization such as co-operatives to understand their perspectives in terms of the LED initiatives that are implemented in each area and whether they are sustainable or not. In the uMhlathuze municipality six
119 focus group discussions were conducted in three different areas (Ngwelezana, Vulindlela and eNseleni), and in the uMfolozi municipality four focus group interviews were conducted in two areas (kwaMbonambi and kwaSokhulu). This method of data collection enables the participants to build on each other’s ideas and make additional comments to provide an in-depth view not attainable from individual interviews. Comments raised by other members lead to debates and arguments between the researcher and the group but what was noticeable was that members within the group supported each other’s answers and added more ideas in response to a comment from a member. These comments added value to this study and most members within each group participated and contributed new perspectives.
4.4.2.3 Case studies
A case study specific analysis was conducted as follows:
Case studies focused on the local townships in each municipal area. Primary research was conducted through focus group discussions, personal observations and in-depth interviews.
Globally, case studies conducted in different countries was used to provide a picture of the implementation and sustainability of pro-poor LED initiatives in different countries.