Creating Enhanced Capacity for Local Economic Development (LED) through Collaborative Governance in South Africa

Abstract

The complexities of the twenty-first century have paved way for the emergence and proliferation of cross boundary collaboration in the lexicon of localised and territorial development. Collaborative governance is increasingly playing a vital role in addressing the multi-dimensional challenges of the contemporary era. This paper seeks to contextualise collaborative governance as a possible remedy that could help to salvage the incapacitated municipalities and be more resourceful in their developmental mandate of fostering localised territorial development.In addition, the article discusses some of the contextual limitations of commonly applied state-led and civilpowered approaches to address socio-economic problems in municipalities. To constitute a resilient collaborative governance capable of improving system management and responsiveness to socio-economic issues in municipalities, the paper tends to shed light on the emergence of another type of approach, the hybridcentric collaborative approach. Given this scenario, what would be the specific roles and relationship between the state and non-state?

Spatial Location of Regional Resources within the Strategic Drift of Globalization: Problems, Tendencies, Procedures

“…In the XXI century their importance constantly increases with the adoptions of the society to the challenges of new technological order. They demonstrate the main ideas of regional systems economic and social changes [4]. According to modern scientific assessments globalization is one of the main megatrends, accompanied by globally increasing economic integration [5].…”

Explore, Design and Act for Sustainability: A Participatory Planning Approach for Local Energy Sustainability

“…Ansell and Gash pointed out a series of factors for successful collaboration, namely face-to-face dialogue, trust building, the development of commitment and shared understanding [49]. Kamara argued that collective governance is still in its infancy in South Africa [13]. Leck and Simon [14] showed that maximum effectiveness of local government initiatives can only be achieved when collaborative governance includes all complementary skills and resources from all relevant private, local, regional and national institutions.…”

“…When drawing on the literature of collaborative governance [13,14,49], maximum effectiveness in the implementation of the EDAS approach can only be achieved if the approach is formalised within a local government; therefore, it should form part of the local government's policies and should include clear roles and responsibilities for all stakeholders, whether private, local, regional or national.…”

“…Public participation is a democratic right of all South African citizens, as stipulated in the Constitution of South Africa [12], but limited evidence could be found in the literature on how public participation is being facilitated, as well as on its effectiveness. The literature further shows that the engagement of public agencies and non-state holders in collective decision making or collaborative governance is still in its infancy in South Africa [13,14]. The aim of this paper is therefore to close the research gap in proposing a participatory planning approach to plan for local energy sustainability in a developing country such as South Africa.…”

Sustainable Local Economic Development in Tanzania: Exploring Economic Challenges in Growing the Economy

“…In developing countries, LED is considered as a solution to unemployment, poverty, and income inequality. This is because LED is an active process that envisages a mutual relationship between local communities, local authorities and other relevant stakeholders so as to create local development that is sustainable (Kamara, 2017).…”