Doctoral Degrees (School of Public Leadership)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (School of Public Leadership) by browse.metadata.advisor "De Coning, Christo"

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    Cooperative governance and local economic development in selected small towns in the Western Cape Province
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Kamara, Richard Douglas; De Coning, Christo; Rabie, Babette; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : 21st-century complexities paved the way for an emerging need for a robust approach on localised and territorial development concerns. Advances in collaborative/cooperative governance increasingly attract immense attention from researchers and practitioners. A broad range of opportunities are established, addressing the multidimensional challenges in the public sector, specifically in local government (municipalities). Promoting such an inclusive representation and participation of the relevant stakeholders provides a viable and complementary alternative to the traditional bureaucratic governance mechanism. Municipalities in the Western Cape of South Africa progressed extensively in exercising their facilitating role in the development process by applying plethora economic development facilitation strategies to enhance locational competitive advantages while supporting the creation of versatile local markets by collaborating with local and regional stakeholders. Despite these great strides by the municipalities in their various attempts to turn around and revitalise their governance practices, some exogenous and internal constraints still exist in the evolving structures, possibly beclouding the holistic transformation of local governance in development matters. These fragmented perspectives, epitomised by a lack of cooperation and integration of development strategies, renders particularly the smaller municipalities, highly susceptible to myriads of challenges, ranging from a lack of stakeholders’ support, inadequate capacity resources, inadequate knowledge, insignificant leadership, insignificant development planning and implementation, all culminating into poor socio-economic conditions of the citizenry. These backgrounds manifest in the continued rise in the country, the rate of social discontentment vented by the individuals against inadequate service provision. Certain municipalities are successful, while others are ineffective in delivering on their developmental mandate. Are all municipalities managed in the same way? While getting similar resources (grants), receiving the same training, using the same policy frameworks, it is disputable why they have diverse successes. Scholars indicated that the solution to the multidimensional challenges in local economic development (LED), encountered by municipalities, lies in the context of resilient multi-jurisdictional initiatives of the various LED key stakeholders, in the state and non-state. Despite the overwhelming proclaimed benefits of collaboration of multi-actors for local governance, the conditions required to ensure its efficacy are extremely challenging. An emerging need exists for a holistic understanding of the specific collaborative/cooperative governance factors involved in the efficacy and governance of local economic development (LED) in small towns, not well known and comprehended. In this regard, the main objective of this study is to assess the factors involved in designing and implementing cooperative governance for local economic development (LED) in selected, comparable municipalities in the Western Cape, namely, Swellendam (SM), Theewaterskloof (TM), Mossel Bay (MBM), Oudtshoorn (OM), Kannaland (KM) and Hessequa (HM). This research specifically attempts to: Analyse the main policy and legal frameworks that promotes cooperative governance for economic development in local municipalities; develops a conceptual framework; identifies factors for the design, implementing and assessing cooperative governance for local economic development (LED) in smaller towns; performs a comparative assessment on the functioning of cooperative governance and local economic development (LED) in selected small-town municipalities; determine the push and pull factors for the successful functioning of cooperative governance. This is aimed at promoting local economic development (LED) in these municipalities. Finally, develop a normative performance framework that should influence the outcomes and tools employed in the monitoring system of cooperative governance, intended to achieve appropriate developmental objectives to develop its society sustainably. The study also provides lessons of experience and recommendations on how cooperative governance and local economic development (LED) can be improved in small towns. These concerns are explored by triangulating diverse research sources. It is considered necessary to triangulate by collecting information from various sources to do justice to the complexity of the subject in question. A case study design with qualitative data sources is employed in the study. An interpretive paradigm is considered appropriate to be utilised in the study to obtain an in-depth understanding of the participants' observations and experiences of local economic development (LED) and cooperative governance within the six selected municipalities. A literature review and documentary analysis, individual key informant interviews and the focus group discussions conducted with local economic development (LED) key role-players within the selected six municipalities, are part of the methodological approach. The study presents evidence from a case study of the six selected municipalities in the Western Cape to achieve the research objectives. By revealing how various dimensions of local economic development (LED) and cooperative governance operates and interacts, the findings demonstrate that though the potential for local economic development (LED) is identified within the six municipalities, specific challenges exist in local economic development (LED) and cooperative governance. This includes institutional arrangements, intergovernmental relations practices, as well as gaps in the policy design. Provided these circumstances, recommendations are suggested in the study. Based on the conceptual framework and the findings emerging from the study, a normative performance measuring framework is developed to influence the outcomes and strategies employed in the monitoring system of LED and cooperative governance. The aim is to achieve appropriate developmental objectives to develop society sustainably.