Browsing by Author "Rabie, Babette"
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- ItemThe efficacy of policy and legal framework for cooperative governance and local economic development (LED) in small towns in a selected region in South Africa(Jagiellonian University Press, 2021) Kamara, Richard Douglas; Rabie, BabetteThe paper reports on a study investigating the efficacy of policy and legal framework for cooperative governance and LED to facilitate and coordinate responses to socio-economic concerns in the selected small towns in South Africa. The policy and legal framework place the onus for development on the local municipalities and urge the municipalities to partner with other stakeholders such as the business and the civil society to manage and respond to socio-economic concerns within the municipalities. The purpose of this paper is to review the ‘efficacy of the policy and legal framework’ to facilitate ‘cooperative governance’ and ‘LED’, specifically in six municipalities in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Data were collected from government officials, private and civil sector through three data collection instruments, namely, document review, interviews and focus group discussions. The key findings from the study are mixed. The policy design and implementation were established problematic in multifarious ways. However, the findings also provide a glimpse of hopes in matters of public accountability by providing policy guidelines aimed at promoting accountability amongst government role-players. Given the backdrop, some recommendations are provided in this paper. This paper provides feedbacks for policy makers and implementers on the performance of policy and legal framework that informs the cooperative governance of local economies, specifically in small towns, to establish as to what is effective to replicate in form of good practice and what is under-performing for possible review. This assist in improving the understanding of the context that may inhibit or enable stakeholders in taking full advantage of collaborative-led developmental interventions to further peoples’ lives and to enhance their opportunities to partake in matters of development in their municipalities.
- ItemImproving the systematic evaluation of local economic development results in South African local government(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2011-03) Rabie, Babette; Cloete, Fanie; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Evidence-based policy making and results-based management aim to improve the performance of organisations, policies and programmes by enabling the accurate measurement of progress and results required for management and policy decisions. Within the notion of the developmental state, ‘Local Economic Development’ (LED) uses the development planning and implementation capacities of local government to accrue economic benefit to the locality with the aim of addressing development problems such as unemployment, poverty and market failure at the local level. While promoting the economic welfare of citizens is a critical objective of local government, the absence of specific indicators for LED measurement hampers their ability to successfully determine whether their efforts are achieving the expected results. The aim of this dissertation is to promote the systematic and committed evaluation of the results of LED interventions in South African local governments. As such, it provides guidelines for an outcomes-based monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system for LED in South Africa and presents a framework of generic outcome and output indicators for alternative LED interventions within the context of public sector monitoring and evaluation. The dissertation commences with an overview of the history of evaluation research, the conceptualisation of ‘Monitoring’ and ‘Evaluation’, and a categorisation of the alternative approaches to evaluation. It further explores best practices in instilling M&E in organisations, policies or programmes through guidelines for the development of M&E systems; designing and conducting evaluation studies; presenting findings; and developing indicators. This later provides a basis for exploring challenges in the evaluation of LED and proposing guidelines for an outcomes-based LED system. The policy framework of public sector M&E in South African government is explored before recommendations are made on the basis of good practice guidelines from the selected international systems and the World Bank. The concept ‘local economic development’ is contextualised and its manifestation in South African policies and practice explored to demarcate the roles of various role players, but local government in particular, in promoting LED. A review of LED-related literature produced a comprehensive list of potential LED interventions. These interventions were categorised into business development, locality improvement, community development, or improved governance interventions. Specific programmes and projects from practice were summarised within each intervention. For each of the identified LED interventions, generic outcome statements and objectives are formulated, followed by concrete contextual output and outcome indicators. The developed indicators are partly derived from existing indicators used to measure development results, but primarily developed from the implied end result captured in the objectives and outcome statements of each intervention. The LED indicator framework was reviewed by selected M&E and LED experts for final refinement and comments. The systematic evaluation of LED results based on well-designed evaluation studies that incorporate the strengths of the various approaches to M&E can enable the identification of the most promising, best return-on-investment LED interventions, as determined by the real, accurate results of these interventions. This can improve strategic policy and management decisions so as to maximise the limited available resources for LED and ensure the greatest positive economic and social development impact.