Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Development Studies)

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An analysis of maternal and child nutritional status in South Africa and its impact on maternal labour supply
(University of Western Cape, 2021) Wanka, Fru Awah; May, Julian
The significance of malnutrition in public health has increasingly gained recognition in South Africa due to its negative effect on the quality of life, both at the individual and societal levels. The most vulnerable groups to suffer from malnutrition are pregnant and lactating women as well as children below 5 years of age. Given the importance of maternal and child health, this study is set out to assess the prevalence and trend of maternal and child malnutrition in South Africa. In addition to the health cost, there is also economic cost, resulting from malnutrition. Therefore, the association between malnutrition and labour force participation is of academic and policy interest due to the crucial role the labour force plays in stimulating economic growth.
An application of synthetic panel data to poverty analysis in South Africa
(University of the Western Cape, 2019) Mabhena, Rejoice; May, Julian
There is a wide-reaching consensus that data required for poverty analysis in developing countries are inadequate. Concerns have been raised on the accuracy and adequacy of household surveys, especially those emanating from Sub-Saharan Africa. Part of the debate has hinted on the existence of a statistical tragedy, but caution has also been voiced that African statistical offices are not similar and some statistical offices having stronger statistical capacities than others. The use of generalizations therefore fails to capture these variations. This thesis argues that African statistical offices are facing data challenges but not necessarily to the extent insinuated. In the post-1995 period, there has been an increase in the availability of household surveys from developing countries. This has also been accompanied by an expansion of poverty analyses efforts. Despite this surge in data availability, available household survey data remain inadequate in meeting the demand to answer poverty related enquiry. What is also evident is that cross sectional household surveys were conducted more extensively than panel data. Resultantly the paucity of panel data in developing counties is more pronounced. In South Africa, a country classified as ‘data rich’ in this thesis, there exists inadequate panel surveys that are nationally representative and covers a comprehensive period in the post-1995 period. Existing knowledge on poverty dynamics in the country has relied mostly on the use of the National Income Dynamic Study, KwaZulu Natal Dynamic Study and smaller cohort-based panels such as the Birth to Twenty and Birth to Ten cohort studies that have rarely been used in the analysis of poverty dynamics. Using mixed methods, this thesis engages these data issues. The qualitative component of this thesis uses key informants from Statistics South Africa and explores how the organization has measured poverty over the years. A historical background on the context of statistical conduct in the period before 1995 shows the shaky foundation that characterised statistical conduct in the country at the inception of Statistics South Africa in 1995. The organization since then has expanded its efforts in poverty measurement; partly a result of the availability of more household survey data. Improvements within the organization also are evidenced by the emergence of a fully-fledged Poverty and Inequality division within the organization. The agency has managed to embrace the measurement of multidimensional poverty. Nevertheless, there are issues surrounding available poverty related data. Issues of comparability affect poverty analysis, and these are discussed in this thesis. The informants agreed that there is need for more analysis of poverty using available surveys in South Africa. Against this backdrop, the use of pseudo panels to analyse poverty dynamics becomes an attractive option. Given the high costs associated with the conduct of panel surveys, pseudo panels are not only cost effective, but they enable the analysis of new research questions that would not be possible using existing data in its traditional forms. Elsewhere, pseudo panels have been used in the analysis of poverty dynamics in the absence of genuine panel data and the results have proved their importance. The methodology used to generate the pseudo panel in this thesis borrows from previous works including the work of Deaton and generates 13 birth cohorts using the Living Conditions Surveys of 2008/9 and 2014/15 as well as the IES of 2010. The birth cohorts under a set of given assumptions are ‘tracked’ in these three time periods. The thesis then analysed the expenditure patterns and poverty rates of birth cohorts. The findings suggested that in South Africa, expenditures are driven mostly with incomes from the labour market and social grants. The data however did not have adequate and comparative variables on the types of employment to further explore this debate. It also emerged that birth cohorts with male headship as well as birth cohorts in urban settlements and in White and Indian households have a higher percentage share of their income coming from labour market sources. On the other hand, birth cohorts with female headship and residing in rural, African and in Coloured households are more reliant on social grants. The majority of recipients of social grants receive the Child Social Grant and its minimalist value partly explains why birth cohorts reporting social grants as their main source of income are more likely to be poor when compared to birth cohorts who mostly earn their income from the labour market. Residing in a female-headed household, or in a rural area as well as in Black African and Coloured increases the chances of experiencing poverty. This supports existing knowledge on poverty in South Africa and confirms that these groups are deprived. The results of the pseudo panel analysis also show that poverty reduced between 2006 and 2011 for most birth cohorts but increased in 2015. Policy recommendations to reduce poverty therefore lie in the labour market. However, given the high levels of unemployment in the country today, more rigorous labour incentives are required.
An assessment of the academic literacy (al) modules offered at the University of the Western Cape: Towards an embedded hybrid academic literacies model
(University of the Western Cape, 2021) Abrahams-Ndesi, Lutasha Ann-Louise; McGhie, Venicia
This study was about new incoming students’ academic development needs and induction to higher education studies at a historically Black university in the Western Cape Province in South Africa. The overall purpose was to assess four of the seven faculties’ academic literacies modules in order to ascertain whether they provided holistic support to first-year students who the university admits to its respective undergraduate degree programmes. The study had three objectives. The first objective was to determine each faculty’s academic literacies module’s theory and practices. The second was to evaluate the four modules to determine if they were addressing the needs of first-year students holistically. The third and last objective was to arrive at an embedded hybrid academic literacies model that faculties could use within their specific contexts and disciplinary fields.
Child Protection Responses and Transformative Social Protection in Kenya and South Africa: Can social grants improve the wellbeing of children affected by violence and neglect?
(University of the Western Cape, 2023) Nyamu, Irene Katunge; Conradie, Ina
This research critically explores how children from low income neighbourhoods in Kenya and South Africa experience formal child protection interventions couched within a child rights framework in response to violence and neglect. The study also considered the role that social assistance grants play in mediating children’s wellbeing outcomes as a means for addressing child maltreatment and vulnerabilities. The main thesis of the research is that despite a close link having been established between violence against children and poverty in the causation of complex vulnerabilities and ill-being for children in Africa, solutions addressing the twin challenges appear to be mutually exclusive. While social assistance grants in the form of cash transfers remain a popular strategy for alleviating short to medium-term poverty, their potential for addressing neglect and violence against children which is linked to poverty has remained fairly unexplored. To examine this question critically, the Wellbeing in Development framework by Gough, McGregor and Camfield (2007) was used. The framework dynamically conceptualises poverty as multi-dimensional, and wellbeing as both a process and an outcome through which individuals can self-evaluate what constitutes happiness and a good life in a given social and cultural context.
Community activism and social change of the urban poor in the western cape: Advocating for sustainable sanitation in Cape Town’s informal settlements
(University of the Western Cape, 2021) Mukiga, Alex Kihehere; Williams, John J.
This research investigates the engagements between community activists and urban authorities in the provision of sustainable sanitation services in the informal settlements of Khayelitsha Cape Town. Since 2008, there have been contestations on the exclusion of informal settlements in the planning and delivery of sanitation services by the City of Cape Town. The planning and decision-making of sanitation services in the informal settlement is complex due to numerous stakeholders involved and thus not clear on how sustainable sanitation can be achieved. The challenge has been on understanding the level where decision-making in the provision of sanitation services is more effective for sustainable sanitation.
A conceptual framework for effective local integration of refugees in South Africa: case study of the Western Cape province
(University of the Western Cape, 2024) Mpazayabo, Albert; Dinbabo, Mulugeta F.; Adeniyi, Daniel A.
Local integration is one of the three durable solutions to refugee situations, besides voluntary repatriation, and resettlement (into a third country of permanent residency), as advocated by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. Although South Africa’s refugee legislation is sustained by both International Law and the Constitution of the Republic, the country has been struggling to implement its refugee law successfully. Hence, the present study was intended to understand dynamics of local integration, as on the one hand, refugees endeavour to be incorporated into South African core institutions, in attempt to secure a place within South Africa as their host society, and on the other, as local South African citizens make efforts to accommodate refugees in their midst, within their communities, in the country in general, and in the Western Cape Province in particular.The study examines local integration of refugees (within local host communities)1, in urban settings, in South Africa, and by extension on the African continent. In attempt to capture and reflect daily lived experiences and realities on the ground in the real world of refugees in the Republic, the study expanded the four mainstreamed domains (legal, economic, social, and cultural) for local integration of immigrants, into ten domains for local integration of refugees in South Africa. Through snowball sampling, and self-administered questionnaires, the study surveyed a total sample of 1630 participants, of which 1432 were refugee respondents, 110 were common RSA citizen respondents from local host communities, while 4 respondents were representing non-government organisations (NGOs) working with refugees, then 72 respondents were office-bearers from different South African political organisations (of which Government Officials), and 12 respondents were from different South African media houses.
The cost of gaps in existing food price-stabilizing market policies in urban areas for poor women and their families: the case of Addis Ababa
(University of the Western Cape, 2022) Tefera, Tsega Girma; May, Julian D
Food inflation has been a challenge in Ethiopia since prices of staple foods started rising in 2005, particularly threatening the food security of relatively poor and marginalized groups, such as women. However, there is limited research on the actual impact of food price surges and government-responsive programs on poor women. This study investigates the effect of food inflation and its coping mechanisms vis-à-vis government response programs from the perspective of poor women through consciously adopting feminist economics as a theoretical and interpretive framework. This was accomplished by taking into consideration women’s gender-based privations and other facets of their identities and lived realities. It employed a qualitative methodology that is guided by feminist epistemological principles in its design including data collection and analysis techniques. It investigated and drew lessons from how poor women are impacted by and cope with food inflation in relation to the Public Distribution System (PDS) of basic goods in Addis Ababa, a government intervention program, using the case study approach. In-depth interviews (IDIs) and two rounds of focus group discussions, (FGDs) utilizing Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools were carried out for women beneficiaries of the program, selected through the snowball sample technique, respectively. IDIs were also conducted for government and private implementing institutions of the intervention program.
The cost of gaps in existing food price-stabilizing market policies in urban areas for poor women and their families: The case of Addis Ababa
(University of the Western Cape, 2022) May, Julian
Food inflation has been a challenge in Ethiopia since prices of staple foods started rising in 2005, particularly threatening the food security of relatively poor and marginalized groups, such as women. However, there is limited research on the actual impact of food price surges and government-responsive programs on poor women. This study investigates the effect of food inflation and its coping mechanisms vis-à-vis government response programs from the perspective of poor women through consciously adopting feminist economics as a theoretical and interpretive framework. This was accomplished by taking into consideration women’s gender-based privations and other facets of their identities and lived realities.
Digital infrastructure and food systems in rural communities of Zimbabwe
(University of the Western Cape, 2019) Gwaka, Leon Tinashe; Tucker, William D.
This study examines the relationship between digital infrastructure and the sustainability of livestock systems in Beitbridge, Zimbabwe. The study aims to answer the question: Do digital infrastructure transformations impact the sustainability of livestock systems in rural communities? By answering this question, the study contributes towards efforts to enhance food security in rural communities, achieve Sustainable Development Goals (1, 2, 5 & 9) at grassroots levels as well as achieve the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation. The study details a digital infrastructure intervention in Beitbridge and applies post-positivist approaches towards the intervention’s impact assessment to develop recommendations on whether digital infrastructure interventions should be prioritized in rural communities towards improving food security. The study was conducted in four villages of Ward 15 in Beitbridge and the target population were livestock system actors. Using a mixed methods approach, data collection, with the assistance of locally recruited research assistants, was conducted between 2015 and 2018. Qualitative data were collected using community visioning workshops, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and participant observations. Household survey questionnaires were used to gather quantitative data. Data analysis was completed using a mixed methods approach. The first objective of the study, using the Socio-Ecological System framework, was to characterise the livestock system, explore livestock contribution towards household food security and determine the livestock system’s sustainability. The study established that livestock play multiple roles towards household food security contributing to different dimensions of food security. Households sell livestock to generate income to purchase (access) food and include animal source foods in their diets even though different consumption patterns of different livestock species were observed. Apart from this, livestock also play sociocultural roles. However, the study established that the livestock system is fragile, stemming from multiple factors such as poor governance and a lack of appropriate infrastructure. Secondly, using Kleine’s Choice Framework, the study investigated the potential of digital technologies to contribute towards sustainable livestock systems. Study findings suggest that digital technologies can enhance the dimensions of choice of livestock system actors. However, a lack of digital infrastructure inhibits the integration of digital technologies in the livestock system. The potential of these technologies and the fragility of local value chains has however triggered interventions by government and non-governmental organisations including the MOSMAC project in Beitbridge rural.
Do school food gardens contribute towards food and nutrition security for primary school aged children? A comparative case study of the benefits of and resources needed for school food gardens using selected schools in Cape Town, South Africa
(University of the Western Cape, 2023) Grace Nkomo
The aim of this thesis is to understand the contribution of school food gardens to the food and nutrition security of primary school aged children. This contribution has not always been clear, and this study gives a more in-depth understanding. With the foundation that food and nutrition security is a human right, a food justice approach is deployed and developed. This is relevant in a South African context with a particular history of racial injustice and dehumanisation. Using a case study, this comparative study found that school food gardens have the potential to add an additional layer of food and nutrition security to the diets of school children. In addition to this, school food gardens can improve the food literacy of children. This study found that when children spent time in food gardens, they often had positive relationships with vegetables, had improved knowledge of fresh produce and made improved dietary choices regarding vegetables. School food gardens can also contribute towards education and livelihood outcomes. The study also found that considerable resources are needed to implement school food gardens, both material and human. The availability of these resources and whether they are optimally utilised in gardens needs to be decided by those who are to benefit from the gardens. Decisions such as these reinforce the importance of agency as a crucial dimension of food and nutrition security. The significance of this study is that it contributes to the understanding that agency is an essential component of food and nutrition and must be considered as a crucial factor in any initiative that aims to address this issue with primary school aged children.
The dwelling as a workspace: Urban planning and home-based entrepreneurs in Kampala city slums
(University of Western Cape, 2020) Waiswa, Jeremy; du Toit, Andries
The ubiquitous urban informality that characterises the cityscape of most sub-Saharan cities, has been impacted by states’ rationalised urban planning interventions to make urban spaces, and the activities of citizens more legible and governable. This study aimed at understanding the effects of urban planning and the regulatory environment on the business operations of the home-based entrepreneurial households and the strategies employed by these households to ensure their livelihood survival. The study used Katanga slum in Kampala, Uganda as a case study. The study approaches urban planning as a dialectical process, and therefore critically discusses the production and use of space (through urban planning) at different spatial scales of the city, slum and household, while highlighting the challenges experienced by the households and how they cope with these challenges. To facilitate the understanding of these issues, the study employed an integrated theoretical framework that comprised of Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space, Scott’s concept of state legibility, Jalan & Ravallion’s concept of urban spatial poverty traps, and Clark’s border theory.
Dynamics of human security and regional social and economic development: A case study of the Lake Chad basin
(University of Western Cape, 2020-09-26) Badewa, Adeyemi; Dinbabo, Mulugeta
Transboundary river basins (TRBs), and its array of biodiversity, have created a web of complex security, socio-economic and political interdependencies among populations, communities and multiplicity of actors across the world. However, the continuous degradation of these vital resources, resulting from natural and anthropogenic factors, has serious implications for global development, peace and security. Indeed, it further threatens regional resource base, induce livelihoods impairment, scarcities and conflicts over the utilisation and control of strategic resources, particularly in the Global South. The study explored the causeeffect analysis of the desiccation of Lake Chad basin and the dreadful Boko Haram crisis within the prisms of human security and regional development. It reflects on the interconnections among environmental change, human development, livelihoods, conflicts and the outcomes of interventions - military and humanitarian in reconstructing human security and regional development narratives in the Lake Chad Basin. The research was contextualised within two theoretical frameworks: eco-violence, and the capability approach. This was conceived to provide an improved understanding of both the micro (individual or group interactions) and macro (large scale - national and multinational actors) development processes, the enablers and constraints of human security in the region. Their implications for regional development, security, sustainability and stabilisation process are also elucidated. Mixed-method research and a case study design was adopted to specifically study the Lake Chad impact area, covering 542,829 km2, across the four riparian countries - Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria. Although, the conventional or active basin of the lake - an estimated 984,455 km2 area was generally referenced. Purposive sampling was used to select participants for semi-structured interviews, focused group discussions (FGD) and document review. A total of 34 key informants, six (6) FGDs and 33 institutional documents (18 intervention and policy documents and 15 official bulletins) were utilised. These enable the substantiation of primary data with secondary data – qualitative and quantitative (derived from documents review). A thematic analysis of the causality of resource scarcities, livelihoods, and conflict relationships in the region was undertaken. This includes an assessment of the regional development process and the efficacies of security and humanitarian interventions in the Lake Chad Basin.The study revealed that the desiccation of Lake Chad and the destructive Boko Haram crisis (since 2009) impede development in the region. The lake’s shrinkage (estimated above 90percent from 1963 till date), caused by environmental change and unsustainable human practices or exploitation of the basin’s resources, have transboundary effects. These and the humanitarian catastrophes caused by Boko Haram menace have heightened human insecurity, and threaten communities’ fragility and transborder cooperation in the region. While regional development processes and intervention have marginal impacts on the population and their resilience capacities. Indeed, the complexity of the challenges overlaps with inconsistencies in the region’s development processes and the interventions regime – security and humanitarian management. Thus, addressing the consequences, while neglecting the root causes of human security threats in the Lake Chad Basin, further heightens the population’s deprivations amidst challenges of resource curse, geopolitics and its alteration of regional political economy. The above underscores the dialectics between human security and regional development. From these submissions, improved water resources and environmental management; inclusive development - to address the root causes of insecurity; monitoring and harnessing of national and regional development priorities; and integrated regional security-development strategy, against the military-led humanitarian approach, are recommended as critical solutions. These enhance a rethinking of human security and regional development matrix in the Lake Chad and other TRBs in the Global South. Therefore, the study highlighted the imperative of mediating exhaustive discourse on TRBs as Special Economic Zones (SEZ); constructive interactions between development processes and actors (stakeholders); the use of groundwater as a palliative; and the intrinsic mobility, multiactivity and multi-functionality of livelihoods in the Lake Chad Basin. These can be pondered in (future research and policy) discourses to enhance regional resilience, human security and sustainable development in the Lake Chad Basin.
The effect of government facilitated ICT access interventions on the well-being of marginalised communities in the Overberg District, South Africa
(University of the Western Cape, 2022) Kassongo, Rashidi François; Tucker, William D.
In recent years there has been a shift towards the assessment of the contribution of technology to citizens’ well-being rather than a focus on issues only related to the availability of ICT infrastructure. However, the mere change in evaluation foci does not mean that all is fine. The South African government considers Government Facilitated Access (GFA1) to computers and the internet as a critical tool for transforming the way it conducts its business with its citizenry. In so doing it seeks the improvement of socio-economic well-being of marginalised communities through improved service delivery.
Effects of Microcredit on Beneficiaries’ Livelihood Improvement: A Case Study of Engage Now Africa (ENA) In Ghana
(University of the Western Cape, 2021) Matanda, Richard; Ogujiuba, Kanayo
In Ghana, the number of people living in extreme poverty has reduced. Yet the poverty rate is currently 24.2 %, which is still high considering that Ghana is a lower middle-income country (Emmanuel, Frempong, Opareh & Rose, 2015; 35). In Ghana, the poor are classified in two groups: “ 1) … those who live above an upper line of GHC 1314.00 per day which is equivalent to US $ 1.83, and; 2) those within a lower poverty line of GHC 729.05 equivalent to US $ 1.03 a day…” (Emmanuel, Frempong, Opareh & Rose, 2015; 35). Those who “… live above the upper line of GHC 1314.00 are considered as non-poor, whereas those with a consumption expenditure equivalent or below GHC 729.05 a lower poverty line are in absolute poverty or living in extreme poverty…” (Emmanuel et al., 2015). In Ghana, Yaidoo and Kalaiah (2018) agree that microcredit programs are a neoliberal ploy that keep poor people in a perpetual state of poverty. Most microcredit beneficiaries are located in the rural areas and majority are the lowest income earners of the employed population. Microcredit should ordinarily have a broader range of empowerment services, yet the Ghana microcredit programs do not have this. Microcredit in Ghana has become a debt trap and its benefits to the poor is illusory (Yaidoo and Kalaiah, 2018). Most microcredits have high interest rates and seek to profit operations which had created a situation where microcredits are an additional burden to the people, impacting negatively on their livelihood (Yaidoo and Kalaiah, 2018). Further, Yaidoo and Kalaiah (2018) pinpointed that in Ghana, by observing the crippling consequences of debt burden on countries (such as Ghana who opted for the Highly Indebted Poor Country status in 2002), the world financial crisis in 2007/08, and cases of high default in repayment of debt, it would make sense to adopt a more impactful approach to microcredit. In that other role, players are needed to fill the gap with intervention resulting in improving people’s livelihood. This study aimed to empirically access the effect of microcredit on beneficiaries’ livelihood improvement. The study was conducted in four regions of Ghana, with the main objective to find out whether the Self-Supported Assistant Programme (SSAP) microcredit has improved the livelihood of its beneficiaries. The specific objectives of the study were to: i) evaluate the Beneficiaries Livelihoods Status as per their asset accumulation, voluntary saving, capabilities and frequency of loan repayment, and; ii) to estimate the effects of Demographic + Socioeconomic + Loan T&Cs Variables (financial training + loan interest rates + loan monitoring) on Beneficiaries Livelihoods Improvement (asset accumulation, voluntary saving, capabilities).
Employer concerns with the quality of the skills and knowledge of recently employed graduates in South Africa: Description, analysis and implications for tertiary education, public policy and practice
(University of the Western Cape, 2022) Mobarak, Kaashiefa; Karriem, Abdulrazak
This qualitative study examined the nature and significance of current employer concerns with the quality of the skills and knowledge of their recently employed graduates. Employers require graduates who are able to perform the tasks expected of them in the workplace. However, the study found that most employed graduates in South Africa lack the ability to perform tasks due to universities struggling to suitably equip them for workplaces. The study focused on how graduates transfer their university acquired skills and knowledge to the workplace to establish whether employers considered graduates workplace ready.
The evolving role of social media in food remitting: Evidence from Zimbabwean Migrants in Cape Town, South Africa
(University of the Western Cape, 2022) Sithole, Sean Thulani; Dinbabo, Mulugeta
In the global South, food remittances play a significant role in the food and nutrition security of many households, especially low-income families. However, in the last two decades, debates and research on migration, remittances, and development have primarily focused on cash transfers. Non-cash remittances such as food transfers have received limited attention. The bias of being solely attentive to cash remittances is alarming. It conceals an in-depth and comprehensive grasp of food remittances' developmental and significant food security role in the global south. In addition, food remitting is a complex phenomenon that involves social networks, and emerging studies underscore how social media is transforming migrant networks. Yet, the connection between social media and migration outcomes such as remittances have been under-researched.
Exploring the determinants of conventional and participatory monitoring and evaluation: A case study of world vision Ethiopia (wve)
(University of the Western Cape, 2023) Mekonnen, Endale Sebsebe; Dinbabo, Mulugeta
For the success of development programs at any level, the process of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) plays an indispensable role. Although it has been exercised for decades in different contexts, its multidisciplinary features and variegated applications made it a complex enterprise. The complexity is due to multidisciplinary nature, differing methodological, philosophical stance and theoretical assumptions The two approaches—conventional and participatory monitoring and evaluation—said to be diametrically opposite in their epistemological, methodological stance, and practices resulting in meeting different purposes. A great deal of study has been done in the area of identifying the weaknesses of both approaches, but there has been no study about the possibility of combining the determinants of these two approaches, to craft a better approach that responds to differing needs of stakeholders at different stages of the monitoring and evaluation process. This dissertation undertook to fill this gap.
From state maintenance grants 'to a new child support system: Building a policy for poverty alleviation with special reference to the financial, social, and developmental impacts.
(University of the Western Cape, 1998) Haarmann, Dirk; Ie Roux, P
State social security transfers for families existed in South Africa only in the form of state maintenance grants, which paid up to R700 to single parents. The system was not appropriate in the South African context, being racially biased and financially unsustainable. The Department of Welfare - following in principle the recommendations of the "Lund report" - introduced with effect from 1 April 1998 a child support grant which is payable to the primary care-givers of children, regardless of their family status. The level of benefit was set at RIOOper month per child for children up to the age of six (incl.). The Department declared that 48% or 3 million children should be targeted. At the same time, the SMGs are to be phased out over a three year period. This research was conducted between November 1995 and March 1998. The analysis of the different suggestions during the policy process and the final policy is based on two pillars: • A situation analysis of the living conditions of South Africa's children on the basis of a composite index. • An evaluation of policy scenarios on the basis of a microsimulation model. The index tries to give a complex picture of the living conditions of children by looking at the financial situation, housing, health, and employment opportunities of the households the children are living in. The analysis reveals that nearly 70% of South Africa's children up to the age of six (incl.) live below the poverty line as defined. A further analysis of the household structure indicates that poorer children are likely to live in larger households. The overall policy shift from a support of single parent families to children in poverty regardless of their family status is espoused. However, the microsimulation model which analyses the impact of different factors like the 'level of benefit', the 'age-cohort', the 'means-test', and the 'administrative requirements', reveals that there are still serious flaws in the current policy. Due to the fact that the means-test is based on the total household income, nearly 40% of the children living below the poverty line are excluded. In addition, the administration needs urgent attention as its capacity is the decisive factor in the success of the programme. The thesis calculates that in the next five years up to R2 billion less will be spent on poor children and the goal of reaching 3 million children will not be achieved, if the problems identified are not addressed. The thesis develops an alternative suggestion to the current policy. While microsimulation has become quite a standard procedure in the analysis of social policies in industrialised countries, there is so far no application in developing countries. It is hoped that by taking this policy analysis as a case-study, this thesis is a step towards the introduction of this method here. Microsimulation models provide important information to enhance the transparency and accountability of policy processes. In this case, civil society was able to challenge Government's decision on a very informed basis, to put pressure on decision makers successfully, and to make workable alternative suggestions. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that against Government's promise redistribution does not take place. Instead a shift towards a more neo-liberal approach in social policy is observed.
The impact of expanded public works programme (EPWP) on food security in South Africa
(University of the Western Cape, 2023) Satumba, Takunda; Devereux, Stephen
This thesis aims to investigate the food security impact of public works programmes. Using the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) as a case study in South Africa, the design, implementation, and operation of public works are evaluated to determine how the programme contributes towards individual and household food security. A convenience sampling method was used to identify research participants from EPWP projects. In the study, a sample of 112 participants was interviewed to collect primary data from EPWP projects. To gather as much information as possible, the researcher captured data using a semi-structured questionnaire as well as open-ended interview questions from participants and other key informants. A mixed methods approach of analysis is used and the results are discussed using the theory of change of public works and food security via three impact channels: the wage vector, the skills vector, and the asset vector.
In the best interest of the child: Food choices and body mass index of adult and children living in urban peripheral townships in Cape Town
(University of Western Cape, 2020) Belebema, Michael Ngautem; Dinbabo, Mulugeta
The increase in overweight and obesity worldwide is described as a global health epidemic. A great proportion of this epidemic is now found in low- and middle-income countries with higher levels of prevalence, particularly in emerging economies. In sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa ranks high in the prevalence of obesity at all levels. Since the inception of democracy in 1994, the government is yet to overcome the burden of poverty and inequality routed in its apartheid past. Apartheid systematically and unjustly disintegrated and segregated black Africans and people of Colour, denying them access to economic opportunity, thus leaving them on a dependency status. Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain are the relics of apartheid policies. Obesity and associated diseases are highly correlated with gender dynamics, economic conditions, nutritional status, poverty, and urbanisation. It is increasingly evident that poor urban dwellers, especially women and children are at risk of obesity-related factors such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart diseases. The increasing incidence of obesity especially amongst children is concerning. The prevalence of child poverty is in South Africa is a cause for concern. Over 18.5million children are in South Africa, 64% of which are dependent on CSG. With poverty and inequality affecting millions of households, access to food and quality food has reached crises level. Yet, it is a basic human right that has received little empirical response amongst policymaker in South Africa. The South African food system is complex, poverty is endemic and poor households are most vulnerable to unhealthy eating habits. This research critically analysis the link between food choices, overweight and obesity in adults and children living in urban peripheral communities in Cape Town. The study was designed to interrogate the kinds of food eaten by urban peripheral dwellers, their socioeconomic status and how the policy of the BIC addresses the problem of child obesity in South Africa.

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