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This paper uses a participatory approach to assess the level of understanding of the Water-Energy-Climate Change (WECC) nexus in South Africa. The aim is to initiate the development of well-coordinated, systematic, and holistic strategies to promote efficient management of the WECC and its implications in the country. The assessment follows the learnings from the Integrated Water Resource Management framework, which promotes a participatory approach in the administration of water resources. The paper reveals that, despite the reasonable level of understanding of WECC, it is still insufficient to promote an integrated approach mainly in policy development and planning for water and energy resources while averting climate impacts. This is exacerbated by limited coordination and consultation among various stakeholders. However, minimal efforts to promote an integrated approach in the management of the WECC sectors is observed. Despite these developments, the paper proposes that the participatory approach is feasible to promote holistic strategies and collaboration among stakeholders mandated to manage WECC sectors. Until approaches such as this are adopted within the institutional framework, this nexus will continue to impede the country's sustainable development endeavours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines how environmental degradation affects female economic inclusion. Using Generalised Least Squares (GLS) and Instrumental Variable Approach in Two-Stage Least Squares (IV-2SLS), a panel of 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa was analysed for the period 1990–2013. We observe that CO2 emission (metric per capita), CO2 emissions from electricity and heat, CO2 emissions from liquid and fuel consumption, and CO2 intensity (emission from solid fuels such as wood, charcoal, and coal) appear to negatively affect female economic inclusion. This implies that environmental deterioration disproportionally affects the labour force participation of women. The paper recommends that policies that are designed to mitigate environmental pollution should also incorporate measures to address gender exclusion. This effort will not only reduce environmental vulnerability but will also create a window for women empowerment in vulnerable situations. This focus holds the potential for the attainment of SDG 5 in SSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decrease in public trust and lack of coordination among the traditional financial institutions drives the establishment of a grant incentive scheme for cooperative enterprise in South Africa. The grant incentive scheme provides alternative support for sustainable development of targeted cooperative enterprises with black shareholders owning a majority share. However, there is a lack of evaluation method and empirical studies determining the effectiveness of the scheme based on its mandates and objectives. Therefore, the paper, through a case study approach, investigates the effectiveness of the cooperative incentive scheme (CIS) between 2012 and 2017. A descriptive analysis approach was adopted in the study to describe specific behaviours as they appeared in the environment of the scheme. This is to understand their impacts on administration, regulations, and implementation, as well as social and economic outcomes better while prioritising its mandate in partnership with its beneficiaries to offer good public services and investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of inclusive growth (IG), a critical research question is: What adjustments to the growth process are necessary to ensure inclusive development? In attempting to answer this question, the paper investigates the concept of inclusive growth from different perspectives and examines the challenges and policy priorities for inclusive growth in the African context. Essential components of inclusive growth are identified. Given the promise it holds to help overcome the pressing obstacles of poverty, unemployment and inequality in a broad-based manner, IG is seen as instrumental in increasing Africa's economic inclusivity. The question of how inclusive the growth of African economies ought to be, is essential for ensuring sustainable development, considering rising population growth rates. The paper makes a contribution to mapping the way forward towards reaching this goal. Key findings are a reinterpretation of genuine growth and how inclusivity criteria can be used to achieve it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism is regarded as a key sector through which to bring about sustainable development in rural areas. A suitable product offering should be identified that matches the rural area's unique resources with market demand. The Karoo Rural Node in South Africa's unique landscape coupled with hosting astronomy sites of global importance presents the ideal opportunity to develop Astro Tourism as niche offering. This paper explores the region's state of readiness to harness this potential through describing existing visitors' travel behaviour, experiences and expectations, alongside views from supply side stakeholders. Mixed methodology presents evaluations at the hand of an Importance Performance and a SOAR Analysis depicting the state of readiness. The paper describes how a unique experience such as Astro Tourism can be regarded as viable mechanism to bring about sustainable development in a rural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the 2008 Nigerian Demographic Health Survey to investigate the effect of women's schooling on contraceptive use. In order to control for endogeneity of women's schooling, this paper uses an instrumental variable approach, with the free primary education programme in Nigeria introduced from 1976 to 1981, as an instrument for women's schooling. The paper finds that the education of women increases the probability of using contraceptives. Disaggregating the results between traditional and modern contraceptive use, the results show a positive and significant impact of women's education on both modern and traditional contraceptive use. The findings of the study lend credence to the evidence that birth control measures can lead to better timing and spacing of births that allow women to significantly expand their economic opportunities and life prospects. These have implications for women's economic empowerment and gender equality, which are vital for any sustainable development policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To measure policy progress, one key science, technology and innovation indicator has long captured the imagination of policy makers: gross domestic R&D expenditure as a proportion of the gross domestic product of a country. However, African development challenges inform new policy commitments to orient STI towards inclusive and sustainable development. Such dynamics led us to question how the prevailing STI measurement frameworks need to change. A starting point is to add a complementary measure: how can existing methods be used to assess and track the gross domestic R&D expenditure oriented to drive equitable and inclusive human development? The paper aims to design such a complementary indicator using existing national R&D datasets collected in line with the Frascati guidelines. We focus our experimentation in the South African context, with a view to generalising new measures to the sub-Saharan African context over the longer term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past two decades, southern African countries have experienced rapid growth and spread of supermarket chains. This paper assesses the internationalisation of supermarkets and potential reasons for the uneven outcomes seen in different countries in the region. Several factors account for the spread, including rising urbanisation, increasing per capita income, greater economies of scale and scope, and more efficient procurement and distribution systems. However, the current literature does not adequately consider the importance of culture, proximity to suppliers and impact of policy objectives of national governments on the success of supermarkets in host countries, especially in developing countries. It also does not consider the nature of competitive rivalry between supermarkets and how this affects internationalisation. This paper highlights the importance of these factors in understanding the outcomes in selected southern African countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the 'alternative' empowerment roles of catalyst, facilitator and advocate in community-based tourism in the context of community development practice, drawing on findings from four community-based tourism (CBT) ethnographic case studies in Kenya. A 'friend' or 'neighbour' relationship is uncovered as a possible combination of these roles. The various roles may be points or positions in a continuum, a relationship that develops over time. The roles could be realised between a community and an individual from within or outside the community. It is further proposed that understanding the roles and the relationships provides possibilities for community empowerment and sustainable community development within CBT settings. The findings point towards opportunities for the enhancement of empowerment, either driven by deliberate efforts of development practitioners or brought about in non-deliberate, organic manner through collaborative work of a wide range of actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the progress made by Zambia on the third Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of increasing the political participation of women in urban areas. Based on Nancy Fraser's framework of redistribution-recognition-participatory parity we demonstrate that women's political participation in Zambia is thwarted by a range of historical, economic, socio-cultural and political factors along with specific factors in urban areas such as long work hours, the informal economy and lack of familial support. It concludes that without the introduction of gender-specific quotas within local bodies in Zambia, the newly instituted Sustainable Development Goals will see growing difficulty in achieving progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The green economy concept promises to provide a concrete roadmap to the implementation of sustainable development while delivering significant social and economic benefits and reduced environmental risks. However, the concept of a green economy is still being debated and the emerging discourse has yet to be fully interpreted within the industrial, institutional and socio-economic realities of many countries, including particularly emerging and developing nations. This paper traces the origins of the concept, providing the context for its current traction globally, and then introduces three emerging agendas around the green economy: ‘the incrementalist discourse’, ‘the reformist discourse’ and ‘the transformative discourse’. The paper ends with a discussion of the application of key themes within these discourses in the context of southern Africa and considerations as the green economic debate evolves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the development interventions that have been adopted to help the countries caught in a downward spiral of impoverishment, their problems still persist. This paper focuses on the role that traditional foreign aid and the more recent bottom-up approach of supporting social entrepreneurs are playing to tackle the situation of extreme poverty in Zimbabwe. Drawing upon a narrative inquiry, 35 stories were collected to bring fresh insights regarding the realities of such interventions as they are experienced by the local people. The evidence shows the main shortcomings of the current development models and suggests that the improvement of a declining economy such as Zimbabwe would need the interaction of various factors, so that some interventions will appear significant only when the conditions of primary importance exist in the environment. Additionally, the engagement of local people seems to be a key aspect to the success of some of the support measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For its advocates, corporate social responsibility (CSR) represents a powerful tool through which business and particularly multinationals can play a more direct role in global sustainable development. For its critics, however, CSR rarely goes beyond business as usual, and is often a cover for business practices with negative implications for communities and the environment. This paper explores the relationship between CSR and sustainable development in the context of mining in Namibia. Drawing upon extant literatures on the geographies of responsibility, and referencing in-country empirical case-study research, a critical relational lens is applied to consider their interaction both historically and in the present. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Urbanisation is an important but contested process because of its far-reaching social, economic and environmental implications. The paper explores the relationship between urbanisation and living conditions in South Africa over the last decade. The central question addressed is whether population growth in the main cities has been accompanied by improved living standards, housing and public services. One finding is that employment growth has tended to coincide with demographic trends, which is necessary to reduce poverty. In addition, the provision of urban infrastructure has outstripped population growth, resulting in better access to essential services and reduced backlogs. In contrast, the provision of affordable housing has not kept pace with household growth, so more people than ever are living in shacks. A more comprehensive assessment is required before one can be sure that urbanisation is on a sustainable trajectory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]