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Local Action Groups (LAGs) are a promising development approach that has gained prominence across the world. They are underpinned by participation of all local actors (community-led rural development) as the main precondition for generating and sustaining economic development in rural regions. Despite this potential, there has been a dearth of scientific studies that have investigated the potential role of LAGs as a rural transformation approach in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Therefore, the current paper sought to identify existing local action groups and explore their role and potential to promote rural development. A concurrent mixed-methods approach was adopted to attain the study objective. Four hundred households were purposively drawn from two rural local municipalities, Amahlathi and Nyandeni, in the Eastern Cape Province. Survey questionnaires and semi-structured interview guides were used to collect data. Results showed that existing LAGs were mainly burial societies, cooperatives, farmers associations, women's organisations, and financial saving schemes. The main roles of these LAGs were to enhance food security, boost income generation, and foster social cohesion. However, despite their contribution, LAGs have not reached their full potential as a conduit for rural development owing to the limited involvement of relevant rural development stakeholders. Therefore, adequate targeted support is required from both the public and private sectors to unlock the potential of LAGs as a catalyst for rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Local Action Group approach has gained recognition in South Africa in the last decade as a solution to rural development challenges. Although rural development has shown relative success in the Eastern Cape Province, poverty remains a major concern. Yet, the challenges hindering the success of these groups as a facilitator of rural development are not well documented. Thus, the goal of this study is to document the challenges facing Local Action Group initiatives in the small-scale agribusiness and non-farm enterprise sectors and provide context-based solutions. The paper took a mixed methods approach, using purposive and snowball sampling techniques to select 400 households. Questionnaires and semi-structured interview guides were concurrently utilised to collect data. The results show that financial inadequacy, lack of markets, lack of community cooperation, drought and lack of business management skills. Thus, there is need for upscaling stakeholder mobilisation and instilling a sense of project ownership and cooperation among community members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]