Can Community Education Promote Community Participation in the Local Economic Development (LED) Activities in this Era of 2019-nCoV

Abstract

The 2019-nCoV has come as an unexpected wicked challenge especially to the vulnerable ones as it has significantly affected the local economic development (LED) activities of many local people in communities of South Africa. In this chapter, the role of community education as a problem-solving measure in promoting community participation in LED will be explored as limited participation in those activities prevail especially in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic. The study provides the challenges posed by the limited participation in the communities and the economy and explains how the local participation is important through community education (CE) programmes in LED activities. Since community education indeed plays a huge role in enhancing community participation in LED activities, the government officials, policymakers and others need to work closely with local people so that they can understand the essence of socio-economic issues that communities daily encounter in the wake of the pandemic.