Religious Pilgrimages in South Africa: A Catalyst for Sustainable Tourism and Local Economic Development

Over the course of the last decade or so, the concept of social capital - social and solidarity relationships, norms of reciprocity, trust-based interactions, and the set of civil society institutions and associations that underpin efficient collective action - has spectacularly burst on to the local economic and social development scene. Much of the credit for the current popularity of the social capital concept can be attributed to the work of Robert Putnam in relation to northern Italy, undertaken over the 1970s and 1980s with a number of local collaborators. As a result of Putnam's insights, social capital is now seen as a pivotal factor in successful local and regional economic development: for example, through more efficient government structures, higher levels of local volunteerism and civil society activity, a reduced need for formal contracts in business activities, greater local effort invested into community development projects, and the bottom-up empowerment, mobilisation and self-improvement of marginalised groups and regions, especially through their enhanced ability to constructively link up with centres of power and wealth outside of their immediate community. Organisations such as the World Bank now consider social capital to be the missing link in development. An understanding of the importance and impact of social capital is now routinely incorporated into virtually all economic and social development projects promoted and financed in Croatia by all the IFIs, the major bilaterals and many international development NGOs. Importantly, the EU has identified the need to promote social capital in Croatia as one of the most important tasks in the coming years, particularly in those regions marked out by conflict and inter-ethnic discord. Most EU programmes are, accordingly, heavily contingent upon promoting social capital as a way to promote economic and social integration and increased co-operation at the local level.This paper challenges the growing consensus around the work of the social capital industry and its centrality to successful economic and social recovery in Croatia and elsewhere. For sure, the main concepts associated with social capital could constitute a genuinely socially progressive force for change: solidarity, reciprocity, mutual support, trust, empowerment can underpin sustainable local economic development in a number of creative ways. However, the paper sees social capital concept as actually only very loosely connected, perhaps just inadvertently, to genuinely sustainable local economic development. Its real function is, instead, not so much to support and facilitate emerging bottom up community activity and popular pressure for meaningful local change, but actually to contain and block any such local developments wherever they might present a challenge the core imperatives of the wider neo-liberal policy programme associated with EU integration and World Bank/IMF requirements.

Limpopo is one of the poorest provinces in South Africa. This state of poverty is despite the province's potential to be self-supportive from its well-endowed natural and cultural heritage resources. This chapter argues that commercialisation of these resources could promote sustainable community-led entrepreneurship and local economic development. This chapter hypothesises that there is an economic linkage between the environment and local economic development as GebreMichael and Waters-Bayer found in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. A plethora of emerging literature on local economic and entrepreneurship development reveal that there was considerable linkage between commercialization of these resources and sustainable entrepreneurship and local economic development. This chapter locates itself in the context of “Rural Development” and would be anchored on Monaheng's theorisation on development; the technocratic, the radical, and the reformist approaches.

Participatory action learning and action research in sustainable local economic development strategies is not a common practice. In this chapter, the author firstly gives an introduction of the concept of sustainable local economic development; the importance of local economic development is outlined, as well as the aims. The author proceeds by discussing participatory action learning and action research as integrated empowering concepts. Lastly, the author describes how participatory action learning and action research were used by the Overstrand Local Economic Development Agency in partnership with the Hawston community to assist them to develop a sustainable neighbourhood development strategy. The steps of the participatory action learning and action research cycle are discussed coupled with the learning and actions taken, that emanated from the reflections during the research.

The last 30 years or so has seen the commercial or ‘new wave’ microfinance model rise to dominate the poverty reduction agenda in both developing and transition countries alike. Initially inspired by the Grameen Bank model that emerged in Bangladesh in the 1970s, but later refined to incorporate more fully standard neoliberal commercialization imperatives, the microfinance model is now the most visible poverty reduction strategy around. Nevertheless, even its strongest supporters agree that it still remains moot as to whether it actually possesses the required ‘transformative capacity’ to secure permanent poverty reduction associated with genuinely sustainable national, regional and local economic and social development. This article looks at a local financial systems model arising in Western European practice that, in contrast to the commercial microfinance model, is unequivocally associated with sustainable economic and social development and growth, and thus also sustainable poverty reduction. The author argues that this ‘integrated cooperative financial systems model’ should have had, and should still have today, enormous implications for developing and transition countries (still) seeking to construct local financial institutions that are capable of establishing genuinely equitable and sustainable local economic and social development trajectories.

The study examines the awareness among the stakeholders on KwaZulu-Natal's (KZN) culture tourism potential within the framework of sustainable and inclusive local economic development (LED). The study applies the mixed-methods method, combining quantitative from 71 respondents and qualitative from 12 in-depth interviews among members of the community, the authorities, and traditional leaders. The study's findings highlight the universal support for integrating the culture of the past into the core education system to long-term enhance awareness and respect for local ways. Additionally, the stakeholders were ready to engage with the tourists and provide unofficial assistance to guide them, showing community propensity for engagement in tourism business. The study, also observed limited awareness on the department's plans, including youth and women empowerment and support for small businesses. The departmental support to culture-derived tourism development came out lukewarmly, citing the lack of visible leaders and organized grassroots events. The study concludes there is a need for greater open planning, greater communication, and people-centered strategies focusing on education, capacity development, and stakeholder engagement to enable the scope of cultural tourism which enhances inclusive economic development in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). The study confirms the participatory development theory through the central role played by awareness and stakeholder inclusion that unlocks the socio-economic strength of culture-derived tourism.

Towns, villages and cities are increasingly keen to share their culture, environment and spending opportunities with visitors by the promotion of festivals. The fact that income can be generated by such festivals is clear but the true value of visitor spend is more complex to calculate with accuracy. This paper considers the contribution of festival tourism to sustainable local economic development. A festival typology is created that broadly identifies three festival types termed 'home-grown', 'tourist-tempter' and 'big-bang'. Here three festivals matching the typology are analysed against the model of sustainable local economic development activity created by the environment charity Forum for the Future. Results suggest that although festivals may have the potential to provide opportunities for sustainable local economic development such opportunities frequently remain unexploited. Nevertheless, some festival scenarios do indicate a closer match to the model of sustainable local economic development activity than others. This paper analyses why this should be and suggests ways in which festival tourism's contribution to local economies might begin to be better understood, and consequently, improved.

The article highlights the issue of coherence between sustainable construction and local economic development in the de-occupied and affected territories of Ukraine, especially in the context of hostilities and post-war reconstruction. The authors emphasize the critical role of the construction industry for the restoration of regions that have suffered significant destruction, and emphasize its importance as one of the main drivers of local economic development. The study is based on an analysis of the state of the construction industry in Ukraine before the start of the full-scale invasion and the changes that took place after the start of hostilities, in particular on the example of the Kyiv region, where more than 65% of the territories were destroyed. The article includes an overview of the current state of construction in wartime, which is accompanied by an analysis of statistical data on the volume of construction works, the dynamics of completed construction, investments in the construction industry and their impact on the economic indicators of the regions. The article emphasizes that construction activity activates the local economy through the creation of new jobs, attracting investment and supporting small and medium-sized businesses, but its impact on other areas, in particular the real estate market, is limited. The methodological basis of the study is the adapted matrix of the impact of construction on local economic development proposed by the authors. This matrix takes into account key socio-economic and sectoral indicators, their dynamics and areas of influence, which allows for a systematic assessment of the relationship between construction and development of the region. To check the effectiveness of the proposed methods, examples from the Kyiv region were used, where the indicators of the volume of construction works, the level of employment, revenues of local budgets and the volume of capital investments were analyzed. In addition, the article considers the multiplier effect of construction through the calculation of multipliers of income, taxes and the real estate market. The analysis shows that although construction activities have a significant impact on tax revenues and provide funding for local budgets, their effectiveness in increasing household incomes and stabilizing the real estate market is less significant. This may be due to the fact that a significant portion of construction costs are directed to materials and services from other regions, as well as a shortage of completed construction projects in 2023. The conclusions of the article emphasize the importance of strengthening the participation of local governments, the public and construction companies in the reconstruction and recovery processes. A number of measures aimed at improving coordination between construction projects and local economic development strategies have been proposed, which will help attract investment, return of the population and relocation of business to the regions.

Local Economic development as approach to development is a prominent strategy to tackle unemployment and poverty in urban areas. Thus, the objective of the study was to assess and communicate the extent to which municipal Local Economic development initiatives contribute towards improving the livelihood of communities in Ambo Town for sustainable local economic development. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed in this study. Accordingly, data were collected from 152 participants through questionnaire, interview and observation; and analyzed using descriptive statistics, content analysis and description. The study revealed that local economic development has had a marginal impact on poverty alleviation due to a myriad of factors which reinforce and interact with each other thereby trapping entrepreneurs and residents in poverty. Local economic development approach, in most cases, to the development project planning and decision makings are in top-down which do not target all the segments of the poor in a meaningful way. Local economic development serves as an important strategy to boost local economies to address the high levels of poverty, unemployment and inequalities facing majority population. Participatory development process is crucial to properly translate the local economic development policy into meaningful practice so that there is a significant impact on alleviating poverty program.

This article examines the role of local inhabitants in developing sustainable tourism in rural areas. Recently, when planning the sustainable local spatial, economic and social development, experts have been faced with the problem of integrating stakeholders. In the concept of sustainable regional development, the basic democratic premise that everyone should decide on matters that affect them has gained an equal position to that of environmental and social awareness. In compliance with this principle, the development of local communities which are also responsible for tourism development in a certain area should include the widest possible group of representatives of the local population. Lively tourist activities not only affect the economy, but also have impacts on the spatial development of the town, its social structure, social life, and psychological imprint. The analysis of the structured interviews conducted with more than 20 individuals who are employed in the fields of tourism in the wider area of Brežice has shown how the wider local community is responding to the tourist activities in the Municipality of Brežice and its surroundings.

Selorejo Village, Malang Regency has tourism potential which is known as the Bumi Perkemahan Bedengan Tourism. However, Bumi Perkemahan Bedengan Tourism still needs to be developed optimally because this tourism has the potential to become sustainable tourism. The novelty of this research is to complement quantitative research methodologies related to the theme of developing village tourism potential, where there are research limitations from several previous studies, which are dominated by descriptive qualitative methods. The concept of Local Economic Development (LED) is deemed capable of optimizing available local resources by involving several stakeholders such as the Government, Local Communities, Business Actors, and Local Community Organizations. This research discusses tourism-based Local Economic Development (LED) that aims to examine the condition of Local Economic Development (LED) and provide insight in making plans or strategies for sustainable Local Economic Development (LED) in Bumi Perkemahan Bedengan Tourism. This article applies a quantitative approach with data analysis of RALED (Rapid Assessment Technique for Local Economic Development). Assessment of local economic development in Bumi Perkemahan Bedengan Tourism using the hexagonal concept of LED which consists of six aspects, namely target group, location factors, policy focus and synergy, sustainable development, governance, and management process. The results showed that the five aspects had met the good category. However, there is one aspect, namely the Target Group has a low index value of 45.92 which means that the condition of Local Economic Development in the aspect of the Target Group at the Bumi Perkemahan Bedengan is in a bad condition. Therefore, the target group aspect and the other two lowest aspects namely management process and location factors need attention for more improved in the efforts of Local Economic Development (LED) in the Bumi Perkemahan Bedengan Tourism.

Sustainable Local Economic Development has been an emerging approach to economic development for more than a decade, with the goal of enhancing economic, social, and environmental sustainability. As practitioners seek and implement sustainable economic development projects, an indicator framework is needed to ensure these projects are contributing to the sustainability of the community. The purpose of this paper is to propose an indicator framework using the five principles of Sustainable Local Economic Development (SLED). Specifically, the indicator framework is designed to score historic property redevelopments that utilize Historic Tax Credits. These projects have become more prevalent in community/economic development as they provide communities an opportunity to reactivate or enhance physical assets for the purpose of development. The goal of the indicator framework is to provide practitioners the ability to analyze data related to the historic property redevelopment project and determine how well the project meets the five principles of SLED.

As a response to the grand societal challenges reflected in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the transition towards sustainability has gained momentum in recent years, as has the debate on mission-orientation in innovation policy. Harnessing the positive transformation potential for innovation, is about collaboratively exploring complex and uncertain pathways, especially when the goal is sustainable local economic development. Nevertheless, the demand for participatory approaches posed by the re-emergence of mission-orientated innovation policy, and the conditions for their successful implementation at the local level, particularly in the framework of economic development, are poorly understood and not yet in the focus of the current debate. This article conceptualises participation as a new mode of governance for sustainable local economic development, and links it to mission-orientation in innovation policy. We differentiate forms, degree of involvement and target groups, as well as highlight the underlying rationales and modes of interactions. Based on action-research carried out over three years in the city of Bottrop, Germany, we conceptualise an ideal-typical practice of participatory governance. Our findings show that firms are willing to participate in sustainable local economic development, only if they can internalise at least part of the value-added.

The failure of macro-economic policies to deliver meaningful reductions in poverty and achieve basic needs in Tanzania has provoked a deep questioning of the relevance of economic growth center policies in Local Economic Development (LED). The government and development partners are increasingly shifting from the traditional top down approaches to the all-inclusive bottom up approaches for effective local development. The concept of sustainable Local Economic Development is thus examined in the context of economic activities and challenges using a case study of Shinyanga region in Tanzania.

This paper examines the role and contribution of tourism to local economic development and in the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals one and seven dealing with extreme poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability in the biodiversity endowed Central African sub-region. The concepts of sustainable tourism development and local economic development (in sub-Saharan Africa) are examined. Through fi eld observations and semi-structured interviews with 21 tourism industry stakeholders in Cameroon, an analysis of tourism's role and future in LED and in the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals 1 & 7 is undertaken. The core challenges presently inhibiting tourism's development thereby limiting its contribution to local economic deve- lopment and the attainment of these goals in Cameroon are identifi ed and a framework within which tourism's contribution can be increased is proposed.

One of the essential activities for sustainable local economic development is continuous improvement of business environment which can be carried out through the business-friendly certification as objective benchmarking process, which is influenced by many factors - criteria that could be analyzed using multi-criteria decision-making methods. Determining criteria weights is the most important task regarding these methods for which a number of methodologies based on different approaches were developed. These methodologies could be generally divided into two groups: subjective and objective. Shortly, these methodologies quantify given preferences using knowledge of experts if they are subjective or using calculations from available data if they are objective. Methodologies from these two groups give different results in a wide range of values. Therefore, it is useful to create composite indicators using aggregation of both approaches in order to reduce the influence of their bad individual characteristics and, therefore, achieve a balanced symmetrical approach. The purpose of this paper is constructing one efficient model that solves a problem of the planning of sustainable local economic development in the Republic of Serbia. Our approach uses the aggregation of the entropy method, as one objective approach, and the analytical hierarchy process, as a subjective approach, in executing business-friendly certification process. The implementation of the proposed approach has been demonstrated as a part of a business-to-government (B2G) platform called “Multi-Criteria Support System for Analysis of the Local Economic Environment” in the City of Niš.