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This paper shows how four major challenges in the ocean economy is linked to the 15 global challenges and the sectors that are influenced by these challenges. The ocean is becoming a focal point in the discourse on growth and sustainable development, both at national and international levels. Human aspirations and economic growth exert pressure on the ocean and the marine ecosystem and, therefore, constitute challenges for sustaining growth and ocean economy development. This conceptual paper analyses definitions of the ocean economy, the ocean economy's contribution toward world economic growth, the 15 global challenges, and specific challenges in the South African ocean economy. Four critical challenges are highlighted, firstly, pollution, which includes environmental disasters such as oil spills and dumping at sea, secondly, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, thirdly, climate change and, finally, disease events. As both private and public sectors should address these challenges, this research identifies possible reform measures for further consideration by these sectors to find possible solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of learning losses and altered schooling patterns in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021). Five major trends emerge from a review of the evidence. These include significant learning losses (38–118% of a year of learning), widened learning inequality, lowered grade repetition rates, increased secondary school enrolments and an unprecedented rise in candidates writing and passing the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination. School completion significantly increased in 2021 and 2022, spurred by COVID-19 adjusted assessment and promotion practices in Grades 10 and 11. Larger numbers of youth also achieved a NSC pass or Bachelor's pass enabling access to university. With twin pandemic shocks of learning losses and secondary school enrolment increases, remediating losses and realigning progression rules to effective assessment practices should be prioritised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite high rates of education expenditure, South Africa's education system remains sharply unequal and underperforms overall compared to other countries. One approach to addressing education inequality and underperformance is community-based peer mentorship. This paper presents evidence from the Nine Tenths mentorship programme in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) as a way to improve academic performance among matric students in under-resourced secondary schools. Using school matric pass rates from 2012 to 2021 and student admission metrics for participants in 2020–2022, a strong association is found between the activities of Nine Tenths and improved academic performance. No-fee schools where Nine Tenths is active record pass rates that are 28 percentage points higher on average than schools without Nine Tenths. Matric students who participate in Nine Tenths increase their Admissions Points Score (APS) by 4.23 points on average, and every student between 2020 and 2022 earned a bachelor pass. While the evidence suggests that Nine Tenths is effective, the programme operates on a relatively small scale and is not broad-based in its implementation. The programme shows is a promising example of community-based interventions to address schooling inequality independently and more efficiently than the current education policy in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With mega state housing projects needing large land parcels and that are often located in the periphery, this paper investigates what impact relocating residents to Golden Gardens housing development has had on the quality of life and their financial wellbeing. Using primary data obtained from residents living in the Golden Gardens housing development, the findings show that respondents' access to and quality of physical and social facilities, such as refuse services, water, and electricity, has improved. Respondents were also unanimous that staying in their Golden Gardens homes has significantly improved their security. However, many residents currently living in Golden Gardens used to live closer to work and social activities than they do now, which means that they used to spend less each month on transport than they do now. The high-commuting cost has increased household expenses, meaning that the respondents' financial wellbeing has been negatively impacted. These results imply yet unmet long-term objectives of human settlements as envisaged in various government policies and programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change continues to exacerbate social and economic development challenges in local communities the world over. This paper advances a human development approach to climate resilience innovations, showing how local innovation initiatives can be conduits for increased equity, agency, efficiency and sustainability vis-à-vis effective responses to climate impacts. Based on a scoping review of literature (journal articles, books, theses, occasional papers etc.), and through a discussion of four case studies focused on technological and institutional innovations in selected rural South African communities, a major finding is that local innovation initiatives vis-à-vis livelihoods are laden with opportunities for improved social, economic and ecological well-being. Appreciating and supporting these local innovations will open up viable and transformative pathways towards effectively responding to the impacts of climate change and variability. The paper contributes to an interdisciplinary integration of innovation and climate change research by exploring climate resilience through a transformative human development lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Mass urbanisation in cities of the global South, is causing cities to evolve, with informal settlements being central to this evolution. While local government is the official point of interaction for urban informal settlement dwellers, those interactions are often characterised by a lack of meaningful participation. Engaging with the co-production literature and two case studies of informal settlements in Cape Town, South Africa, this paper examines how they shed light on the shifting and constantly evolving roles and practices of local government and community actors within a co-production engagement. Based on the findings from these cases, the paper argues that co-production as a practice of collaboration between the local state and citizens can allow for the forging of new relationships, built on trust, sharing of resources and a more equal distribution of power where communities can shape the outcomes of service delivery projects to respond to their needs and demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews South Africa’s efforts to realise the right to water from a welfare policy perspective. ‘Free basic water’ (FBW), initially a water sector policy, was later recognised to be part of the country’s wider social protection framework. However, while the principle of providing poor households with free basic services has been sustained, FBW has not provided reliable access for many of its intended beneficiaries. Analysis of the policy, implementation and performance of the programme identifies unresolved policy tensions between welfare objectives and other government priorities, reflected in the choice of targeted rather than universal welfare strategies. It is concluded that these welfare policy tensions have weakened the outcomes of the free basic water policy which are more usually blamed on operational and institutional failures. While the FBW principle is generally accepted, practical performance is often weak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is growing interest in the literature and policy circles regarding the performance of cooperatives in South Africa, no study has yet synthesised the body of knowledge on how to assess cooperative performance in the country. This paper aims to fill this gap by examining the literature on the performance of cooperatives in post-apartheid South Africa, based on a scoping review of 20 studies published between 1994 and 2021. Most of the reviewed studies adopted a qualitative approach, lacked a clear definition of cooperative performance and standardised metrics/criteria for assessing cooperative performance. The studies often relied on view of study participants to determine the performance of cooperatives. Moreover, the reviewed studies often framed the performance of cooperatives from an economic viewpoint. Clear definition of cooperatives, the development of robust indicators for assessing their performance and greater emphasis on quantitative studies on the performance of cooperatives in South Africa beyond economic and financial indicators is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early childhood development (ECD) access and quality inequalities can manifest as school and labour market outcomes that are persistently unequal by race, gender and geography. Using the General Household Survey 2019 and Early Childhood Development Census 2009–2014 data, we find that household socio-economic status, proximity to ECD centres and the mother’s educational attainment are positively associated with ECD enrolment. Having an economically inactive or unemployed adult in the household is negatively associated with enrolment rates. This paper also evaluates the programme gains (value added) of five ECD programmes in the large-scale cross-sectional the Early Learning Outcomes Measure study. We find gains that are surprisingly large, considering that these programmes served mainly poorer children, and because contact time per week for three of the programmes was only 2½ to 8 hours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper articulates state response to homelessness through multi-agency intervention in South Africa. While it argues strongly on relativity of homelessness, it however agrees with previous authors on common constituents of the concept. Based on secondary sources this paper delves into what constitutes homelessness and why there has been homelessness in the country, due to one or a combination of structural and individual related drivers. It further explores the state's use of a multi-agency housing focused approach that integrates appropriate legislations, social services interventions and public works, where over 3.3 million houses have been delivered in the country. While in-depth review of available data indicated significant increase in housing provision, the strategy is confronted with human, material, and rising need concerns. Importantly, there is no certainty yet on the extent to which the 'street homeless' and marginalised groups of the poor are served equally to other categories of the homeless. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an introduction to this Special Issue of Development Southern Africa that evaluates the impact of COVID-19 in South Africa, one year into the pandemic. All of the papers use evidence from the National Income Dynamics Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM), a five-wave longitudinal survey conducted from April 2020 to July 2021. As we write this article in June 2022, South Africa has just returned to the same level of GDP that it had at the end of 2019. This two-year period marks one of the most tumultuous in the country's economic history. We showcase results pertaining to employment, income support, hunger, schooling, early childhood development, mental health, and vaccine hesitancy. We also reflect on the policy learnings that can be gleaned in each of these domains and draw on some of the international lessons learnt to point to the way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction between family structure and household well-being has received considerable attention in research over the past decades. Very few studies, however, go beyond linking marital component of family structure with household income. This paper uses cross-sectional and panel analytic techniques with data from National Income Dynamic Survey (NIDS) to investigate the effects of family structure on household well-being. Findings from this study show that intact married and cohabiting households have significant positive relationship with household reported well-being, and subjective wellbeing, respectively. Furthermore, extended households, households headed by females and grandparents, have significant negative relationship with household income and consumption. Lastly, bigger household size has significant negative relationship with household reported well-being. Based on the findings, policy towards economic empowerment for poorer households, enhancing income generating, and livelihood projects are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the extent to which globalisation has affected the post-apartheid state's ability to fulfil the right to adequate houses enshrined in the South African Constitution (Act 108 of 1996). Underpinned by the rights-based approach to development (RBAD) which provides a mechanism to promote, protect, and fulfil various rights, the study employed a quantitative methodology. A survey was the preferred data collection method and a questionnaire was used as the data collection instrument. The probability sampling technique of random cluster sample was used in the study and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse questionnaires focusing primarily on descriptive statistics. The sample size consisted of 500 survey respondents selected from two towns in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province. We used an alpha level of.05 for all statistical tests. The study was premised on the following null hypothesis (H0): the right to housing is equally distributed among the population. The findings indicate that the right to houses is not equally distributed among the population, X2 (2, N = 500) = 56.37, p <.05. Therefore, the null hypothesis (H0) is rejected. We can conclude, therefore, that there is a statistically significant difference amongst the groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate South Africa's implementation of educational Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which is led by Gauteng and the Western Cape Provinces, for participation in the global knowledge economy. Accordingly, the two provinces are in the forefront of educational ICT implementation aimed at preparing learners for participation in the global knowledge economy and national development. The paper uses Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to examine South Africa in comparison with fourteen developing countries to establish that its approach towards implementation of educational technology is not appropriate, sustainable nor effective for a developing country. Experiences of developing countries such as Vietnam, Zambia and Kenya, which are in the medium and low Human Development Index (HDI) categories, show that national technological cultures of people have not evolved into what is characterised as the 'Net Natives', which is one of the primary driving force for the adoption of blended pedagogies as an approach for implementing educational technology, to enhance participation in the global knowledge economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conducts an analysis of employment uncertainty in South Africa during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, using NIDS-CRAM and five waves of Statistics SA's Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS: 2020-Q1 to 2021-Q1). We find that much of the differences in estimates of labour force states including employment, unemployment and not economically active, are due to different initial conditions and different reference periods between the two surveys, as well as the way that uncertain job attachment is measured in the questionnaires. This leads to higher estimates of employment in NIDS-CRAM compared to the QLFS for both a pre-pandemic baseline and over the entire period investigated (February 2020 to March 2021). This implies the two data sources are not strictly comparable, but rather complementary when analysing different aspects of the labour force. We discuss the implications for labour market research based on these data sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we use data from waves 1–5 of NIDS-CRAM to investigate labour market outcomes in 2020/1 for four age groups: youth (aged 18–24), prime-age adults (aged 25–39), middle-age adults (aged 40–54) and older adults (aged 55–64). We contrast outcomes just before and just after the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown (February and April 2020) with outcomes one year later (March 2021), and study transitions between the periods. We find that although the NIDS-CRAM employment-to-population ratio was near identical in February 2020 and March 2021 (56.4% versus 56.6%), there had been extensive churning between the two periods. By March 2021, 23% of the February 2020 employed had lost work and 30% of the non-employed had found work. Amidst these changes, youth experienced the largest employment-to-population ratio increase, while older adults suffered the largest decrease in employment and a decline in participation rates (changes not statistically significant). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a longitudinal telephonic survey of adults, this paper provides empirical evidence from South Africa on early childhood care and education (ECCE) attendance trends just before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. About 39% of adult respondents living with children aged 0–6 indicated that at least one child had attended an ECCE programme in February 2020. After a period of ECCE programme closures and lockdowns, estimates fell to as low as 7% in July/August 2020, partially recovered to 28% in November/December 2020, dropped again to 7% in early February 2021 but then recovered significantly to 36% by April/May 2021. A decomposition analysis suggests that a large part of the recovery in ECCE attendance in 2021 was attributed to higher reported perceived ability to be able to afford ECCE programme fees. This could relate to lower fee ECCE programmes resuming operations in anticipation of government relief payments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, children have been put at greater risk of school drop-out, as well as food insecurity and emotional health deterioration. This paper considers these issues as they have occurred in South Africa. We use all waves of the National Income Dynamics Study–Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey to estimate non-return to school, access to school meals, and household well-being. The number of learners not attending school in 2021 is estimated to be close to quadruple pre-pandemic levels. Combined with estimates of learning lost, we can conclude that the pandemic has worn away at two decades of progress made in basic education. Evidence also indicates that school feeding has been slow to recover to pre-pandemic levels. Deepened levels of household hunger combined with a lack of access to free school meals is indicated to contribute to significantly greater levels of caregiver anxiety and psychological distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is substantial evidence in the global literature that women have been disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 crisis and associated lockdowns. In this paper, we use five waves of the National Income Dynamics Study - Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) to track the gendered effects of the pandemic in South Africa during the first year of the crisis. We focus here on the impact in the labour market and on unpaid care work in the home. We find that, relative to men, women were more severely affected in both spheres, yet they benefited less from the government income support provided to unemployed and furloughed workers. The evidence from the NIDS-CRAM survey from the first year of the pandemic therefore suggests that gender inequality in South Africa has risen, undoing some of the gains of the last two decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This scoping review synthesises evidence on mHealth in South Africa specifically related to the use and application of mobile technology, the population groups targeted, and the health outcomes measured. Three scholarly databases were searched, data was extracted using standard scoping review methods. Of 287 peer-reviewed articles, 36 articles meeting inclusion criteria were analysed. Mobile applications and short-messaging services were the primary technologies employed by mHealth interventions which increasingly incorporates bi-directional communication. Published research has increased since 2016 with the majority of studies carried out in three provinces, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Gauteng. This paper provides an overview of mHealth in South Africa with recommendations for mHealth integration into private and public healthcare. [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]

Despite implementation of several government policies since the dawn of democracy in South Africa, income distribution remains skewed in the country. This paper explores income distribution in the Gauteng province by addressing two important questions: first, what is the level and pattern of income distribution, and second, do the role of correlates in explaining income distribution differ across income groups? By employing quantile regression analysis, this paper's results not only show the explanatory role of various correlates, such as race, but it also confirm that the explanatory role of these correlates is heterogeneous across income groups. The paper by drilling down into the data established that there are variations across some identifiable groups (e.g. youth, pensioners, and adults) and quantiles. These results enable policy makers to tailor policies to specific income and other identifiable groups, rather than one-size-fit-all policy focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes analysing organisations as temporal phenomena composed of multiple temporalities. We argue that the likelihood that an organisation is well placed to function instrumentally with regard to its formal mandate is when what we will call 'operational time' is dominant in the temporal regime. We propose that organisations perform poorly when other temporalities come to dominate the temporal regime and/or when the temporal regime is chronically disrupted. We apply this framework to a study of Eskom, the state power company in South Africa. In Eskom, for example, we show how operational time was displaced by a political temporality that ultimately destabilised the temporal regime of the organisation as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Class size reduction is frequently argued to be a cost-effective way to improve learner outcomes. In the South African context, most studies conclude that greater class sizes are associated with poorer educational outcomes on average. However, given the country's bimodal education system, it is plausible to believe that such a relationship may depend on where learners find themselves in the system. This paper merges newly available data from the 2017/18 School Monitoring Survey with external administrative data to investigate whether the relationship between class size and learner outcomes varies by school socioeconomic status. Although extreme class sizes are concentrated in poorer schools, class size is only negatively associated with learner outcomes in wealthier schools. This finding is robust to several robustness tests. This does not imply that class size does not matter. Rather, reductions may only be effective in the South African context once other school quality-related factors are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has rapidly spread throughout the globe, and recovering from the pandemic will be a massive test on economic systems. The pandemic has severely affected the accommodation sector as global travel has come to an almost complete standstill as of April 2020. This paper provides a preliminary assessment of the economic impacts of the pandemic on guesthouses in South Africa and the response measures adopted by this sector. Through online surveys, the empirical results show that guesthouse operations were severely disrupted by the pandemic, leading to a critical decline in revenue and a pronounced threat to job security. Despite implementing various response measures and strategies, guesthouses were somewhat concerned about the future of their businesses due to the uncertainty of the pandemic. This research can assist in developing intervention measures to support guesthouses in addressing the economic challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. [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]

There is limited literature pertaining to planning in the Global South, in comparison to the literature base of planning in the global North, and some believe that much of the planning literature on the Global South comes from outside the continent, and does not reflect indigenous African-knowledge. The aim of this paper is to evaluate literature relating to South African planning approaches as point of departure to validate the claims pertaining to authorship of literature, and to further investigate the thematic content that is published. The empirical investigation considered 125 papers that were identified through a qualitative inquiry as part of theory-based sampling, where the respective titles of the papers were captured and 345 key words identified and information visualisation techniques employed to illustrate such. Conclusions were drawn with regard to (1) planning literature of South Africa (and references to Africa), (2) current research themes being investigated within the local South African context, and (3) future research opportunities which could advance the science of planning, teaching-learning approaches and contribute to broadening the local planning literature base within the Global South, whilst decolonising urban theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism and destination competitiveness is a popular research topic and has become more important in recent years. This is evident from the amount of research conducted on the topic. However, competitiveness is mainly researched from a supply perspective, which solely captures the opinions of tourism experts and consequently creates the need to obtain the opinions of tourists as well. This paper provides an enhanced understanding of the opinions foreign tourists visiting South Africa have of the competitiveness of the country as tourist destination. Data was obtained by distributing questionnaires to tourists at OR Tambo International Airport who were returning home after visiting South Africa. A total of 619 usable questionnaires were obtained. The findings revealed that (1) The factors identified in this study differ from similar supply-side studies on South Africa; (2) Respondents considered unique tourism aspects the most important element of competitiveness; (3) The second most important competitiveness factor, tourism services, consists of internal factors only; (4) Safety and security is an essential competitiveness aspect regardless of the destination or research approach used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare systems around the world are facing great challenges. This has included rising health care prices and its impact on healthcare expenditures and the concomitant effects on access to healthcare, particularly in emerging and developing countries. This study focuses on health care price developments and health expenditures in South Africa. The study identifies four major results. Firstly, South Africa's healthcare expenditures compare quite favourably with countries at similar levels of development. However, the efficiency of these expenditures lags those in comparable countries. Secondly, it was found that South Africa's healthcare price rises have exceeded those in advanced countries even though healthcare demand and expenditures in these countries are much higher than is the case in South Africa. Thirdly, healthcare rises exceeds those in other sectors of the South African economy. Finally, healthcare price changes adversely impact healthcare expenditures in South Africa. These results indicate that price considerations are critical to improving healthcare access in South Africa. The paper also highlights some non-price determinants of healthcare access that warrant attention by policymakers in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa is rapidly urbanising and urban food systems are being transformed. Some have argued that this transformation is driven by a supermarket revolution akin to that in North America, Europe and Latin America. Others suggest that the supermarket revolution model oversimplifies complex African realities and that urban food systems are experiencing uneven supermarket penetration in the face of resilient informal food sectors. This paper focuses on Windhoek, Namibia, showing that the city's food system is dominated by South African and local supermarket chains. Since the end of apartheid, South African supermarket chains have expanded their operations into Namibia. Supermarket domination of Windhoek's urban food system is a function of proximity of South Africa and integration into South African supply chains. In other African countries, supermarket penetration has been much slower and is even being reversed. Explanations for uneven penetration in different countries require greater contextualisation and more case study research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing pool of evidence showing that cash transfers can promote livelihood activities. Yet there has been limited empirical studies that explore how financial support influences beneficiaries' decision-making in the construction and operation of livelihood activities in an urban context. This study presents findings from qualitative research conducted in a poor urban community in South Africa. Structuration theory provides an analytical tool to understand how cash transfers enable decision-making of beneficiaries in livelihood activities. The study finds that beneficiaries make different types of initial and ongoing decisions to improve their socio-economic condition. Among the contributions of this paper is that it counters the cynicism that is usually attached to cash transfers. The study's implications include the incorporation of both social and economic goals in the design of social protection policies as well as the need for greater recognition of the role of the informal economy in eradicating poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is arguably one of the biggest challenges globally. In order for countries to meet the commitments of the Paris Agreement, climate investments need to be scaled up for adaptation and mitigation strategies. Green bonds are one of the most emerging climate finance mechanisms for large-scale climate projects and offer investment opportunities for many developing countries. Most developing countries are heavily reliant on climate funds which are insufficient. Hence, the urgent need to tap into emerging climate finances such as green bonds. Out of all the regions, Africa is expected to be the worst impacted by climate change and green bonds can contribute to the much needed climate finances. The growth of the green bond market has been observed in the economic hubs of the continent with countries such as Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa demonstrating huge potential in being active and contributing to the growth of the market. However, this paper recommends that for the green bond market to further expand in these countries and rest of the continent, there needs to be public–private partnerships fostered, integrated policies, political will as well as effective institutional frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The provision of decent, affordable and well-located housing for low-income communities has been an intractable problem, especially for developing countries. A recurrent issue in the discourse of this problem relates to the appropriate role of the state on one hand and the private sector on the other. The debate has been given renewed urgency in the current context of a growing critique of 'neoliberalism'. Through rigorous literature review, this paper intends to review the successes and failures of neo-liberalism and explore the intricate linkages between neoliberal housing policy and low-income housing provision. The raison d'être for the paper is that, despite the growing disenchantment with neo-liberal housing policy, the empirical basis of this criticism has not been established convincingly, and neither have that of potential alternative policies. This paper therefore fills a critical gap in the low-income housing policy literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than two decades since the advent of democracy in South Africa, the place of small-scale agriculture in rural development, poverty alleviation and food security remains ambiguous and highly contested. However, there is now some new evidence that official income poverty estimates in South Africa may be underestimating the contribution of rural, land-based livelihoods when measuring household well-being. This paper aims to explore this possibility further by identifying how household production activities are associated with improved food security among rural Eastern Cape households in the former homelands. The analysis is based on data from Statistics South Africa's 2008/9 Living Conditions Survey and its annual General Household Surveys. In adopting a food poverty lens, the findings suggest that hunger levels are lower among farming households in the Eastern Cape even though a higher percentage of these households (relative to non-farming households) live below the national food poverty line. The paper concludes by discussing some implications for policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tourism sector is routinely offered as an option to grow employment in South Africa. Yet, questions need to be asked about the nature of employment in tourism, the state of education and skills training in the sector and its prospects for youth. Drawing on a national study, this paper interrogates tourism education and skills training issues in relation to youth employment and development. The findings reveal that youth in the sector find themselves in precarious employment: they typically have low-level skills, do not continue their education or training after being employed and have few career progression options. At the same time, a mismatch between the outcomes of education and skills training in tourism and the requirements of the industry come to the fore. Enhanced skills development and the creation of pathways for learning; labour market access and upward career progression are needed to advance youth in tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While an extensive literature documents the negative effects of stunting on children's developmental potential, there is far less evidence on whether a recovery from stunting in childhood – often referred to as 'catch-up growth'– helps mitigate the negative effects of early growth retardation. This paper explores the association between catch-up growth in early childhood and subsequent schooling outcomes using data from the first five waves of NIDS. The findings suggest that children who recovered from stunting in early childhood go on to complete fewer years of schooling compared to their non-stunted counterparts, driven in large part by a slower progression through school. However, there also appear to be heterogeneous effects depending on the extent of recovery; the small proportion of children who recovered substantially exhibit similar schooling outcomes to the non-stunted group. These results have important implications for the timing of nutritional (and other) investments in the early childhood period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper measures the impact of South African minimum wages on small and large firm employment in a sector that is exposed to international competition (agriculture) and one that is not (retail). Small farm employment is most vulnerable to minimum wage legislation. In contrast, large farm employment was shielded from employment losses. While this shift represents a short-run response to minimum wages, it may intensify the long-run movement towards fewer, larger, and more capital-intensive farms. Retail employment experienced no changes in employment, regardless of firm size. These results are in line with the idea that firms exposed to international markets cannot easily increase prices when their employees' wages increase while non-tradable sectors can more readily shift the burden of higher labour costs onto consumers by increasing prices. Implementation of a uniform national minimum wage ignores this type of heterogeneity, and could lead to intra-industry changes in concentration and inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities can foster inclusive innovation by establishing a learning and innovation ecology that assists students to pioneer new ways of addressing societal challenges. The paper examines learning by solving as a means of capacitating students with skills for inclusive innovation. Using a platform of engaged scholarship along with design thinking as a problem-solving methodology in a master's level course, a case study is presented that addresses the experience of Deaf patients at a public healthcare facility in South Africa. The course bridged the gap between theory and practice, facilitated experiential learning, enabled students to handle complex challenges and enabled productive collaboration. The approach empowers students with a skill set for addressing contemporary social challenges, and resonates with the concept of the 'developmental university', which has the mandate of addressing the needs of the society in which it is located. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the indirect effects of lifestyle risk factors associated with non-communicable diseases on labour force participation in South Africa utilising data from the National Income Dynamics Study. Endogenous multivariate probit models with a recursive simultaneous structure were employed in the study as a method of analysis. Findings showed a negative effect of non-communicable diseases on labour force participation. When the analysis was disaggregated by gender, the results showed that the effect of stroke and heart diseases were only significant for men, while diabetes and hypertension were only significant for women. The results also emphasised the significant indirect impact of obesity, physical activity and alcohol consumption on labour force participation through non-communicable diseases, especially for men. The policy implications of this study are thus gender-specific. These results can be used to inform the South African National Department of Health to strengthen current health strategies with the aim of reducing lifestyle risk factors and thus promoting sustained labour force participation rates in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a disruption hypothesis that student learning is lost as a direct consequence of teacher strike action in South Africa. At face value estimates from a within-student across-subject analysis suggest that teacher strike participation negatively affects learning for students in the poorest three quarters of schools. Strike action also limits access to nutrition as school closures prevent student participation in daily school feeding programmes. However, despite controlling for student and school level factors that may drive teacher selection into strike participation, unobserved teacher characteristics continue to bias estimates. Assuming that selection on observable characteristics can tell us something about selection on unobservable characteristics, there is an implied negative selection of teachers into strike participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the relationship between health care expenditure and population aging in South Africa using yearly data from 1983 to 2015. Empirical evidence from an Autoregressive Distributed Lag approach to cointegration indicates that old dependency and life expectancy are major drivers of public health expenditure in South Africa besides the income. Particularly, when structural breaks are controlled for, income exhibits a long-term elasticity with respect to health spending greater than unity; suggesting that South African public health care has become a luxury good over time. Interestingly, South African public health spending is found to be responsive to demographic development only in the long run. This is consistent with the micro evidence that health expenditure increases with individual age with significant impacts in the long term. Finally, using economic and demographic projections statistics, we find that public health expenditure could roughly double in the next fifteen years ceteris paribus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the lens of new institutional economics, this paper provides exploratory analysis of the elements of social capital behind the success of self-organised collective action in a longstanding and effective community-based conservation and development project. Our qualitative institutional analysis suggests that critical elements of project-level structural social capital in the Umgano project case study include: forward-thinking and capable leadership; long-standing partnerships with external agencies; sound operational structures and management; and legitimate participation facilitated by forms of representation that are transparent and accountable to constituents. In accordance with the theory, insights from the study also indicate that successful collective action relies on processes of long-term and earnest trust building, within and across communities, and between communities and external agents. Such insights serve as a point of reference for role-players in similar community-based projects and have the potential to inform future research on resource governance in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the price elasticity of demand for cigarettes in South Africa. Based on longitudinal data drawn from the South Africa National Income and Dynamic Study, we compare the results from the random and fixed effect panel estimation to estimates from the two-part model. We obtain negative price elasticity of demand for cigarettes, with significantly larger price elasticity estimates from the two-part model. The results suggest that a 10% increase in price reduces cigarette consumption by 4.3% for the economy brands and 6.9% for the mid-price brands. However, we find that over the same period, estimates from the fixed effect model are statistically insignificant. This is probably due to the limited within variation in both cigarette consumption and cigarette prices. Thus, with between variation models, increased tobacco taxes can, in the presence of the changing market structure, remain a desirable policy tool for reducing cigarette consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how capabilities inequality is stabilised through its consequences on those at both ends of the distribution. It outlines the development of the balance model, which is argued to help highlight these consequences. Specifically, how adverse environments associated with lack of access to resources and poor treatment can lead to internal consequences which further corrode capabilities. At the same time, denial of this corrosion or its importance is critical for those who benefit from the inequality. To avoid moral constraints being triggered it is important, necessary even, for them to see those who suffer as outside of their moral universe, or their suffering to be in no way associated with their advantage. Corrosion and denial work to stabilise the system. For those in the middle of the distribution, they may work to do so in combination. Appreciating these internalised consequences is key to addressing inequality in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding wealth inequality has unique significance in South Africa. The co-existence of extreme poverty and extreme wealth is starkly visible. Apartheid-era inequality has persisted despite more than 20 years of democracy. Much of the recent research focus on inequality has been on inequality of income and of opportunities, especially quantitatively. With the recent project to release South African tax administrative data for research, this paper hopes to show how use of the tax administrative data can contribute to developing a refreshed quantitative analysis of wealth inequality, especially in estimating the top shares of the wealth distribution, and so contribute to the existing literature on wealth inequality in South Africa. The first section will explore why studying wealth inequality is of fundamental importance. The second section will review international data and methods used to research wealth inequality, before laying out suggested approach to doing such studies in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive businesses are complex partnerships between commercial entities and smallholders/low-income communities, to include the latter in commercial agricultural value chains. IBs offer income opportunities for both partners, but are also regarded as empowering the smallholders/communities. To date, IB inclusiveness has been assessed mainly through basic quantitative measurements. However, these measures neglect the complexities of the overall value creation process, and of the inclusion of the beneficiaries within this process. This paper aims at providing a more holistic methodology by assessing the level of inclusiveness based on four dimensions: ownership, voice, risk and reward. Case studies in South Africa show that inclusion of low-income communities lags behind the intended level. Lack of financial resources and skills, reinforced by power imbalance, result in smallholder ownership being limited to land, the community's voice being compromised, risk being transferred to the smallholder communities and rewards being disappointing for the beneficiaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor living conditions are a consequence of the history of the South African mining industry (SAMI), despite legislation having been implemented to attempt to address this challenge. This paper describes the living conditions of mine workers from eight mines in South Africa in 2014, and assesses changes made over the previous decade. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected at three platinum, two gold, one coal, one diamond, and one manganese mine in 53 interviews with mine management, 11 interviews with labour representatives, 14 focus groups with mine workers, and 875 questionnaires completed by mine workers. The use of single-sex hostels and hostel room occupancy rates has reduced, while the use of living-out allowances (LOAs) has increased. Problems included the high proportions of informal accommodation; a lack of access to water, sanitation, and electricity; and poor roads. While improvements to the living conditions in the SAMI are evident, challenges still remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the domestic political and legislative context surround biofuels initiatives to highlight what opportunities exist for establishing a biofuels trade network between South Africa (as an anchor market) and its neighbours, specifically in Zambia and Mozambique. By analysing global developments in major biofuel importers, reasons for policy inertia in South Africa, and recent experiences with biofuels investments, we suggest that the likelihood for a regional biofuels market developing is slender without addressing land-related challenges in producer countries and revising South Africa's domestic legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the experience with an NGO-initiated recycling programme in Hangberg Township, Cape Town. The 11-week trial project achieved 70% sign-up but suffered substantial drop-out. The NGO's attempt to brand block leaders as 'eco-heroes' was unsuccessful and there were concerns about the distribution of project benefits. The project diverted 26% by mass of the estimated solid waste refuse stream of 2.5 kg per person per week and made R1752 from selling 1.965 tons of recycling. Some 970 kg of compostables were diverted but not processed as part of the project. Project accounts revealed a benefit-cost ratio of 0.123 in which the sale of recyclables and landfill costs avoided were the only benefits and wages and consumables the main costs. While a more equitable distribution of benefits could improve the cost-benefit ratio, there are other good reasons for donors to fund projects of this nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]