This study was conducted at KwaBulawayo (eShowe) and Ondini (Ulundi) Cultural Centres, which are located in the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The study was conducted to explore the heritage tourism economic potential of these sites. This study theorised heritage tourism within the shift from an industrial to a post-industrial mode of production and consumption research framework. A descriptive design was used in the study, and a qualitative mode of enquiry was adopted during the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. The population of the study comprised of the municipal officials, cultural centres’ personnel, community leaders, and households of the nearer communities. The municipal officials and cultural centres’ personnel were sampled through a purposive sampling technique, while community leaders and households were sampled through a convenience sampling technique. Survey questionnaires were used to collect data from a sample of 36 respondents through face-to-face interviews. The data were analysed through content analysis. The findings showed that the communities of the study areas, generally, understood heritage tourism within the context of use value, that is, as containers of cultural, historical, and traditional knowledge, rather than exchange value, as market commodities. This study further found that the branding of the sites revolved around the Zulu Kings, Shaka and Cetshwayo, which seemed not to draw tourists except for those fond of history. Hence, the study recommended that the sites be marketed and rebranded to enhance their full tourism potentials. As heritage tourism has become a major attraction the world over, this study further recommended that communities needed to be conscientised about the development value of heritage tourism and ideally participate therein. Related further research would focus on mechanisms to enhance community participation in tourism development, especially in such rural settings.

The article sought to examine the pull and push factors that culminated into the adoption and

implementation of local economic development policies in the Accra Metropolitan, Keta Municipal and

Shai-Osudoku District Assemblies as well as the sources of financing the local economic development

policies. The study was qualitative one and data were collected from the Finance Officers, Planning

Officers, and Business Advisory Centre Coordinators of the three assemblies. A number of findings came

to light. First, the adoption and implementation of LED in the three MMDAs was influenced by different

historical contexts and diverse situations such as unemployment, poverty and infrastructure deficit as

well as national government policy. Second, the MMDAs’ sources of financing LED programmes could

be classified into three main categories namely; inter-governmental transfers, donor or private sector

funding and internally-generated funds, The ability of an MMDA to attract funds was largely determined

by factors such as the strategic nature and category of the MMDA, its leadership, political and personal

commitment of some top level staff to LED implementation, the available economic development

incentives and the immediate returns that investors expected to gain from their investments. Based on the

findings, the study recommends the following among others: the harmonization of all grassroots

development related policies, the designation of a particular fund and earmarking of a certain percentage

of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) for the implementation of LED as well as the creation of

economic development incentives in the MMDAs to attract investments.

Pro-growth Local Economic Development is an approach recommended to developing countries fighting to eradicate widespread poverty in Southern Africa. Entrepreneurship is a key construct under pro-growth approaches. However, other studies found that its effectiveness is dependent on the stage of economic development of a country such that entrepreneurship does not effect economic growth in low income countries but in high income countries. Therefore the factors influencing productive entrepreneurships have been of interest to scholars to inform policy for the development of entrepreneurship which remains a key area of focus in national development plans of many developing countries. An analysis of literature was conducted on the ecosystem perspective of entrepreneurship and it revealed that entrepreneurship can influence economic growth when the requisite key resources and key stakeholders' functionality are developed in a balanced way. Local territories that adopt pro-growth approaches require: effective political, legal, regulatory and economic frameworks that enable higher pay offs from entrepreneurship; policies for the development of financial, physical, human, knowledge and natural capital as well as policies for attracting or supporting key stakeholders mainly the ambitious entrepreneurial class, who are able to develop productive growth oriented entrepreneurships. However, the ecosystem perspective focuses on exogenous factors to the concept. Entrepreneurship is a multidimensional concept with varying perspectives, activities and outputs that influence outcomes and impacts. The effects of this multidimensionality on the performance of entrepreneurship in low income and high income countries remain an area not covered in literature. 

The article sought to discuss the impact of value chain development and local economic development among rice farmers in Asutuare in the Shai-Osudoku District Assembly of Ghana. The study specifically examined the actors in the rice value chain development process, their roles and how their roles shaped the final output for the consumer and the extent to which the value chain development and local economic development resulted in job opportunity creation, income generation, and poverty reduction in the area. Using the mixed method, the study found that the actors in the value chain process could be grouped into four. They are pre- production actors, which is made of actors involved in activities such as land preparation, tilling, bonding and spraying; production actors who are mainly made up of the actual rice farmers; post production actors who include those involved in harvesting, threshing milling among others; and financing system actors, which involves financial institutions and individual financiers (sponsors). The study opines that rice value chain and local economic development resulted in both direct and indirect employment and income generation for the rice farmers and the “agrigators”. However, there was a mixed outcome in poverty reduction in that 5.3% of the actors sampled for the study were below the poverty line, while the remaining 94.7% were above the poverty line. Challenges such as lack of access to finance, absence of sufficient rice processing factories, poor road networks, and lack of modern agriculture equipment were hindrances to effective rice value chain and local economic development promotion. Based on the findings and challenges, the following were recommended: the establishment of a rice processing factory in the Asutuare area as part of the One District One Factory policy, consistent fiscal policy aimed at supporting rice farmers in the locality, and the provision of modern equipment to modernize rice production.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the role of Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) such as tourism and hospitality enterprises for example, towards promoting Local Economic Development (LED) in rural areas within UMlalazi Local municipality (ULM), Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. South Africa is facing the challenge of a high rate of unemployment which leads to poverty amongst many households, particularly in rural areas. In response to unemployment and poverty reduction, people in rural areas established SMMEs to earn a living. SMMEs are regarded as a major source of income generation and strategy for poverty alleviation in most rural areas. The objective of the study was to assess whether SMMEs contribute towards enhancing LED including reducing unemployment rates and contributing towards economic growth in ULM.