- Title
- Ameliorating poverty in South Africa through natural resource commercialisation : how can NGO's make a difference?
- Title
- Making the invisible visible: ameliorating poverty through natural resource commercialisation: How can NGO's make a difference?
- Creator
- Shackleton, Sheona E
- Date
- 2009
- Type
- Article
- Identifier
- vital:6615
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016222
- Description
- [From Introduction] Some of the poorest rural people in South Africa are turning to the natural resource base for income generation. Using traditional skills they are converting a variety of wild resources into commodities that are sold in the market place. Wood and woven craft, medicines, fresh and processed wild foods, alcoholic beverages, building materials, fuelwood, dried mopane worms, cultural artefacts and brooms are just some examples of the array of natural resource products increasingly seen for sale in local and external markets. Many of the participants in this trade have minimal education, few assets to draw on, and little access to alternative sources of income or jobs. A significant proportion are women, with more than half heading their own households. Many come from households devastated by HIV/AIDS. The cash earned from selling natural resource products, however modest, is of critical importance to the households involved, preventing them from slipping deeper into poverty. “Since I have been making brooms my children no longer go to bed crying of hunger” observed one broom producer. NGOs, particularly those involved in rural development, can play an important role in assisting producers overcome some of the obstacles they face and in enhancing the opportunities to grow this informal sector.
- Description
- This policy brief is based on the original brief made available for a workshop in August 2006. It draws on, amongst other sources, the results of several case studies of natural resource commercialisation undertaken across South Africa. The project was funded by the South Africa-Netherlands Programme on Alternatives in Development (SANPAD), BP South Africa and the National Research Foundation (NRF). The Center for International Forestry Research, with support from SIDA, provided the funding to share these findings with key stakeholders including government policy and decision makers.
- Format
- 2 pages, pdf
- Publisher
- Rhodes University, Faculty of Science, Environmental Science
- Language
- English
- Relation
- Shackleton, S (2009) Ameliorating poverty in South Africa through natural resource commercialisation: How can NGO's make a difference? Department of Environmental Science, Rhodes University. Policy Brief no. 2, 2009.
- Rights
- Rhodes University
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Collections
RU Department of Environmental Science
Shackleton, Sheona (Prof)
RU Department of Environmental Science: Policy Briefs
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