Gift Mupambwa

Integrated Development Planning & Women Empowerment in Rural Areas: the Case of Ncera and Ngqele Villages in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa Gift Mupambwa

In order to eradicate the legacy of the past, the South African democratic government adopted a developmental approach to local government. This necessitated a commitment on the part of local government, through the Integrated Development Plan(IDP) in facilitating community participation thus ensuring a transformation in the livelihoods of the public. The current study of women empowerment through participation in the IDP processes of Ncera & Ngqele villages in Alice has shown that women participation in the IDP is resulting in empowerment, although the empowerment is not widely noticeable & also since empowerment is a continuous process it cannot be realized within a short time space. The study found out that IDP like any other developmental policy is still dominated by man & is elite driven. In addition lack of resources, there is lack of capacitation building & time has been conceived to be also a challenge to participation. The study concluded that empowerment seems to be occurring in the two rural areas, but a lot still needs to be done to ensure that the participatory spheres becomes gender sensitive & equal participation in all the phases of the IDP process is guaranteed.