RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. OVERVIEW
The National Skills Development Strategy III places much emphasis on the need for the skills
development system to prioritize and increase its focus and attention on the production of
skills for rural development to support government’s prioritization of rural development
As part of the rural development strategy, the Services SETA has identified the need to enter
into strategic partnerships with various Municipalities and Further Education and Training
Colleges in line with the NSDS III principle of supporting economic growth for employment
creation and poverty eradication.
The Services SETA is focusing on the following rural, economically underdeveloped Districts
for the purposes of impact and measurability in stimulating local economic development
and increased employment:
Eastern Cape Province – O. R. Tambo District and Alfred Nzo District
Limpopo Province - Vhembe District
Free State Province - Thabo Mofutsanyane District
Kwa-Zulu Natal Province - uMkhanyakude District
The rural development project is through a multi-faceted strategy providing opportunities
for the support and development of Small Medium Enterprises and Cooperatives,
development and empowerment of persons with disabilities, youth and women
empowerment as well as driving the Further Education and Training strategy. The
communities in these Districts will be supported through skills and enterprise development
interventions.
2. Services SETA APPROACH TO RURAL DEVELOPMENT
The Services SETA introduces the “Ecosystem approach” to local economic development in
the rural areas that have been selected.
 This approach brings together all key players in the rural areas i.e. other SETAs,
Provincial and Local government authorities, small enterprises including
cooperatives, business chambers, local FET Colleges and Universities to constitute
the ‘growth coalitions’ that would define the growth path of the district.
 The collaboration with these partners is to ensure that there is proper coordination
intelligent investments made in ensuring that skills development is linked to the key
growth areas of the Districts.
 The ecosystem approach endeavors to attract investment and to build, and keep
wealth internally – by encouraging people to ‘buy local’. For example schools and
hospitals would be encouraged to buy all their uniforms and bedding from local
women sewing cooperatives and so forth.
 The local FET Colleges have been identified as central to the delivery of skills
development interventions in the districts. It is therefore crucial that through the
strategy for rural development, processes are put in place to ensure that the
curriculums of the Colleges are transformed and made more responsive and
relevant to local economic needs.
 In each District, the first thing was to obtain political leadership and ownership for
the project – in this regard the Services SETA has signed collaboration agreements
with the District and Local Municipalities, in some cases like in the Free State the
collaboration agreement was signed with the Premier of the Free State.
3. RURAL DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS
3.1. SME and Cooperatives Summits and Areas of Focus
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In launching the rural project, the Services SETA hosted X4 SME and Cooperatives
summits in the Districts that have been identified under the rural project,
information gathered from these summits will be used to develop the growth paths
for each District, skills development interventions will be linked to this growth path.
These summits were attended by over 500 people made up of members of SMEs
and Cooperatives, officials from the District and Local Municipalities, representatives
from the local Universities and FET Colleges, other SETAs, development agencies,
local Business Chambers, government departments as well as development
agencies.
The purpose of the summits was to also:
Understand the Institutional arrangements within the District and identify the key
stakeholders to bring into the partnership
Identify the IDP/LED/PGDS priorities including local SIPs interventions in order to
ensure that skills development programmes initiated will be linked to key growth
areas of the District
Understand the profile of existing and potential SMEs and Coops
Identify interventions that are already taking place in the District for the support and
development of SMEs and Coops
Identify additional support programmes required to address the needs and
stimulate the local economy
Information gathered and resolutions taken would be use to develop the
programme of action for each of the Districts (i.e. District growth and development
plan)
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In implementing the programme of action, the District the Services SETA will also
play a catalytic role in bringing other strategic partners that are key in the
implementation of the growth and development plans of the Districts. These would
establish what we call the Growth Coalitions for each District made up of
representatives from Provincial and local government, other SETAs, Development
agencies, FET Colleges and other relevant stakeholders in the Districts. The local
Universities in each District have also been brough on board for research and
knowledge creation capacity.
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The Services SETA has also sourced the professional services of Dr. Thami Mazwai
who is part of the rural development programme who has introduced the ecosystem
model in all the Districts. The ecosystem is a model where all elements involved in
local economic development are integrated to stimulate the rural economies
(promote buying local products). The model also aims to encourage linkages
between the established businesses and those that are small and struggling with
simple processes of running a business, linkages between 1st and 2nd economy
through incubations. Discussions are currently held with the various Business
Chambers in this regard and there is overwhelming support for the project.
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Interventions in the rural areas will also include programmes to be delivered in
partnership with the FET Colleges and other SETA to prepare the youth as well as
SMMEs and Cooperatives for opportunities in the infrastructure roll out projects
(SIPs) within the Districts or Provinces.
The Services SETA will also identify host employers within the Districts and build
workplace support for companies (both public and private) to take up learners for
various Services SETA learning interventions. In this regard the Services SETA has
identified the following fcus areas for rural interventions:
Hairdressing and Beauty
Cleaning Services
Gardening Maintenance
Funeral Services
Project Management
Call Centre
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The FET Colleges located in each District will also form part of the SETA FET strategy
which will focus on building capacity for the FET Colleges to be able to deliver on
programmes to address needs of the key sectors and the local community
3.2. Rural Bursaries (FE and HE)
 As part of rural development, the SSETA has provided bursaries to learners at the
three public FET Colleges who are enrolled for National Certificate Vocational
programmes since 2012, successful learners have now enrolled for the second year
of study in 2013. The bursaries include tuition, study materials, transport and
accommodation.
- Vhembe FET College, 100 learners started programmes in 2012, currently 82
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learners are still on the programme
- Letaba FET College, 90 learners started the programme in 2012, currently 62
learners are still on the programme
- Ingwe FET College, 128 learners started the programme in 2012, currently (TBA)
learners are still on the programme
For the academic year 2013, the SSETA has also provided bursaries to 120 top
performing Matriculants (class of 2012) from the five rural Districts to enroll with
any University for programmes that are directly linked to the key growth areas of
the Districts. This is part of the support we wish to give to the Municipalities in
order to bolster their efficacy and contribution to the success of the project, the
learners are expected to go back and provide services to their communities after
they complete their studies. The bursaries cover the full costs of tuition, study
materials, transport and accommodation for the learners.
4. LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK AND GUIDELINES TO RURAL DEVELOPMENT
- NSDS III
5. LINKAGES (STRATEGIC PARTNERS)
- Department of Rural Development and Land Reform