POLICY BRIEF- SAFER CITY AUDIT FOR WOMEN

Urbanization is closely linked with increases in economic and social development. Yet in South African cities, alongsideall the growth and advancement taking place, progress is undermined by the dearth of safety, resulting from poorplanning, security challenges, poor and/ or lack of infrastructure. Consequently, putting both city’s inhabitants andvisitors in danger, and women, in particular, bear the heaviest brunt of unsafe urban spaces. While the post-apartheidSouth African cities are open to women, there still exists a gap in their safety and experiences within the same cities

Integration of the Demographic Dividend into Government Plans: A Case of the Kwazulu-Natal Province of South Africa

The Population reference Bureau policy brief, (Gribble and Bremmer, 2012):1) described the demographic dividendas “…the accelerated economic growth that may result from a decline in a country’s mortality and fertility and thesubsequent change in the age structure of the population. With fewer births each year, a country’s young dependentpopulation grows smaller in relation to the working-age population. With fewer people to support, a country has awindow of opportunity for rapid economic growth if the right social and economic policies developed and investments made”. Several South Africa based studies have explored age structure and the prospects of a demographic dividend. These studies range from those that explore timing of the dividend to those that investigate readiness to harness the dividend. Three aspects of the demographic dividend are investigated by this research. Firstly, the paper will explorethe age structure of KwaZulu-Natal population to ascertain the timing of the age-structure (youth bulge) that is a pre-requisite for the dividend. Secondly, demographic, health and education characteristics that are knows to affect the achievement of the dividend will be examined. Lastly, the extent of integration of the demographic dividend into Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) in the province will be explored

Challenges and strategies among the poor: focus on urban agriculture in KwaMashu, Durban, South Africa

Urban agriculture in South Africa historically has been labelled as an illegal activity. The problems caused by this labelling have been compounded by the traditional planning system in South Africa, which does not recognize urban agriculture as a part of the land use in the urban landscape. Despite its illegality, however, current evidence shows that it is commonly practiced by many poor households in developing countries. There is growing evidence that most countries are gradually recognizing the value of urban agriculture to poor households, and to this end they are beginning to realize the importance of incorporating it into their urban policy packages. Despite this recognition and acceptance of urban agriculture as a livelihood and food-security strategy among the urban poor, little attention is paid to it. This paper explores urban agriculture as one of the survival strategies among the urban poor in Durban's KwaMashu residential area. The focus is on the nature of urban agriculture and the competing challenges associated with it. At the core of some of the challenges are existing legislation and policies that seem to be unresponsive to urban agriculture. Despite this unresponsive legislation, we show that urban agriculture continues to flourish along sensitive areas such as river banks and on road right-of-ways. The paper concludes by arguing that the onus is on the local authorities to promote urban agriculture by putting in place mechanisms that should promote its growth and integrate it into mainstream development plans.