RIAT: preliminary findings for Mopani district municipality

Paper presented at the RIAT Workshop, Tzaneen, Limpopo, 31 Jul

Silk from Mopani worms: innovation at work

New techniques in harvesting and producing wild silk can yield huge benefits for rural communities. One example is the Ganyesa Wild Silk enterprise in North West. Using this enterprise as a case study, Kgabo Ramoroka and Peter Jacobs illustrate the advantages of rural innovation networks.

Spreading the news: the use of ICT to raise rural living standards

Twenty-first century technologies are rapidly spreading into rural Africa, Asia and Latin America. What prospects for broad-based socioeconomic and human development do these innovations open up in rural communities with poor socioeconomic prospects? Kgabo Ramoroka and Peter Jacobs look at how local communities benefit from the spread of state-of-the art information and communication technologies (ICT).

How do small farm households benefit from ICT access and use?

Small farm households in rural South Africa are learning to exploit information and communication technology (ICT) devices and services to accumulate wealth. Kgabo Ramoroka, Tim Hart and Peter Jacobs look at some recent evidence and highlight the implications for pro-poor rural innovation policy actions.

The social dynamics of innovation for rural development

The idea that innovation is only for increased market shares and profits is widely held. How poor communities benefit from innovations as direct users but also as innovative actors in their own right is rarely discussed. Peter Jacobs et al* explore how people at the bottom of the rural socioeconomic pyramid might benefit from progress in science technology and innovation (STI), drawing on new evidence from rural South Africa.

Social innovation in South Africa's rural municipalities: policy implications

HSRC Policy Brief, March

Promoting innovation for inclusive rural transformation in South Africa

HSRC Policy Brief, October