Local Economic Development (LED): An Instrument for Realising NDPs and SDGs

Description

Page: 1610-1615

Eyitayo Francis Adanlawo¹ and Bulelwa Maphela² (Social Transformation Research Entity, North-West University, South Africa¹ and School of Economics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa²)

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are for countries to curve their National Development Plans (NDPs) and create specific frameworks that encourage development holistically. The National Development Plan of South Africa served as a roadmap to achieving the SDGs. Many policies have been tabled to drive towards this agenda, while economic growth is still stagnant, and the job creation agenda is not yielding the desired results. Programs like local economic development (LED) could catalyse this challenge and drive toward the aspirations of the NDPs and SDGs. To investigate the role that LED plays in achieving NDPs and SDGs, a systematic literature review and synthesis of existing research was performed. The study revealed that LED is instrumental to achieving both NDPs and SDGs. The study also finds that LEDs offer alternatives to traditional normative frameworks, but they have not fundamentally changed the state’s dominant development paradigm. This study concludes that LED addresses a variety of topics related to the NDPs and SDGs’ definitions of inclusive development, including collaborative planning, multi-stakeholder participation, and participatory governance. The study contributes to the literature on the role of LED in achieving national development plans and sustainable development goals.