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

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.