RENEILWE Community Engagement Programme: A Transformative Township Developmental Plan

Abstract

Township communities in the democratic South Africa are still grappling with the injustices of the pre-democratic era, resulting in social fragmentation and weakened social networks and engagement platforms. Successful social investment programmes need to be hinged upon robust and sustainable community engagement fora that enhances participation, opinion sharing, concept/project ownership, more perspectives and participant value-affirmations and contribution-recognition.

RENEILWE Community Engagement model, a multi-layered, interdisciplinary and comprehensive socio-cultural and economic growth strategy, is aimed at engaging communities through the implementation of varied engagement and participatory methods. Community engagement is technically a term also known as citizen/civic engagement or collective interaction that uses various approaches to include people in matters of public concern for social change. Participatory and transformative approaches with the goal of increasing awareness and empowering communities to take charge of their transformation are the primary means of expected inclusion in the RENEILWE community interaction programme.