Craft enterprise development: Surviving, responding to, and transforming a South African government...

JAAC 1 (3) pp. 215–232 © Intellect Ltd 2009 215

Journal of Arts and Communities Volume 1 Number 3 © 2009 Intellect Ltd

Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/jaac.1.3.215_1

KeywordsSustainable

developmentcraft enterprisessocial changearts-based methods

Craft enterprise development: Surviving, responding to, and transforming a South African government poverty alleviation programmeKim Berman Department of Visual Arts,

Faculty of Art Design and Architecture,

University of Johannesburg

AbstractDespite the post-1994 South African state’s efforts to support poverty allevia-tion through arts and culture programmes, government-funded craft enterprises have had a poor rate of success. Based on two case study projects within Phumani Paper, a South African papermaking poverty-alleviation programme, this article argues that craft enterprises can provide an enabling environment for sustainabil-ity and resilience in periods of social transition and transformation. However, if the funding and design of such programmes are managed badly, these can under-mine the very benefits they are designed to achieve, with negative impacts on poor communities.

Poverty alleviation grants were initially designed as mechanisms for repara-tions. But the experience described here suggests that government funders neither took cognizance of the values of sustainable development, nor supported what Appadurai describes as ‘deep development’ (2004). This article demonstrates how Phumani Paper played a valuable role in supporting the imagination, voice and agency of participants, thereby building human capacity and social capital towards a more just and hopeful future without poverty.

1. IntroductionArts and culture have, I argue here, significant potential for contributing to social change and the building of post apartheid South Africa. Shortly after the county’s first democratic elections, the government identified the importance of the cultural industries in the growth of the country (Department of Arts Culture Science and Technology1998). In 1994, the concept of ‘social change’ was linked to the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) for transformation. According to the White Paper:

South Africa has begun, for the first time in its history, to undertake the task of the equitable development of the life opportunities of all its citizens. It has

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a unique opportunity at this time to transform the means and the methods through which its social goals are to be achieved.

(RSA, RDP White Paper: 1994)

Despite these initial idealistic aims, I argue that the state, both during the Mbeki administration, and more recently under the Zuma government, has undermined that potential through its lack of coherent policies: some of which enabled economic growth, and provided an environment for social transformation through the arts, whereas others blocked it. If these policies continue, South African cultural programmes that have contrib-uted to the growth of the cultural sector face the possibility of damage and closure through missed opportunities and sudden loss of funding.

The central questions in this article are: first, to what extent does the government impede or facilitate the capacity of art and culture to function in a transformative way; and second, how can the creative arts contribute to democracy and development?

In this article, I argue for the role of art and craft in building and supporting sustainable development. I suggest that the arts can provide an open systems model that creates an enabling environment for renewal, sustainability and resilience. This is because a creative approach to poverty alleviation is fluid and participatory, as opposed to the closed and static approach taken by the Mbeki administration. Eradicating poverty is dependent on supporting conditions for just and equitable societies. According to the holistic framework devised by CARE International, this would entail expanding the opportunities and options available to the poor to ensure that livelihoods are secure; improving human and material conditions; and promoting just and equitable social and government insti-tutions that can promote and protect the rights of citizens and create a sound enabling environment (CARE 2004: 7). In South Africa post 1994, the goal of the state in the RDP of the 1990s was to work collaboratively with civil society and other key institutions to deliver social transformation and poverty reduction. The Mbeki and Zuma governments however have demonstrated characteristics of a closed system, measuring success of development programmes with rigid and sometimes inappropriate indica-tors, including a requirement to be profitable. I argue that the success of such programmes should rather be assessed by indicators of voice and empowerment. As these are process-focused rather than outcome-focused, they are often much harder to quantify, but they are by no means less important. I suggest that where the government supports the creative arts in promoting poverty reduction, measures of success should recognize process rather than quantitative outcomes and deliverables. Indeed, build-ing resilience, strengthening human rights, and promoting voice and agency are as important as other more conventional measures of success, if not more so.

In order to investigate these proposals, I assess an arts-based project, Phumani Paper, which started as a community engagement initiative of the University of Johannesburg (former Technikon of the Witwatersrand) in 1999. In 2000, Phumani Paper received poverty alleviation funds from the government to set up papermaking craft projects nationwide. Fourteen of those original projects are currently registered as independent craft

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enterprises. I will compare two of these: Twanano, a thriving craft enterprise, which exemplifies a creative and open system; and the example of the unsuccessful Archival papermaking programme, which exemplifies what I deem to be a closed systems approach.

2. Background: Setting the context Phumani Paper, a national hand papermaking programme for job crea-tion, had its origins in post-apartheid reconstruction and development efforts. The state sought to engage higher education institutions to imple-ment poverty alleviation programmes (Department of Education, White Paper 1997), and I applied for a technology stations grant from the Ministry of Arts Culture Science and Technology to implement hand papermaking projects. This proposal built on the success of a national skills awareness programme funded by the Arts and Culture Ministry for a proposal I submitted in 1998 entitled ‘Paper Prayers: HIV/AIDS aware-ness through printmaking and craft’.

A grant was awarded to the University valued at R3 million in the first year, and while it offered exciting possibilities for educational inno-vation and social transformation, damage was caused by the state-im-posed programme requirements. One of the problems was the requirement to implement new craft enterprises in identified poverty nodes with no community consultation, feasibility study or market research. Furthermore, government support ended before the new enterprises could be fully integrated into their communities, and there was no formal management design or monitoring and evaluation indicators. The project was driven by passion and idealism, and a government directive to create 460 jobs across all provinces in the first year of funding. Despite financial hardship, some of the initial projects continue to survive ten years after their establishment. The enthusiasm, creativity and commu-nity buy-in, however, has sustained a vision for empowerment and community ownership.

2.1 Social and economic development in post-apartheid South Africa The two case studies, Twanano and the Archival Paper programme, reveal fundamental contradictions between the notions of social and economic development. They were both implemented during the Mbeki era, and adhere to the principles of justice and equity as espoused in the White Papers, issued during the period of the RDP of the Mandela-led govern-ment. Hein Marais illuminates this contradiction in his analysis of the ANC’s neo-liberal poverty alleviation policies during its first decade:

The ANC’s doomed strategy led the party to dispense with an empha-sis on state-led growth and social expenditure that was at the core of the Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP). […] because the ANC had failed to build a sufficiently strong and disciplined popular movement, it was unable to wrest control of the economy from white capital. […] Instead, the ANC bent over backwards to accommodate the demands of national and global capital.

(Marais 2001: 284)

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To expand on Marais’ points, the concept of developmental social welfare was first outlined in the RDP in 1994, and is embedded in the White Paper on Social Welfare, gazetted in February 1996 and adopted in 1997. This approach described a welfare system ‘which facilitates the development of human capacity and self-reliance within a caring and enabling socio-economic environment’ (Department of Welfare and Population Development, White Paper 1997). In arguing for ‘the equitable allocation and distribution of resources’, the White Paper concluded that ‘social development and economic development are therefore interdependent and mutually reinforcing’ (Department of Welfare and Population Development, White Paper 1997). The guiding philosophy and ethos of the RDP and the White Paper embody the cultural concept of ‘ubuntu’ (I am because of you), which signals the importance of cultural norms and values, particularly the principle of mutual interdependence, to the process of development. Elsewhere, in its ‘Agenda for Action’, the policy emphasizes the need for government programmes to ensure the realization of citizens ‘dignity, safety and creativity’. These values are consistent with a broad understanding of sustainability in development.

This framework developed in the Mandela era is in direct contrast to the ANC’s neo-liberal Growth, Employment and Redistribution strategy (GEAR), introduced in 1996, and, for that matter, to most people’s experience of the government’s delivery of social services. As Marais points out, the Mbeki-led ANC government did not subscribe to the RDP approach. I suggest that in many ways this accounts for the reductive definitions of sustainable development in that government’s poverty alleviation programmes.

The Mbeki and current government’s requirements for the evaluation of poverty alleviation programmes are measurable solely in terms of economic indicators and not in terms of social gains. For example, programmes were required to report quantitatively on assets (building, infrastructure, equipment), on the number of small medium and micro enterprises (SMME’s) supported, income received by beneficiaries, number of training days and demographics (website of the Department of Science and Technology, DST). The emphasis is on statistics, not people. We found, however, that within the creative arts, the qualitative measures of success are far more appropriate and effective. We set about developing a range of arts-based methodologies, such as implementing photo-voice projects and visual and narrative accounts of change, and keeping workbooks and journals as indicators to measure significant change.

3. Phumani Paper as poverty alleviationPhumani Paper hand papermaking for economic development was funded as a pilot project for developing craft packaging from sugarcane leaf fibre in KwaZulu Natal (Figures 1a and b). In 2000, the Papermaking Research and Development Unit (PRDU) at the former Technikon received a poverty relief grant of three million rand to establish 21 projects in seven prov-inces for the purpose of creating 460 jobs. Five masters student research projects focused on the use of a wide range of local resources in the devel-opment of handmade paper and craft products; these projects have been essential to establishing sustainable enterprises within Phumani Paper (Coppes 2003; Marshall 2003; Cohn 2004; Ladeira 2004; Tshabalala 2005).

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The research projects included the development of cotton rag and sisal plant fibre for use in making archival acid-free conservation papers, the investigation of invasive plant species as suitable for making handmade papers, and the application of paper-based craft technologies such as paper-clay and cast paper pulp for the making of three-dimensional craft products (Figure 2).

The founding of Phumani Paper parallels the creative process of making a work of art in its conception and evolution. The idea came from my ideal-istic vision of creating a new industry that could draw on local resources available to the marginalized poor in rural poverty nodes and urban infor-mal settlements that lacked jobs and industries. To craft from waste materi-als is a process that is both labour intensive and requires skills training from artists. While this was a utopian idea, the process of designing a programme that was collaborative and drew on skills, resources, institutions and

Figure 1a: KwaZulu Natal Paper and Packaging Group, Eshowe.

Figure 1b: Zulu pots and plates packaged with hand made sugar-cane fibre paper.

Figure 2: Masters Student Research Projects: Cotton and Sisal fibre for archival paper.

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communities from a range of partners resulted in a dynamic approach to poverty alleviation. The programme is complex, and none of the Phumani Paper sites are alike. However, certain basic, shared principles exist. The arguments below are supported by the fact that fourteen of the original 21 small enterprises (68 per cent) are still operating in 2010. This survival statistic compares favourably to the high failure rates of many South African cultural projects, small business and non-governmental organizations (Sack 2008, 22 April 2008, Newtown, Interviewed by L. Du Toit).

3.1 Poverty alleviation or small business?As a result of conditions stipulated by the grant, Phumani Paper started large, and the imposed poverty relief programme requirements (particularly the system of single-year grants) caused great damage to its organizational structure and participants. For example, during its first year, the provision of standard community wages to over 460 participants was a requirement, yet no policy existed for sustained support of these new wage earners. In fact, the government reduced the operational grant by 30 per cent in the second year, and 40 per cent in the third. The drastically reduced income led to a high participant drop-out rate. All staff and facilitators received one-year contracts, renewable annually for the three to four year programme: there was no certainty of income and funding was often disbursed months late. As hand papermaking had no tradition or history within South Africa, the government had little understanding of the needs of the programme or the challenges of establishing a new cultural industry.

After a two-year period of subsidized wages, without warning government changed its policy and required that the project become entrepreneurial. In other words, the projects were to become profitable, self-sustaining businesses within the third year. This model assumed a market orientation. The DST made a significant capital investment in the form of equipment infrastructure and training, and the University of Johannesburg

Figure 3: Training in Paper making production.

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(the implementing agent for Phumani Paper) then had to try to retro-fit the project from a welfare to a market model (Figure 3). Specifically, a project that was initially created to support skills training and capacity building suddenly had to find markets for the products. Without these markets, the expectation of economic sustainability after the third year of funding support was thus unrealistic. Moreover, Phumani Paper was designed to operate with different ethos, using a unique theoretical foundation.

4. Theoretical frameworkThe Phumani Paper programme fought against this entrepreneurial approach, which exemplified what is referred to here as a closed systems technique. Rather, Phumani Paper operated as an open system that was innovative, creative and unpredictable. When communities are open, multi-layered and fluid, they entail systems that are dynamic, continually contested and always in a process of mutual accommodation. Further, in contrast to the traditional top-down mode of development, open-systems development is understood as a process of self-understanding, ‘the way the community explains itself to itself’ (Capra 1996: 48).

I argue with Shireen Hassim (2006) that government-led macro-economic decision-making undermines the assumptions of participatory decision-making assumed by the White Paper. In the case of Phumani Paper, this manifested itself as micro-management directives that required that implementing agencies bypass participatory decision-making with community groups. Government officials conducted very few site visits or round-table discussions on shared lessons or exchanging useful practice. Furthermore, the ministries were required to report to the National Treasury on a spent budget, not whether that budget was effectively spent. In my view, the result was a waste of scarce resources – especially unjustifiable in a context like South Africa, where there is poor distribution of the country’s wealth. In such cases, the role of the state is essential to manage and reverse historical legacy. Open, transparent systems, clear rationale for funding and criteria, as well as monitoring and evaluation systems are imperative: without this, grievances are borne, as people do not understand why some projects are favoured over others. Nevertheless, the Twanano Phumani Paper group managed to overcome the damage caused by bureaucratic rigidity and unrealistic profit margins set by government. I argue that Twanano exemplifies the resilience and creativity of an open systems model, which supports sustainable enterprise.

5. Twanano: A case study of resilienceTwanano is situated in Ivory Park, an informal settlement near Midrand, about 60 kilometres North of Johannesburg. The site provided by the munic-ipality for building a papermaking workshop lacked electricity, and water was available only from a shared tap some distance away. Funding from the local public works programme enabled the construction of drains for the water pipes for the workshop and office. After the building was complete, the original twenty-member project developed a constitution, elected office bearers and opened a bank account with signatories. The Twanano group were trained in basic computer skills and report writing, and acquired a

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second-hand computer and office supplies. The unit installed equipment, designed a working space and attended trainings in business skills.

At that time, Mandy Coppes was conducting her masters research into papermaking with invasive vegetation in partnership with the Working-for-Water campaign. At Ivory Park she discovered a proliferation of the invasive plant milkweed around many of the informal settlements, and designed a means for processing its fibre into exquisite Japanese-style lace papers. The process of stripping the weed was labour-intensive, and Twanano was able to employ a number of youth and elderly people to assist with this task (Figures 4 and 5). After completing their accredited paper – and product-making training, the members produced papers, boxes and journals that were showcased at the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg in 2002 (Figures 6a and b). It is important not to underestimate

Figure 4: Twanano Group collecting Milkweed invasive plant in Ivory Park.

Figure 5: Hand stamping the Milkweed fibre to make paper.

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the pride the group took in its creative abilities, and the significance this had in maintaining cohesiveness and productivity.

As the Twanano group gained more confidence in their skills and knowledge, they selected members to receive further training in managing pricing and orders. They visited shopping centres in urban areas, attended trade fairs and markets, and identified local clients. They wrote monthly reports, kept attendance registers and learnt to grade their products in terms of quality, and package them for delivery. They also hosted tourists, offered workshops for school children, improved the presentation of their venue, developed signage, and travelled to other Phumani projects to exchange training skills. From the perspective of Phumani Paper, Twanano achieved the goals of capacity building and empowerment, yet their monthly earnings

Figure 6a: Phumani Paper products display.

Figure 6b: Hand made paper products for the World Summit on Sustainable development.

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did not reach the government target of R750/month per person; and government ended its support in 2005. Nevertheless, to date the participants are able to meet the basic needs of the project, despite withdrawal of government support. The income from sales paid for their monthly allowances and utilities, and enabled secondary jobs, including day care for the group’s children, bark strippers, cooks, recycling waste collectors and other suppliers of support services. Furthermore, the participants’ skills in building and expanding the infrastructure, and their increased income, led to improvements in their home living environments (Figure 7).

After ten years, Twanano supports eight people, each of whom earns a basic monthly salary, and generates savings for the future growth of their business. As the business expanded, the original coordinator of the project, David Tshabalala, developed new products from cast paper, Phumani Pets, which have enjoyed a broad and consistent market (Figure 8).

Figure 7: Twanano Group, Ivory Park.

Figure 8: Phumani Pet from cast paper pulp.

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6. The Archival Papermaking programme: A case study of a top down government approachThe second Phumani case study, the Archival Papermaking programme, provides an example of the government’s failure to achieve its own objec-tives. In 2005/2006, the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) awarded the University of Johannesburg and Phumani Paper a one million rand grant to establish a research and development facility for the production of acid-free conservation paper and board. The pilot project established the first Southern Africa archival paper mill with the capacity to produce African-made, archival paper suitable for the South African National Archives (Figure 9). This project emerged out of a Masters research disser-tation by Bronwyn Marshall, and was planned in partnership with the South African National Archives.

After the Archive mill was launched by the Deputy Minister of DAC in November 2005 at the University of Johannesburg, Phumani Paper was encouraged to apply to DAC’s Investing in Culture and Heritage Division for the expansion of this new industry as a flagship project. The govern-ment identified the need to produce ‘proudly South African paper’ to supply national archives and heritage institutions throughout the African continent. In his budget speech of June 2006, the Minister of Arts and Culture announced an allocation of nine million rand for the development of archival paper (DAC online 2006).

I submitted a proposal that called for a phased approach, building on the capacities of the existing mills. However, the new government official assigned to head this project mandated that we construct nine new archi-val paper mills, one in each province. No feasibility study was done to determine whether there was a need for plants in the locations identified.

Figure 9: Archival Paper-mill at the University of Johannesburg.

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Nevertheless, the directorate was adamant in its position, which was to apply the same approach used by DST in 2000: to roll out as many projects nationally as fast as possible in an attempt to create jobs. As the DST experience shows, while such funding may create the required number of jobs in the first year, subsequently many would be lost. Further, the placement of the mills would not have necessarily drawn on the expertise and skill that had been developed in Phumani Paper over the previous seven years. For these reasons, I was not willing to comply with the DAC’s

Figure 10: Deputy Minister Department Arts and Culture Launching the Archive Mill.

Figure 11: Products produced for the South African National Archives.

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requirement, and the Phumani Paper board of directors supported this decision, in spite of the multi-million rands the Ministry was prepared to invest in the project.

The counterposition articulated by the Director of Investing in Culture was that because the National Department is required to distribute its funds evenly nationally, they would not consider either supporting more than one unit in a given province or omitting some provinces. Further, the DAC was unwilling to entertain a counter proposal to support the Phumani enterprises that had ready access to raw-materials (such as the sisal farming projects). Similarly, six units were assessed as viable by Phumani Paper due to their history of successful group practice, and were deemed the most likely of the fourteen groups to manage the large grants needed to expand their small businesses. They had the track-record, train-ing, qualifications, access to expertise, experience and necessary support, as well as access to raw material, to convert their existing enterprises into viable plants or supply units for the archival paper industry; but the DAC was not prepared to support only these units. Such a position is in my opinion, illustrative of a ‘closed system’ approach, which has rationally and mechanistically calculated an equal distribution of funding to be dispersed geographically. As a result, this proposal has been pending from March 2006 to date; no progress has been made beyond the impasse regarding the geographical distribution of the units.

A further requirement introduced regarding the establishment of the archival paper mills was that funds could not be awarded to an NGO imple-menting agent such as Phumani Paper; they could only go directly to a community facility or small business. Unfortunately no such facilities existed. For example, in the Western Cape, the Phumani Paper group is a craft unit of disabled people with no training in archival paper production, and who do not have the skills to manage a million rand grant. The govern-ment official’s response to this situation was that sufficient funds exist for the necessary expertise to be purchased. However, as this is a new industry in South Africa, such expertise would have to be bought internationally, as local expertise resides exclusively in Phumani Paper and its networks.

Figure 12: Chloe Sisal Group, Limpopo Province, Cooking and pulping sisal.

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In March of 2010, the current Minister of Arts and Culture, commis-sioned a forensic investigation into a range of projects within her ministry including Investing in Culture. The reports have concluded that various managers of the projects and programmes have not managed their projects effectively, and have not adequately accounted for the use of the allocated funds. Disciplinary processes have been instituted against the officials concerned due to financial loss and alleged misconduct regarding fifteen million rands (DAC online 19 March 2010).

It appears that the model envisaged by government to service the African archival conservation market would require a corporatized, factory system, which would employ workers to produce a specialized manufac-tured product. However, the size of the local market and the expense of establishing the high levels of skill and expensive equipment would not allow for more than one producer unit in South Africa. In contrast, Phumani Paper proposed a partnership approach that assured a shared vision. Phumani’s approach also entailed the risk, chaos and innovation, flexibility and unpredictability that characterizes an open system. Phumani Paper maintains that successful entrepreneurial activities have to take calculated risks in order ultimately to be sustainable.

The discussion above highlights the difficulties during the present era in South Africa in implementing development projects that are aimed to increase the voice and agency of the poor. In the case study of the Archival paper programme, Phumani Paper provided a promising opportunity for ‘empowered’ groups finally to access significant resources and directly manage funds that could create a viable industry in poor communities. The governmental institutional conditions, however, have thus far ensured that this opportunity cannot be real-ized. Nevertheless, the Archival Paper mill at the University of Johannesburg, supported by University of Johannesburg research fund-ing, continues to develop innovative and dynamic research for produc-ing archival paper. (Figure 9)

7. Poverty alleviation or empowermentPhumani Paper has experienced both remarkable successes and discour-aging failures in achieving its development goals. A key question in rela-tion to Phumani Paper’s poverty-alleviation objective is the question of dependency, a subject of debate within the government and the develop-ment community.

Poverty alleviation is central to development, and in order to better understand this, it is useful to consider the definition of poverty employed by Arjun Appadurai. Appadurai links poverty to inequality and deprivation:

Poverty is many things, all of them bad. It is material deprivation and desper-ation. It is lack of security and dignity. It is exposure to risk and high costs for thin comforts. It is inequality materialized.

(2004: 64–65)

According to Habib and Ballard, if government is to become accountable, marginalized citizens must gain voice and leverage so that political elites are conditioned to become responsive to their interests (2006: 307). In

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contrast to the ‘basic needs’ approach identified by government, Swilling endorses the ‘empowerment’ approach that many NGO’s have been prom-ulgating for decades, and to which this author subscribes. Phumani Paper adopted the empowerment approach, using creativity and aspiration as a primary incentive, and training and capacity building as a major objective.

Phumani Paper’s capacity development fostered an enabling environ-ment, as the case study of Twanano demonstrates. The government reporting systems, however, do not allow for the evaluation of the ‘softer’ factors of empowerment such as ‘choice’ or ‘enabling environments’. Its single bottom line is income-generation, and, as a result, such success is seldom officially recognized. Because these governmental systems are so limited, I find it useful to consider larger theories of development in my analysis of Phumani Paper’s experience.

8. Systems theory as a critical lens for analyzing developmentIn my attempt to understand and apply the lessons learned from the inter-action with government, systems theory offered a useful set of analytical tools to address the challenge of negotiating dialogue within a complex web of relationships. Within the ‘web’ of relating to government, Phumani Paper, its partner institutions, community groups and individual members developed complex relationships that sometimes hindered growth. Drawing on the rationale of systems theorists, Fritjof Capra argues that it is not possible to understand how an organism interacts with its environment by dissecting its parts, nor is it possible to understand social systems by examining only the bodies within them. The relationship between social systems and people is environmental. One of the key characteristics of the organization of living organisms is their tendency to form multi-levelled structures of system, ‘or living systems nesting within other living systems’ (Capra 1996: 27).

The use of living systems for understanding the process and evolu-tion of Phumani Paper suggests that the resilience and sustainability of the units are the result of continual creativity and renewal, or ‘self-mak-ing’. As long as the individual groups do not reach a state of equilibrium

Figure 13: Group Training in creative processes.

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or stasis, they retain the ability to sustain themselves. According to Mark C. Taylor, when there is too much order, systems are frozen and cannot change, and when there is too little order, systems disintegrate and can no longer function. Significant change, he argues, takes place between ‘too much and too little order’ (2003: 24). Arguably, the meth-odology of systems theory when applied to sustainable development also makes a case for the value of the creative arts in initiatives such as Phumani Paper. The artist’s questioning and facilitating creative prac-tice becomes a catalyser for change, and the resulting disequilibrium allows for transformation.

9. ConclusionsThe value of visual arts practitioners placed in unfamiliar contexts, such as that of development, leads to creative, innovative practices, that, because of their unfamiliarity with development discourse, are unlikely be prescriptive, hierarchical or disabling. Further interactions with groups require consultation, group process work and improvisation. Yet, more and more, as funding requirements grew tighter and more rigorous and deliverables needed to be linked to log frames, Phumani Paper learned to ‘behave’ or comply with the institutional practice of the South African government’s development requirements. This derailed a programme that had been set up initially with a different purpose, where success was to be measured by other criteria. The government funding rules and regulations, to which Phumani was subjected, arguably subverted and undermined the added value of the programme. But without government funding, Phumani would not have been established.

The arts industry has the capacity to generate transformative and crea-tive opportunities for change and empowerment. It is fundamentally differ-ent from delivering health or education services where success and sustainability can and should be measured and monitored by a different set of indicators and outcomes.

Productive partnerships can be negotiated between the creative arts sectors and government, but this will require a more open approach, and one that recognizes the importance of adapting systems according to context and purpose.

This article proposes that success in development could be partially defined in terms of resilience, which, in the domain of craft enterprises in post-1994 South Africa, equals survival. If we can agree that resilience and survival of small development programmes constitutes success, then, development projects that adopt an open system approach as their core methodology can, in fact, succeed.

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Suggested CitationBerman, K. (2009), ‘Craft enterprise development: Surviving, responding to, and

transforming a South African government poverty alleviation programme’, Journal of Arts and Communities 1: 3, pp. 215–232, doi: 10.1386/jaac.1.3.215_1

Contributor detailsKim Berman, Associate Professor, Department of Visual Arts, Faculty of Art Design and Architecture, University of Johannesburg.

Contact: University of Johannesburg, Bunting Road Campus, PO Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa, E-mail: [email protected]

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