UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA (UNISA)
College of Human Sciences — Department of Development Studies
⋄
Popular Initiatives, Social Movements
and Grassroots Resistance in Development
Assignment 02 — Semester 2, 2026
⋄
Module Code: DVA3705
Module Name: Empowerment and Popular Initiatives
Assignment No.: Assignment 02
Due Date: 11 September 2026
Semester: Semester 2, 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for DVA3705: Empowerment and Popular
Initiatives
at the University of South Africa.
,UNISA | DVA3705 Popular Initiatives & Social Movements
Question (i): The Meaning of Popular Initiatives in Development
Popular initiatives in development are actions taken by ordinary people within civil society to
improve their own welfare, the welfare of their communities, or the welfare of the wider soci-
ety, and they arise outside the direct control or initiation of government and professional de-
velopment agencies (Mpofu, 2023:2). The concept rests on a simple but far-reaching premise:
people are not passive recipients of development handed down from above. They can iden-
tify their own problems, mobilise the resources available to them, organise collectively, and
design solutions grounded in local knowledge and lived circumstances.
i.1 A Challenge to the Top-Down Model
The notion of popular initiatives is best understood in contrast to the conventional top-down
model of development, in which the state, international agencies, non-governmental organi-
sations and professional experts are treated as the primary agents who plan and deliver de-
velopment to communities. Mpofu (2023:2) argues instead for a perspective that recognises
the agency of people who organise themselves to confront social, economic and political
problems directly. Such initiatives may be formal or informal, tightly organised or loosely
spontaneous, and the people involved may not even describe what they are doing in the lan-
guage of "development" at all. A stokvel formed to help members cover funeral costs, for
instance, is rarely conceived by its founders as a development project, yet it performs a clear
developmental function by pooling risk and building financial resilience in the absence of
formal insurance markets.
i.2 The Link to Empowerment
Popular initiatives are inseparable from the idea of empowerment, understood as the expan-
sion of people’s capacity to influence decisions that affect their lives, to control resources,
and to participate meaningfully in social and political life. A community that builds its own
food garden, resists an eviction, starts an informal business, or campaigns for a clinic is do-
ing more than coping with poverty. It is exercising agency and building collective capacity
that did not previously exist (Mpofu, 2023:2). This is a theoretically important move because
it repositions poor people from objects of intervention to subjects of their own development.
Page 1 of 19
, UNISA | DVA3705 Popular Initiatives & Social Movements
i.3 Origins in Marginalisation and Institutional Failure
Popular initiatives typically emerge where formal institutions fail or exclude. Unemployment,
inadequate service delivery, unequal access to land and housing, gender discrimination
and exclusion from political decision-making push people to organise outside the channels
the state has provided. This does not mean every popular initiative is progressive. Mpofu
(2023:2) is careful to note that some initiatives can reproduce inequality within communities,
for example where local elites capture the benefits of a project, or where a group becomes so
dependent on outside funders or political patrons that its autonomy is compromised.
i.4 Developmental Significance
The developmental value of popular initiatives does not lie only in the goods or services they
produce. It lies equally in what they build along the way: participation, collective organisation
and self-reliance. This has a direct practical implication for development planners, namely
that recognising and reinforcing initiatives that already exist in a community is often more
effective, and more respectful of local agency, than repeatedly designing new projects to be
imposed from outside (Mpofu, 2023:2). Popular initiatives are therefore defined less by their
legal form than by who initiates them, why they emerge, and how ordinary people participate
in shaping them.
Page 2 of 19
College of Human Sciences — Department of Development Studies
⋄
Popular Initiatives, Social Movements
and Grassroots Resistance in Development
Assignment 02 — Semester 2, 2026
⋄
Module Code: DVA3705
Module Name: Empowerment and Popular Initiatives
Assignment No.: Assignment 02
Due Date: 11 September 2026
Semester: Semester 2, 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for DVA3705: Empowerment and Popular
Initiatives
at the University of South Africa.
,UNISA | DVA3705 Popular Initiatives & Social Movements
Question (i): The Meaning of Popular Initiatives in Development
Popular initiatives in development are actions taken by ordinary people within civil society to
improve their own welfare, the welfare of their communities, or the welfare of the wider soci-
ety, and they arise outside the direct control or initiation of government and professional de-
velopment agencies (Mpofu, 2023:2). The concept rests on a simple but far-reaching premise:
people are not passive recipients of development handed down from above. They can iden-
tify their own problems, mobilise the resources available to them, organise collectively, and
design solutions grounded in local knowledge and lived circumstances.
i.1 A Challenge to the Top-Down Model
The notion of popular initiatives is best understood in contrast to the conventional top-down
model of development, in which the state, international agencies, non-governmental organi-
sations and professional experts are treated as the primary agents who plan and deliver de-
velopment to communities. Mpofu (2023:2) argues instead for a perspective that recognises
the agency of people who organise themselves to confront social, economic and political
problems directly. Such initiatives may be formal or informal, tightly organised or loosely
spontaneous, and the people involved may not even describe what they are doing in the lan-
guage of "development" at all. A stokvel formed to help members cover funeral costs, for
instance, is rarely conceived by its founders as a development project, yet it performs a clear
developmental function by pooling risk and building financial resilience in the absence of
formal insurance markets.
i.2 The Link to Empowerment
Popular initiatives are inseparable from the idea of empowerment, understood as the expan-
sion of people’s capacity to influence decisions that affect their lives, to control resources,
and to participate meaningfully in social and political life. A community that builds its own
food garden, resists an eviction, starts an informal business, or campaigns for a clinic is do-
ing more than coping with poverty. It is exercising agency and building collective capacity
that did not previously exist (Mpofu, 2023:2). This is a theoretically important move because
it repositions poor people from objects of intervention to subjects of their own development.
Page 1 of 19
, UNISA | DVA3705 Popular Initiatives & Social Movements
i.3 Origins in Marginalisation and Institutional Failure
Popular initiatives typically emerge where formal institutions fail or exclude. Unemployment,
inadequate service delivery, unequal access to land and housing, gender discrimination
and exclusion from political decision-making push people to organise outside the channels
the state has provided. This does not mean every popular initiative is progressive. Mpofu
(2023:2) is careful to note that some initiatives can reproduce inequality within communities,
for example where local elites capture the benefits of a project, or where a group becomes so
dependent on outside funders or political patrons that its autonomy is compromised.
i.4 Developmental Significance
The developmental value of popular initiatives does not lie only in the goods or services they
produce. It lies equally in what they build along the way: participation, collective organisation
and self-reliance. This has a direct practical implication for development planners, namely
that recognising and reinforcing initiatives that already exist in a community is often more
effective, and more respectful of local agency, than repeatedly designing new projects to be
imposed from outside (Mpofu, 2023:2). Popular initiatives are therefore defined less by their
legal form than by who initiates them, why they emerge, and how ordinary people participate
in shaping them.
Page 2 of 19
