The Department of Social Development (DSD) commissioned a set of socio-economic and demographic baseline studies in the 22 nodes that make up the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme (ISRDP) and Urban Renewal Programme (URP), coupled to a management support programme, that ran from 2006 to 2008. The nodes – 14 of which fall under the ISRDP and 8 of which fall under the URP – were selected because of the deep poverty in which many of their citizens live. The ISRDP and URP aimed to transform their respective nodes into economically vibrant and socially cohesive areas initially through anchor projects to kick-start the programmes, and then through better co-ordination between departments geared to providing an integrated suite of services to all citizens, especially those living in poverty. The point of both programmes is the more efficient and effective use of existing government resources, rather than operating as standard, stand-alone programmes with a dedicated budget. Two surveys were commissioned: a larger baseline in 2006 and a smaller measurement survey in 2008. In the interim, the Department implemented a national, provincial and nodal support programme while considering and reacting to the findings of the first phase of background reports and qualitative nodal-level evaluations. The second survey sought to detect changes (good or bad) that occurred in the interim period.
