The participatory development approach enables the society to build their own capacity and self-reliance and allows grassroot people to become partners in the development process. In the case of participatory development, participation is not used as a passive process but is used as a way to collaborate and provide information between community members and all stakeholders involved. 

In the South African context, the participatory development may not be successful because of factors such as centralisation of power, limited capacity, limited coordination and the culture of poverty making it more difficult for societies to engage in meaningful development. For example, the small groups formed by community members to take part in the development efforts end up being taken over by local elites (centralisation of power) and often end up participatory to development initiatives using the ideas and initiatives of local elites.

Women in development gave a voice to women and pushed the issue of gender into the centre stage in the context of the international development region. This was done due to the modernisation process that was super used by colonial authorities imbued with western notions of sexual division of labour that placed new technologies under the control of men. This process marginalised women reducing their status, power and income. 

Women were not benefiting fully in some causes their status was made worse by development because they were being left out in development practice, research and policy. The WID approach argued for the integration of women in development programs to improves women's position in society. 

Other approaches include gender and development (GAD) which also focuses on including women in the planning or implementation of development issues, women and development (WAD) focuses on the interaction between women and development processes rather than to integrate in development like WID, and lastly postmodernism and development (PAD) which was developed as a response of the GAD view representing third world women as the "other". 

I think the one that is most useful in the SA context is Gender and Development because it aims to include women in development issues which is what all feminism organisations have been fighting for because women are also affected by the development of country as citizens. 

Modernization is a process of social, economic and cultural transformation evolves from the underdeveloped status to a modern society. 
- Modernization theorists believed that what prevents countries from developing further is their resistance towards letting go of western values and allowing free-market principles.

-Rostow’s modernization theory states all countries need to move from being traditional societies and be open to new ideas for development to take place.

- The dependency theory developed in the 1960s to address the underdevelopment of the Third world countries. It challenged the basic tenet of modernization theory. 
-The traditional dependency theory can be a useful tool for explaining global inequalities despite the challenges of the 21st century. 
-Dependency is a situation in which the development and expansion of one economy is at the expense of another economy. It is the interdependence between two or more economies meaning the developed countries can have either a positive or a negative effect on the immediate development of less developed countries.

DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME

A relatively even or fair distribution of income is required for a country’s development because it boosts the country’s growth. As far as South Africa is concerned, the distribution of income is not looking very good. The poor continue to get poor with little to no income coming in and the rich getting richer, for example, with COVID-19 striking people could not go out to work therefore making an income was much harder and it hit even harsher on the economically marginalized. Some people were privileged enough to work from home and still earn something but for others the government had to make a plan by increasing social grants and many other means to ensure that people survive. 
 

MODERNISATION 

Modernisation refers to multiple refers to multiple pathways (not only western) by which societies achieve a state of continuous self-transformation through the application of technical and intellectual means. In South Africa modernisation has been a slow yet great process, it keeps improving year after year. I’ll make reference to the development in our schooling and technology systems, across the country schools have been advancing to technology to get students to engage with one another and get access to better learning resources. This has been happening for years now and with the pandemic striking it has forced everyone to get on board. 
 

RURAL TO URBAN MIGRATION 

Rural to urban migration refers to people moving from rural areas to urban areas, it is usually for better job opportunities or a better education, even though rural-urban migration is said to be improving the living standards of people living in rural areas, rural areas have also been improving. People living in rural areas now have access to water, electricity, better health care facilities, advanced shopping malls etc, however, there are still less to no job opportunities and poor education and this is why there are still people moving away from those areas.

IMPROVEMENTS IN EDUCATION AND HEALTH

South Africa now has progress towards  the education and health infrastructure because of the changes in the structure of the economy. Education is said to be fundamental to development and growth, not only that but it increases the country’s literacy rate and of course the GDP. Our country’s health infrastructure ensures that people live longer and stabilizes our annual mortality rate which plays a role in the overall development of the country. 

As suggested by experts, poverty must be defined in relation to the standard of a particular society at a specific time, seeing that people's needs are met and malnutrition is of good standard. Poverty differs from society to society, for example, absolute poverty is the common minimum standard that relates to standards of a particular society. this definition of poverty explains to us how we can determine or state for sure what poverty is in our communities.

According to my view individuals and the community as a whole become comfortable with living in poverty because of government intervention, for example, grants, food subsidies, food parcels, free health care, free education, etc. 

This is why you will find communities striking for water and electricity that they do not even pay for because they feel entitled to these, and will not bother looking for jobs or even starting up businesses to better their lives.

conflict theory

Here society is characterised by inequality based on social class, race, gender and other factors. I think we can simply classify this as a social problem because of much big of a problem it has proved to be in our society.

People are divided and excluded based on what they can do, who they are, or where they come from and this may result in conflict. Successful solutions to social problems like this one in particular must involve far-reaching change in the structure of society.

Feminist orientation

All variations of the feminist theory emphasize that the society is filled with gender inequality where females are the subordinate sex in many dimensions.

This can be seen as a social problem because people have different views, opinions and feelings about it. One way this can be dealt with is to make the opinions of every individual valid and attended with the same speed despite what sex they may be.

1. Depression 

This is a problem that has required intervention from different parties (the government, the society). Depression is considered as a social problem because it does not only affect individuals but the people around them as well and what causes it to become a social problem is the impact is has in the community as a whole with individuals not being able to reach their full potential. The one way to deal with this depression being a social problem is offer full support for those affected instead of trying to ignore how much of an issue it is. 

2. Smash-and-grab

I think smash-and-grab is considered a social problem because anyone could be a victim of it any day therefore is it everyone’s problem and it needs to addressed. What causes this to be a social problem is that it has been one of the country’s biggest fights, marches, strikes, organizations and many more have been formed in the past and at present to try to stop this problem is for communities to come together and urge each other to stop this. 

3. Rape 

Rape is a social problem because it can also affect anyone at any given time, it is an issues that has been addressed for years now and numbers keep growing and more and more communities get affected. What causes this social problem is its rapid growth in our society and there’s really nothing we can do to solve this social problem but we can continue to get justice and the right care for victims because it has proved to be a losing battle.

4. Fast Food 

I do not think fast food is much of a social problem because it only affects individuals who suffer from excessive weight gain (obesity) and nothing much has been done to address this, the fast food industry keeps growing instead. What causes a social problem is what impact the condition has on other people and what can be done to address it, and no one can really stop individuals from eating what they like therefore we cannot consider fast food as a social problem.

5.HIV/Aid
These illnesses can be considered as social problems because programs, support groups and others platforms of support have been formed to address this problem and to offer support to members of the community that are infected and affected. We cannot ‘solve’ this problem but we can continue to give support and raise awareness on what the society should do to protect themselves from these illnesses and to what to do if they have already been diagnosed with them.