• Leadership and advocacy : Includes activities to other levels of government to enable policy and funding support .
ENABLERS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT The desktop research identified a range of key enablers of economic development which included :
• Existence of and effectiveness of key legislative and policy settings and strategic planning processes .
• These policy settings are supported by a governance framework to coordinate data collection and measure and monitor outcomes .
• Inter-departmental alignment of purpose at all levels of government but especially local government .
• Local governments with economic development and investment attraction as a strategic goal , determined by community consultation and enabled by strong political support .
• Efficiency of the land use planning and development approval process for identification , zoning and delivery of employment and housing land .
• Investment in projects using public funding that otherwise would not initially be commercially attractive to the private sector .
• Development of a skills-based local economy where supply meets labour demand and reduces outwardmigration and brain drain .
• The capability to generate social capital and build trust to increase stakeholder engagement ( across government , business and the community ).
These key enablers were identified in the survey responses . Respondents report working on good governance , planning , and investment ( 20 % of participants ), having the support of their local community and own organisations ( 15 % of participants ), and focusing on liveability of a place ( 12 % of participants ).
The desktop review and the survey findings indicate that the success of economic development may be dependent on a combination of key operational factors , such as good governance structures and access to adequate funding , as well as external factors such as a legislative framework and social and organisational licence to do economic development , reflected through policy settings . Other factors include local conditions such as having certain natural , economic ecosystems and existing built assets .
MEASUREMENT CHALLENGES The measurement of economic development outcomes is fraught with challenges . Significant among these is the attribution issue ( i . e ., ensuring that outcomes being measured are actually a result of specific economic development interventions ). This attribution issue arises as economic development activities are rarely carried out in an environment under the control of the delivery organisation and are influenced by other factors ( such as the macro and micro level politics , policies and regulations , and broader economic conditions ) and may also take place over a long time .
Given the challenges associated with measuring the impact of economic development , it is not surprising that only 18 % of survey participants responded ‘ yes ’ when asked if their organisation sought to measure the impact of their work . Many respondents ’ organisations instead opted to measure impact using various output indicators rather than longer-term outcome measures . Chief amongst these were employment indicators ( e . g . number of jobs created ), productivity indicators ( like gross regional product ), and business indicators ( number of business establishments ).
When asked to reflect on the challenges faced when measuring the impact of
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL VOL 17 NO 1 2024 07