Assessing the Understanding of Stakeholders about Local Economic Development (LED) as a Concept at the Helao Nafidi Town Council, Namibia

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to assess the understanding of stakeholders on local economic development (LED) as a concept at the Helao Nafidi Town Council (HNTC) of the Ohangwena region (OhR), Namibia (a developing country). The understanding of LED as a concept signifies an informative and integrated understanding aimed at Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which combine environmental, economic, social, institutional, and political aspects by identifying their interlinkages in realising SDGs in local governments. This study aimed to assess stakeholders' understanding of LED as a concept at the HNTC. The study used stakeholder theory (ST), which provided a framework for exploring the processes of effective interventions of stakeholders in a management sense, and questionnaires were designed to meet the objectives of this study. Data were collected through the quantitative research method (QRM) and analysed using Microsoft Excel (MSE) which provided relevant analysis for the data. The framework assessment of understanding made in this study indicates that the LED process is dominated or influenced by both internal and external stakeholders regarding intervention strategies to “deal with” sustainable measurements and minimal standards for the LED initiative.