RURAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH COMMUNAL BASED ENTERPRISES IN SELECTED DISTRICTS OF LESOTHO

In the paper an attempt has been made to analyse perceptions of the rural communities to improve the livelihoods of rural households, different approaches to rural development have been adopted in different economies. The objective of the study was to assess community perception on community-based entrepreneurship through a case study approach with an implicit research question on how BEDCO can contribute in enhancing livelihood development and sustaining the community. The most broadly adopted approaches have been technocratic, the radical and the reformist approach. These approaches are unique in that they aim at achieving different rural developmental objectives. Despite different approaches that are been used in the literature, in this paper, central to rural community development is the communal-based enterprises (CBE) approach with an implicit research question on how BEDCO can contribute in enhancing livelihood development and thus sustaining the community at large. The results show that enthusiasm is high in all villages as a majority of interviewees showed a positive initiative capacity in which the only barrier pulling them back is a pushing force. This barrier can be justified as the majority of people have no knowledge of BEDCO and the services they provide.