Managing the relationship between national interest and local needs: The driekoppies dam

Abstract

Using insights gained from a study of the Driekoppies dam project in Eastern Transvaal, South Africa, this paper supports the need to re-evaluate social assessment philosophies and procedures. The current technocratic procedures dominating much of social assessment work need to be placed within an approach which emphasises the contextual interpretation, and on going strategic management, of impacts and processes of social change. Projects should not only be assessed in terms of negative impacts, but specifically in terms of their development potential for the local area. © 1995 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.