ABSTRACT
Most of the time, Community Development Agencies (CDAs) are faced with the challenge of committing resources to compromised communities because of funding gaps. Addressing this challenge requires sustainable, scalable, and frugal solutions in innovation. Therefore, collaboration among stakeholders is pivotal for scaling innovation that impacts Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 17 to improve accessibility, quality, and equity regarding under-served communities through a Social and Labour Plan (SLP), which should be about shared attitudes, beliefs, and values of that community. The purpose of this chapter is to propose a stakeholder engagement framework using a systematic approach from needs assessment to implementation to ensure that such innovations are meaningful, actionable, and impactful in under-resourced settings of developing countries. According to Nyatuka et al. ‘frugality means to practice careful economy’. Shackelton et al. argue that research, policymaking, planning, and action must be effectively inter-linked to address complex sustainability challenges and the different needs and interests of societal actors. The key question to guide this chapter is ‘How can Frugal Innovation (FI) enhance value through Botho/Ubuntu-embedded relations that align SLP commitments to agreed community needs’? The rationale is that sustainable development has currently become a crucial aspect in the world, more so in the mining industry which plays an important part in the economy. The issue at stake is that it is unclear how stakeholder engagement influences funding allocation in practice to benefit the target beneficiaries. The change objective is formulated as more transparent funding allocation based on frugal stakeholder engagement. The theoretical underpinnings are informed by stakeholder theory (ST) and Ubuntu Theory (UT). Therefore, the view is that FI has great potential to effect change when applied to SLP's meaningful engagements with the underserved communities, and research on this is important and relevant.
