College of Business and Economics | Annual Report 2024 47 Prof Marius Venter Director Centre for Local Economic Development (CENLED) OVERVIEW The Centre for Local Economic Development (CENLED) is a centre in the School of Economics within the College of Business and Economics at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). CENLED was established in 2008, primarily for capacity building in the local economic development sphere. In accordance with the vision, mission, core values, principles of corporate governance, and the legal and management framework of the University, CENLED: Provides leadership and excellence in local economic and human settlement development and entrepreneurship. Promotes the placement of qualified people in the field of local economic and human settlement development. Promotes local economic and human settlement development as distinct, recognised, and selfgoverning professions. Promotes entrepreneurship through formal qualifications, short learning programmes and other interventions at post-school educational institutions and other organisations. Builds partnerships with communities. Contributes to South Africa’s and Africa’s economic well-being. CENLED was the driving force in establishing a career path for local economic development (LED) professionals and the professional body for economic development practitioners, the Economic Development Council of South Africa (EDCSA), which was established with the support of the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti). NATIONAL, CONTINENTAL, AND INTERNATIONAL FOOTPRINT CENLED incorporates the PASCAL International Observatory (Africa). The PASCAL International Observatory is a global network of practitioners and researchers from higher education, regional government, the private sector, and non-governmental organisations which fosters collaboration and innovation in regional development – economic, workforce, social and cultural. The Director of CENLED serves as the director of PASCAL (Africa), whilst representatives from the LED cluster Prof. Marinda Pretorius and Prof. Peter Baur serve as co-directors for PASCAL (Africa). The PASCAL network actively integrates policy, practice, and research to strengthen communities and promote prosperity. PASCAL associates consult on regional development, operate a web-based knowledge exchange forum, host international conferences, conduct original research, and publish materials on innovative regional development practices from around the world. PASCAL originated following a conference organised by the Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD) which examined the role of learning cities in regional development. Learning cities/regions arise when individuals and organisations intentionally coordinate learning with economic and community development. The PASCAL network connects researchers and practitioners across four sectors: higher education, regional government, the private (for-profit) sector and non-governmental (not-for-profit) sector. PASCAL serves as a pipeline that produces public benefits, with at least three inputs at the front end: human talent, physical resources, and knowledgesharing systems. By coordinating these inputs, the conditions for productivity and innovation are created. At the other end, PASCAL looks for outcomes and impacts that are beneficial for
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