Western Cape United is the provincial government's vision for a united province. The vision implies shelter, security, safety, comfort, warmth, welcome, justice, belonging, community and peace.

The Western Cape is seen to be the least integrated province in the country, a consequence of the apartheid history of the country and of the diversity of the province. The drive for social cohension is thus key to creating shared growth and development in the province and all provincial government strategies and programmes work toward realising this vision of a shared, united province.

The Growth and Development Strategy [GDS] is a synthesis of the 11 provincial, iKapa Elihlumayo strategies. IKapa Elihlumayo means "Growing the Cape" and is the underlying theme of all provincial government strategies.

These strategies provide high level analytic and strategic frameworks to guide decisions that will create economic growth and development in the province. The GDS looks at regional development challenges from environmental, economic, social, spatial and governance perspectives. It outlines interventions and targets to guide provincial government over the next decade.

The Premier delivers the State of the Province address every year and outlines the provincial government's priorities for the coming year.

The Provincial Programme of Action [PPoA] aligns day-to-day government activities with the Growth and Development Strategy [GDS]. It is an integrated approach to development in the Western Cape Province from an economic, governance and social perspective. These three areas of focus are called clusters. Provincial departments and priorities are grouped into these clusters - as they are at National level.

Each cluster at National level has identified strategic objectives. At provincial level departments have specific programmes to respond to these priority needs. The PPoA brings together all the major activities of the key provincial strategies in one document, the Growth and Development Stategy [GDS].

Communities in the Western Cape remain under-developed and have to deal with the challenges of moral decay, uncoordinated service delivery programmes and socio-economic issues such as crime, drugs, violence, joblessness, poverty, slow economic development, and unemployment.

The Social Transformation Programme is an attempt to address these challenges in a holistic and integrated manner. The design of the programme is informed by national strategic imperatives such as the Moral Regeneration Programme, national Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA) programme and the Growth and Development Strategy (GDS) of the Western Cape Province.

As part of the Social Transformation Programme, the provincial government identified 21 vulnerable communities in the western province. These areas have the highest rates of contact crime (e.g. rape, assault, murder), gangsterism and drug and substance abuse.

The areas are: Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha, Manenberg, Hanover Park, Nyanga, Elsies River, Bishop Lavis, Delft, Kleinvlei, Gugulethu, Phillipi, Muizenberg, and in the rural areas Vredenberg, Kannaland, Paarl, Cederberg, Central Karoo, Witzenberg, Matzikama, Theewaterskloof and Oudtshoorn.

The government will work with these communities in 2007/2008 to improve conditions. Umbrella organizations will be set up in each community that can build partnerships with other institutions and with the provincial government. Initiatives to make schools safer, drop crime and drug rates and improve infrastructure are underway and include:

• more police, vehicles, equipment and volunteers in these areas
• special resources for 109 schools identified as vulnerable/ 'at risk'
• linking vulnerable schools to armed response systems and police stations
• recruiting at least one reservist/school safety officer at each school
• educating youth at risk about drugs and gangs using EPWP volunteers and National Youth Service recruitees
• giving vulnerable schools priority access to provincial drug rehabilitation networks
• setting up local drug action committees and a network of drug rehabilitation centres