12 research outputs found
Young people and mobile phones in sub-Saharan Africa
No full textQuantitative and qualitative data sets for 24 sites across Ghana, Malawi and South Africa:
a) SPSS dataset on young people’s use of mobile phones in Ghana, Malawi and South Africa.
4626 cases (young people aged 7-25 years): 1568 Ghana; 1544 Malawi; 1514 South Africa.
719 variables (+ 11 ‘navigation facilitators’)
b) 1,620 Qualitative transcripts from interviews with people of diverse ages, 8y upwards: individual interviews [using either i.theme checklist or ii call register checklist]; focus group interviews [not all sites]: 50-80 transcripts for most sites. This research project, which commenced in August 2012, explored how the rapid expansion of mobile phone usage is impacting on young lives in sub-Saharan Africa. It builds directly on our previous research on children’s mobility within which baseline quantitative data and preliminary qualitative information was collected on mobile phone usage (2006-2010) across 24 research sites, as an adjunct to our wider study of children’s physical mobility and access to services.
In this study our focus is specifically on mobile phones and we cover a much wider range of phone-related issues, including changes in gendered and age patterns of phone use over time; phone use in building social networks (for instance to support job search); impacts on education, livelihoods, health status, safety and surveillance, physical mobility and possible connections to migration, youth identity, and questions of exploitation and empowerment associated with mobile phones.
Mixed-method, participatory youth-centred studies have been conducted in the same 24 sites as in our earlier work across Ghana, Malawi and South Africa (urban, peri-urban, rural, remote rural, in two agro-ecological zones per country). We have built on the baseline data for 9-18 year-olds gathered in 2006-2010, through repeat and extended studies, but also included additional studies with 19-25 year-olds (to capture changing usage and its impacts as our initial cohort move into their 20s).
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Protected Areas and Community Relationships in the Sub-Saharan Africa: A case study of Dwesa- Cwebe Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
No full textExploring the Intersection between Physical and Virtual Mobilities in Urban South Africa: Reflections from Two Youth-Centered Studies
No full textExploring the intersection between physical and virtual mobilities in urban South Africa
No full textConnecting with home, keeping in touch: Physical and virtual mobility across stretched families in sub-Saharan Africa
No full textThere is a long history of migration among low-income families in sub-Saharan Africa, in which (usually young, often male) members leave home to seek their fortune in what are perceived to be more favourable locations. While the physical and virtual mobility practices of such stretched families are often complex and contingent, maintaining contact with distantly-located close kin is frequently of crucial importance for the maintenance of emotional (and possibly material) well-being, both for those who have left home and those who remain. This article explores the ways these connections are being reshaped by increasing access to mobile phones in three sub-Saharan countries, Ghana, Malawi and South Africa, drawing on interdisciplinary, mixed-methods research from 24 sites, ranging from poor urban neighbourhoods to remote rural hamlets. Stories collected from both ends of stretched families present a world where the connectivities now offered by the mobile phone bring a different kind of closeness and knowing, as instant sociality introduces a potential substitute for letters, cassettes and face-to-face visits, while the rapid resource mobilization opportunities identified by those still at home impose increasing pressures on migrant kin
Youth Livelihoods in the Cellphone Era: Perspectives from Urban Africa
No full textssues surrounding youth employment and unemployment are central to the next development decade. Understanding how youth use mobile phones as a means of communicating and exchanging information about employment and livelihoods is particularly important given the prominence of mobile phone use in young lives. This paper explores and reflects on youth phone usage in Ghana, Malawi and South Africa, drawing on mixed‐methods research with young people aged approximately 9–25 years, in 12 (high density) urban and peri‐urban sites. Comparative work across these sites offers evidence of both positive and negative impacts. The final section of the paper considers policy implications.UK Economic and Social Research Council and the Department for International Development. Grant Number: ES/J018082/
Connecting with Home, Keeping in Touch: Physical and Virtual Mobility Across Stretched Families in sub-Saharan Africa
No full textThere is a long history of migration among low-income families in sub-Saharan Africa, in which (usually young, often male) members leave home to seek their fortune in what are perceived to be more favourable locations. While the physical and virtual mobility practices of such stretched families are often complex and contingent, maintaining contact with distantly located close kin is frequently of crucial importance for the maintenance of emotional (and possibly material) well-being, both for those who have left home and for those who remain. This article explores the ways in which these connections are being reshaped by increasing access to mobile phones in three sub-Saharan countries – Ghana, Malawi and South Africa – drawing on interdisciplinary, mixed-methods research from twenty-four sites, ranging from poor urban neighbourhoods to remote rural hamlets. Stories collected from both ends of stretched families present a world in which the connectivities now offered by the mobile phone bring a different kind of closeness and knowing, as instant sociality introduces a potential substitute for letters, cassettes and face-to-face visits, while the rapid resource mobilization opportunities identified by those still at home impose increasing pressures on migrant kin
Informal m-health: How are young people using mobile phones to bridge healthcare gaps in Sub-Saharan Africa?
No full textAbstractThe African communications ‘revolution’ has generated optimism that mobile phones might help overcome infrastructural barriers to healthcare provision in resource-poor contexts. However, while formal m-health programmes remain limited in coverage and scope, young people are using mobile phones creatively and strategically in an attempt to secure effective healthcare. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data collected in 2012–2014 from over 4500 young people (aged 8–25 y) in Ghana, Malawi and South Africa, this paper documents these practices and the new therapeutic opportunities they create, alongside the constraints, contingencies and risks. We argue that young people are endeavouring to lay claim to a digitally-mediated form of therapeutic citizenship, but that a lack of appropriate resources, social networks and skills (‘digital capital’), combined with ongoing shortcomings in healthcare delivery, can compromise their ability to do this effectively. The paper concludes by offering tentative suggestions for remedying this situation
Youth Livelihoods in the Cellphone Era: Perspectives from Urban Africa Youth livelihoods in the Cellphone Era
No full textIssues surrounding youth employment and unemployment are central to the next development decade. Understanding how youth use mobile phones as a means of communicating and exchanging information about employment and livelihoods is particularly important given the
prominence of mobile phone use in young lives. This paper explores and reflects on youth phone
usage in Ghana, Malawi and South Africa, drawing on mixed-methods research with young
people aged approximately 9–25 years, in 12 (high density) urban and peri-urban sites. Comparative
work across these sites offers evidence of both positive and negative impacts. The final section of
the paper considers policy implications
Mobile phones and education in sub-Saharan Africa: from youth practice to public policy
No full textYoung people’s use of mobile phones is expanding exponentially across Africa. Its transformative potential is exciting, but findings presented in this paper indicate how the downside of mobile phone use in African schools is becoming increasingly apparent. Drawing on mixed-methods field research in 24 sites across Ghana, Malawi and South Africa and associated discussions with educational institutions, public policy makers and network providers, we examine the current state of play and offer suggestions towards a more satisfactory alignment of practice and policy which promotes the more positive aspects of phone use in educational contexts and militates against more damaging ones
