38 research outputs found
Learner councillors' perspectives on learner participation
Get PDFLearner participation in South Africa was legislated in 1996 through the South African Schools Act, No. 84. Since then it has been a legal requirement to establish representative councils of learners (RCL) at secondary schools (with Grade 8 and higher) countrywide. I investigate the perspectives and experiences of participation with secondary schools learners elected to serve in representative councils of learners and school governing bodies. I adopted an interpretive qualitative methodology. In-depth interviews and focus groups were used. Three categories of experiences emerged: (1) learning experiences, (2) relational experiences, and (3) challenges faced by learner councillors. The data further suggest that there is an opportunity for learners to gain skills that could be useful for them. I offer a framework for learner participation that is grounded in social learning to promote meaningful participation
YOUTH COUNCILLORS' PERCEPTIONS OF PARTICIPATION AT A MUNICIPAL LEVEL: THE CASE OF A LIMPOPO DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY
No full textOver the past three decades youth participation as a theoretical, practical and policy approach has been increasing globally. In 1996, South Africa established various youth institutions at national, provincial and local level. This has translated in many adult organisations having to make a shift in their thinking and operations. This included municipalities at local level. In this paper, I focus on one district municipality in the Limpopo province to examine youth participation practices. I use Driskell and Kudva’s framework of spaces of participation for adult-run organisations seeking to promote youth participation to examine the appropriateness of municipality as a space for participation practice. My research shows that adult attitudes towards young people are central in undermining other participatory spaces created. However, bounded operational issues can be countered by the structural opportunities existing there.</jats:p
Youth unemployment in the Royal Bafokeng nation, South Africa : the interplay of perceptions, lived experiences, aspirations and choices
Get PDFD.Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)Abstract: This study explores the interplay of lived experiences, perceptions, aspirations and choices of unemployed youth in the Royal Bafokeng Nation (RBN) – seemingly one of the richest tribes in Africa. The RBN features prominently in the political economy of platinum mining in South Africa as a model of success in development through its community-corporate partnerships in mining ventures. The discourse of success as sold by opinion leaders and traditional leaders alike is centred on the RBN’s indisputable achievements as both a community and “quasi-municipality”, “a mine operator” as well as a “mine owner”. However, the extent to which this model of success enhances ordinary Bafokeng’s ability to live the lives they aspire is questionable. This thesis inverted the lens by paying attention to the lived experiences of unemployed young people to understand their aspirations, choices and strategies for daily survival. Using the theoretical tools borrowed from Sen's Capability Approach (CA) and Appadurai's (2004) theory on aspirations, this study brings to the fore the “hidden transcripts” of unemployed youth about how they make sense of the development narratives within the RBN. The study drew its findings from a purposively selected sample of 71 unemployed youth who participated in face-to-face, in-depth semi-structured and focus group interviews. To contextualise the situation of youth in the RBN, secondary data and documents within the RBN were analysed. By exploring young people’s experiences and perceptions of being unemployed, this study concludes that the notion of development in the RBN is debatable. Young people’s experiences of development in the RBN are underscored by political and economic alienation as well as indignity and stagnation. Even though young people adequately express their aspirations, they remain unmet due to several familial and structural constraints. To mitigate these constraints, young people use various strategies to make ends meet. These include engaging in informal, and sometimes illicit activities. The findings seek to show the level of consciousness in youth regarding how development can be largely captured by markets (mining companies) and local authorities (traditional leaders) to the detriment of communities. According to young people, traditional leaders while masquerading as guardians of communities, can be self-serving. These findings have implications on how to measure development in the context in which there is a dissonance between people’s lived experiences at a micro-level and development achievements at a macro-level
Youth participation : The influence of approaches and setting on youths experiences in South Africa
No full textEThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
Toyin Falola@65 Conference: African Knowledges and Alternative Futures
No full textThe Toyin Falola @65 Conference brought together scholars from across the African continent and the world from 29 to 31 January 2018 under the theme, ‘African Knowledge and Alternative Futures.’ Our focus reflected on the long struggle for epistemic justice on the continent while centering and recognizing Falola’s important role in the project. This was a unique conference in terms of its structure, content, as well as the diversity of intellectuals that it attracted
Experiences of rural black South African adolescents who never met their own biological fathers
Get PDFM.Ed. (Adolescence Guidance)This qualitative study described and explored the experiences of adolescents in rural Limpopo Province who never met their biological fathers in their lifetime. The theoretical framework supporting this study is the 'family systems theory' which affirm that individuals' patterns were sustained by interactions with other individuals with whom the individual had regular contact. The roles of fathers and mothers are not duplicated, but in their separation keep the family system intact (Youniss & Smollar, 1998:82) ..
Toyin Falola@65 Conference: African Knowledges and Alternative Futures
No full textThe Toyin Falola @65 Conference brought together scholars from across the African continent and the world from 29 to 31 January 2018 under the theme, ‘African Knowledge and Alternative Futures.’ Our focus reflected on the long struggle for epistemic justice on the continent while centering and recognizing Falola’s important role in the project. This was a unique conference in terms of its structure, content, as well as the diversity of intellectuals that it attracted
Views and Experiences of Members of Faith-based Organizations when Church Attendance was Restricted by the Covid Lockdown
Get PDFFaith-based organizations provide social and mental support to their members, but the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the implementation of massive restrictions of movement, which affected every aspect of social life, including church attendance. On the other hand, the pandemic-related challenges which included social, spiritual, mental and financial, increased due to the restrictions of movement, as well as the high numbers of sick and dying people. The purpose of this study was to explore the views and experiences of members of FBOs during the Covid pandemic
Communal pastoral counselling : culturally gifted care-giving in times of family pain - a vhavenda perspective
Get PDFThe thesis argues that there is a need for Christian communal pastoral care and counselling practice beyond the individualistic Western pastoral care and counselling practices. The communal pastoral care model advocated by the author uses culturally gifted care-givers who follow spontaneous caring models. Several of the major books concerning communal pastoral care and counselling were reviewed. The author concludes that the church has been impoverished by ignoring the cultural gifts of the majority of members and the mutual communal care of the community. Pain and its healing in this thesis are understood in a culturally sensitive manner. Pastoral care must be done in context, in this case in the Vhavenda context. Hence the thesis looks systematically at the way in which the Vhavenda understand and heal pain from their cosmological perspective. The thesis engages in empirical research among the Vhavenda people using qualitative interview. The author selected five small communities to test for their understanding of pain and healing. He developed his own interview schedule. Themes encountered in interpreting the research results include pain as part of life. The thesis develops two sub-models of a Vhavenda-Christian culturally gifted model of communal care arguing the need of their incorporation into Christian communal care. They are “Kha ri vangulane” model which pictures pain as a thorn which people help to remove from a person; and the “khoro” or “dzulo” gathering which is family or community care-giving. A case study has illustrated how they are used.Finally, the author argues that the Bible is full of communal pictures which resonate well with the African people. Hence it is fairly easy to correlate the Vhavenda sense of community with the body of Christ model of Christian community as found in the Bible. The conclusion is that members of the Christian community need to reincorporate their culturally gifted care resources and integrate them with the biblical care.Thesis (D. Th. (Practical Theology)
