Barriers to conducting a community mobilization intervention among youth in a rural South African community

Abstract

In the face of extreme poverty and inequality in South Africa, community mobilization interventions represent an important way in which people can be empowered to improve their life. Successfully conducting community mobilization interventions in rural South African communities requires anticipating and addressing a number of potential barriers in order to maximize the chance of success of the intervention. The aim of this article is to discuss some of these barriers, which were identified through a case study of a youth project conducted in a rural community in KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa. The potential barriers to the conduct of similar interventions discussed include gaining of access to the community, composition of the project group, issues of inclusion and exclusion, misunderstandings among project partners, language barriers, accuracy and reliability of data, and “ownership” of the project. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 33: 253–259, 2005.

A multilevel analysis of the relationship between neighborhood social disorder and depressive symptoms: Evidence from the South African National Income Dynamics Study.

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Mismatches between youth aspirations and participatory HIV/AIDSprogrammes in South Africa

“…Despite these calls, the meaningful participation of youth in HIV-prevention programmes is incredibly difficult to achieve (Campbell, Foulis, Maimane & Sibiya, 2005;Whitehead, Kriel & Richter, 2005;Campbell, Gibbs, Maimane, Nair & Sibiya, 2009). Many approaches to understanding the barriers to youth participation have focused on sociological factors, such as poverty, intergenerational inequality and HIV stigma (Campbell et al, 2005;Ezra & Mchakulu, 2007;Perkins, Borden, Villaruel, Carlton-Hug, Stone & Keith, 2007;.…”

What makes or breaks higher education community engagement in the South African rural school context: A multiple-partner perspective

“…In comparison with countries such as Brazil and China, South Africa is among the most unequal countries in the world (Nattrass and Seekings, 2001; Gardiner, 2008; The World Bank, 2012; Tregenna and Tsela, 2012; Oxfam, 2013; United Nations, 2013), which exacerbates the exposure of rural teachers, schools, students and their families to high-risk factors that threaten their well-being (De Villiers and Van den Berg, 2012; Ebersöhn, 2014). The socio-politically unequal conditions in South Africa have their roots in 300 years of historical colonialism, which have been entrenched by 40 years of apartheid policies and 20 years of unequal conditions in the democratic era (Gelb, 2003; Angeles, 2005; Whitehead et al, 2005; Engelbrecht et al, 2006; Seekings, 2007; Rohleder et al, 2008; The World Bank, 2012), stripping the African majority in South Africa of their assets and distorting social institutions through racial discrimination (May, 1998).…”