The struggle against poverty, unemployment and social injustice in present-day South Africa: Exploring the involvement of the Dutch Reformed Church at congregational level

Westhuizen, Marichen van der; Swart, Ignatius

doi:10.17570/stj.2015.v1n2.a35

Cited by 28 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This complexity can be attributed to the fact that injustice in South Africa is characterised by forces such as the legacy of apartheid (Handmaker & Berkhout, 2010; Von Broembsen & Davis, 2008), poverty (Cohen, 2009; Moloi, 2015); lack of access to opportunities (Bradshaw, 2006; Loewen, 2009); and widespread unemployment (Cohen, 2009; Levinsohn, 2008). Many authors have described goals for social justice in South Africa in terms of fairness (Chipkin & Meny-Gilbert, 2013), freedom and equality of people both at individual and collective levels, redress, and social responsiveness (Tjabane & Pillay, 2011; Van der Westhuizen & Swart, 2015). According to Chipkin and Meny-Gilbert (2013), progress toward social justice in South Africa should be considered in terms of economic justice, public participation and social cohesion.…”

Section: Promoting Social Justice In South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Social justice implications for educational psychologists working with orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa

Pillay

2019

School Psychology International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aim of this article is to discuss the social justice implications for educational psychologists working with orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) who comprise 3.7 million of the population in South Africa. The author begins with a global conceptualisation of social justice and then discusses the nature of social justice in South Africa. This is followed by an exploration of social justice within the discipline of educational psychology and how it would apply to the contexts of OVC, especially taking their psychosocial and educational challenges into consideration. These challenges allude to the point that educational psychologists have to be active agents of social justice who advocate for better learning and development opportunities for OVC to succeed in life. Thus, the social justice implications for educational psychologists working with OVC are discussed. In concluding, the author points out the global value of this article noting that OVC and educational psychologists are prevalent across the globe.

show abstract

Section: Promoting Social Justice In South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Social justice implications for educational psychologists working with orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa

Pillay

2019

School Psychology International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A multitude of countries across the globe, particularly those in the global South, experience a myriad of challenges, stresses and shocks, which include the ramifications of climate change, high levels of unemployment, poverty, inequality and pandemics that ravage the world at different times in history. Characterised by the so-called triple challenges of inequality, poverty and unemployment (Akanbi 2016a(Akanbi , 2016bMzangwa 2016;Statistics South Africa 2013;Van der Westhuizen & Swart 2015), South Africa is definitely no exception. Given that the triple challenges are on the perpetual rise in the country (Statistics South Africa 2013), the ability and efficacy of the South African citizenry to overcome the multifaceted challenges can be put into question.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the nexus between transdisciplinarity, internationalisation and community service-learning at a university of technology in Cape Town

Mokhele

Pinfold

2021

Transformation in Higher Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: The ability of the South African citizenry to overcome a myriad of challenges (which include the triple challenges of inequality, poverty and unemployment) can be called into question. This alleged inability could, in part at least, be linked to the role of higher education, which is at a vantage point of equipping the citizenry with the requisite values, skills and knowledge.Aim: The aim of the article is to discuss attempts that were employed towards imparting transdisciplinary and collaborative skills to students at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).Setting: The article reports on the collaboration between a number of stakeholders, viz. CPUT, University of Michigan, St. Mark’s Church and District Six Museum. The aim of the collaboration was to develop an interactive Web map, which would display the socio-spatial information based on the baptismal records of the former residents of District Six.Methods: The article explores interconnections between transdisciplinary education, internationalisation of higher education and community service-learning. The discussion is based on the authors’ reflective analysis of the deployment of the triad of concepts in the initiative reported on.Results: Intricate interdependencies were discovered between transdisciplinarity, internationalisation of higher education and community service-learning.Conclusion: It is proposed that future teaching and learning initiatives employ a critical lens and the notion of complexity to meticulously explore the aforesaid concepts towards extending the frameworks for higher education.

show abstract

“…In South Africa, interventions to address causal factors of social challenges are coordinated across several sectors and intend to improve housing, water and sanitation, access to safe food, help manage alcohol and substance abuse and encourage social cohesion; yet, these issues are exacerbated by an inadequately performing public service delivery system [6][7][8][9]. This coordination is necessary due to the inherent interconnections that exist between these sectors [10]. It has been proposed that South Africa needs alignment of planning and implementation of actions across the levels of government and between sectors, ministries and departments, while consideration must also be given to the suitability of interventions for implementation at different societal levels [6,9,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been proposed that South Africa needs alignment of planning and implementation of actions across the levels of government and between sectors, ministries and departments, while consideration must also be given to the suitability of interventions for implementation at different societal levels [6,9,11]. Emphasis is placed on the recurring engagement of civil society to achieve the desired alignment and expand efforts to address complex social challenges [6,10,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These "networks" of stakeholders of a challenge would often emphasise collaboration and the engagement of civil society. In the South African context, complex social challenges are most apparent in the lives of the large portion of the population who live in poverty [5,10,12]. In this study, we accepted that the engagement of civil society actors refers to those who are commonly marginalised stakeholders (see the definition in Section 3.1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Framework of Engagement Practices for Stakeholders Collaborating around Complex Social Challenges

Edlmann

Grobbelaar

2021

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

South Africa’s interventions to address complex social challenges rely on coordination across several sectors and between different levels of government and society. Improved alignment, planning and coordination are needed when addressing the causal factors of these social challenges. These causal factors include the environments in which people live and their behaviours. Furthermore, emphasis is placed on the recurring engagement of civil society, especially of marginalized stakeholders, as participants in the efforts to address the challenges. The study draws from the promise shown by stakeholder networks, termed Innovation Platforms, in other Sub-Saharan Africa countries to address such complex social challenges. The study aimed to improve the understanding of how a stakeholder network’s engagement practices impact the effectiveness of the network. To this end, a conceptual framework and management tool for stakeholder engagement in IPs is proposed. The study followed the conceptual framework analysis procedure to develop, evaluate and refine the conceptual framework. The article describes the core research outcomes of the framework development approach, starting with a systematized literature review to identify core concepts, followed by interviews with experts and a case study to refine the framework content. The case study applied the framework to develop recommendations for improved engagement in a stakeholder network which has been established around the challenge of vagrancy in Stellenbosch, South Africa. The result of the approach is a multidimensional framework for conceptualizing stakeholder engagement practices in a variety of contexts. The focus of the framework content remains on the practices of engagement which enable effective and fruitful stakeholder interactions within and around a network. The study delivered valuable insights into the nature of some development initiatives in South Africa and the impact of stakeholder engagement on them.

show abstract

The struggle against poverty, unemployment and social injustice in present-day South Africa: Exploring the involvement of the Dutch Reformed Church at congregational level

Cited by 28 publications

References 17 publications

Social justice implications for educational psychologists working with orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa

Social justice implications for educational psychologists working with orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa

Exploring the nexus between transdisciplinarity, internationalisation and community service-learning at a university of technology in Cape Town

A Framework of Engagement Practices for Stakeholders Collaborating around Complex Social Challenges

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About