Turning development upside down (powerpoint presentation) 2 of 2

Turning development

upside down

Melanie Nicolau Department of

Geography

CAES

8 September 2014

Unisa and Community Engagement • The Policy: Community Engagement and Outreach aligns with the vision of the University

of South Africa (UNISA), namely: “towards the African university in the service of

humanity”.

• UNISA subscribes to an ethos of service to and relevance in the community, whether this

applies to small– and medium-sized enterprises, industry, schools, governments,

nongovernmental organisations, associations, indigenous and ethnic communities and the

general public. It strives to conduct its research and teaching and learning in an

„engaged way‟, deploying ethical research and pedagogical methodologies in the

service of communities and taking into account indigenous knowledge systems. This

expands the role of UNISA from a passive producer of knowledge to an active

participant in collaborative discovery activities that have diverse and immediate

benefits for a variety of stakeholders.

• UNISA further recognises that its resources, research and training and learning

capacities should be used to generate knowledge that will contribute to the growth of

South Africa and the African continent, and that this knowledge should help address

issues relating to the great socioeconomic divide, substantial inequalities, the high

rate of unemployment, the poor provision of healthcare, the high rate of violence,

unintentional injury and rampant poverty.

South Africa: Human Development Index and

Multi-Dimensional Poverty

Development: “A specified state of growth or advancement”

NDP

• To eliminate poverty and reduce

inequality in South Africa is the

National Development

Plan:2030

• The NDP has developed twelve

key targets that will help

communities, civil society, state

and business to assist in its goal

by 2030

MDGs

• The 8 Millennium

Development Goals aim

to free humanity from

extreme poverty,

inequality, hunger,

illiteracy and disease by

2015.

Application of the Development Programmes:

Theory

Development theory

• Socially constructed

• Reflects western culture

• Assumes western economic

structure and society is the

universal module and all

should copy and follow this

model

• Basic needs approach, top

down approach

• High dependency ratio

Post-development theory

• Advocates retention of

indigenous cultures

• Sustainable living based on

indigenous knowledge

systems

• Communities must be

empowered to lift

themselves out of poverty

• Bottom up approach using

community capital

Question:

“how does one achieve

development within the

context of post

development theory?”

Answer (?):

“by turning development upside down”

Roots-driven rural change

Interaction in communities should be with the

understanding that the communities have the potential

to create their own wealth as they are more

knowledgeable about their inherent social, cultural,

economic and environmental capital (or assets).

In order to achieve the bottom up approach,

community engagement should have community

empowerment as the main objective.

Community Asset Mapping Programme

(CAMP)

• The pre-workshop visit to the community followed by

a four day empowerment workshop

• Follow up visits within six months of the four day

workshop

• Period of monitoring and evaluation which often is

characterised by skills training and mentoring to

encourage communities to create their own

opportunities to improve their quality of lives.

CAMP

Four day workshop

Essential External Role-players of CAMP

• Government

• Business (CSI and CSR)

• Civil Society

• Non Profit Organisations

• Institutions of Higher Learning

Academics who wish to support the application of

CAMP should take the following into account

• Be careful of creating expectations

• Be transparent and inform the community of any intentions to

use information and knowledge in tuition or research outputs

• Ensure compliance with universally accepted ethical norms

and practices

• Share any research with the community, and publish results of

activities in both popular and academic publications

• Consider multiple authors of publications to include non-

academic role-players

• Be cognisant of the fact that the drivers of success are the

community and not the academic and a possible research or

tuition agenda.

Basic Guidelines when turning development

upside down

• Listen rather than talk

• Encourage interaction and dialogue

• Allow the community to set and drive the agenda

• Mutual sharing of knowledge and skills must take place

• Respect the communities, their culture, their customs and

their way of life

• Be cautious of creating expectations

• Consensus must be reached by all role-players regarding

commitment after CAMP is critical

• Community must decide their own objectives and indicators of

success.