SLF Spring Newsletter

Dear SLF members, supporters, followers and others,

Welcome to our quarterly newsletter! Because this is the spring edition, we decided to take spring-cleaning to heart and spruce up the look of the newsletter. We hope you enjoy this new format.

Of course, we've been up to a lot more than just freshening up - here is a review of some of the work we have been up to:

The Heart of the Matter project, which brought together Delft community members and cardiovascular disease researchers, drew to a fun and vibrant close at a community-led event this month. The Participatory Monitoring and Accountability project working on community safety has gone through a meaningful process and is coming to a close with engagement events scheduled for November. Our project working with youth to voice their experiences of leisure and specifically alcohol consumption in townships, YOLO eKasi, is also coming to a close with an exhibition of the work produced by the youth in their photovoice project. Also highlighted this quarter are the insightful digital stories which have been produced through the Making All Voices Count project, in partnership with rasta bushdoctors.

We are excited to announce that SLF director Andrew Hartnack launched his new book on welfare, power and land in Zimbabwe in September. And finally, we have started a new blog series titled 'Livelihood Struggles', based on our informality work, which will be continuing until December.

To read more, open the links below.

Heart of the Matter Project Closes with Film Screenings
After months of creative collaboration between Delft community members and cardiovascular disease researchers, the participants of this project get a chance to share their learnings with the wider Delft community.

SLF Director Book Launch: Welfare, Power and Land in Zimbabwe
At a well-attended launch in Cape Town, at the Centre for the Book, Andrew Hartnack succinctly highlighted some of his book's key issues, including the strongly gendered analysis of Zimbabwean farm welfare programmes.

Creativity Helps to Visualise Violence in PM&A
Using creative story-based methods, this project facilitates discussion of community members' daily experiences of violence and insecurity, and solutions to insecurity, in an effort to increase accountability.

Making Rasta Voices Count, through Workshopping and Digital Story Telling
Read about the digital stories we have produced in the Making All Voices Count project, documenting rasta bossie doktors experiences of harvesting and selling Cape plant species, and how these stories have been received within conservation circles.

"You Only Live Once ekasi": Township Youth and Leisure Learnings

Following weeks of engagement and a photovoice process with a diverse group of youth, we reflect on alcohol choices in a project looking toward reducing liquor harm.

"Livelihood Struggles" Highlighted in Blog Series
Using individual stories from the informal sector, this series highlights systemic difficulties to accessing the formal economy in South Africa.