Dear SLF members, supporters and followers,
Welcome to our spring newsletter.
Spring is in the air and so the third quarter of 2019 has begun! Over the past three months SLF has been conducting a range of ongoing projects in various sites, sharing knowledge and insights with a number of stakeholders, and driving processes of organisational positioning to enhance our sure-footedness for the future. In this quarter we have concluded our “Lively Hoods to Livelihoods” Programme, culminating in the development of the album “State of the Nation”. Our team has been working in Delft with over 50 vulnerable youth in the Delft Youth Action Programme. We've also been developing an online course on the practice and ethics of participatory visual methods in collaboration with partners at Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam. In all, SLF has made important strides in its varied areas of work in the last few months, and we are proud to be able to share some of the highlights with you in this newsletter.
Delft Youth Action Programme
For the past three months SLF has been working to build interest and participation in an afterschool social club pilot programme, with help from a group of professional creative talent mentors, and in an effort to work closely with young people at risk in a series of positive life activities. A key aim of the process has been to explore ways to create opportunities for positive change in young people’s lives. We have a committed group of 45 youth mobilised from five secondary schools in Delft who have been actively participating in weekly sessions (after school on a Friday and Saturday) since the beginning of August. The programme will end with a small public event/exhibition in mid-November showcasing some of the social clubs' achievements.
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State of the Nation
The state of the Nation album has been released, starting with the video 41,000 Sisters which went live in September, and accrued over 8,500 views in two weeks on various social media platforms. The album is a reflection of 25 years of democracy of South Africa, and focuses on a topic close to the heart of SLF, which is inequality. It includes contributions from 24 musicians and artists, 18 of which come from various economically marginalised townships – urban, peri-urban and rural – across South Africa from Limpopo to KwaZulu Natal to Cape Town. The album was developed with the support of a professional production team, and accompanied by a suite of creative outputs including eight music videos (for the various “singles”), a graphically designed album booklet, commissioned artwork, a live album launch at AfrikaBurn featuring five of the artists, and a 45 minute documentary. This project was a practical application of SLF’s development mission to co-create strategies to foster development which includes positively impacting livelihoods in marginalized settings in South Africa. Check out the website, and sign up to receive your copy as soon as it becomes available!
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Check out the State of the Nation story here
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Hot off the Press
Since our Competition Commission supported work in 2017, Leif Petersen has been taking a closer look at the spaza business across South Africa. The findings of Leif’s 1,100 shop study have been released in their jointly authored paper with Andries du Toit of PLAAS, Camilla Thorogood and Andrew Charman. The findings of the paper highlight a worrisome trend of how uncontrolled informality can lead to illegality. The research found, among other things, evidence of labour exploitation, widespread trade in untaxed and counterfeit products, and the spread of supermarket chains into the heart of townships – with each practice in part working to effectively take out the traditional spaza shop business. The practical implications of the research make for vital reading for policy makers, academics and industry practitioners alike. The Daily Maverick report of the study can be found here, and includes a link to the full paper (published as a working paper with PLAAS and the CoE Food Security) on the PLAAS website.
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In other news...
After spending some time with Prof. Bothello in Delft, Anthony reflected on his time in the field and how businesses have diversified and changed over time, with regards to micro-enterprises in Delft. In his opinion piece, he reflects his observations, and the possibility of rental flats being growing and sustainable business in Delft.
Malan Jacobs, former SLF team member, shares his essay: ‘Promoting one voice over the other: Facebook ads administration during the Street Life in Ivory Park Photovoice project’. The essay was a part of his MA studies in Communication for Development at Malmö University in Sweden. Within the theme of ‘Voice and Listening’, Malan reflected on his own participation in SLF’s Photovoice: Street Life in Ivory Park project in 2013, as administrator of the project’s Facebook ads campaign.
SLF and UWC visual methods research partnership
We are excited to be strengthening our research collaboration with the Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Food Security at the University of the Western Cape through a recent interdisciplinary research partnership with Florian Kroll and Camilla Adelle. As a part of the Governance, Power and Public Engagement in Food Systems Programme of the CoE, Florian, Camilla and their colleagues at the CoE have been convening a Food Governance Community of Practice that brings together stakeholders in government, academia and civil society organisations to share knowledge and perspectives on the food security problem in the Western Cape. Participatory visual methods have been employed to include the experience and voices of local community members in this dialogue.
In September, the visual methods team at SLF (Gill Black, Rory Liedeman, Anthony Muteti and Jess Drewett) partnered with CoE researchers in the facilitation of a digital storytelling workshop which brought together a group of 12 residents from Khayelitsha in Cape Town. The visual storytelling approach enabled the participants to deeply explore the multiple factors that influence their access to food and the daily trade-offs they make when deciding what types of food to buy. The knowledge and experiences that have been shared through the digital stories promote a better understanding of what food security means for people who live in marginalized areas of urban South Africa. It is hoped that the stories of the Khayelitsha participants will contribute to ongoing CoE related research projects on food environments, such as the ROFE project (Researching the Obesogenic Food Environment), and contribute to informing future thinking on food policy and programme activities. For more information on the Community of Practice that is linked to this research, please follow Food Security ZA.
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Once again, thank you for your continuing support and interest in the Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation. Keep an eye on our social media platforms for more exciting updates. We wish you all the best for the remainder of 2019.
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Delft Youth Action Programme (DYAP)
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Promoting One Voice Over the Other
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State of the Nation
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Rental Flats, a growing business in Delft
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What Price Cheap Goods
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41,000 Sisters - Kaalvoet Prinses
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