Jacques Zeelen

Beyond Care Avoidance and Care Paralysis: Theorizing Public Mental Health Care

Care avoidance refers to the condition wherein clients do not seek assistance and do not attend appointments although they are in need of help. Care avoidance is linked to another phenomenon, the inability to help clients with multiple and complex problems by social services and care facilities, in this article identified as care paralysis. The aim of this article is to understand the production and reduction of care avoidance and care paralysis. Care avoidance and care paralysis not only coincide, they reinforce and recall each other. Trust and initiative — the opposite of avoidance and paralysis — are affirmed under conditions as an experienced proximity between the local population and care facilities and the committed involvement of professionals to a bounded territory. Trust and initiative also coincide, reinforce and recall each other. The existence of a safety net like Public Mental Health Care is closely linked to the absence of this vitality.

Capacity building in Southern Africa: experiences and reflections: towards joint knowledge production and social change in international development cooperation

The intent of capacity building in international development cooperation is to enable people to control their own development. Important premises are ownership, choice and self‐esteem. The authors analyse the dynamics of the enabling process in practice, based on their own experiences working for several years in universities in developing countries, specifically in South Africa and Mozambique. The analysis highlights the importance of the primary process between the partners to develop joint knowledge production strategies and stresses the challenge of less favourable institutional conditions in both the North and the South.

Grounding Adult Education Research in Rural Areas: Reflections on the Development of a Research Program at the University of Limpopo in South Africa

Mission statements of universities in developing countries usually include serving the surrounding communities. Often this service does not reach beyond lip service. This article puts into context the experience of developing an adult education research program responding to the needs of the surrounding community in a historically disadvantaged rural area. The areas of research were adult education needs assessment and community development, young adults at risk, adult health education, and policy and implementation issues. Globalization, social exclusion, and lifelong learning were key concepts tailored to the specific context of the rural areas in South Africa. The first two authors of the article were personally involved in the program, as a visiting professor from the Netherlands and his South African successor, respectively. The third author worked in a similar program at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique.

Motivations for participation in higher education: narratives of non-traditional students at Makerere University in Uganda

Abstract The objective of this qualitative study was to establish motivations for participation of non-traditional students (NTS) in university education. The findings are drawn from empirical data collected from 15 unstructured in-depth interviews with NTS of the School of Computing and Informatics Technology at Makerere University, and analysed with the aid of qualitative data analysis software ATLAS.ti. Three major findings were established: (1) motivations were found to be multiple, multifaceted and varied for each individual; (2) the sociocultural context of the African society including societal perceptions of university education were found to be the major factor shaping motivations of NTS to upgrade their educational qualifications; and (3) most motivations were found to be extrinsic in nature rather than intrinsic and based more on push rather than pull factors. Yet, although the demand for university education is increasing, life beyond university can no longer guarantee some of the anticipated rewards such as employment and its related benefits. It therefore becomes important that the purpose of education within universities in Africa is directed towards achieving development of the whole human being. In this way, a graduate’s capacity to function will not be seen only in the economic and professional life, but also in other spheres of life.

Beyond silence and rumor

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the role of a small‐scale project around storytelling as a form of informal education in five health clinics in rural areas of the Limpopo Province in South Africa. The aim of the project is to decrease the stigma around HIV/AIDS and to start an open dialogue in local communities about the disease.Design/methodology/approach – This is an exploratory study using a qualitative approach, which was carried out in 2005/2006, that focused on perceptions of participants from the audience of the project and health practitioners.Findings – The research findings emphasize the importance of involvement of a storyteller who can play an influential role in local rural communities by breaking the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS and providing people with little or no education with simple but effective messages about the disease. Stories are embedded in local traditions and make use of metaphors, like dialogues between animals. Beside, stories are a form of “edutainment”: education enric...

Using Participatory Action Research to Improve Vocational Skills Training for Marginalised Youth in Uganda: Experiences from an Early School-Leavers' Project.

Although vocational education and training is considered to be a good option for improving livelihood opportunities for marginalised youth in developing countries, it often suffers from an image problem. This situation affects the quality of entrants, instruction and skills acquisition in training programmes. In this article, the researchers report on results and experiences from a participatory action research (PAR) project initiated to work towards the improvement of vocational education and skills training for early school-leavers. The research project was conducted in Mbarara district, south-western Uganda. The results show that the project created an awareness and change of attitude on the part of participants towards vocational education and training. It also established links between training institutions and employers; that is, between the skills supply and demand sides. Based on experiences and reflections from this project, the researchers argue that PAR can be a productive approach for facilitating skills development in vocational education and training.

The influence of out-of-institution environments on the university schooling project of non-traditional students in Uganda

ABSTRACT Participation and integration of non-traditional students (NTS) in university education is influenced by factors within the institution and those external to the institution, including participants’ self-perceptions and dispositions. The objective of this qualitative study is to draw from the life-world environment component of Donaldson and Graham’s model of college outcomes for adults, to discuss the out-of-institution experiences of NTS participating in university education in Uganda. Findings derive from two elements: first, the social settings of work, family and community including the roles NTS play in these settings. The second element is connected to the first but goes deeper into individual relationships NTS have with important people around them. Both elements were found to be reinforcing and deterring to the NTS’ university schooling project. To this end, we argue that to achieve quality-inclusive university education for all learners, the lifelong learning frameworks must be accentuated, even outside the university.

In memoriam Max van der Kamp

Het aardige van de andragogiek is dat ze geen onderdak heeft gekregen of gezocht in de Ivoren Toren van de Academie, maar te velde is getrokken op zompige, moeilijk toegankelijke contreien en nooit te beroerd was om zich in te laten met daklozen en onbehuisden die minder in Harmonie met hun omgeving leven.