Lauren Graham

The disability–poverty nexus and the case for a capabilities approach: evidence from Johannesburg, South Africa

Debates about the relationship between poverty and disability continue and are important in that they contribute to policies regarding how best to address the needs of disabled people living in conditions of poverty. Increasingly, researchers have begun to use Sens capabilities approach in understanding disability. However, the approach has not been adequately applied to understand the nature of the poverty and disability nexus, particularly in developing contexts. This article seeks to address this gap by reporting on evidence from a study conducted in eight of the poorest wards in Johannesburg. Using the capabilities lens we demonstrate the ways in which both poverty and disability compound one another to limit the capabilities of people. The findings point to the need for broad-scale as well as targeted social development policies and programmes to address the consequences of poverty and disability.

The importance of intersectionality in disability and gender studies

abstract Investigations into the relationship between poverty and disability are limited, particularly from a South African perspective. In addition, when this relationship is addressed it is usually in isolation of other social characteristics, such as gender. As such the intersections between disability, gender, race and poverty are often overlooked – yet internationally research points to gender gaps in outcomes for people with disabilities. This briefing seeks to address this gap by reporting on a national study on poverty and disability in South Africa. We make use of the theory of intersectionality as a lens to interpret evidence from a national survey, the South African National Income Dynamics Study (South African Labour and Development Research Unit, 2014). Specifically, we assess how poverty and disability intersect to shape particular outcomes for women as compared to men with disabilities. This briefing demonstrates that in South Africa disability intersects with gender as well as age and race to result in negative outcomes in education, employment and income for all people with disabilities, but particularly black women with disabilities. Evidence is provided for what we theorise to be the case – that disability and gender intersect to compound negative outcomes for black women with disabilities.

How broad-based is broad-based black economic empowerment?

Common perceptions about broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) have been that it is nothing more than a tool for the already affluent to access further wealth and has limited potential to address the economic exclusion of the most marginalised. An analysis was conducted of data on black economic empowerment (BEE) deals between 2004 and 2009. The findings demonstrate that although the elite continue to benefit from deals, broad-based beneficiaries, particularly employees and women, are also beginning to benefit to some extent. This suggests that empowerment policies have some potential to promote private sector involvement in addressing the states social transformation agenda. However, a closer analysis of the BEE transactions shows that the BEE landscape is far more complex and nuanced than commonly thought. Further research is necessary to understand the real impacts of BEE on the ground.

‘I am a mother’: young women’s negotiation of femininity and risk in the transition to adulthood

Abstract In studies of sexual risk behaviour among youth, the role of dominant conceptions of masculinity and femininity has received increasing attention. However, where research has sought to explore femininity, it has predominantly focused on adolescent girls. This paper departs from previous research by offering insights into how young women negotiate their femininity as they transition from adolescence to adulthood and encounter changing social contexts. Drawing on data from ethnographic enquiry, it argues that as young women transition out of school and into emerging adulthood, their options for negotiating different types of femininity become constrained, with consequences for engagement in sexual risk behaviours. This may to some extent explain why in some South African contexts older young women are more vulnerable to HIV infection than adolescent girls. The paper offer insights into future prospects for youth development programming seeking to reduce young women’s vulnerability to risk.

‘But I've got something that makes me different’: Young men's negotiation of masculinities

ABSTRACT Much current research about young people is located in studies on risk behaviour and consequently tends to pathologise their actions and behaviour. Particularly poor, young, African men are often regarded as the drivers of a range of risk behaviours from sexual risk to crime and violence. By drawing on an ethnographic study conducted in an informal settlement of Gauteng, South Africa, this article challenges common perceptions of young men as risk-takers. It demonstrates the various ways in which masculinity is practised in everyday life as young men attempt to carve out a masculine identity. Their agency, aspirations, and insights with regard to risk-taking, as well as how they attempt to avoid being stigmatised by the common perceptions of young, poor, African men are highlighted. The article thus challenges literature that assumes a hegemonic masculinity and contributes to the largely Western dominated youth transitions literature by giving voice to poor, young men in a developing country context. It points to the need for continued research, which seeks to place young people at the centre of research about them, and to provide insight into their everyday experiences.

Volunteering, Civic Service and Civil Society in Africa

What is the shape of volunteering and civic service in Africa’s diverse and rapidly changing countries? How is it practiced? By whom? This chapter seeks to understand the nature of volunteerism in a context of poverty, inequality and rapid economic growth. It begins with an inquiry into the applicability of common definitions of volunteering and discusses the ways in which volunteering is practiced in various parts of the African continent. It examines the central role of local, community-based volunteering and goes on to locate volunteering in the context of social development. We argue that while volunteering is an integral expression of human participation and agency, it is often undervalued and goes unrecognized. In cases where the state abdicates its responsibility to society, volunteering carries the risk of increasing the burden on the poor. We consider what this means for the growth of civil society in Africa and question whether the values that underpin volunteering are changing in the context of modernising African societies.

The Value of Volunteers in Community-Based Organisations: Insights from Southern Africa

Variously known as local, informal, or community-based volunteers, people working in non-governmental and community-based organisations throughout Africa play an integral role in starting up and sustaining these organisations, which in turn play a vital role in service delivery and advocacy within communities. Despite the important roles that such volunteers play, they are often overlooked in the literature on volunteering and their contributions downplayed. In this chapter we draw on various studies conducted by Volunteer and Service Enquiry Southern Africa (VOSESA) that focus on the efforts and contributions of community-based volunteers. These include the five-country study on volunteerism in Southern Africa (2007), a study on the relationship between host organisations and international volunteers in Mozambique and Tanzania (2011), a study on volunteer management in South African non-profit organisations (2011), and research on National Youth Service programmes in Africa (2013). The research highlights the contributions of community-based volunteers, points out the types of volunteers that tend to serve, and shows that volunteer engagement is critical to the resilience and sustainability of community-based organisations as well as to the expression of active citizenship for individuals.

Risky behaviour: a new framework for understanding why young people take risks

ABSTRACT Theories of youth risk taking range from the realist to the sociocultural. Much of this theorising, particularly in the field of epidemiology, has been strongly influenced by the Health Belief Framework. More recently, attention has shifted to understanding how young people perceive risk and what makes some of them resilient to risk taking. In this article we develop a framework that brings together diverse theoretical perspectives on youth risk taking. We draw on lessons from across the social science disciplines to inform a conceptual framework incorporating the broad context and internal processes of young peoples decisions to take risks. Our Youth Risk Interpretation Framework (Y-RIF) has been developed from insights gained during an ethnographic study conducted in South Africa (Graham, Lauren, 2012. Understanding risk in the everyday identity-work of young people on the East Rand of Johannesburg. Doctoral Thesis. University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg.). We argue that our framework is useful, as it offers new ways of understanding why some young people take risks while others are more cautious. It could be used to inform youth behaviour surveillance research and interventions. However, it will need to be rigorously tested.

Food insecurity, sexual risk taking, and sexual victimization in Ghanaian adolescents and young South African adults

AbstractObjectivesThe objectives of this study were to examine whether food insecurity is associated with sexual risk taking and victimization in young people (aged 16–24); and to investigate whether the relationship of food insecurity with sexual risk taking and victimization is moderated by gender. MethodsCross-sectional data were obtained in 2014 from a sample of Ghanaian adolescents (n = 773) and in 2015 from young South African adults (n = 823). We used multilevel logistic regression given the study’s binary outcome and clustered data. We tested a moderation effect of gender by including an interaction between gender and food insecurity. ResultsFood insecurity was highly prevalent (72% in Ghana and 83% in South Africa). Food insecurity was significantly associated with unwanted sexual contact among Ghanaian adolescents (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.02, 1.08) and age-disparate sex among young South African adults (OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.00, 1.06). Results indicated no moderating effect of gender.ConclusionsOur findings underscore the importance of food access on young people’s sexual health, regardless of gender. Prevention efforts may be more relevant when integrated with food security interventions that target vulnerable adolescents and young adults, irrespective of gender.

Social Protection, Chronic Poverty and Disability: Applying an Intersectionality Perspective

This chapter uses key features of intersectionality to review the relationship between disability, poverty and social protection and how this translates into realities lived by people with disabilities. The essential thesis is that being disabled, poor or requiring social protection—in one form or another—are all ways of creating identities in their own right. When brought together in one’s life, these identities intersect and create a series of outcomes that are more than the sum of the individual components. The chapter begins by setting out important features of social protection as a strategy for managing risk and promoting development, followed by an analysis of the interaction of such a strategy with poverty and disability. We present a number of examples to illustrate our arguments.